African Safari

We checked out of our hotel bright and early Monday morning and headed south for a little African R & R. Which means safari park!

On the 6 hour drive south, we stopped to visit the Village of Hope. They are a stellar nonprofit that is designed to help orphans in the area. They launched their program in 2008 and already have orphan housing on campus, a primary school, crops, solar energy, a water well and they are in the process of building a secondary school too. We toured their campus and learned about their operation & then hit the road again.  It was great to meet other people working in the same capacity. Jenelle & Mike, you're the best.

A few hours later we entered Murchison Falls national game park.  The park is so large that it took us four hours to drive in once we entered the park to reach our lodge. We didn't see another car the whole drive there. Upon pulling up to the lodge, we were greeted with fresh passion fruit juice and the staff carried our bags off to our rooms. We felt so fancy. 

We were able to spend two nights at the lodge with our team and got the chance to see some really amazing animals in the park.  It was a once in a lifetime experience to see all the majestic animals in their natural habitat. What a treat.

"Good bye, Bananas."

This was our last day in Bul Kur & at the Galileo School.  Being Sunday, we got to visit their local church...in a mud hut!

mud hut church

Singing on the fly!

They greeted us in the church with a choir performance. Nick and I got to host the children’s story time outside under a tree. We used the back of the van to hold up our feltboard. Translators were very animated and helped to convey the story to the children. Then Georgianna and I taught an impromptu song and made up the hand motions on the fly. Skillz!  The children picked up the tune and motions quickly and were able to perform the song for us perfectly.

After church the community leaders had prepared a special, traditional meal for us with posho, beans, chicken & Mirinda. All to be eaten with our hands. So fun.

yummo!

Pharm Tech Nick

After our meal we set up another day of medical clinic in the new school building. (Just a short walk from the mud hut church) This time we were a well oiled machine. Katie saw patients with wounds and malaria and I saw patients with other complaints.  Nick ran the pharmacy again and we were able to  see several adults and children.  I kept finding myself having the same conversation. Unfortunately, the lack of easily accessible clean water and food leads to myriad of health problems. Many, many distended bellies full of what I can only guess are intestinal worms, several skin infections, many discussions about stomach pains and gastrointestinal issues.  Many of theses  problems are solved with a round of antibiotics, but the people lived so far away from a doctor’s office and even if they went to the doctor, they could not pay for care or medicine. So the solution is to live with the pain and inconvenience and continue about your daily lives hoping you don’t get so ill that you die. That’s the reality for a large population of the world.

We wrapped as the sun was going down, and we gave lots of hugs and closing remarks. One sweet teacher said, “Remember to tell you friends that you built America in Bul Kur.” Everyone sends their greetings to our friends and family back in the states.  

Last photo of the team before we drove away.

As we drove away the children yelled, “Goodbye, bananas!” at me. I like that I've become known as a silly song that helped to bring smiles to kids who were afraid to smile. "Bananas" I shall be.

We drove back to the Acholi Inn and showered for dinner. I ate my standard fish and chapati with a cup of African tea.  The mosquitoes also joined us for dinner. They feasted on my legs.

Fried tilapia, chapati slices, and veggies. 

I dozed off to sleep around 1am listening the nightly thunder storm.  The power was out again in the hotel and there was no electricity to power the wall AC unit.  Luckily I’ve mastered sleeping with no covers with the help of a mosquito  net.  We've learned that AC wall units are merely for decoration.

All in all, it was a great day.

Where do you hurt?

swollen tummy

We woke up early Saturday morning and drove  the 2 hours from Apac  back to Gulu and checked back into the Acholi Inn. We made the executive decision to head back to Bul Kur (Galileo School) to spend some more time with the villagers.  After lunch we headed off to the Galileo school. We set up a simple medical clinic for the villagers of Bul Kur in the new school building. Katie worked her magic on wounds and malaria and I worked the front, assesment desk. Nick was in charge of the make shift pharmacy.  I met people who had cirrhosis of the liver, sickle cell anemia, typhoid, HIV,  and everyone had digestive problems from drinking bad water.  Unfortunately, when you live in a village with one under performing water pump, getting access to clean water 100% of the time is not an option.  I found myself repeating the same instructions to people throughout the day. "Make sure to only drink, cook and wash with clean, boiled water." However, every time I repeated these words, I knew it wasn't that simple. Their reality is to live with these parasites and diseases  hoping they don't get too ill. And when it's really bad, they hope they have enough money to get transportation to Gulu town and pay to see a doctor.

