Kampala Whirlwind, vol. 1

I don’t really know where to start. I suppose if you’ve already read Jennifer’s blog (link on the side) you know most of the details…I’ll just add a bit to fill in my side of the story…

Tuesday (17 June)
18:30 or so: Jennifer calls and says, “I’m in.” She had finally talked with our UNICEF contacts and confirmed a meeting with them for Thursday morning and therefore confirming the usefulness of her coming to Kampala with me. I was really thankful and looking forward to traveling with her and the connections/experience she was bringing to the trip (ie. place to stay for free for two nights, a vehicle to travel in, more knowledge of the city than I have, etc).

Wednesday (18 June)
06:30: Every Wednesday morning we have team prayer meeting. I’m not usually very thrilled about getting up because, well we all know how much I like the early morning hours, but afterwards I’m usually glad I went. Every week there are two people assigned, months in advance, to lead prayer and share their prayer requests and what has been on their hearts and minds as of recent and have the team pray for them. This week Ashley and I were on the schedule, so it was really good timing. I explained what little I knew of what was awaiting me in Kampala, and how I was feeling about it, and everybody prayed for me and Jennifer and our trip.
8:30: Off to the health center after packing the last few toiletries in my bag. I was so thankful for Nick and Katie’s help (two of the 3 interns here this summer). They came down and weighed all of the kids on the ward while I packed up a couple of boxes of supplies/meds for the nurses to use while Jennifer and I were gone. Then Nick kindly stepped into Basime’s role in ART clinic, handing out numbered charts to patients as they came into the clinic, and Basime came with Katie and I over to the area we do Nutrition clinics in, and I set them up to hand out and record the food given to ART moms/kids. They got started and off I went, thankful to leave the ward in Margaret and Olupah’s hands, and Nutrition in Basime and Katie’s hands, and Nick to help pick up some of the slack in ART.
11:15 or so: Jennifer at the wheel of the Bart-mobile, Melen and baby Jonah in the back, we come to a smoking halt near the office of the King of the Batwa (pygmies). I stood with the car while Jennifer went off to make a phone call and a jerry can of water…meanwhile the inebriated mechanic with all his henchmen sat around under a tree trying to convince me to sit down on a stump in their midst (which I refused which in turn made them all laugh, I was glad as always to provide some comic relief). The mechanic asked about my father and how he was doing…I clarified that he wanted to know if my father was good, and wasn’t in fact telling me that his father was doing well. I assured him my father was doing just fine, and he seemed happy to hear that. He then asked about my “mummy” and I assured him my “mummy” was doing just fine as well, and thanked him for asking. He then suggested that it would be a good idea for me to take a Babwisi husband. I reassured him that I didn’t think it would a good idea and he persisted a while but when his English ran out, he gave up. At one point, when boredom took over the group after they ran out of things I was doing and saying to laugh at, they went over to the car and opened one of the caps on something under the hood and dark brown thick liquid began shooting straight up in the air like a volcanic science experiment…they jumped back and watched until it finished spewing and then put the cap back on…it didn’t seem to be a good thing that they seemed as surprised as I was about the dark spewing liquid. I was glad to see Jennifer heading back to the vehicle so we could progress in a constructive manner towards some sort of end…the end was that we did get it cooled off and running again, off we went only to come to a halt again going up the mountains less than a half hour later…so we waiting for Scott, feeling really bad about him having to come all the way to rescue us and trade vehicles.
1430: off we were again and pressing on to get to Kampala at a reasonable time
1930 or so: it’s dark, and the road is full of potholes that seem to creep up on you just when you get back to a reasonable speed, causing you to swerve or take the hole straight on, which means that other vehicles on the road are also swerving unexpectedly and slowing and speeding up randomly, plus everyone is home from their work or school during the day and walking on the road, laughing and shoving each other in a joking fashion that isn’t so funny when you’re driving along in the dark and trying not to hit them or the potholes. Then there’s cows and goats and chickens and children and dirt piles and cars stopped with “flares” that are just leafy branches placed in the road, not really very effective in the dark...so driving became teamwork with Jennifer and I discussing what is where in the road and both trying to discern what is what and what is where…
2030: Kampala, not any easier in the dark than the road leading to Kampala is in the dark. The teamwork driving continued with “Is this a lane?” “I think it could be” “Can you see a traffic light anywhere?” “No, but there’s a policeman over there fwho looks like he should be directing traffic but instead is looking at his watch.” “I think I’m just going to do what the guy in front of me is doing.” “I’d say that looks like a good idea. Oh, watch the bike, and there’s a boda.” “Can I go now? How’s it look that way?” “Looks good, wait no, um, almost, go NOW.”
2200: After dinner, exhausted we arrived at our accommodation for the night. We unloaded our overnight bags, took showers, and plopped into chairs on the porch overlooking the city and Lake Victoria, and enjoyed the beauty of the full moon’s light shining on the Lake. There was also wireless internet access and so we got to check our email while admiring the view. I went to bed praying, “God, thank you for giving us what we needed today. Tomorrow’s a big day too, please give me whatever it is I’ll need. I don’t really know what I’m going to need.”