Home sweet home!!!

After a month away from home the last of our mission team arrived at the Sacramento Airport after 32 hours of flying and layovers.  Other than a few naps on the plane we were awake for over 48 hours and were so glad to be headed home to a comfortable bed.

We take so much for granted here in the USA, and we don't stop to enjoy all that we have because few of us have seen the world that lies out there for many more of God's people.  I believe we should be happy with our success as a society, but should also remember that we are called to love one another.  Taking the time to learn about people or other cultures and appreciate them for their uniqueness is a very eye opening experience that each person should have.

We were able to have an impact on so many lives during our time in Uganda.  We may never know if the seeds of hope, encouragement, learning, sharing and caring will ever germinate in the people we touched, but our hope and prayers are that we changed some lives.  

Physically we are all worn out and ready to adjust back to the comforts of our homes, our foods and our wonderful family and friends, but emotionally we will be forever changed by our experience.

Today is our last day of our month in Uganda.  We have said our goodbyes at the orphanage and at the worksite.  This morning we packed up our clothes (what we didn’t donate), our souvenirs and our great memories and left Mityana.  We traveled to Kampala for a little last minute shopping then headed off to our favorite restaurant Java Cafe’ for an american styled lunch.  We met up with Pastor James and his beautiful wife, Lillian to say our goodbyes to them.

We left Kampala early in the afternoon to avoid the traffic we had two weeks ago when we took the women to the airport.  We did pretty well, the traffic wasn’t too bad.  Before we go to the airport we stopped at the Lake Victoria Hotel for coffee/tea.  This place was definitely the nicest facility I have ever seen in Uganda.  We sat up on the second level lake view terrance and enjoyed the company of Wycliffe, Vincent and Hamid.  We had a great time talking about our time in Uganda and watching those three characters poke and joke with each other.

We arrived at the airport terminal at 7:30 and our flight was not until 11:30.  I can tell you that there is not much to the Entebbe airport so we sat in the cafe and watch CNN for a couple hours before they said to head to the secure gate area because the plane was going to be leaving early!!! Yeah, those wood chairs we killing us.  But, alas early in Uganda time really means it might be on time...so as scheduled we headed out at 11:30 for our 8.5 hour flight to Amsterdam.

All three of us were tired and had plans to sleep on the plane as we flew through the night, of course with the help of modern medicine we all did get some sleep.

We woke up and had breakfast as normal, but there was something hanging in the air.  We knew this was our last day on the project and we would be say goodbye to several people that we have become fast friends with.  At the site it was work as normal; lets move, lets get things done.  We still worked on the roofing timbers as some of the team finished the concrete floors in the building.  We are sad that we won’t see the roof on, but at the same time very proud that we have accomplished much more than we started out to do.  The construction will continue until the money is expended after we leave.  There is still much more to do and we could use another team with two weeks to help finish it completely.

God didn’t want long sad goodbyes so just as we were about to wrap up for the day He brought on a huge thunder, lightening and heavy rain storm.  We had our quick goodbyes to the people of the village and headed for the safety of our van.  Heading back on dirt (mud) roads in the heavy downpour with 9 sweaty rain soaked bodies added a final touch of excitement to the end of the work day.

We got back to the hotel for a quick shower and change of clothes because we had plans for the evening.  The rain has completely stopped and it is a beautiful evening.  We headed to the Mityana Baptist Church where Harry spoke to a group of about 20 young men and women.  He told them about setting goals and finding a way to achieve them.  It was inspirational to watch the youth taking notes and really wanting to know how they can succeed and reach their dreams.  Several of them said they wish they had more time to learn more and to have us there to help them as they plan.  Wycliffe said he wants to have a future session where we could spend the day giving a seminar to youth; there is such a need.  

We headed back to the Enro Hotel for a special dinner with some of the friends who have been with us during this mission.  It was great fun with lots of laughter and joy.  We have found that the people are so warm and friendly and truly care about us.  We definitely have made several great friends and we will miss them dearly.

This morning we went back to the Kiwumulu Orphanage to say goodbye to the children and the teachers who have touched our hearts.  Although each of these almost 100 children have lost both of their parents it is heartening to know that they are being cared for and loved each and every day.  Little David, the sweetest boy is HIV+ and has hope of a decent life at the orphanage.  The house mothers, teachers, aides, and administrators are all warm and friendly and truly care for the children.  It was sad to say goodbye, but we are encouraged by their work.

