Nancy and I get up, our first morning in Uganda. It's still dark out, maybe 5:30 or 6? My brain is still all addled from the 9 hour time change and 2 days of travel. I take a shower, which feels great, and is actually not too bad. The shower has a very shallow area to catch the water, so the bathroom gets soaked. There's a big plastic bucket in the shower--apparently most people in Africa prefer to bathe out of the bucket rather than take a shower, showers must be a pretty "western" thing. We head upstairs to the dining area, its actually a pretty nice hotel. So far we've seen pictures everywhere of President Museveni--sometimes in a suit, sometimes in his military uniform. Imagine if there were official photos of Obama everywhere in America...Breakfast is sparse, fresh pineapple and papaya and toast, with passion fruit juice. Courteney and Candace, who have both been to Africa several times, recommend putting a spoonful of sugar in the juice because it is extremely tart. It's obviously fresh, thick with pulp. The sugar--sugar in the raw and a brownish color--doesn't totally dissolve but it definitely helps. I sit with Nancy and Courteney and Candace and we chat, I show them pictures of the kids. As the sun is rising we all go out to this really pretty patio area that "overlooks" Lake Victoria. All you really see is a small slice of the lake, its obviously really big because it kind of looks like you're looking over the ocean. Built right up to the hotels walls are numerous small houses--no one's up yet, there's a rooster and some chickens strutting around in one small yard, laundry's still hanging on the line. Not too far away there's a big building that looks like it could be some sort of school or office building. It's quiet everywhere, like we're the only people up. As the sun rises we get ready to head out. Everyone's taking bunches of pictures, but I can't seem to get too many that are worth saving. Nancy lets me send Bill a text on her phone--she switched her service to work in Uganda--I'm completely inept at sending a text. I'm not sure it even goes through. A while later Nancy will shout up to me on the bus "Hey, your husband says they all love you and they're so proud of you!" Obviously he got the text but its kind of embarrassing to be 36 and have an international trip be such a big deal.
We hop on our rickety bus to head to the airport. We drive through Entebbe--everyone's awake now. It's a jumble of people and things to look at--everyone's walking along the street heading...wherever. There are concrete buildings one on top of the other, all painted totally garish colors like bright yellow and fuschia. Its like all the rejected paint colors from the rest of the world got sent to Uganda. Ads for Coca Cola and tons of cell phone advertisements. We pass numerous schools with crazy looking playgrounds--I'm wishing we weren't zipping along so fast so I could take some pictures. It's total sensory overload. Women carrying loads on their heads, babies on their backs, men riding bicycles, motorcycles, carrying other people. Cars coming precariously close to crashing...we turn off onto a really rutted dirt road, passing by huts and small concrete huts--how can this be the way to the airport? But of course we're not going to an AIRPORT, we're going to an air STRIP and a strip is exactly what it is--we pull up to a chainlink fence and there they are, 4 small planes, 2 of which will be carrying us to Gulu today. My stomach kind of drops--there's no tower, no tarmac, just a small building and a dirt strip right in the middle of a field. We go into the building where the crew weighs us and our bags (kind of forboding!) to make sure we're not too heavy--we are flying with Missionary Aviation Fellowship. Our pilots are British I believe, ours looks kind of like Archie Morris from ER: red hair, light complexion, kind of leprechaun-y. I'm totally apprehensive as we all take pictures and then board, but my nervousness is immediately relieved by the friendliness and assurance of our pilot, who is as nice as can be. He leads us in prayer (when does that ever happen on Southwest!) and off we go. Rob's sitting in the front seat wearing the headphones and his mirrored sunglasses--now we're starting to see his crazy side! Off we go down this dirt track, and suddenly we're up in the air, looking down on all the houses and buildings of Entebbe...
We fly for about an hour, and I've got to say it was one of the smoothest plane rides I have EVER experienced. And we were totally flying over AFRICA and the NILE RIVER!!! How amazing! I didn't really get to see any of Africa, since we flew in at night, and I was in the middle rows besides. It is so green and lush looking down there, you see random villages here and there, and their huts look like clusters of small brown mushrooms that have popped up in the jungle. We begin our approach to Gulu, which is a city of around 50,000. We land on an actual asphalt landing strip, its obviously just rained here. I guess we just missed a quick thunderstorm. Dana, Chad, Fred and Alex are waiting for us here. Dana is big and reassuring, Chad, as his son, is too. Its like having a dad and big brother with you on the trip. Fred and Alex are Chinese American and VERY kind and friendly. We hop in another rickety bus to head to the Acholi Inn where we'll have lunch before heading off to Kitgum.
