Days 19 and 20 – 15-16 July 2017

For the first few trips to Uganda, we would work in the field every day, and not take a break. Then a friend of ours sat us down and told us that we needed to take breaks when we are here. To have “days off” to spend time with friends, see the country, relax and refresh ourselves. Last year was the first time we started doing that and this weekend was our weekend off for this trip.

I had my boys with me, and my big brothers Pande and David so we all loaded up and took off for an adventure. We headed about 30km outside of Jinja to Itanda Falls, one of the rapids of the Nile River. After a long bumpy ride we got out of the car and walked over to the edge and looked down and it was beautiful. We hiked down to the water and stood right next to the rapids, you could tell how powerful the rapids were by the roaring of the water. I’ll admit I was a little nervous standing so close with the boys..guess that’s the Mom instinct. We hiked down and around the falls to the swimming hole, the boys wanted to go in but the current was still pretty strong there so we settled for putting our feet in and skipping stones across the water. We hiked back to the falls and found a good rock to sit on and sat and watched for the rafters to come through, it was really super cool. After awhile everyone’s stomachs were grumbling so we headed out to find some lunch.

After filling our bellies with some delicious local food our driver Job decided to take us around to a few of his favorite spots around Jinja. We headed down to a resort on Lake Victoria where we walked down to the shore and watched the boats out on the water and searched for shells along the shore line. My boys thought it was pretty funny that I wasn’t afraid of the snails and other slimy creatures they were searching for. We played on the playground and also played some volleyball..which was quite entertaining for anyone who was watching.

We had a great day, the boys had never been to the lake, or down to the Nile River. It is so much fun to get to experience it all with them, and see it through their eyes. Especially with all that is going on in their lives, the day was exactly what we all needed. We headed back to the house to watch a quick movie before it was time to take them back to the village, they have to head back to school. Despite the circumstances that brought them back home, I am blessed that I got to spend some extra time with them and to make memories.

David and Pande brought them back to the village while we headed to town for a meeting with the clinical officer who ran our medical outreach. We are working on something great for the kids in our program and we hope to be able to announce it in the next few weeks.

Sunday morning David and Pande were still with us so we loaded up the matatu and headed to church. I love our church home in Uganda, we’ve been going to Acacia Community for the past 5 years and I am thankful to be a part of it. After church, we ran home for a quick bite and then headed to one of the hotels to meet up with our friends for an afternoon at the pool. The rain tried to steal our day, but it didn’t work and we still got in some swimming. It was a great afternoon, with great friends and lots of laughs.

Tomorrow starts our last week here, and I’m already not handling that well. I am never ready to leave, it’s never long enough and never enough time in the place I love so much. We head back to the village to finish our home visits and hopefully to finish painting our resource center.

Off to bed now….sula bulungi!