(My teammate- enjoy)
finally in beautiful Uganda! We got to Uganda July 28th and camped
along the Nile River for a few days with our entire squad. It was amazing and a
much needed break. We arrived in Kampala (the capital of Uganda) on July 31st.
We stayed at a guesthouse there for 2 days. Don’t let the term “guesthouse”
fool you..5 of us girls slept on one mattress on the ground that stretched from
wall-to-wall along with all of our bags in a tiny room. It was definitely close
quarters, but we got to know each other’s sleeping habits pretty well! ha We
also got to attend a church service there that was in English, which means that
we got to worship with the congregation in English and actually sing some songs
we knew! Most of us were pretty excited about it because we haven’t gotten to
worship in an actual church service like that in months! It’s the little things
like worshipping at church that I took for granted in the States, but being on
this trip has made me realize how valuable times like those truly are.
we took a 4-hour bus ride to Mbale from Kampala. Our contact for the month,
Reverend Moses, picked us up there (see my next blog to learn about the bus
ride!). We then headed another hour or so into the village of Sipi where I have
been living for the month. We have been here for about 10 days now. We are
completely surrounded by lush, green mountains. It is beautiful here- one of
the prettiest places that we have been on the entire race. The view just
driving into town is enough to take your breath away!
This month
is definitely the most “roughing” it that we have done the entire race. I can
now truly say that I have experienced Africa to the fullest! We are living in a
mud hut. We do have beds here, which has been amazing! I won’t lie; it was a bit
of a culture shock the night we first arrived. We have no electricity, so we
use a kerosene lante
rn at night to see along with our headlamps. It is
currently the wet season here, so it rains quite a bit producing LOTS of mud.
My chacos have definitely come in handy this month- it is almost impossible to
wear flip-flops without completely face planting into the ground! Each day when
we come back from ministry we have to clean our feet off with water in a bucket
or baby wipes. We have been taking bucket showers, few and far b
etween, because
we have to walk to get our water. Not to mention, we are in the mountains so it
is quite a bit cooler here than any other country that we have been to, which
has been SO nice, but pretty chilly when it comes to taking a bucket shower
outside. Our first night sleeping here I was woken up by Charlotte telling me
that a rat had just scurried across her arm- I was half asleep and just told
her to go back to bed. However, the next morning I discovered that she was
totally right. There are rats/mice that scurry around at night, which means
that I bury myself in my sleeping bag and just hope they don’t scurry on me! We
usually wake up to a chicken or two inside the house walking around looking for
extra food, not to mention one ended up on top of our breakfast table the other
morning and in Caley’s bed this morning. Each morning for breakfast we also
drink homemade coffee (grown here) or tea made with milk that was just milked
from the cow out back earlier that morning and then boiled. I will be milking
the cow one morning this week-ha! It is quite a different life we are living
here, but something that only comes along once in a lifetime!
We will be
living in the village of Sipi until the 22nd of August and then we
head back to Kampala to work with a youth conference for a week.
so much for your continued prayers and support. Please be keeping my team’s
health in your prayers. Two girls on my team have been diagnosed with typhoid.
Please be praying for fast recoveries.