We headed to the building site and found out that the delivery of rock needed to complete the concrete floors was delayed as the truck was in the shop being repaired.  Thankfully the roofing timbers had been delivered and the crew worked on connecting the boards to each other to be able to span the entire building.  This is a slow process using a hand say and metal strapping.  Some of the workers had their last day on the job today so we gathered them all together for a photo.  There were several young men who are struggling to make it in this very hard life of Uganda, but we tried to pass on as much knowledge and advice as we could and left each of them with a bible.

We have one more work day tomorrow and will say goodbye to the project without completing the roof.  We leave knowing that they will be able to pay for the materials to get the roof done.  We will still need to raise additional funds for the doors, windows, furniture and the solar panels.  There is still work to be done to finalize the building past this point and we will be praying for God to show us how that will be done.

Today was a great day, everything seemed to go our way.  Our good Lord was making up for our blah day yesterday.  All our workers were on site today and everyone seemed full of energy.  We all go going on projects and there seemed to be a rhythm in our efforts.  Great team work and this morning's work laid out the rest of the day.

Just as we were cruzing along we discovered we were out of water.  Our only water source is 1 mile away down the hill to the lake.  As there was this animated discussion (all in Lugandan) I figured out what the problem was.  Henry, the sand and rock truck driver, was suppose to be here with more supplies and he was going to be our transport for our water jugs.  The workers were not stalled, they took the 12 jerry cans tied them to the back of two motorcycles and headed down to get water.  Way to go guys!!!  

Just as the motorcycles returned with water, Henry arrived with our cement bags and the re-bar we needed, but also to our joy the truck was packed full of the timbers we will use for the roof.  You can imagine how excited we were to see that lumber; this means we will start the roof structure before we leave.

As we have done for the last several days we and the workers loaded up in the van for our trip back to Mityana. Harry (Prince Harry) has become our front seat occupant and waves and yells out to all the kids as we are driving.  The kids love running toward us yelling hi or bye mzungu (white person) so Harry makes a big deal of it and the kids get so excited.  Dennis, I and the workers all get a huge laugh every day as he bring a little joy to each of the little lives.

Dennis is still seeing patients, but unfortunately many are infants and we are completely out of medicine for infants.  He is still able to help the older children and adults to some extent

We are all growing very tired of the food.  It is better than last year, but it is just the same every day and it is not something that we would normally eat.  The only exception is the pineapple.  We are devouring every one we can find, they are so good!!!

We have been thankful for the emails with encouraging thoughts for us and for the hope we are helping provide for the people in the village.

Off to a slow start and not as efficient as we would like, but we did make some progress.  Building the forms for the arched entrance to the porch took way too long.  Harry and I are very frustrated at times at the lack of planning and job assignments.  Too often workers are sitting because other workers didn’t think ahead and prepare the next task.  I’m trying to remember we are here to help and serve, but we also want to teach them.  Harry is really wanting to move faster, we are praying for more patience for him.  We all know he means well, but we are not going to change their way of doing things in one short month.

Dennis continues to see patients, about 25 or so today.  He is seeing the same things; fever, cough, congestion, back pain, and worms.  Most are children.  He believes that their lack of a solid immune system is the root cause.  They do not have a balanced diet; much of is is carbohydrates with little vegetables or protein.  Much of this is due to eating what they have always eaten and not trying to eat things with good nutrients.

We are planning our wrap up coming on Friday.  We want to get back to the orphanage to say goodbye and have a final dinner with Wycliffe, Pastor Abdul and the others.  We were hoping to have the roof on, but it is not looking promising at this point.

It is our day of rest after working hard all week.  We attended the morning bible study and worship service at the Mityana Baptist Church.  It is always inspirational and lively during the 3+ hours we are there.  The people are all so warm and welcoming it is a joy to be with them.

We went to lunch after with Wycliffe, Pastor Abdul, John and Hamid.  We went to the New Highway Hotel for a change of pace, but the food is similar to our hotel.  We had great conversation and really enjoyed our time together.  We said good-bye to John as he is leaving for Seminary.

Wycliffe took us to the Ttanda Archeological site, which to say the least was curious.  It is basically an historical site where they have found 240 holes in the ground.  They appear to be about 3 feet across and some are very deep and interconnect underground.  It is not know how or why the holes are there, but there are certain people who believe that it is the location of certain spirits.  People come to worship these spirits and  to place spears (different types for different reasons) to the spirits.  It is really similar to idol worship with food sacrifice.  Very odd.