The most jarring thing I saw was a two week old baby. The 19 year old mother explained that the baby cried all the time and wouldn’t eat.  The school nurse instructed me to feel the baby’s stomach to see if it was hard or soft.  The mother unwrapped the sheet from the baby so I could check the baby’s stomach.  I leaned in to examine the baby and wowowowow. I immediately noticed blisters all over her little, naked body. She had blisters starting on her neck and into her armpits and all down her torso to her knees.  The blisters were so bad on her hips that she had yellow discharge oozing from that location. When I felt her little tummy it was rock hard.  After I finished examining the child, my translator rushed away from the desk to go wash his hands. He said we had to clean our hands immediately.  After returning to the desk and translating some more, we discovered that the young mother had not gone out to purchase anything for the baby because she had no money. She had used the only soap she had, caustic laundry soap, to wash the child, which resulted in the severe skin rash.  Also, the umbilical cord wasn’t properly cared for and the child got an infection in her little tummy.

Katie and the school nurse instructed the mother to take the child into town to visit the doctor so the baby could get the proper antibiotics and skin cream right away. 

 
It was a long and productive day and we were all happily exhausted by the end of it.  We weren't able to cure everyone, but hopefully our time there was of some small help. 

Adventure Missions

Yes kids, the lions did eat people.

Today was one of the most adventurous and wild days that we’ve had here in Uganda.  It started out simple enough with a short Sunday school lesson by Jaklin and me for the little kids at the nursery school – I’m sure Daniel and the Lion’s Den on felt board has never been so real.  We fielded many questions from 3 year olds about lions eating people. Katie went over hygiene with the kids and Scott and Georgianna did some field day activities. Then we had a late breakfast at Pastor Steven’s house (No adventure meats this morning, but we’ve dubbed Pastor Steven, T.O. because he looks like an out of shape Terrell Owens to me).  Then the adventures began.

Primary school kids were sitting CLOSE

Pastor Steven wanted “to take us to the local primary school and do some activities.”  That’s about as much detail as we were given as far as info about the school and what we were doing there.  We get to the Ibule Primary School and it consists of about 300 kids that all gather around us when we drive up.  Let me be clear. Gather all around us means get as close to us as possible.  The last “muzugu” (Caucasian) team they saw was in 2009 and I’m not sure if any aid team came out to this school before then.  The children were fascinated with us, and at times it felt very consuming. Every time we turned around they were closer to us and trying to sneak touches of our clothes, skin, etc. Needless to say, it was pretty overwhelming to try and lead our activities with only 5 of us but we broke them up into their respective classes and did similar lessons to what we did at the nursery school.  They actually had a short closing ceremony for us and thanked us for the teaching, visit, and encouragement.  They’re really just happy to know that people out there care.

Then, Pastor Steven told us we were going to drive by the government school in that area to see the layout, but something was lost in translation because before we knew it we were driving down a footpath into the bush. After a few minutes we were driving through a combination of corn fields and grass as tall as our van. That’s when the primary school children went “children of the corn” on us.  Full of excitement from our brief visit at the Ibule Primay School, many of them decided to run after the van when we were pulling away from the school.  It was adorable at first, but the large herd of children just kept following us.  Then they would try and jump on the back bumper of the van, hang onto the windshield wiper, and jump up and slap the window. It was bizarre. We continued to drive the minivan through the maze of grass and crops for several kilometers. The kids just kept running with us.  This scenario went on for about 30 minutes until we arrived at the next village.  We never made it to the government school. Other plans had been made.

Village of around 700 came out to see us.

A "line" formed quickly to see Katie.

