Continued First Day

A few of the Suubi(hope) Women

On the way, Moses told me that God had told him that he needed to take me with him and Julie to the hotel and that he knew in his heart that he could not leave me at the airport, he said he saw how nervous and confused I looked, that's why he tried so hard to explain that he just wanted to help me. I thank God for him.

When we arrived and as we were unloading all my stuff AGAIN, a man pulled up and said his name was Abdula and he had come to get me. He said that he had gone to the airport but when he got there they told him the girl that was trying to go to Jinja had left in the Wattoto an orphanage that Moses works for in Kampala) van. What happened was Abdula was running late and he got to the airport an hour after I had already left. He called Ruthie and she sent him over to get me on his way back to Jinja. I did talk to Ruthie just to be sure I was going with the. The whole way I was trying to hold it together. I had so many doubts in my mind while I was weak and at that point I had been up almost 48 hours without sleep, so that definitely added to my emotional state. Abdula, my driver, probably thought I was a crazy woman. I prayed the whole way!

I arrived at about 1 AM and was greeted with a smile and open arms. It is hard to explain the thoughts I had that night. Thinking back I don’t even know how it all came about, but I do know that through that whole ordeal I felt the comforting presence of God.

On my first day here Ruthie just showed me around town and I un- packed all my stuff. There are 5 other girls living at the Volunteer house. I have only been here a few days but I think it’s safe to say that I absolutely LOVE it here in Africa!

More to come,
Renee

First Day

This is the letter I sent home after first arriving in Uganda in September.
Enjoy!

I finally made it!
Well, I prayed that I would have an amazing adventure while in Africa and God definitely delivered. After traveling for some 29 hours I was exhausted (I could not sleep at all on the plane) I wanted to get to Jinja as soon as possible and sleep for 2 days, but that’s not exactly how it worked, you see in Africa people are not very schedule oriented. I arrived
in Entebbe at 8:15 PM on Tues. night and it looked like a bomb had gone off in the airport(maybe one did!) everything was torn apart and there was trash all over. When I got outside there was a large crowd of people holding signs waiting to pickup weary travelers like myself but no for me.

People immediately hounded me trying to get me to ride in their taxi or go to their Hotel. I was just trying to make my way though the crowd in the dark with 3 very large suitcases. It was not going well. I kept looking for my driver, but was starting to get a little freaked out because it was very dark and I was alone in a completely strange place with people shouting at me in like three different languages. A little while later, a driver named Moses came up to me with an American girl and said, “Here Julie you talk to her, she does not believe me. She will listen to you.” She explained that she had come to Uganda as a medical Missionary and asked if I wanted to come with her to the Guest House where she was staying and then in the morning I could contact my driver. I agreed to go with them because I was praying for help and as far as I could tell they seemed to be the only option I had.

I put my stuff in the van and off we went. Both Moses and Julie were so nice. Julie actually comes to Africa all the time for medical missions and she had some very cool stories to tell. As we drove though the city, I kept thinking there is no way that I am cut out to live here. It might have been a little different in the daylight but at night the city of Kampala looks very dangerous. Let me tell you it was frightening and I really had no clue where I was going. We finally got to the guesthouse and unloaded all our stuff and hauled my very, very heavy suitcases up several flights of steps. I was trying to call my Mom because I told her I would call from the airport but there was no phone and no one could seem to figure out how to make a call to the States on a cell phone. I just wanted my parents to know that I was safe. About 45 minutes after getting to the guest house Moses came back and said that he had talked to Ruthie(my contact in Uganda) and she said in the morning someone would come and get me.

More of my first day in Uganda to come…