Driving through Gulu is like watching every show about Africa you've ever seen--big, fancy looking "compounds" in the middle of incredible poverty. Lots of people everywhere, like in Entebbe. The Acholi in is a pretty, yellow, low building surrounded by a big yellow wall. Out front is a handsome young man to greet us dressed in some traditional Acholi costume.(the Acholi are a tribal group of Africans in Northern Uganda/Southern Sudan. They are extremely proud of their heritage.) We go in to a big cafeteria area, there are tables with folding chairs and some of the most uncomfortable armchairs and "couches" I've ever seen. They're wooden and look like they should have cushions on them but don't. Its like sitting on a rock. I opt for a round table with Linda and Alex who do not stop talking. We order lunch--I think almost all of us order the fried tilapia with french fries, which is SO yummy, crispy and tasty and flaky, with an orange Fanta (I'll drink loads of soda over here!) in a glass bottle. The novelty of that wears off by the end of the week, trust me. I need to use the bathroom, but apparently the public ones are not so great, so Fred and Alex give me the key to the room they were staying in before we got there. I go back into the hotel, the hall opens up onto a beautiful courtyard, there's a young man sweeping the path that meanders under some trees, the sun is shining and sparkling through them. I don't see much of the room, but the bathroom's ok except for the mass of mosquitoes that seem to have congregated there. It's the most of them I will see all week. Mosquitoes gross me out anyway, but watching them all buzz around me as I go to the bathroom gives me the creeps. I smack as many as I can for good measure and hope that my DEET is still potent from this morning. I go back to the sitting room and we sit...and wait...and sit some more...I'm not at all sure what we're waiting for, but we sure are waiting a long time. Eventually I "get comfy" if you can call it that on one of the wooden couches, leaning over to rest on my backpack, and totally pass out. Sometime later--an hour maybe--someone shakes me awake (thank God, what if they'd forgotten me and I wake up all alone? What the heck would I have done then???) because we're finally leaving. I sit up and my right side seems to be permanently bent over to the side from my awkward nap and I've drooled all over my backpack. Nice. I ignore my abdominal muscles and force myself to straighten out and head out to the bus. It's warm and humid and sunny, there are pretty flowers on bushes all around the hotel complex. Now we're really finally on our way to our final destination, but just WHEN will we get there?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Finally arrived, sort of
We all deplane, its around 8:00 at night. There's a big moon and lots of stars as we walk across the tarmac to the airport. It's funny to see the moon and stars--I'm not sure exactly if I'm in the northern or southern hemisphere, the equator runs pretty much right through Kampala, so I may actually slightly be in the southern hemisphere, which is fun. I am wishing that somewhere there's a big sign saying "Equator!" that I can take a picture of me straddling both hemispheres. I'm sure there is one somewhere but we never see it, so much for the cheesy photo-op! Everyone herds into the terminal--it looks like an airport, but small and very plain. There's pretty much nothing on the walls, nothing around to look at. We wait in line behind the rest of the foreigners getting our visas and then head to the one baggage claim (apparently there's not a whole lot of people flying into Entebbe on a daily basis!). Thankfully, all our luggage arrives-I've managed to pack incredibly economically for this trip. I've got one big bag I checked, a rolling carry-on and my backpack. This is going to serve me well later on, trust me. Seeing my bag is like meeting an old friend, I wonder what its journey was like. I'm glad it arrived. We all mill around making small talk and make our way to the parking area in the front of the airport. It's so surreal, it looks like it could be the parking lot at any old little airport (Manchester, say, before it got so big!) I'm expecting to be mobbed by mosquitoes and I'm a little worried because I haven't been able to douse myself in my 100% DEET spray yet, but there are none to be seen. We stand around in the parking lot for what seems like hours yet is only about 20 minutes waiting for our cab to arrive. This is my first experience with the "African time" phenomenon--there is plenty more sitting and waiting in store for me on the remainder of this trip! I thought we were going to exchange our money before we left the airport but we didn't. Everyone's chatting about their lives and families, some of the people know each other pretty well. Rob and I seem like the most uncomfortable of the bunch--this is his first big trip like this too, he has 3 young children and a gorgeous wife at home in Texas, and its obvious he's feeling out of sorts, at least to me. He's pretty quiet and answers in short sentences. Finally, a rickety van type thing arrives and we squeeze our luggage and half of ourselves in--the rest pile into another similar vehicle. The drive to our hotel takes maybe 10 minutes--it is so odd because it just feels like you're driving through any other unfamiliar city, you just happen to be in Uganda, of all places! And I think we're driving on the "wrong" side of the road, I don't really remember. Later, when we're driving during the day you pretty much drive on whatever side of the road is drivable, here in the city the roads are actually paved although there is a strange lack of stoplights.
