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Uganda Feb 10th

It was a long day of travel, about nine hours back to Kampala from Kabale. The road is paved but very narrow and rough in many parts. There are so many vehicles traveling this road, I can’t imagine it will last much longer without repaving, but there is so much of Uganda that needs paving for the first time, priorities I guess.

There was one more health official Rick and Linda wanted to meet before we left, Dr. Patrick, the top health official for the Kabale area, he was traveling to Kabale from Kampala on the same day we were heading to him.

We meet him for lunch on the road in between at a hotel in Masaka. Dr. Patrick was amazed and very happy to hear about all that was accomplished at the clinic and we asked about next steps to get government supplied vaccines for the new refrigerator and an update to staffing.

To make a long and very positive conversation short, Dr. Patrick said he would make arrangements for it all to happen, right away. Once again, God finds a way and puts the right people in our path. We all had a concern in the back of our minds, that our “build it and they will come” approach to the new clinic might meet with so many hurdles it would take a long time for the clinic to really become fully operational.

So, a pleasant surprise to share even on a travel day.

It wasn’t all travel and meetings this day. We stopped again at the equator to scour the gift shops for a t-shirt that Rick had seen on the trip west. It just says “Mzumgu,” the term we heard where ever we went as people waved and cheered--a non-derogatory term, so we were told, for a white person. “Bzumgu” is the term for when there is more than one of us. Apparently we didn’t blend into the crowed very well.

Feb 11th

Monday, back in the big city of Kampala, I think I mentioned that after our last dinner together in Kabale we were approached by Dr. Ruganda Ruhakana, the Minister of Internal Affairs for Uganda and lead negotiator for the conflict in the north. As he suggested, we called his office and were granted a meeting with him at noon.

Having the appointment established allowed us to spend some time touring the African artist park near the government offices. We each found more than our fair share treasures to carry home. The time went quickly and soon we made our way to the office of the “Honorable Minister,” which is how we were coached to address him.

It was a very relaxed and positive meeting with the Honorable Minister. He was very glad to hear the story of our mission trip and was full of praise for Richard and Generous for their initiative and all they are doing to support their home village.

He also was very thankful for the help of our group and all those who support us in this effort back home in the U.S.A. At his suggestion we closed our meeting in prayers of thanks for God’s good works through our partnership with the villagers and for safe travels for our long trip home. I have a feeling this man will be a good friend to have as this mission progresses. How cool is that!

We had to cancel planned visits to two more orphanages as this was not really the model we were going with in our orphan program, but we closed our day by meeting Pastor Frank Mukiliza and his wife Lydia. It was a great dinner conversation as we learned of their path to the church and orphanage that they founded. He was very happy and thankful to hear of our activity this week and over the last several years. Before dinner ended and we went our separate ways, the pastor and his wife sang a song for us, in beautiful two-part harmony. The song about this being “holy ground” where ever we are together with God. We returned the gift with the song Sanctuary, one we had well practiced when singing before the village congregations and during our evening devotion times--A quiet ending to a busy and eventful day.

Feb 12th

Our flight is not until late tonight and we have to check out of the hotel, so we have a lot of waiting to do. The positive thing is it will allow me to get caught up on this day to day blog.

We started with morning reflections and devotions. The highlight was the time we spent going around the group with each person of the team providing the individual on point with words of affirmation for their role on the team and all we experienced together. As you might imagine there were a lot of tears and hugs from all.

Some of us continued packing and writing our blogs, others spent the time shopping for fabrics for a quilting project--a fund raiser yet to come.

Soon we will be putting it back on the bus for the trip to the airport. We are all looking forward to home and the ones we love and miss so much.