Arrival and Adjustment

Finally trying to take a few minutes to write a few thoughts on our arrival in Africa.  My apologies as it won't be as long winded or detailed as I usually am as all we have with us the next few days is the iPad and I am a terribly slow typer on it and plus suffering from lack of sleep since we arrived.  But, most importantly, we have arrived safely as did our luggage.  The hardest part was the second 8 hour flight (after a 9 hour layover in London) into Uganda.  We flew in at 7:45 am local time and we had to make it through a marathon day to try and adjust to the time difference and avoid jet lag.  Leigh from CLD picked us up at the airport and we took a taxi that CLD owns back to the house after they tied all our luggage to the top.  Henry immediately learned a new lesson that seatbelts aren't used in Uganda as he tried putting his on that was nonexistent.  It was a rough hour drive on bumpy roads with inense traffic, tough smells and just visual culture shock.  Avery already had an upset stomach from so much traveling and that was the last straw, so I tried to be very nonchalant as she threw up into an extra shirt I had.

But, we made it and they told us they were going to just throw us into the mix of things immediately, so we unloaded our suitcases and then started working with about 16 kids from the school that they were doing a week long summer camp with to try and help them one on one and give them new experiences.  Troy and I had a group of 4 kids to work with, so we tutored for a couple of hours and then we had a lunch break.  We walked to lunch in the village and it was an experience to say the least.  How you would know it was a restaurant in the first place was our question.  It was just a small shed with a curtain hanging in front.  But, the CLD staff had been there and no one had gotten sick from the food, which we later learned is the main criteria for picking where to eat.  Kids were troopers as we were just baptized by fire on Day 1.

After lunch they do activities with the kids, so we did crafts and got to know them a bit more.  Around 5, camp was over, so we finally had a few minutes to regroup and just try to sort through our luggage and how to arrange our room, and put mosquito nets on our beds so we could hopefully get some rest at some point that night. Then we got the call that dinner was ready and Resty the base camp manager had "Irish" ready which is potatoes.  The diet is going to be a big adjustment, and my kids have amazed me at how well they have done.  It is all starches and carbs.  The local main dishes are posho, myatoki, anc rice with various sauces, probably the most popular one being g nut, which is like a peanut sauce.  I guess there is a standard dinner menu at the house weekly which includes potatoes, rice and beans, spaghetti, and other bland starches I can't remember right now.

After dinner we just tried to find our pjs and bear through a cold bath after about 25 hours of traveling.  There is never going to be any hot water in the house.  The kids slept great, but Troy and I only managed a few hours each.

Going to be more brief about Day 2 as I'm getting tired and tired of typing on this thing.  We did summer camp again with the kids and it was out at the Thread of Life location where CLD has it's craft program for women to learn sewing and bead making.  We took public taxis there which was another adventure and it was shocking to see just how different the standard of living really is.  We had the unfortunate timing to be walking through one area where they were cleaning out the street gutters right in the middle of a huge market area, so it was challenging to see sewer waste just being thrown out in the middle of food, etc. and Troy even had the pleasant experience of getting hit with a small bit.

But, we made it and spending more time with the kids that day was worth every second of the culture shock.  They are the most resilient, happy, loving children despite of the conditions in which they live.  The highlight of the day was the kids making friends with these kids that they will be going to school with in a few short weeks.   The kids are amazed that we will be here to be their friends for 10 months are have welcomed us with such warmth.  We have already recruited Wilson and Isaiah who will be in P5 and P6 to tutor our kids in Lugandan and football/soccer and our kids will be their swimming and English coaches.

When we got back to the house, we got a brief tour from Resty, and realized to an even greater extent how modest they live.  She showed us the area outside where they cook over a fire and where they do the laundry and wash dishes.  How we have taken our conveniences for granted became very clear.

After dinner of rice and beans we then got more organized in our room, but are really hoping to settle in after we return from safari on 8/28.  We just need to get some basic things like hangers, laundry basket, etc. to begin to make it more functional and feel like home a bit.  But, as we drive and walk daily in the village it reminds us that the CLD house is pretty much 5 star and we are very lucky to be able to call it home.

Going to wrap up with that we flew to Tanzania today for our 5 day safari that begins tomorrow morning.  It is a bit odd, as we are now back in the life of luxury for a few days.  But, we are very excited to see some amazing animals.  Our guide came to our hotel tonight to meet us and showed us our safari truck and he will be taking just our family around for the next four days on this adventure amd seems incredibly nice and excited as we are.  Like I posted on FB tonight, my favorite quote of the day was from Henry.  As they were enjoying a nice, long hot bath again in our hotel, I asked them if it would be hard to go back to Uganda.  He replied, "no, because all my friends are back in Uganda,". Kids amaze and teach me every day.  As Troy and I were debriefing last night in bed for a few minutes being honest with each other if we thought it was going to be this hard, we ended up laughing about Troy being showered with sewer that day, and the kids just talking about how great it was ridng in the taxi (keep in mind this is after Avery I inaction ride involved throwing up all over!). 

Avery has been the best of all uf us journaling and sketching something each day.  We will try to find time to keep posting.  In the meantime, I have posted a few pics on FB.  These next few days we can't really post pics as we only have the iPad with us which we can't upload our camera pics too, so stay tuned for safari pics when we get back to Uganda. 

Until then, we will continue to experience each day as it comes and at this rate, our lives might just explode if the rate of learning continues at the rate it has been these fiirst few days.  It's hard to comprehend that this life may become our "normal" by the time we leave.  It has already been an amazing experience and we are only 3 days in.  Hope we are able to take you along on our journey.

Heather