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Published: January 2nd 2007
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The Barren Land
How I thought Africa would look! Once the sun came up, I looked out the window. Below was the barren-looking land you expect to see when you think of Africa. Knowing that it was still some time before we would land, and feeling that sleeping was probably impossible at this point, I decided to watch a movie…the selection on this flight was not as good as the one from LAX - LHR, but it was something to kill the boredom that was settling in after almost 30 hours of traveling.
Breakfast was not as exciting as either dinner had been, but it was something and since my body didn’t really know what day or time it was supposed to functioning on, it didn’t really matter. After breakfast was taken away, I decided to look out the window again.
The land below me was GREEN and lush, resembling nothing of the barren wasteland I thought I was headed into. I could see dirt roads and little square buildings that I presumed were houses. As we landed, Lake Victoria as off to the right…I didn’t realize the landing strip was right on the water’s edge! It was so beautiful!
The airport was larger and definitely not
Foliage and Greenery
Not what I expected to see as the plane was approaching my final destination: GREENERY!!!! as primitive as I thought it would be…and as I entered the building and stood in the customs line, I kept looking for the armed guards I thought I’d see, but none were to be found. Once through customs I headed over to retrieve my luggage. This is where disorder and chaos reside: in the luggage retrieval part of the airport! After about 30 minutes it became clear that one of my bags was missing. I had the box I brought for the Hurley’s (my host family) and the large duffle bag w/toiletries and stuff for the orphans, but no large pack w/my clothes.
“Are you kidding me??? Not the bag w/my clothes! I’ve been in the same clothes for 30 hours!” These are the thoughts that are screaming through my head! So, now it’s time to stand in line to file the paperwork for the missing bag. Turns out about 1/3 of the flight’s luggage didn’t make the plane, so there were plenty of us standing there all trying to accomplish the same thing, but as I quickly learned: nothing moves quickly in Uganda. With my “File Reference Number” in hand and the knowledge that the earliest my
bag would be in Uganda was Wednesday, I grabbed the “trolley” w/the rest of my stuff and headed out to find my ride, who had probably been waiting for me since 8:30am, since that was when my flight was supposed to arrive - it was now almost noon, local time.
My name was on a sign: “Deniece Lopes, SOS Ministries, 8:30 arrival.” The person holding the sign was not Shannon or Danielle, so I assumed that they had sent someone for me. Rogers introduced himself to me and gave me a note Danielle had written explaining they would see me at the house after Shannon finished preaching.
I have no idea how long it took to get to the Hurley’s house, all I did the entire way was take pictures of everything I saw and ask Rogers questions every now and then. As I’m taking in everything around me I suddenly think that, more often than not, the media portrays a certain view of the world and because we do not know better, we subscribe to the crap they feed us. All I can say is that I’d been here (and by here I mean out of the
airport) for like 15 minutes and already I was thinking, “…this place is AMAZING!!!”
Yes, it is a developing country, where poverty clearly exists, and so not everything is what we would call “civilized,” but there are name brands that anyone would recognize: Shell gas, Nokia cell phones, and the Coca~Cola bottling company…yes, that’s right, Coca~Cola has a bottling plant in Kampala. There are supermarkets, gas stations, bars and open-air fruit stands - where bananas are plentiful! Too bad for the Ugandan economy, but they will not be selling any bananas to me during my stay; however, the economy will undoubtedly benefit from me in other ways…there would be shopping at some point! LOL ?
I arrived at the Hurley home to find Danielle and her kids home because her daughter had apparently gotten sick the night before with some sort of flu. I was shown in, given a quick tour and shown where I’d be staying. I was to share a room with Faith, a 21-year old Ugandan girl who stays w/the Hurley’s, but also works as a nurse for the orphans next door. There
was a bed prepared for me and everything!
Since I had no clothes to unpack, unpacking was easy - I found a place to put my duffle bag and that was that. I took a few minutes to chat with Danielle, so as to not be rude, but all I wanted at that point was a shower and a nap. After a brief conversation, I headed back to my room, dug out my pj’s from my carry-on and headed for a shower. Luckily, the duffle bag did contain my toiletries and towel…”yeah, time for a shower!!!”
After my shower I took a nap, which lasted almost 3 hours (when I awoke I was afraid that I wouldn’t sleep that night)! When I woke up I felt like I had been run over by a bus or something…I actually stumbled when I stood up, as if I were intoxicated for something! I had no idea jetlag would make me feel that discombobulated!!! I got up just in time for Christmas dinner: turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, homemade applesauce, some sort of pumpkin custard bake, rolls and apple crisp for dessert...and of course my daily dose of Malarone
Finally out of the airport!!
After my luggage debacle, it was nice to be out of the airport and headed toward the Hurley's. (my malaria prophylaxis)- no malaria for me, if I can help it!!!
Sadly, I was still so out of it from the jetlag that I ended up taking another nap - this one only lasted for about an hour. Then I was up and spent some time getting acquainted with the Hurley’s - oh, there was one other American, Joseph “Joe” a physical therapy student from Chicago, staying with the Hurley’s too. Joe had never met the Hurley’s and I had only met them briefly when they were home in the US in October, so there was a lot for all of us to share and learn.
Sometime after 11pm I just couldn’t stay awake anymore so I was ready to say goodnight, when Danielle says, “You haven’t opened your stocking yet!” Oh my gosh, they got me a stocking!! That was wonderful gesture was just the tip of the iceberg as to how generous this family would reveal themselves to be!
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Julie
non-member comment
so neat Dee
Thank you for sharing your trip with us. Im really enjoying what you have written so far. Thank you for sharing. Julie Oertell