We round a corner and there, smack in the middle of what seems like a regular old neighborhood is Sophie's Motel. It actually looks pretty nice. The armed guard at the gate is a little bit intimidating but strangely reassuring at the same time. We stand around in the lobby with our luggage piled around us as Dana and Linda get our rooms and breakfast all sorted out. As we were driving in, a sign declaring "Internet Cafe!" was posted on all the Sophie's Motel signs--this "cafe" is pretty much a glassed in area of the lobby with a desk and a computer. You have to pay for your time on it and its apparently pretty sketchy whether you'll get a connection or not. Still, the fact that there's an Internet connection is funny. You just don't imagine that you'll be in that kind of technological contact with the outside world when you go to a Third World country. I guess that's a testimony to what a big deal the internet really is, that you can find it in a little hole in the wall in Uganda!
We finally get our keys to our rooms--all the rooms have the name of an African country--Nancy and I are assigned to the "Botswana" room. Its got 3 beds, surrounded of course by a mosquito net, which is suspiciously holey. That concerns me, although I don't see any mosquitoes anywhere. There's a fan, thank goodness--I need white noise to sleep! I pull out my travel alarm clock and we figure out what time it is (Nancy didn't bring one, which I think is odd, since she's been on like 12short term missions trips so far. She doesn't bring a lot of things I'd expect a seasoned traveler to bring, I'll find out. Some people I think just don't know what to pack and end up bringing everything except what they actually need!) We get changed quickly and collapse into bed, totally exhausted. I'm hugging Julia's stuffed giraffe and Xavier's blanket, but I'm really too tired to even be homesick at this point. I'm just happy to be in a safe, clean place that is not an airplane! Tomorrow holds another big adventure as we take an in-country flight (scary!) up to Gulu and then drive to Kitgum, our final destination. It's sure to be another long day of traveling, but for now I'm just thankful to be stopped to rest.
We round a corner and there, smack in the middle of what seems like a regular old neighborhood is Sophie's Motel. It actually looks pretty nice. The armed guard at the gate is a little bit intimidating but strangely reassuring at the same time. We stand around in the lobby with our luggage piled around us as Dana and Linda get our rooms and breakfast all sorted out. As we were driving in, a sign declaring "Internet Cafe!" was posted on all the Sophie's Motel signs--this "cafe" is pretty much a glassed in area of the lobby with a desk and a computer. You have to pay for your time on it and its apparently pretty sketchy whether you'll get a connection or not. Still, the fact that there's an Internet connection is funny. You just don't imagine that you'll be in that kind of technological contact with the outside world when you go to a Third World country. I guess that's a testimony to what a big deal the internet really is, that you can find it in a little hole in the wall in Uganda!
We finally get our keys to our rooms--all the rooms have the name of an African country--Nancy and I are assigned to the "Botswana" room. Its got 3 beds, surrounded of course by a mosquito net, which is suspiciously holey. That concerns me, although I don't see any mosquitoes anywhere. There's a fan, thank goodness--I need white noise to sleep! I pull out my travel alarm clock and we figure out what time it is (Nancy didn't bring one, which I think is odd, since she's been on like 12short term missions trips so far. She doesn't bring a lot of things I'd expect a seasoned traveler to bring, I'll find out. Some people I think just don't know what to pack and end up bringing everything except what they actually need!) We get changed quickly and collapse into bed, totally exhausted. I'm hugging Julia's stuffed giraffe and Xavier's blanket, but I'm really too tired to even be homesick at this point. I'm just happy to be in a safe, clean place that is not an airplane! Tomorrow holds another big adventure as we take an in-country flight (scary!) up to Gulu and then drive to Kitgum, our final destination. It's sure to be another long day of traveling, but for now I'm just thankful to be stopped to rest.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
In Case You Didn't Know, Africa's Really Far Away!
