To start off month eight in Uganda, our
squad met in Jinja to go whitewater rafting on the Nile River. It was
so awesome! I’ve rafted a couple of times before on the Colorado
River, but that was nothing compared to this. We were going on class
five rapids, which is about the biggest you can get. There were some
class six, but we had to get out and go around those since it’s not
safe to raft over them. Only the kayakers can handle class six, at
least that’s what our guide told us.
We had six in our raft – John,
Rachael, Charity, Andrea, Emily and me – plus our guide, Paul. Paul
was amazing. He kept us from flipping over. Most of the other boats
flipped at least once, but Paul took care of us and kept us upright
even though we had some close calls. He also made us work hard. We
paddled a lot. The Nile has some really strong rapids in places, but
in other places there’s hardly a current, so we got a good arm
workout.
The scenery along the river was
beautiful – yet another chance to enjoy God’s wonderful creation.
Lunch was also great. We had sandwiches with wheat bread, ham and
lots of fresh vegetables, including avocados. We also had fresh
pineapple, which is my favorite! We were possibly just as excited
about the lunch as we were the rafting. It was seriously some of the
best food we’ve had in months. It’s crazy how you can miss food as
simple as a sandwich. At the end of the trip we also got steak
kabobs, chapati and cold drinks – delicious!
Overall, it was a great day of rafting.
No one got seriously hurt although there were plenty of bruises,
scrapes and sore muscles to show for our efforts. Thankfully, God
protected us and allowed us to have an enjoyable time. I would
definitely do it again!