It was apparent that the remote village (Ayera) was expecting us. After we arrived, the village elders called us into a hut and served us sodas and then the elders led us to a clearing in the bush where the ENTIRE village was waiting for us. They performed a few songs for us and asked us to speak.  We did our usual introductions and decided we could do a health clinic, since we had the medical supplies with us and this area is next to a swamp so malaria is a very bad problem here.  With Katie leading the charge, we did an impromptu malaria-focused medical clinic. This time it was mob style. I have a whole new understanding of mob mentality. As soon as we announced that we would be doing malaria testing, it seemed the majority of the village started running towards us to be the first person in line to be tested.  Mothers scooped up their children and fought for a position close to Katie. It became so out of hand that the community leaders had to intervene.  No one was beaten, but one of the leaders did wave around his large bamboo stick as he yelled over the villagers.  It was very hectic, loud and intense.  Katie was grace under fire and we were able to help her with charting and medication dispensing.  30% of those tested in the village were positive for malaria and we were able give them the medicine that will cure it.  Catching and treating malaria early is key. Many people here don’t catch it in time or they can’t afford the treatment and they die from the malaria.

By the time 5:30 rolled around, we had to wrap up the clinic. Unfortunately, we offended the village leaders because we had to leave before dark – but there was no way we would have been able to drive on the footpath in the dark.  They wanted us to stay, take tea, and eat dinner with them. But we graciously apologized and hit the road. A smaller herd of children followed our van again to the main road.  Overall, we learned a lot of lessons today.  Number one, you have to be flexible when doing missions in this continent.  Things get lost in translation and the culture is on a whole other set of rules (and clock) – you just have to roll with it (which our team has been great at doing).  Number two, setting up a clinic is an exercise in logistics and you should always have a plan before announcing free medical care to a village.  Number three, the villagers here desperately need better medical care. These folks are lucky if they get to see a doctor once every few years. Most can’t even afford the motorcycle taxi into the nearest town to even see a doctor (which is why we got mobbed – wouldn’t you fight your way to the front of a line to have your child see a nurse if they hadn’t had any formal medical care in 5 years?).  And lastly, the villages/tribes here are very formal.  Opening/closing ceremonies, afternoon teas, dinners, etc – these are all standard for “important” visitors and to refuse them is naturally offensive.  Whoops! But our team leaders knew that our team’s safety was the biggest priority so they made the right decision in leaving before dark.

Like I said, today was one of the most adventurous and wild days that we've had here in Uganda - it was totally awesome. Adventure Missions!

Malaria Shmalaria

We woke up bright and early and grabbed some breakfast at the hotel. I have finally found the perfect breakfast buffet combo for me (1 sausage link, 1 scoop of baked beans, 2 pineapple slices and 1 fingerling banana). I top it all off with a cup of coffee and then a cup of African tea (milk + tea + ginger+ sugar).  It beats Wheaties any day of the week.

Our digs in Apac

Then we all piled into the van and headed toward the small village of Apac.  It’s an even more remote town. It was about a 3 hour drive to the town with the last half on a very poor dirt road laden with pot holes. By pot holes I mean craters the size of a small sedan.  Keep in mind that we are entering the rainy season and the daily showers have made the pot holes small lakes.  It wasn’t rare to see a mother duck and her ducklings swimming in the pot holes as we approached.  At one point during our drive we got stuck. Wheels were spinning and our van was at a treacherous angle, and it wasn't budging. In our brilliant ingenuity we decided to start rocking the van by leaning back and forth in our seats. Within a few moments the van started moving with the momentum of our bodies and we were out of the hole and on our way again.  The last third of our trip consisted of a lot of zigging and zagging to avoid the largest craters and bumping along through the small holes.

A new school being built by the Apac community

We arrived at our lodging just in time. I was getting a little dizzy from our swaying van.  It was pretty obvious as we pulled into town that Apac doesn’t see many visitors. We checked into a small hotel with  round, mud hut inspired guest “houses” named after different African countries. It was very simple accommodations with a small bed, bathroom and the all-important mosquito net. 

You see, according to the World Health Organization, Apac is the malaria capital of the world.  The mosquitoes mean business. Apac is settled on a large swamp and the flying insects are rampant.  Our contact in Apac, Steven, met us as we drove into town.  After we dropped off our bags in our room, he took us to see the nursery school and then the primary school that was under construction. That location was even more remote.  We are driving through tall grass just to get there. As we were walking the grounds of the construction site, a small audience started forming. There was a collection of 3 then 6 then 10 people watching us from afar. They slowly got closer and closer until Katie was able to walk up and introduce herself. They were just as fascinated by us as we were with them.

