Welcome to Uganda!!
I made it safe and sound. I have
been in Uganda for 3 weeks now. We
started in Jinja, Uganda where we camped in our tents for two nights with the
whole squad. Our tents were literally
about 50 feet from the Nile River!
While we
were in Jinja we got the chance to go white water rafting on the Nile River and Bungee Jump over the Nile River. I could
not get up the nerve to Bungee but I was not going to miss out on rafting the
Nile River.
Monday
September 5th was the big day when we rafted the Nile River. I was in a group who was doing things extreme
which is what I wanted! We started the
day with some people doing bungee and then we were off to the river. It was about a 30 minute bus ride to the
river. When we got there we had
breakfast waiting on us. Sausage on a
stick with a fried hard boiled egg mmmm.
We were then fitted with life jackets and helmets then grabbed a
paddle. We were off! We started in still water, this is where they
taught us everything we needed to know about rafting. They taught us how to paddle together as well
as the different kinds of paddling such as front paddle and back paddle. They then taught us how to hold on and get
down. When the guide yelled hold on were
were to grab the rope on the side of the raft and literally hold on. When the guide yelled get down we squatted in
the boat and held onto the rope. Lastly
they taught us how to flip the boat and then flip it back over.
We were
off to face the Nile River! We now knew
everything that we needed to know to survive the Nile. We came to the first rapid and there was a
fork in the river. If you went to the
right there was a waterfall that was a class 6 rapid which means it was
unraftable. If you went to the left
there was a class 5 rapid. We had to
paddle hard to get over the left and then we had to get out of the boat and
walk around a bunch of rocks to avoid the waterfall. There was one boat of all girls. My team mate Elaina happened to be in that
boat. Being a boat of all girls they
were not very strong and they tried really hard to make it to the left to stay
away from the waterfall but unfortunately that did not happen and they went
over the waterfall. When one of the
other guides saw them heading over the waterfall he blew his whistle for an
emergency rescue. Their boat landed at
the bottom and went completely under water and then by the hand of God came
right back up with no one falling out.
This was a true miracle because they should have not survived that
waterfall according to the guides. Here
came the second rapid! This was a class
4 rapid and we just hit it and out I went along with most if not all the people
in the boat. I just stuck my feet up in
the air and road it out until I was rescued by another boat. Once we figured out where our boat was we
were safely returned to our boat. Now
the next rapid was a class 5 that they call the bad place. Before we approached this rapid our guide was
telling us that were were going to toss our paddles as far away from the boat
when he told us to. Our guide also
informed us to swim to the right. The
top of the rapid was a class 6 so once again we had to get out of our boat and
walk around the unraftable part. Once
we were standing on the rock looking out onto the river all I saw was
death! I was literally scared for my
life and I was prepared to be taken by the Nile River. So we got to the spot were we all got in the
boat. No joke we paddled about 3 times and
we tossed our paddles and as soon as I tossed my paddle I was out of the
boat. I was held under the water for
what seemed to be forever! I could not
catch a breath and when I tried all I got was water. It got to the point where I could not breath
at all. I knew I was supposed to swim to
the right but I had no idea which way was right I was just focused on surviving. I finally made it to still
water where water was not being shoved down my throat and I still could not
take a breath. I was finally rescued by
a kayak. It took me forever to calm down
and catch my breath. I don’t think I
have ever been so scared in my life!
After
cheating death we went for lunch. I was
signed up to raft a full day but after surviving the bad place I decided that I
had, had enough and was exhausted so I decided to go home with the half dayers.
I am so
glad that I rafted the Nile River but I would never do it again HaHa!! I can now check rafting the Nile river off my
bucket list!
I would like to update you on how I am doing with support. I am currently at $11,041 meaning I still need about $3800 to be fully funded. Please pray about supporting me financially. You can make a donation by clicking on the link to the left.
Love Jaime
