We awoke in our Ggaba Road hotel to a stuffy room, as the power never came back on to power the fan. Like I said before, this is what happens in Africa. It seems so strange to us to live without electricity for more than a few hours, but no one here has air conditioning and everyone has a generator if they can afford it. We had a small breakfast, packed our bags for the trip home, and waited for David's van to pick us up.
We made our way across town through the crowded Saturday morning Kampala traffic to pick up the boys for a day of fun. Kampala traffic is great! Speed limits are implied, there are no stop signs, and there are very few street lights. Everyone, pedestrians, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, cars, and vans, all just share the road. There is also no concept of "safe distance" or "personal space." Anything with wheels is used to haul every sort of cargo: human, animal, plant, or object. Jonathan enjoyed the libertarian approach to traffic.
We picked up Nicholas at his home, then Stuart and Brian at theirs and headed off to a market for a little shopping. The market was clearly set up mostly for tourists, so we bought a few gifts for our friends back home and left, lest we bore the boys. Onward to Garden City Mall.
This mall was pretty similar to an American mall, but with an outdoor kind of feel. The boys had not had a lot of experience with shopping malls (perhaps none at all), so this was a very new experience for them. We wandered around the mall a bit and soon decided that we were hungry enough for lunch. Ugandan mall food courts are a bit different from their American counterparts. The basic layout looks just like what we are used to, but instead of approaching the restaurant and ordering, you just sit down and waiters from all of the restaurants swarm your table to hand you menus. There was a pretty wide selection of international foods so Kelly and Jonathan had Greek and Chinese food while the boys all fried chicken and chips (aka fries), with rice and Coke. The food court has a balcony that overlooks a beautiful golf course so we all stood there and watched the golfers and storks that roam the landscape.
We found our way upstairs to an arcade where we spoiled the boys with video game tokens for a while. The boys might never have played games like this before. Most of the games were a bit out-dated but fun nonetheless. They were really into the equipment-heavy games like the ones that have plastic motorcycles you actually sit on and guns you fire at the screen.
The arcade also has a bowling alley, which proved to be the most fun. We thought it best to put up the bumpers on the lane, reasoning that chucking the ball at the pins without gutters might better suit the skill level a group of boys. We were right. We also eschewed all convention and played the most anarchic game of bowling ever played. No one took turns and no scores were kept. The game's computer keeps score, but everyone just hucked the ball at will any time they felt like taking a turn. There was probably more dancing and hand-standing than bowling that afternoon. We had the whole place to ourselves!
Bowling was followed by ice cream! We lounged lazily at the ice cream shop and enjoyed some sweet, cold treats. Jonathan got a coveted energy drink instead, the first in about a week, which is very difficult for an addict. We took the boys to a grocery store downstairs and gave them a little free spending money. Stuart and Brian bought very practical food items instead of toys, which surprised us. Nicholas bought a soccer ball (please note we had given Stuart a soccer ball yesterday so maybe he felt he had what he needed in that dept) Stuart fell asleep in the van on the ride home and Kelly held on to his melted icecream so he would not spill it on himself.
We dropped off Nicholas at his home and met his caretaker, who told us a great deal more about Nicholas' story. It turns out that he has been passed around among family members for several years and no one could take care of him long-term. One person, an Uncle, even tried to kill him at one point. We also heard the story of another girl, Rachel, that his caretaker brought into the family. It is a real blessing that this sweet family has given Nicholas and Rachel a home and that the Africa Renewal Ministries US office can sponsor Nicholas. We left him with some snacks and toys (including a Frisbee we showed them how to use), prayed with them and said our goodbyes.
Next, we visited Stuart's family. Mamma Gitta welcomed us in again and Stuart retrieved a borrowed bicycle to ride with Jonathan. Jonathan, being unable to shut off his bicycle mechanic instincts, pulled out his tools and made some minor repairs and adjustments. Jonathan and Stuart raced up and down the dirt roads in the neighborhood and a small crowd of children gathered on the sides of the street to witness the mzungu on a bicycle doing wheelies in the street. Breathless and sweating, the boys finally returned to visit with Mamma Gitta, Kelly, and Reagan. We gave Stuart a few more gifts, drank some awesome juice, and got to see pictures of their family as they tell us more about their lives. Mamma is an extremely resourceful woman who is friendly and hospitable. Reagan is a bright young man, we see he has a bright future despite the fact that he doesn't have a sponsor to help fund his education. Brian is quite, but friendly. He also doesn't have a sponsor. Mamma Gitta funds their education by selling both her own produce in the market and also working in the market selling others produce for them. She uses the money we send her wisely, buying goats or chicks that she can raise and then sell. They have a nice little house with electricity and all, with 4 banana trees and a small crop of maize in the back which they grow to sell. Mamma Gitta had saved two (live) chickens for us as a gift to take home, but we had to explain that we could not take them home. Even if we could carry them, customs would have never allowed them into the country. The fact that we would not know what to DO with a pair of chickens if we got them home. We did not want to handle them anyways because their were fierce looking chickens. Tiny dinosaurs with feathers! It was the sweetest gift though. We asked her to either eat them or sell them at the market instead.
Saying goodbye was difficult. We have spend several years now sponsoring Stuart and returning his letters, and this time in his home was way too short. We wished them all well and took in all the love and images we could before shuttling off in the van. Stuart was very strong, trying to hold back tears, but who knows how he managed after we left.
We attended the Saturday evening church service at the Ggaba Community Center Church with our guides. This seemed to be the youth-driven service, similar to Sunday evening college ministry services we have attended in the US. The music was loud and the message uplifting. We could not stay late though, we had a plane to catch. We picked up David's girlfriend and drove with them and Michael with his wife toward the airport. We passed miles of suburban Kampala, mostly old buildings, shacks, shops, and crowded roadsides. It was Saturday night and everyone was out walking and riding bikes around the neighborhoods.
We ate dinner at a nice restaurant near the airport and Lake Victoria. It was a lovely cool evening and we were just three young couples enjoying a night out with dinner. It was just like any other night out with friends for us, but these Ugandan friends were new and very different from us in several ways. It's amazing how dinner and Jesus can make all those things fade away and we can just enjoy each others' company.
We were dropped off at the Entebe airport with warm goodbyes, but our hearts were heavy with knowledge that we would soon be leaving this wonderful warm place. The flight back was the usual blur of zombie-like consciousness. We shared a plane with several of the crew we left in Rwanda just a few days earlier, who were all following roughly the same route back to the US through Amsterdam. We had (more) coffee in the airport at Amsterdam and caught up with our crew there to swap stories about the things we did after we split up. Apparently the Saddleback group had more than a few close encounters with baboons in Rwanda. Fun!
We finally arrived in Atlanta after what might have been the longest day ever! We had been chasing the Sun around the globe for a few hours. The day was also our wedding anniversary, but we were too pooped to go out and celebrate. Ian picked us up from the airport and we made our customary visit to Taco Cabana (there's only one in Atlanta, thank goodness it's there though). Every journey should end at Taco Cabana with a friend sharing our journey.
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