More about Mama Benna

I’ve told you before about Mama Benna. I’ve never had house help before and it feels kind of different. I’m used to handing out chores and we get the work done. BUT, like I said, it’s different here....we’re expected to have house help.

Well, we love Mama Benna and constantly try to make her work easier. We wash our own dishes at lunch (she said she was supposed to come back around 4 and wash them....but most days she leaves at noon), we hand mop the floor a little before she gets here so it’s not AS bad (Ugandan dirt is orange and our floor CONSTANTLY has little orange footprints on it), and we only give her around 13 pieces of laundry a day (the people next door wash around 25 pieces each day). We just love her and really appreciate what she does to help our family...and want to show it!

One day (we had been here around a week) Mama Benna and I were sitting out on the back porch and she said, “Aunt Kelly, you are so kind to me. Most white people treat us like rubbish, but not you. You are so good and kind. Why are you different?” I was completely taken aback by the question...but I quickly responded, “Because of Jesus. Because we serve Jesus. And we love you, Mama Benna.” She began to tell me how she had stopped praying for a long time but then she remembered how powerful God is and had begun praying to Him again and going to church on Sundays.

I was very excited about our conversation because it has opened a door between us to allow us to talk about more personal things. I’ve been able to tell her I was praying for her (both her mother and her brother have been in the hospital). We’ve also been able to talk more about God and His love for us.

It’s also been neat to see our children interact with Mama Benna. They love to sit outside and talk to her. She asks them lots of questions...like where is Texas? Is it a city? Is it near England? Yes, they pulled out the map and showed her. :) Also, things about America...like what do washing machines do? How do they work? Do we have machines that wash our dishes? And we’ve been able to practice our Luganda on her. We recently found a computer program that is similar to Rosetta Stone (except A LOT cheaper) that teaches us Luganda. So we’ve been learning words and phrases and then “practicing” on her to make sure we’re pronouncing them correctly.

We are very blessed to have Mama Benna as part of our life...especially during our first months in Uganda!!

Mama Benna and her son, Solomon. My children call him "King." :)