Newest addition to GSF staff,
with Emma, who held him before we
even got to our rooms
Looking out from David and Lisa's house toward GSF
We are here!! It is 1:02pm in Uganda, but only 6:02am in Atlanta. So while you all begin to wake up and start your day, I will give an update of our trip.
We arrived in Entebbe Wednesday evening around 10 local time. We got through immigration and customs without a hiccup, and met the Fishes!! So good to see them. Poor Lisa could hardly stay behind the door that they were supposed to stay behind, and kept getting scolded by the security guard! Finally, we were able to give hugs. We rode the bus to Lake Victoria View Guesthouse, settled in and had a good night of sleep!
Thursday morning - Breakfast at guesthouse was fruit (bananas, pineapple, and watermelon, eggs, toast and passionfruit juice. We left for a mall in Kampala, learned a bit about the culture and traffic (they drive on the left here!!). We had breakfast (yes, we did) at a lovely place that reminded me of Panera. Iced mocha and a chocolate chip muffin for me, please. The kids played while adults talked. Lots of European people in the city. We went to a store that was like a cross between Walmart and Dollar General. Prices, surprisingly, were pretty much similar to prices in the US. But remember, we were in the city, where travelers and more well-to-do people would be. At this point, I didn't feel like we were even in Africa yet.
As we headed for GSF, we traveled through miles of poorer areas. It began to seem more like I had pictured Africa. As we left the city, which smelled very strongly of smoke from trash burning and was hazy with exhaust and smoke, we got into more rural areas, dotted by stretches of "shops", painted with advertisements. Medical "clinics" stating they did HIV testing, labwork , basic care, and family planning were frequent. Not places I would want to take my family. An occasional larger clinic bosting more sevices was seen. We even saw 2 or 3 hospitals along our 4 hour drive. We stopped at the corner of the road to GSF (dirt) and the main road and got snacks. Chicken on a stick, bananas, chapati (like a fried tortilla - my favorite thing after fruit). Everything was yummy, and Emma tried everything. She talked to the other kids (Colin, from our church, and Esther, Elijah, Ezra, and Ezekiel Fish) and played games and drew with Esther.
The road to GSF was dirt... as soon as we turned onto the road, the dirt and dust went everywhere. At times we almost couldn't breathe, but we got used to it quickly.
Dirt on sugar cane along the road - looks like GA to me!
We started to see some houses and eventually got to GSF. The school children met us at the gate with singing, dancing, and smiles.
To be continued....