Katie making friends

Then it was time for two of our team members to leave us to head back to the states.  Anne and Chris grabbed their belongings and went with the 2^nd driver and van back to Entebbe to fly out the following morning. We were told that the trip back to Entebbe would only take 3 hours but luckily our trip leaders knew that 3 hours African travel time can vary greatly. We later learned that the trip back to Entebbe took 7 hours, but they made it there and were able to catch their flight out the following morning.

The rest of us went back to Pastor Steven’s home which is attached to the nursery school (Pastor Steven was our Apac contact and guide while here). They had prepared a traditional African meal for us that consisted of rice, goat, goat parts, and boiled potatoes.  It was all quite tasty aside from the goat parts (unless you’re a fan of livers, gizzards, etc – then it all would have been quite tasty).  Each meal is accompanied with African tea, which, as mentioned before is pretty much just pure milk and sugar flavored with some tea… so amazing. 

Ground nuts and African tea

After lunch we were asked to join Pastor Steven and his church congregation.  There were some introductions made, Scott spoke and then it turned into a Question/ Answer time for the Americans.  It was quite a social experiment.  They would ask a question about our culture and one of our team members would answer.  Then Pastor Steven would translate. However, his translation always seemed to take on a life of its own (i.e. Our 2 sentence answers was translated into 5 to 10 minute sermons).  There were even some additional laughs from the audience.  We caught on quickly. Pastor Steven liked to spice up our answers.  Who could blame the guy – he did have a captive audience and we obviously weren’t providing very funny material in our answers, so he had to improvise.  This Q&A session went on for two or three hours. We were even fed ground nuts & African tea as a mid-session snack.

So after that wrapped up, we headed back to his house for some dinner. This time it was greens, rice, chicken, cassava and of course, more African tea.

Dinner at Pastor Steven's!

Being the malaria capital of the world, we had to have a special chemical to spray on our mosquito nets. Prometherin is a life saver. There were indeed little blood suckers swarming our bed, but within minutes of spraying Prometherin on the net, they were dead!  It was a small victory before the 2^nd fleet of bugs came in the room.  Whether you’re in the USA or in Africa, nothing is more satisfying then killing a mosquito – don’t you think?          

With our powers combined - we are team Galileo School!

The local kids LOVE seeing their own pics.

Today we had 3 specific goals to accomplish. One goal was to take a picture of all the currently enrolled students and try to learn their family situation (parents, one parent, no parents, etc).  Another goal was to do some health/medical training for the parents.  And the last goal was to get interviews done with some of the key members of the school and community (like the Headmaster of the school). 

To accomplish our goals, we broke into teams.  Jaklin and I were in charge of photographing the 150+ children and trying to get their parental situation nailed down.  We ended up going class by class and taking each students photo.  We also had a translator helping us understand if the child had parents or not.  Sadly, quite a few had lost a parent or had no parents and were living with their relatives.  This area was pretty badly affected by the war.  In all, we ended up taking pictures for about 6 hours and got a picture of all 187 students.  Hopefully, this can help to set up a future sponsor program for the Galileo School one day.  These kids are going to need help with school uniforms, a school meal, and school fees.  Right now, most can barely afford the school fees.

Here's Katie checking and redressing a boys leg wound

Katie, who Jaklin has dubbed, “The Galileo School Medical Director” did a spectacular job seeing villagers.  Our small team could only bring a limited supply of medicine (mostly pain killers, wound care stuff, and malaria test/treatment kits).  But Katie was able to help many a villager through either treatment or training.  Most importantly, she was able to sit down with the “school nurse” and give her more education on how to administer the supplies we had brought with us.  She even got to treat the land owner that had donated the land for the Galileo School to be built on (he has leprosy btw – Leprosy!!! But she was able to redress his leg wound – he’s barely able to walk)

Above is a short clip that shows the old school and the new school.

