Sally and I adventured this weekend to Hairy Lemon. A tiny island 200 meters wide about an hour outside of Jinja. We met a friend from Swaziland that has basically sailed the world and while watching Modern Family on the porch of our banda overlooking the Nile, when our friend heard the word “Chillaxin.” We had to explain to him it meant chillin’ and relaxin’ and that’s really what we did the entire weekend…. And week.
To celebrate America on the 4th I tried my best to get in the spirit. I headed to Jinja, ate a burger, fries and an incredible peanut butter banana milkshake and celebrated later that night with corn on the cob, mashed potatos, guacamole, chapatti, brownies and chicken. An absurd mixture but delicious none the less. The power went out and Brian and Zach thought it would be an even better holiday with fireworks. Naturally, they bought birthday candles from the store, poured out the part that makes them spark and poured it into a vitamin bottle. There was a HUGE explosion and a brief moment of thinking that Brian had died. Happy 4th of July from the frat house!
A group left the house Tuesday to head back and they brought with them a pretty cool kid named Emma. He is headed to Colorado and then Montana for 7 weeks to have a double hip replacement with the help of some incredibly loving people. I’m so excited for him and praying for him like crazy!
Wednesday to Saturday this week I spent my mornings at a local clinic. One of the men we met in the village last week had extremely swollen feet and after talking to some of the people of Nakesenne that could speak English we found he has been in pain for some time. Sally and I have been meeting him at the clinic to have blood work done and some other tests done. It’s only one person we are helping, but it will make a huge difference in his life if some inexpensive antibiotics prevent large future problems.
Thursday was the Tjeko Fun Fair. Tjeko, a new organization, started in Jinja that brings a fair to different cities in Uganda and Iganga was one of their stops! Hearing about the day I wasn’t sure what to expect but I walked over the hill with most of Musana’s kids and could feel their excitement. The fair was a small scale American summer carnival and for a US dollar they could enjoy it the whole day. The kids danced, jumped on their first trampoline, played in a bouncy castle, played mini golf, relaxed in hammocks and even got to drive peddled cars on a track. One of our kids who normally walks with a cane was pushed in a wheel chair all day and I have never seen him smile the way he did when the staff of the fun fair took time to sit and bounce with him on the trampoline. I was interviewed for a Dutch news network about the day and about the rarity of the kids getting opportunities to be just that… kids. It was a really awesome day and getting to hang out with kids was a highlight of the week.
Saturday Sally and I started our incredible adventure. We hoped on a taxi to Jinja, walked through the market (because I want to buy 5 dollar converse shoes) and was swamped by Ugandans yelling at me to buy their shoes in sizes WAY too large for me. We grabbed a cinnamon roll and a boda and were on our way. On the bridge over the nile our boda got a flat so we switched bodas… twice. Then we decided instead of taking a matatu to Nazigo, the town our island is off of, we would boda. For an hour. At first it was awesome being in the wind like that. However, slowly, our butts fell asleep and our 3 bags and 3 people seemed less than spacious. We arrived at what seemed like the middle of nowhere and rang a bell. Within 5 minutes a canoe with a strong Ugandan man came around a corner maneuvering the current of the Nile. We jumped on and were welcomed by an amazing staff, good food, and all that is the island of Hairy Lemon. We spent our weekend talking and tanning next to a waterfall and watching DVDs of Modern Family. After dinner Saturday the owner of the island, our new Swaziland friend, told us that a rafting company had left their raft on the shore. Paul loaded us (and a bottle of wine) onto the raft and we were off to enjoy the river under the light of a half moon and a million fireflies. We were not aware that Paul was paddling us into “Nile Special,” a class 3 rapid. We safely made it through without any squealing and spent Saturday relaxing and reading before an epic sunset. Uganda is truly a beautiful country, much greener than Colorado!
We had plans to head to Kampala today but the plans changed when we learned that taxis were getting charged large amounts of money to enter the city. One year ago today two bombings occurred in Kampala. Security purposes kept us out of the city. A city that one year ago tomorrow, I was leaving for. I left for Musana Children’s Home almost one year ago. This past year has been crazy and amazing and I feel so blessed to be where I’m at in my life. It’s pretty cool to know that through the whole year Musana has remained in my mind and heart in huge ways.
So after our epic adventure I find myself back in Iganga. Hanging on the mouse couch, watching a 6 year old salsa, hearing screams in the kitchen as our volunteers make…. MEXICAN FOOD!!! There’s no place like home!
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