An overdue update...Lira, Kitintale, Jinja

So i want to apologize for not writing anything for a long time. This one isn't going to be a long one but i just wanted to give an update. On my way to Lira to visit Bosco's village, my camera was stolen. Luckily we have theft insurance to cover it, but it's just kind of unfortunate because I don't have a camera to take pictures right now. It's okay though! I'm thinking about getting a cheap cheap cheap camera or something. I'm not sure. Anyways. That trip was really good! You can read about it on Will's blog.

Kitintale Skate Competition- The competition was scheduled for the 19th. The night before, I called to confirm that everything was set with Jackson. He was very upset. His contact from Mountain Dew, who was supposed to bring the tent, chairs, sound system, etc., would not answer his phone and could not be reached. So i went in the morning anyways just to see what was going to happen. I got there, and all the kids were really upset because the Mountain Dew guy didn't pull through. I told them that i had access to a PA system if they still wanted to have some sort of event. They really liked that idea. So I was able to go back and get all the stuff. It ended up going really well. We played some music really loud and just had a good time. Each kid was announced and given the chance to show off their skills. They were happy.
...But good news. Mountain Dew contacted Jackson, and apologized. The official big event is now resheduled for this Sunday!!

White Water Rafting in Jinja - So we woke up at 6 this morning and headed out to Jinja. It was really crazy! I hope to post a clip of the video that we bought from the company of us rafting to tell most of the story. It was really tiring! and at some point, each one of us thought that we were going to die. At the end we were going through a Class 5 rapid and ended up flipping. Everyone has their own story about what happened to them on it. I went under for a very long time! I was definitely out of breath and was lucky to come up when i did. But i'm sure it just seemed like a long time. I can't wait to see the video. It was pretty insane.
On a sad note, I didn't get to bungee jump. They require at least two people to do it, in order for the bungee guy to come out there and set it up. Oh well. I might be able to head out there before we leave and get a quick jump!

Kisoro Uganda

The trip down there was pretty fun. Driving 9 hours on American roads is much different than 9 hours on African roads. It's definitely an experience. At one point, our vehicle gave us a scare. For some reason, it wouldn't go faster than about 10 mph, and much slower up hill. We all got out of the car and acted like we new something about diesel engines. Andy,Stephen and Anthony started poking and twisting random parts. Stephen did a really good job. I think he checked the oil level at least 3 times. Meanwhile I mingled with the locals who didn't speak English or Luganda and rarely see white people, much less white people broken down on the side of the road. Somehow we got it working! We also discovered that some white people must have driven through this way sometime and handed out pens to all the kids. Almost every other kid we saw on the side of the road would yell out "Give me pen!" Unfortunately we had a lack of pens ready to give out, so instead we gave them our melted skittles, which was all we had.I just got back from my trip to Kisoro. It was really nice to get out of Kampala. When left Kampala it was about 85 degrees and we were at 1000 feet above sea level. By the time we arrived, it was in the upper 50's and we were at 1900 feet above sea level. It was so refreshing to have some cool weather. I even got to wear my hoodie! Kisoro is on the edge of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It's beautiful. When you get close to Kisoro you can see 3 different volcanoes all right next to each other. The first one is in Uganda, the second is in Rwanda and the third is in the Congo. There is a big crater lake on the top of the one in Uganda. It was raining most of the day on Sunday and you could see waterfalls coming off of the volcano.
When we arrived on Friday night, we met up with George and he fed us dinner. It was really good. Rice, beans, meat and Jeanut sauce. Saturday, George took us to the 5 different locations around Kisoro where they have programs to support struggling children. They work with Compassion International. It was really cool to see the program from this side of things. In the U.S. I often come across those organization asking for $30 bucks a month to sponsor a child. It is amazing go to the place where the children actually are and see them in person. $30 goes a very long way in Uganda. That money means so much to those kids! On Sunday, we split up and went to two different churches. I got to speak that morning, unfortunately it was storming really bad, and with tin roofs, it gets very very loud. Thankfully it ended up calming down and the morning went really well. Monday we woke up very early to drive home. I woke up feeling very sick, and i was sick the whole way home. In fact my throw up is scattered on the ground throughout all of southwest-central Uganda (I hope thats not too much information for you). It was really cool though, we bought 150 pens and passed them out to the kids all the way home. It was awesome how much a cheap pen meant to them.

Get this widget!

Compassion – Make a Donation – Sponsor a Child

Getting Out

It's April! It's crazy how fast time has gone by. I will be home in less than 2 months. It's really funny because I've been in Africa for about 3 months now, and so far I haven't been outside of a city with less than 2 million people. It's really cool being in the city, but I really want to get out and see some more of the country. I've been looking at everyone's pictures on the internet from Spring Break, so I've decided that this next week is going to be my Spring Break.

So...Tomorrow we are taking a 4 day guys road trip to Kisoro. Kisoro is located in the mountains in southwestern Uganda. I'm really excited! Apparently it's one of the most beautiful places in Uganda. They say there are volcanoes. I'm really excited to do something different and get out of the weekly routine that I've been in for the last few months.

We will get back on the 7th and rest for the day.

The next day we are getting up early to catch a bus to northern Uganda. Will and I are going with Bosco to his village, Lira. This should also be interesting. He said they were excited that we were coming, so they are preparing to slaughter a goat.

Pictures to come soon...