Georgianna and Anne were able to get some great video and interview footage in the village.  Some of these stories are so amazing and unreal (the Headmaster for example had his wife murdered by the LRA and was held captive for 2 weeks - he was able to escape before they killed him). And this is just one of many similar stories in this area.  Anne will be putting all the footage together and hopefully we’ll be able to share that with you guys this summer.  

Side note, all the kids are still wearing their bracelets and ran up to us asking to sing the banana song again J

"We welcome you vis-a-tas!"

Today was an amazing, sweaty, joyous and heart wrenching day.  We woke up at 6:00am and had a great breakfast in the restaurant of the Acholi Inn Hotel, while the drivers loaded our many bags of supplies and gear into the vans.  We ate as quickly as we could so we could get on the road to drive the 1 hour to Bul Kur and see the Galileo School.  We had to make a quick stop at the petrol station to purchase some water and to air up the many soccer, volleyballs, and footballs we brought for the kids. 

As we pulled away from the town of Gulu and onto the red dirt road towards Bul Kur, you could see the transition in the landscape. The drive became sparser and the homes you did see were small, simple mud huts.  We also saw few cars and plenty of livestock on the road.  We were all anxious but Georgianna and Scott were ready to the see the school that they had poured the last year of their lives into.  After many bumpy, twisty roads, we finally saw the white dot in the distance. It was the sign for the Galileo School, and Georgianna began to beam with excitement. “I see the sign! I see the sign!” she cried.  We all were like kids at Christmas with our heads out of the windows and roof of the van.

Shaking hands - look at this line of students!

As we drove closer, we began to see the 150+ school children standing in 2 perfect lines on the front lawn of the school. Then we heard it.  We heard the song they were singing in perfect unison. With smiles from ear to ear, they were clapping and singing a song to welcome us.  Talk about overwhelming. The song was in English and the chorus was, “we welcome you visitors, we welcome you.”

It was a grand ceremony for us, and the children introduced themselves to us individually with a curtsy and their most perfectly rehearsed English. “Hello, my name is ______, I am fine.”  In the Ugandan culture the girls bow to their elders. By bow, I mean the drop to their knees while shaking my hand.  But we Americans have the custom of bending over and looking children in the eye when talking to them.  They were very confused when we would bend down to their level while they were bowing. Many giggles were heard every time we did this.  It took us a while to catch on.

3 legged race

Our day at the school started out with games in the field in front of the property. We broke up the 150+ kids into smaller teams and sent them to a game station. Nick and I were in charge of the 3-legged race station.   Luckily we each had a staff member there to help us translate the rules into Acholi for the children.  It was hilarious to see the children run a 3 legged race. I’m pretty certain they had never seen anything like this before. After we had sufficiently worn ourselves out, it was time for “Lessons from Americans”! 

The children went back to their classrooms.  Katie, the nurse, went from class to class giving valuable, life saving hygiene lessons to the children. While I went from class to class teaching songs about peeling bananas and making bracelets with the children. Valuable? No.  Silly? Yes.  Nick was hanging out with Ann, the documentary filmmaker, and learning to film incredible B roll for the film she is making about the school.  Chris and Scott went to talk with the elder men of the village about Bee keeping and the honey demand in the area.

"Eat Bananas!"

While we were working in our respective groups the desks were delivered!  It was so amazing to watch the truck, stacked sky-high, drive onto the property.

Desks are here!

 After a couple of hours we regrouped back at the van and we quickly shoved sandwiches in our mouths because it was time for the community program.  All the villagers of Bul Kur came out to put on a presentation for us.  They lined up 7 chairs for us to sit on while the rest of the villagers sat on the ground around us. For the next 2 hours they gave speeches, sang, and shared their stories.  It was one of the most touching experiences of my life.  There we were, this little team of 7 Americans, being thanked for changing the lives of the people of Bul Kur. Let me type that again for emphasis, changing the lives of people. With sincere gratefulness they told us of their struggles and the hopes for their children. Their desire to rebuild lives after the war they have lived through.  There were LRA kidnapping victims bravely sharing their stories of the hell they lived through and a brave, 14 year old orphan stood up to share her story too.

Sharing her brave story.