So, I'm on KLM, flying from Amsterdam to Entebbe. (?!) This is the biggest plane I've ever been on, I think--its got 2 seats on each window side with 6 across the middle. Thankfully I'm on an aisle seat in the middle section, it would stink to be stuck in one of the MIDDLE middle seats. This would seem like a great adventure if it weren't so freaking scary. This is the kind of thing I like to do with Bill, but here I am, on my own. I haven't caught the spirit of adventure yet, it is eluding me in the midst of the almost blind panic I am feeling the farther away I get from my family. It's kind of cool, every seat has a tv and there's a myriad of movies and tv shows to choose from. I end up watching "Prince Caspian", but because I'm preoccupied with worry and am SO very tired, I only half pay attention to it. I watch some old episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" at some point too to pass the time. I always bring loads of books with me on trips, and as is the case every time, I never actually read any of them. Magazines are much better for me--I did pick plenty of brainless ones like Real Simple and People, nothing with anything too dramatic or mind-boggling. Keep it light.
We actually get served meals on these flights, meals we don't have to pay for. Of course they are airplane food, and wacky European airplane food at that, so it's a bit sketchy. Still I manage to eat something because I know that having a migraine on top of how worked up I am feeling won't be good for anyone. I'm not sitting near anyone who is going on the trip--the plane is so huge I think everyone's pretty scattered, except of course Ryan and Stacy who are all lovey-dovey and annoying. I'm sure Bill and I were like that when we were first together, isn't everyone? Like you're the only two people in the whole world who have ever loved each other SOOOOO much. Yuck. I mean, hooray for them!
It should seem kind of cool to me that we are flying to Africa, of all places. Its somewhere I've always wanted to go, but never actually thought I would. It is still really hard to believe that everything came together for this trip--the finances, the shots, all the logistics. But I guess that's what happens when you remember that the God of the Universe is really the one in control of it all and you just go along for the ride. That whole God thing should make me feel better, right? I mean, where's that "peace that passes understanding" that we're supposed to get? I suppose that the mere fact that I have made it this far and haven't had to be carried in a strait-jacket off the plane for totally freaking out is evidence of that peace, its just the turmoil inside is so great that the peace part seems very small...thankfully I will see that the turmoil gets smaller as the peace gets bigger. It never really goes away, but it ends up being dwarfed by the peace for the most part. But back to the fact that I'm flying to Africa--you can pull up this screen on your little tv that shows where we are on our route to Uganda--you see us flying over Italy, the Mediterranean, Egypt, Sudan--all places you read about or see on tv, and there they are, somewhere down there. I would appreciate it a lot more if Bill were with me, but there is still a small part of me that thinks "Wow, neat! I'm flying over the Sahara Desert!"
I talk a little with the woman to my right. She is a lovely Rwandan woman, probably about my age, maybe younger. She sees me clutching my son's fuzzy blue sports blanket (I brought it because it smells like him. I made him sleep with it for a week without washing it.) and asks if its my first trip to Africa. She smiles and doesn't seem to think I'm crazy, but I don't go into great detail about how scared I really am. You know, I am 36--I ought to behave like it, at least a little bit. I show her pictures of the kids and she of course says how adorable they are, like any nice person would. There are so many different types of people on this plane, its not dominated by any one race, that's for sure. I think I expected it to be mostly African people, but there are tons of Europeans--Germans, Dutch, especially. It's kind of weird. There are some nice young American kids going over on some medical mission thing. I definitely would feel much more adventurous if I were 20 and unattached! There's a family that has been traveling with us since Detroit--white, American dad, Ugandan mom and 2 kids, maybe 5 and 2? The little one is totally losing it, crying, screeching, as the mom and dad do the mommy/daddy dance of trying to appease an over-tired kid. You can tell that some people are aggravated because he won't settle down, but come on people! We are all exhausted from being on stupid planes for like 20 hours--how else would you expect a 2 year old kid to act?
