And So It Begins...

After 36 hours of travel we’ve finally arrived.  Our plane landed in Entebbe at around 10 p.m. and after gathering our visas and luggage we made our way to our first night’s accommodation.  It was easy to enjoy the night’s cool breeze blowing the through the windows of our bus.   We also had a luxurious five hours of horizontal sleep before waking to a knock on the door announcing our ‘hot water’ had arrived.  Adventure number one:  bathing with one hand in a round tub the size of a salad bowl while holding a gallon of hot water in the other.  Some chose to simply brave the freezing water from the showerhead and just ‘go for it’.  Some of us did not.

By 6:15 a.m. we were on our way north to Gulu.  Leaving early ensured we would miss traffic.  Two hours later, however, our sixteen-passenger van sat amongst 5,000 other cars, bikers, walkers, street vendors and an occasional chicken coupe on wheels. Of course, all five thousand of us had to get navigate without the assistance of traffic lights, lanes or let’s face it proper roads.

The best part of the eight-hour van ride was the opportunity it gave us to see Uganda from the ground.  Villages came alive from our windows as people’s shop fronts painted the dusty backdrop that is their shops, homes and schools.  Children walked to and from school in their brightly colored uniforms.  Pink, blue, yellow, and green shirts covered precious little bodies with chocolate colored faces and white smiles.  Dana says the children look like the most delicious little pieces of candy and I’d have to agree.  These precious children skipped and ran along the side of the busy road sharing the space with our van and semi-trucks.  None of them wore shoes nor have they likely ever owned a pair in the lives.  Most mothers would have a heart attack to see the way these children share the road with vehicles averaging over 65 miles per hour, but this is their life, they know nothing different and manage just fine.  A five-year-old Ugandan child could give any native New Yorker a run for his money when it comes to dodging in and out of traffic! 

With only a few hours left in our voyage we crossed the Nile River and came upon a family a baboons. Relaxing in the shade and enjoying an afternoon meal, the baboons returned our curious looks with ones of disenchantment and dare I say it -boredom.  Nonetheless our van was thrilled to see the zoo at large and right outside van windows and wasted no time snapping a few photos.

Arriving in Gulu just after one in the afternoon we unloaded our things and settled in at Jo Jo’s Palace.  Our team was met by smiling faces and warm hugs; especially for David, Dana and Muffin who are old friends to many of the people here.  David and Dana are known as Mama and Papa and it was fun to see them reunited with the people they hold so near and dear to their hearts.  The most exciting thing for our group was to meet Tony, our leader here in Gulu.  He is a young man in his thirties and on staff with Villages of Hope. Tony’s smile is contagious and captivating to all whom he meets.  His love for Jesus spills over into his every word.  Tony’s English accent makes it easy for us to listen to him speak.   He spent a great deal of time helping us understand a little more about the area’s turbulent past, promising future, the current state of the villages around us and what we will be doing during our time here.  It is clear Tony has an abundant love for this country and for his people.

David and Tony, VOHA staff

And that brings us to the present.  It is now after ten in the evening.  Dinner has been served (spaghetti, fresh pineapple and avocado from the local market).  Dishes have been cleaned and people are beginning to retreat to their bungalows to catch up on some much needed sleep.  The night air is cool.  Sixty-five degrees with a slight breeze.  There is the distant noise of village life that can be heard just beyond our hotel walls and tomorrow brings a day full of service.

Our mission is three fold  and only additional to whatever the Holy Spirit adds to our plans.  Some of us will be on a medical team taking blood pressures and temperatures, distributing basic medications to fight off infections and most importantly: kissing boo-boos.  Others will be handing out mercy bags that are filled with items like salt, soap, sugar and as Matthew, one of our teenagers on the trip just told me, ‘Love.  The bags are filled with love.’  While it might seem like we’re simply meeting the basic and very temporary needs of the people with services and items such as these there is so much more to it than that.

Our prayer is that these people will come to know and receive the Real Salt of the world, to receive the Real Soap who can cleanse them from the inside out and that they would taste and see the Real Sugar that is the sweetness Christ Jesus.  This is the love Matthew prayerfully placed into each of his mercy bags today.  And this is the love we pray fills our own hearts and yours as well as you continue with us on our journey through Gulu, Uganda.