It's amazing, and humbling, the feel an entire country of people has, when most all non-essential (and some essential) material possessions are removed. You are left with raw, real life, and everyone on the same playing field. It's really beautiful.
view of the vast savannah and acacia trees, from atop our open-air jeep, on safari
Day 11 started with us needing to say goodbye to the Sole Hope Guest House, and all of the AHHHHMAZZINGGG staff and new friends we'd met! We felt so loved and welcome at the SHGH, where we'd made our home for the past week. It was tough to say goodbye!
Leaving Joyce and Goretti at SHGH
To meet the staff at the guest house, click here :)
So. It was off to Kampala! We had no IDEA the adventure that awaited, actually just a few miles down the Jinja roads...
Brian was driving us to Kampala. We were headed for the Apricot Guest House, where we would spend the next two nights. It was about 11am when we set out.
Almost immediately, Brian's van began stalling at irregular intervals. We all exchanged wondering glances, but didn't have to wonder for long, after a lonnng stall. Brian got us to a service station pretty quickly, after a series of stalls.
We were about to get us a lesson in Ugandan Auto Mechanics.
Firstly, though Brian speaks pretty fluent English, now all bets were off, as he conversed with the auto tech in Luganda or Swahilli. It started to become clear that something needed to be fixed in his van, and they were going to try and fix it in the here and now.
It turns out that the engine is under the front passenger seat. Sooo Christy hopped out of the van, ha.
This checking of things out... went on for quite awhile. Some of us snacked from our backpacks, as lunch looked very unlikely. Some of us rested in the van while it was worked on, and some of tried to read the days' news. It was the day of the terrible tragedy in Charleston.
12pm... 1pm... as a 'part' arrived and the men began to work on the van again (also asking Kerry's opinion of what the problem could be!), Andrea tried to grab the reins in the situation and control what she could, with a tiny, pre-pasted toothbrush.
Love ya, Andrea!
2pm passed us by...
As we sat at the station we were able to see LOTS of interesting things:
a goat running around
a biker holding onto the back of a semi as it pulled it along
loads and LOADS of bananas on a truck
a recliner on the back of a boda
The service station was right next to a Muslim school, and as school was let out for the day, we Mzungus, planted at the station got plenty of looks!
We started to wonder when we'd be able to get back on the road! Finally around 3pm, someone in another van arrived! We exchanged vans, and we were off to Kampala! It was about a 2 1/2 hour ride, if I remember right?
Kampala, Uganda's capital city, will make your head spin. The chaotic traffic on the dusty roads, with few street signs, and lack of any road rules, was startling.
Traffic was at a standstill, often, and children would come up to the van and beg for food and money. There are SO MANY PEOPLE in the city of Kampala. They'd pry their little fingers right into a window, if it was open, to further make their point. Heartbreaking.
Here's where we had to think about Helping vs Hurting. Christy turned us on to an amazing podcast series, addressing just that: Helping The Hurting, which helped explain what to do in situations like this. We generally didn't respond to this type of begging, but Sonya did share her surplus of peanut butter crackers, at one point!
We did finally arrive at our destination, and were SO HAPPY to be there! The accommodations were so lovely (HOT shower!)and comfortable!
I got to share a room with my roomie, Nicole, again!
remnants of the dusty drive,
AFTER face-washing,
prior to using this facial wipe!
bathroom
our balcony
We noticed several adoptive families staying here :) What another eye-opening experience. These dear people. So obviously weary. I found it heartwarming how Christy was able to reach out with her own adoption success story and encourage these determined, but tired moms and dads going through the lengthy and typically unpredictable adoption process.
Once we got settled, it was time to head out to N'dere, a cultural dance show. Andrea and I were exhausted and my back (which was surviving - even thriving with all of the bumpy travel, up until this point, due to Prednisone), was so very fatigued and sore. We decided to stay behind while the others went to N'dere. I really had a hard time making this decision, as I'd been looking forward to it quite a bit and didn't want to miss one thing while in country! But it seemed the right thing to do.
Andrea and I decided to head out for some dinner. Having heard rave reviews about Caffe Roma, from other Apricot guests, we decided that's where we wanted to be! So I went about asking various people around the guest house for directions. After input from 3 Mzungus and 2 Ugandans (one of which directed me back upstairs to my room when I asked for directions! Miscommunication, ha.), we decided we could walk there, eat, and walk back before it got dark.
Shhh...
Due to some great convo and a couple of comforts of home,
it was one of the best Friday Night Dates
either one of us could remember... ;)
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