Dancing for us

Community leader

Then they sang and danced for us. They had written songs for us. In this Acholi community, if people write a song with your name in it, it means you are in their hearts. You have touched their lives forever. They sang songs about the Galileo School, about Pastor Jackson (the project manager in Uganda) and about the American who came to help.  It was incredible. We wrapped up our time there and packed up the vans to head back to the hotel for the night.  We were beat but so incredibly happy. 

Who here doesn't have an AK-47?

Fancy!

So today we traveled up to Gulu, which was an awesome way to see Uganda.  Traveling up the main road we passed small markets, buildings, and lots of people.  Of course as you travel farther away from the city of Kampala, the sparser and less developed the landscape became.  After about 2 or 3 hours, we reached a bridge that crossed a part of the Nile known as Karuma Falls.  This is the point that “divided” the north and the south.  It was at this point in the not too distant past that you would have needed to have a military escort with you to defend yourself in case you were attacked by the LRA.  As we passed through the checkpoint (we’ve quickly become accustomed to all the police/soldiers with AK-47s by now), we noticed the “bush” quickly became a little thicker and there were definitely less buildings.  You can easily see how “rebels” would hide out in this jungle and be so hard to track.  After another couple of hours, we reached Gulu.

No malaria for guests - bad for business.

Entrance to the market

We checked into the Acholi Inn and quickly put our personal effects in our rooms.  Then we were off to see the school!  Unfortunately, it began to rain, and it rained just long enough that we knew the dirt roads heading out to the school would be quite muddy.  Since it was already early afternoon, we couldn’t risk getting stuck out in the mud and having to walk back in the dark (it’s about 45 minutes by car to the school each way).  So we called an audible and decided to check out the local market.  Not only would it be awesome to see where the locals bought their groceries and things, but it also provided first hand research into what kinds of things the local community purchased.  You see, the Galileo School leaders are trying to find ways to make sure the school can support itself on its own.  So they are looking into local business opportunities for the school (currently, they are looking into producing and selling honey).  The local market was this twisting, winding maze of shops that sold mostly clothes or produce.  Set back behind some buildings, you wouldn’t have even known it was there unless someone (like our guide, Pastor Samuel) took you down one of the narrow alley ways leading to the market.   

A local women selling beans and millet

Local honey - note the honeycombs and bees still in it.

Once inside, our team got plenty of smiles, stares, and looks (some dirty, some good) as we traversed the maze.  Often we’d ask to take someone’s picture but were denied.  It seems many people around here think you are going to sell their photo for money, so they don’t want you taking their photos unless you give them a cut.  

No doubt all the photo journalists up here over the last 20 years have intensified this problem.   Eventually, we did end up with a few good pictures, muddy shoes, and lots of research about the local honey.  Side note, the infrastructure for roads and drainage here is pretty much non-existent.  So when it rains, you end up navigating muddy roads and walkways full of a mix of rain water and probably sewer run off. Anyways, it was a fairly productive day given the rain. Tomorrow, we’ll get up at first light to grab breakfast and head out to see the school for the first time!

Watch Out

We had a great time in Kampala today. As I may have mentioned, our team was asked to speak at a Christian conference in Kampala.  There has been much hype leading up to this conference and people were traveling to attend this conference from all over Uganda. (from Congo too!)  

Nick and I had planned to speak on 'God's Design for Marriage' and we didn't want to let these people down, so we made sure to study up on our notes during the plane ride from Brussels to Uganda.

Keeping to our 20 minute rehearsed limit, Nick and I team taught and our message was well received. We spoke in English and Pastor Jackson translated it into Swahili. We even got some "Amens"! 

Y'all, submission is a confusing word.

Then they broke it down.  They wrapped our time together with a little praise and worship.

Watch out! These people know how to praise it up.  

Tomorrow we take the long drive and head up to Gulu/Bul Kur region to see the new school.  We are so excited to meet the kiddos and the villagers. It's time for the Galileo School doors to open wide!

Brussels Bonus!

Because of a little glitch with the travel agent, our layover was bumped to a full day in Brussels, including a night in the COOLEST Holiday Inn in the world.

We landed in the morning, checked in to the hotel, grabbed a couple sandwiches from the hotel lobby and then found ourselves on a train to the heart of the city.

