In this blog, I shall attempt to finish sharing about our trip to Uganda. Part 1 finished with our pool day in Masaka on Thursday, January 11.
Friday, Jan 12, dawned as another cloudy rainy morning. Sarah came and picked us up in her 4-wheel drive van, and we headed up the mountain to the children’s home. We handed out sidewalk chalk to any child who wanted some, and the floor of the church was soon covered with large pictures and notes of thanks to the team. We also did some stamping and making cards, and then a big thunderstorm came up. Thunder roared and rain poured down. We decided to abandon any further activities with the children. Nothing could be heard in the church anyway over the noise of the rain and thunder.
John came up with the idea that we should head into town and get coffee, so we did that. We all piled into the van and ventured off to town in search of coffee. We found some at a local cafe and enjoyed sipping our coffee under a roof with large open sides.
That evening we headed to Darren and Mama Fatuma’s house. Mama Fatuma made us a large feast with all kinds of delicious foods including her “famous” chips (fries) and delicious fresh mangoes. We enjoyed a relaxing meal and evening in their large welcoming house.
After supper, Mama Fatuma shared her story. She became a street kid at the tender age of 8 and lived on the streets until she was 19. After she was off the streets, she opened her home to other street children, and that’s how Love and Care Children’s Home was started. Darren also shared his story of growing up in the US, being a suicidal teen, and then being in and out of prison for various drug offenses, finding God, and eventually coming to Uganda, and meeting and eventually marrying Mama Fatuma. Their story is one of incredible hardship and also incredible blessing. It was amazing to listen to them.
Saturday was a “get-immersed-in-the-culture” day, and four of the team were assigned to complete a scavenger hunt. They were given a list of items to complete, dropped off in Masaka, and given a time limit to complete all the tasks. They had a preassigned meeting place to be at by 1. Naomi and Katie Ann took our children and some of Sarah’s children to Plot 99, and Sarah and I went to town to withdraw cash and get our nails done.
The scavenger hunt team had to do things like figure out what certain words in Lugandan meant and bargain for fair prices for other items. They also had to take pictures with Ugandan police and get a picture with a mosque. When the time was up, they had to walk up the hill from where they had been dropped off to Plot 99 where they met up with the rest of us.
Sarah and I parked along a busy street in town and then walked quickly through all the street merchants to a sort of mall building, where we climbed the stairs to the 3rd or 4th floor. There we found a tiny nail salon run by two men. They heated water in a tea kettle to soak our hands and feet and sat themselves on the floor to do our feet. One of the men also ran out, at Sarah’s direction, and bought us cold bottled water after I had an awful coughing fit. (Side note: that was one of the only times I had actual cold water in Uganda, and it was amazing!) When we were done, we headed to Plot 99 to meet everyone else.
That evening we went to a local cafe, Banda, where they had prepared a large barbecue feast. The meat was amazing! They had fish, chicken, beef, and pork, as well as many side dishes, fresh fruit, plus dessert.
After supper, John shared his testimony of growing up Amish, getting into drugs, and eventually finding Jesus. He ended up moving to Uganda, marrying Stellah (a Ugandan), and starting a family with her. Hearing people’s stories was honestly one of my favorite things about the trip.
The next day we headed up the mountain again for church. This time we didn’t go up until 10:30 am and still sat in church for the next 4 hours. According to the more experienced, both church services we were part of were actually quite short by Ugandan standards. After church, we were fed a feast of rice, beans, and boiled goat meat. The rice and beans were actually quite delicious, and the children filled their bellies Ugandan style–they ate with their hands. When lunch was over, Mama Fatuma agreed to give us a grand tour of the children’s home property. We saw the dorms, the multiple chicken barns, the water tower, the kitchen, the pig pens, the laundry room, everything. After the tour, our whole family went back to the guest house to have some family time, while the rest of the team spent the afternoon at the mountain with all the children.
