African Holiday

Today, while Yoweri Museveni is being sworn in for his seventh term as President of Uganda, I am in the capital city of Kampala. Traffic between Kampala and the airport is hectic, even by Ugandan standards. A little while ago, I heard some kind of very loud aircraft flying unseen over the city. In some ways, it is a historical day; in others, it's just business as usual. This is Kampala, and traffic is always crazy; this is Uganda, and Museveni is still president. 

What, you may be wondering, am I doing in Kampala? Kampala is in south-central Uganda, and Karamoja, where I am supposed to be working, is about 340 kilometers northeast. The short answer is, I'm on holiday, although it is almost over. I start the return journey to Karamoja tomorrow. The main reason for my vacation was that my friend, Joey, came for a visit and, out of the kindness of my heart, I volunteered to go on a safari with him so he wouldn't have to go alone.

In the week and a half he was here, I tried to give him a well-rounded experience of life in Uganda. From the paved, crowded roads of Kampala to the muddy, unpredictable roads of Karamoja, where we had to unload and then reload the 30 beams of steel from Bob's truck so he could get it unstuck, to public transportation from Mbale, to slippery backroads of Kampala again when the main road was shut down because of the presidential inauguration, travel itself can be quite an adventure. In the food department, Joey got to experience chapati, roasted bananas, and meat on a stick, sold by vendors who swarm the car and shove their wares in any open window; rice and beans for lunch on the mission; mandazi (kind of like a cake doughnut) and African milk tea at the home a friend of the mission, and then second dinner of rice, chapati, boiled goat, and cooked cabbage at the home of two clinic staff. Oh, and fried grasshopper, which was also a first for me. Then, of course, there was work on the mission. Joey spent a morning at Moru a Grace preschool, learning Ngakarimojong spelling alongside the "Top Class" students. He visited the village of Nakaale with a health education team. And he spent two days pouring concrete at our new clinic building. Personally, I've never poured concrete, but I think "pouring" is somewhat misleading; from what I hear, "shoveling" is the better word, as they do it by hand.

After almost a week of life in Karamoja, we started the two-day trip downcountry to Kampala for our safari. Between the boat ride on the Nile and the two game drives, we saw a couple dozen elephants, at least as many giraffes, about 300 hippopotamus (one of which grazed right outside the tent at night! I have now been less than five feet from a three-ton hippo!) a leopard, a jackal, over a dozen crocodiles ranging in length from about a foot long to maybe about 12 feet long, four lion cubs and two lions, one of which crossed the road right in front of our vehicle, a couple red-tailed monkeys, and more baboons, water buffalo, Defassa waterbuck, Jacksons hartebeast, and Ugandan kob (types of antelope) than I could count. It was a very successful safari, and I was reminded that God loves to give good gifts to His children.

At times, on the safari, I was also reminded of my Grandpa, who passed away at the beginning of last month. Grandpa has wanted to go on an African Safari, and he would have enjoyed hearing about the animals we saw. I'm not a very good story-teller, but when the story is about a hippo right outside your tent, that's pretty cool anyway. Or the baboon that swiped a banana peel right out of a safari-er's hand. Or watching the baby crocodiles for a few minutes before realizing that the mother crocodile is right there too, submerged under the water. I won't be able to tell my grandpa these stories when I get back to the States, but the good news is that, for Christians, parting is not so much "Goodbye," as it is "See you later." I am grateful for that, because there have been a lot of partings lately. In some ways, missing people is a good thing; it means there are good people to miss.

Joey's visit and going on the safari were timely. As of today, I have exactly two months left in Uganda, and I expect to spend all but travel time in Karamoja. However, when I get back up to Karamoja, life and work will be significantly different: Rachel and Angela, the other two Missionary Associates who have been working with KEO for the past eight months, will not be there when I get back. Neither will Martha, my missionary of oversight who is in charge of KEO. When I get back, I have a week before KEO starts up again (the teachers have also been on holiday, although I am sure they've been tending their gardens and not safari-ing during their break). During that week, I'll continue teaching math and science (Caleb just finished Pre-Algebra and we are moving on to Algebra) and work on making sure I understand what my new KEO responsibilities are. Then, KEO starts up again, and I get to be point person for a few weeks on my own before Martha comes back to what will hopefully still be recognizable as Karamoja Education Outreach.

In some ways, despite the sadness of saying goodbye/see you later, I am grateful for the change and the challenge that comes with it. While I am excited to return to be closer to friends and family in the States and look forward to grad school in the fall, I don't want to check out of where I am right now. I don't want to coast during my last two months, and the increase in responsibility will, I think, help to prevent that. My prayer is for strength and wisdom to do my work with excellence, diligence, and cheerfulness, and that I would learn and grow in these last few months.

Addendum: I wrote this blog over a week ago, when I was still in Kampala. However, due to problems with my internet connection, it has taken me until now to post it.