Making our way back home

Today I am writing from Jinga. It is Saturday afternoon and we are making our way home from Mbale. It’s been quite the week. On Wednesday, we went to Kamuli to visit the schools that ISU has partnered with to create school gardens. The school uses the gardens to produce food for the school lunches. Unfortunately, for the last 2 months the school lunch program was discontinued. It was reinstituted once the ISU students arrived last week, but it’s unclear if the lunches will continue once the students are gone. The school teaches children agricultural techniques in hopes that they will take that knowledge home to their families. It appeared that a large percentage of the students were malnourished but I’m not sure on the number – I met one Des Moines University student, Tamim, who was doing physicals on the children, but did not have figures yet. (Basil, your brother says hi.) The problem is not a lack of food, but a lack of knowledge about nutrition and how to get a balanced diet. It was a very long trip – about 6 hours each way, despite the fact that it was only about 150 km. There is a lack of infrastructure and roads which contributes to the problems of distribution of food. Oh, and we blew tire #5 for the trip so far. It was well worth the trip, and I enjoyed seeing the town, the VEDCO office, and the Namasagali Primary School. We ate dinner at the Jubilee Restaurant in Tororo (the owner traveled with us to see the school) before heading back to Mbale for the night.

On Thursday, we worked until around noon and had an early lunch. Out of the 6 single guesthouses and 3 doubles that we had planned to complete, we got the walls done and the plaster on all of the singles. Based on the budget, we decided to stop building after we laid the foundation for the doubles and potentially finish those next year. They’re smaller than we would have liked, so next year may involve expanding the foundations before building the walls. One single had about half of a roof completed and it will look very nice. The guesthouses will be small, but there will be room for a bed in the main room and a toilet, a shower, and a sink in the bathroom. Natasha and Ian, our Aussie friends working in the Malaria department of UWCM, have promised to send us photos once the houses are complete.

After lunch we packed some and got ready for the goodbye ceremony. It lasted from about 4pm until 8 or 9pm. All of the UWCM staff, the Ebenezer Village Construction Company (that’s us), and the local workers attended. We were only missing the house staff who were busy preparing a dinner for all 60 of us. The workers had gone home and gotten all dressed up for the celebration – it was really touching. The ceremony included lots of singing and dancing, people making goodbye speeches, presentation of parting gifts, and a large dinner.

On Friday, we finished our packing early and again had to say goodbye to our new family. The last Friday of the month is a prayer day at UWCM and it was quite the ordeal. There was constant praying and singing and testimonies. There were many tearful goodbyes to our yayas (sisters and brothers) and even as we pulled away in the bus, Papa David was singing and playing his guitar. We went to Iganga to visit the other group’s site. It was outstanding, but a bit disheartening. They built 2 school buildings with their budget, and both have roofs. Since they stayed within budget, they were rewarded with the opportunity to build a new brick house for a grandmother in the village who currently lives in a tiny wooden hut and is caring for 7 orphans under the age of 12. Even that house is getting trusses put on today. But I’m so happy for them at all the progress they have made. It’s really impressive. They even created a basketball court and a soccer field for the school by building 2 goals and a erecting a basketball hoop. It’s going to be a wonderful facility. We had a great lunch and enjoyed their (much briefer) closing ceremony as well. Then we headed to Jinga for the night.

We are staying at the Kingfisher Resort. It is gorgeous. The rooms are all doubles and are one quarter of a large hut. There is a swimming pool with a kids area on one side and a bar on the other. It’s right on Lake Victoria and offers boat rides by appointment.

It’s really hard to take. It’s a hard transition to know that we are staying at this beautiful, expensive resort in the middle of all of the poverty. That’s the point of staying there, though – to transition. Mooney says it’s to sensitize us to help reduce the reverse culture shock when we get home.

This morning, Jenny and I got up and headed into Jingatown. It’s on the other side of the lake, so it would have been a long walk. About half way to the main road, a motaboda stopped and picked us up for a ride into town. We went to the Source Café (the only place we know in Jinga). Jenny wanted smaller bills for shopping, so we went into the Café for drinks. We sat down with a woman named Paula and started chatting. She’s a missionary from the Netherlands with YWAM (Youth with a Mission). She had a fascinating story. She had met Edith (my host) at a conference a few weeks ago. A friend of hers, Elaine, visited UWCM a few weeks ago and I had exchanged information with her in hopes to meet up in Johannesburg in February. Small world. Paula is traveling to South Africa on Monday a few hours before we depart for Dubai. She will be working with HIV/AIDS in some capacity. We also exchanged information. She’ll be back in the Netherlands in February, but I hope to meet up with her again in a few years. I also gave her the UWCM contact information for the next time she’s in Mbale.

Since then, I’ve bee wandering around Jinga. I’m getting hungry, so we’ll probably head back to the Resort soon for lunch (it’s included there, in town we have to pay out of pocket). I plan to catch up on some journaling and reading – I brought 7 books expecting to do tons of reading and just finished the first one yesterday. On Sunday we’ll travel to Kampala and then Monday we’ll fly out of Entebbe. We have no problems with any of the flights from Entebbe to JFK. Parents, do not worry. There may be some flights changed from JFK to DSM based on how long it takes to get through customs, but the airlines are aware of that and will take care of it. Everyone will be home on July 3^rd as planned.

I, on the other hand, will be traveling to Michigan for a Tobin family 4^th of July celebration as we send Kevin’s family off to Burundi. I will be back in the States July 3^rd and you may or may not be able to reach me on my cell phone after that point. I don’t know if I’ll have reception in Fennville. Also, I have gotten used to not carrying a cell phone – it surprises me when I find it in my bag from time to time because I forgot that I had one.

I’ll be in the Des Moines Area from July 8^th to 13^th. Look for one to two more posts on my reflections in the coming weeks. I love you all and I look forward to seeing you again soon.