Life in Uganda

After the hour and a half taxi ride (with several close calls) we made our way to Butebbe, in Mukono Town. Our home is on the second floor of a concrete building. The lower level has two shops—one a general store, the other a clothing store, with a woman always hard at work sewing beautiful material. Many crafts are sold outside including mats, baskets, chairs, and wicker dressers. A few women are normally outside weaving mats all day. Esther, our housemaid and one of my new dear friends, taught me (tiff) how to weave. She is working on a large mat for her family. Esther is busy cooking, cleaning the wash room, and washing clothes. She let me go to the market with her, where we bought all of the produce that we needed for today and tomorrow. On the way back from the market we rode boda bodas (me for the first time). I feel like a celebrity; the little children love to wave at bazungu (white people) and get waved at. They are so precious. My two favorite little girls that come and play with us at the house our Natalee and Christine; they go to the school that I will be teaching at. We’ve spent many fun times with them already—and it’s only been two days!

Chris and I are getting used to the new ways of bathing and going to the bathroom. The latrine is the wooden shack-like place outside that we go to the bathroom. There are two blocks that you stand on and squat. I want to be a boy sometimes. This may be the least enjoyable part of out trip, because of the smell and . . .cockroaches. Yes, there were three cockroaches, each about two square inches, resting in front of me while I was trying to go to the bathroom. Bathing is done in a 5x5 concrete room. We each have our own plastic basin, in which we pour water from the jerry cans. Then we wash with a cloth or splash it onto our bodies. Washing my hair is the most difficult part. Living without running water isn’t too bad. Every morning all of the kids go down to the water and fill up their jerry cans. Esther gets our jerry cans for us; she is buff.

The Loooong Trip

Flying sure is cool when you book your ticket and think about flying around the world. Then you get in line at Washington DC to get on your Ethiopian Airlines flight to Rome, Italy and you start to feel a little different. Long lines and different ways of doing things are a way of life when traveling internationally. Ethiopian Air was great however, despite long lines and such. The planes were great (Boeing of course for the family) and the meals were excellent. (Unlike United that had a meal that you could pay for between Seattle and DC!). I started the trip with a cold, so gaining and losing elevation was horrible on my ears. My left ear was semi-deaf until today, and it’s finally clearing up now. When we got to Addis (Ethiopia), we had to give our plane ticket to Ethiopian staff, and then our actual passport to Immigration. Then we were taken to the “Mariott” which was a pretty old hotel (also note the single r instead of Marriott). Despite the culture shock, we had a nice meal and a good bed to sleep in. We even had a hot shower…well after I figured out how to turn on the wall outlet so our hot water heater could charge and heat water overnight that is. Then it was off to Entebbe which is beautiful and has Lake Victoria as a backdrop. Our first trip in a taxi (minivan) was next. A taxi is a Toyota van (like the one my parents used to own) that has no middle seat in the passenger area. They are made for cargo but the taxi companies put a seat in the middle. Some seats are bolted down, some are not even seats. By law they have seat belts but usually those aren’t real. Then, depending on if it is an extended version or not, you can get between 12 – 25 people in one of these things. Africa is definitely a different world.

Thank You

After a little BBQ last night with friends and family, we wanted to take a moments and thank all of you that have supported us through prayer, finances, and all other areas that we've needed. We will be thinking of you all while we're gone and we can't tell you how much all of you mean to us. We couldn't do this trip without all of your support. Thank you so much.