Monday was our last day in Masaka. In the morning, we split into two teams and walked door to door in Kigato village (the village where the guest house was actually located). We prayed for people and shared the gospel if they were open. In Uganda, there seem to be three main religion identifiers, Catholic, Muslim, and born-agains (Christian believers), but nearly everyone was open to pray with us.
Monday evening, I stayed home with our two youngest and put them to bed while the rest of the team went to the mountain and had a big bonfire and dance party with all the children. Many of the team members said that was their favorite part of the whole trip.
Tuesday morning, bright and early, we loaded all our luggage up into Sarah’s and John’s vans and left the guest house to drive 5 hours north to Jinja for a couple of days to debrief and relax before flying home. Along the way, we stopped first at the equator and then for breakfast.
We finally made it to our resort late that afternoon. We checked in. Ida and I took naps as many of the others swam in the pool. After naps, I got up, and most of us made our way down the most precarious steep set of stairs that I have ever seen to the Nile River. We boarded a boat and set out for a sunset cruise. It was gorgeous on the water, and we got to see a lot of cool birds as well as an otter and a small monitor lizard. When we got back to the resort, it was time for supper.
The next day we ate breakfast at the resort, packed up all of our stuff, and moved it all into Sarah’s cabin. Some of the team went down a straight-down water slide onto the Nile and had a blast doing that. Then we all headed out to Jinja to get lunch and do some souvenir shopping.
That night we left the resort around 12:30 am to drive 3 hours to the airport. We checked in quite uneventfully, bought some water, and got ready for the first 8-hour flight back to Istanbul. This time the flight was quite smooth. The children mostly slept, as it was still nighttime on their body clocks. I didn’t get much sleep, as I had a most kind gentleman sitting on the other side of Jason who woke me up every few minutes because he was sure that Jason must be uncomfortable. I also got a chance to finish a movie that I had started a year or so ago on a cross-country flight, so that was great. I rarely get to watch anything anymore on flights, so I love the rare chances I get.
This time in Istanbul, we remembered the fiasco of last time. We chose a food court that seemed to be located pretty centrally and got the most expensive fast food meal we have ever gotten. We spent nearly $100 USD for four burger meals for our family. Lena spent $13 USD on a 6″ sub from Subway. Istanbul is expensive! After we ate, we looked for a children’s play area that was also more central. We found one in the D gate area, which was fortunate for us because our flight ended up leaving from a D gate just a little ways down from the play area.
On the last flight to NYC, the children mostly slept once again, and I even slept a little while. We got back to NYC around 11 pm, cleared customs very quickly once again, and then proceeded to spend over an hour waiting for all of our luggage (much less than in Uganda) to show up! Aaron’s parents picked us up, and we headed the three hours to home. Since we ended up going right past our house before reaching the meeting place, they just dropped us off at home and we got home around 3:30 am.
That’s when jet lag kicked in hardcore for the children, and they all decided to wake up. We let them run a little before convincing them that it was actually still nighttime and they slept about three hours. It took a couple days til we were all switched back, but spending the day playing in the snow and sledding helped them stay awake longer which helped the switch go faster. We went from 70s-80s to 20s and snow. It was glorious!
And that’s the story of our trip to Uganda. Of course, I glossed over a few things, such as the fact that two of our team members got bacterial infections, and one was quite sick for a couple days. We had a lot of rainy mornings which led to laundry not drying well, and it ended up taking 3 days to complete one load. The rain also contributed to us running out of solar power quite frequently, which meant we had no lights or internet. We did still however have hot water, so we could shower in the dark. We also had to be careful to avoid things that could give us malaria, typhoid, or other diseases. We had to make sure that the children only drank the right water and not tap water and that they always had their shoes on to avoid parasites invading their feet. However, it was still a good time, and we ended up with no ill effects from the whole experience.
Would I do it again? Would I take three small children halfway around the world to a third-world country? Yes. I would. Besides they all have their yellow fever shots now, might as well make use of having them. It does take a lot of energy and finances, but it’s worth it. So let me know, do you travel with small children?
(PS. Many thanks to everyone who let me steal their pictures for these blog posts.)
Adventurer with God 