The Grand Place

This is going to sound crazy, but this city smells wonderful. We stepped off the train and the waft of sugar filled our noses. There were waffle stands on every corner! Our group of 5 got to walk around the city, eat Belgium chocolate, and drink heavenly coffee laden with whip cream.  There were street performers, flower vendors and groups of local elementary school children on field trips with their teachers. It was quite picturesque and the weather was outstanding to boot.  I’ve already started my campaign to convince Nick we should move there. THERE ARE WAFFLE STANDS ON EVERY CORNER!

This small layover also provided the opportunity to get to learn more about the people in our group. Here is some trivia for our reading audience.

Katie: I’ve given her the title “Medical Director of Galileo School trips.”  She’s a nurse, an avid runner and she has a habit of joining mission trips with people she doesn’t know. (Case in point, joining this Galileo School trip)

Georgianna: Galileo School founder. She has a serious speed reading problem. There was a time when she flew through 90 books a year. WHAT?!

Scott: Galileo School founder, married to Georgianna. When feeling spicy, this IRS software programmer can bust out some awesome boot-scooting-boogie moves.

This morning we woke up early, dined on chocolate croissants, yogurt, sausage and fresh fruit before we caught the shuttle back to the airport.  When at the airport we were instructed to head to the “Africa Travel Check-In” counter. It was here we noticed the 3 very distinct types of travelers that head to Africa.

•         The obviously native African. They have traditional dress, speak in wonderfully guttural languages and usually have boxes of appliances that they are checking as bags.
•        The older white gentlemen in safari wear.  These men are either American or western European. They are wearing monochromatic shades of tan and white and they usually have the ideal safari hat to   coordinate with their uniform.
•         Hippies. They have backpacks, a tan from their days in the sun, cool accessories such as a woven bracelet or shell necklace.  They are mostly western European and travel in pairs.

I’m not sure which category we fell into.  Nick and I have backpacks, but we don’t have the unique jewelry nor sun burned cheeks. Scott has a safari hat, but is not wearing the coordinating outfit.  Maybe we are a hybrid of the last 2. Safar-pies? Hip-aris?

We have a short layover in Rwanda and then we land in Entebbe, Uganda tonight. We will land about 9:30pm and then drive into the capital city, Kampala. Tomorrow we will hook up with the other 2 members of our team (Chris- Galileo School board member, and Ann- documentary film maker) who are flying in on a different route.

BTW- The in-flight movie on the airplane to Uganda is a nature show about leopards. Every time I look up, I get an eyeful of leopards mating. This is going to be a long 9hrs.


P.S. I wrote this post on the plane. Update: We have arrived to our hotel in Kampala & it has wifi! We are going to stay one more night here before we head north into the Gulu/Bul Kur area. 

Lately

Let me give you a quick recap of the last few weeks, via photos.

Nick had a birthday.

Then there was an end of year party with the MBAs.

Then people donated school supplies to the Galileo School.

Then it hailed on us.

Then Nick's family came over from Thailand.

Then there was a party for us May babies.

Then Stacey & Bryan got married.

Then we had our last MBA Bible Study : (

Then Nick graduated!

Now we are getting ready to fly here.

It's been a whirlwind last month, but a great one. I'm so proud of Nick and his accomplishments, and I'm so sad to say goodbye to this season of our lives.  We have had the best group of friends that grew out of his grad school network, and I'm going to miss those who are moving away for jobs all across the country.

It's 4:33am on my birthday and I'm up, trying to finish the last minute details before we leave for 3 weeks.  I am so pumped to go back to Uganda. This time with Nick! How cool.  This will be a thoroughly draining and life-giving trip for us. Did I mention Nick and I are preaching to 300 people? Yeah, pray for us - cause we are gunna need it.  

So I've packed a couple books for the flight and plan to learn how to be a great foster mom on the long flights to and from there. Remember that application I was working on? Yeah, well I'm still not finished, but luckily I'm bringing the laptop with me & will work on it on the plane. I give you permission to ask about my application progress upon my return.  I need accountability. 

Any who, it's probably time I jump in the shower & head to bed. I've got a long 3 weeks ahead of me.

Toodles.