Our last day together as a full team we drove into the center of Kampala for some last minute shopping. Ed and Vincent went to the NDA (National Drug Authority) for another round of "what do we need to do to get our medical bag?". We can happily say that we were finally successful in getting to talk to the senior drug inspector. He looked at our list of items, asked how many on the team and said that the items we were bringing in were reasonable. He had us write a letter to them stating these items were for our use and not for sale and return it to him. Although he was at lunch when we returned with the letter, a short wait allowed us to obtain the letter releasing the medical bag. But, it is now too late to drive to the airport to get the bag from their office so our faithful friend Vincent will go in the morning to obtain the bag (presumably).
We went to lunch at Cafe Java, an American style restaurant in Kampala and I believe each team member had a burger for lunch. After lunch we went to the crafts shopping center where there are about 50-60 booths selling African crafts and souvenirs. We then went to a coffee roaster for Uganda coffee beans and an iced coffee before beginning our drive to the airport. Did I say drive? I mean our crawl to the airport. We were in a tremendous traffic jam for almost two hours just to get out of the city. We were able to stay entertained as the street vendors walked past our vehicle and tried to sell us every imaginable product.
Once through the traffic jam we were on a smooth easy road to the airport. Once we arrived we gathered all the women's items and headed them off to the gate. We were not allowed to go inside the building, but got them inside. As we stood at the window to waive goodbye we were ushered away by the security staff. We headed back to Kampala for an over night stay. Wycliffe would not let us travel the road to Mityana at night for his concern of our safety. We got to the hotel; the Arch Apartments. This is the first place Annette and I stayed last year; it has not gotten any better. None of us got any sleep, but will head off this morning to Mityana.
We all thanked God for keeping us safe and allowing the women to travel safely.
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