Finally, it is time to land in Entebbe. We are here, we're really here. Someone tells us not to take pictures at the airport--they don't like it. Apparently, the wreckage from the "Raid on Entebbe" is still there! (That was in the 70's!) There is a man on the other side of the Rwandan woman I was speaking to who popped in and out of our conversations occasionally. As the wheels touch down, he leans over and smiles at me and says "Welcome to Africa, and thank you for coming to see our country and our people!" If that is any sign of things to come, I think I must be in for a treat. But I'm still a long way from realizing that this trip is not the end of the world for me. I smile politely and nervously gather my things...
We actually get served meals on these flights, meals we don't have to pay for. Of course they are airplane food, and wacky European airplane food at that, so it's a bit sketchy. Still I manage to eat something because I know that having a migraine on top of how worked up I am feeling won't be good for anyone. I'm not sitting near anyone who is going on the trip--the plane is so huge I think everyone's pretty scattered, except of course Ryan and Stacy who are all lovey-dovey and annoying. I'm sure Bill and I were like that when we were first together, isn't everyone? Like you're the only two people in the whole world who have ever loved each other SOOOOO much. Yuck. I mean, hooray for them!
It should seem kind of cool to me that we are flying to Africa, of all places. Its somewhere I've always wanted to go, but never actually thought I would. It is still really hard to believe that everything came together for this trip--the finances, the shots, all the logistics. But I guess that's what happens when you remember that the God of the Universe is really the one in control of it all and you just go along for the ride. That whole God thing should make me feel better, right? I mean, where's that "peace that passes understanding" that we're supposed to get? I suppose that the mere fact that I have made it this far and haven't had to be carried in a strait-jacket off the plane for totally freaking out is evidence of that peace, its just the turmoil inside is so great that the peace part seems very small...thankfully I will see that the turmoil gets smaller as the peace gets bigger. It never really goes away, but it ends up being dwarfed by the peace for the most part. But back to the fact that I'm flying to Africa--you can pull up this screen on your little tv that shows where we are on our route to Uganda--you see us flying over Italy, the Mediterranean, Egypt, Sudan--all places you read about or see on tv, and there they are, somewhere down there. I would appreciate it a lot more if Bill were with me, but there is still a small part of me that thinks "Wow, neat! I'm flying over the Sahara Desert!"
I talk a little with the woman to my right. She is a lovely Rwandan woman, probably about my age, maybe younger. She sees me clutching my son's fuzzy blue sports blanket (I brought it because it smells like him. I made him sleep with it for a week without washing it.) and asks if its my first trip to Africa. She smiles and doesn't seem to think I'm crazy, but I don't go into great detail about how scared I really am. You know, I am 36--I ought to behave like it, at least a little bit. I show her pictures of the kids and she of course says how adorable they are, like any nice person would. There are so many different types of people on this plane, its not dominated by any one race, that's for sure. I think I expected it to be mostly African people, but there are tons of Europeans--Germans, Dutch, especially. It's kind of weird. There are some nice young American kids going over on some medical mission thing. I definitely would feel much more adventurous if I were 20 and unattached! There's a family that has been traveling with us since Detroit--white, American dad, Ugandan mom and 2 kids, maybe 5 and 2? The little one is totally losing it, crying, screeching, as the mom and dad do the mommy/daddy dance of trying to appease an over-tired kid. You can tell that some people are aggravated because he won't settle down, but come on people! We are all exhausted from being on stupid planes for like 20 hours--how else would you expect a 2 year old kid to act?
Finally, it is time to land in Entebbe. We are here, we're really here. Someone tells us not to take pictures at the airport--they don't like it. Apparently, the wreckage from the "Raid on Entebbe" is still there! (That was in the 70's!) There is a man on the other side of the Rwandan woman I was speaking to who popped in and out of our conversations occasionally. As the wheels touch down, he leans over and smiles at me and says "Welcome to Africa, and thank you for coming to see our country and our people!" If that is any sign of things to come, I think I must be in for a treat. But I'm still a long way from realizing that this trip is not the end of the world for me. I smile politely and nervously gather my things...
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