The hour spent in Kigali was excruciating. We could have been flying or already landing. But instead we were just sitting on the tarmac waiting for the inevitable last leg of our trip to be over. Though the flight was only 30 minutes after 19 hours in the air, 5 hours in airports and very little sleep we were ready to land and get off moving vehicles only to board another moving vehicle the next day.
Getting the bags off the conveyor belt was a comedy act in the making. Liz and I (well really Liz) could make a living doing stand up comedy. I would make a great laughing soundtrack. As could only be expected with this trip ALL our luggage came at once. That means 10 – 50 pound cases came out one right after the other. Now my job (actually designated by Liz) was to watch our backpacks while she off loaded the footlockers. We had three carts ready to transport them through customs; the problem was getting them off fast enough before they passed her by. It was somewhat reminiscent of the old I love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ethel were making cookies only the cookies ended up winning! The bins were coming faster than she could get them off – until she moved into hyper speed. Now we had three carts filled to the brim, one carry on suitcase, three backpacks and two pillows to lug to customs. We finally gave in and decided help would be a good investment. And so we screamed Uncle!
Now for those of you who were with us last year you remember you might recall how easy a time we had going through customs. I don’t remember opening a single footlocker and just walking out the gate to greet Phil. Well, as we should have expected, knowing our baggage history this trip, we started the trek for the door, and heard them calling for us for from Customs. They immediately asked for a list of EVERYTHING in all bins…and so we produced just that. Their next question was if we had any medicine. Now Phil’s advice was to not mention medicine but if they asked to respond honestly and so I did. With that they asked that each and every bin be opened. And so I opened the first. The top was filled with clothing and I was hoping this would throw them off and we could move on. But they proceeded to dig, like a dog looking for a bone and came upon all kinds of different medicines. As they were reading labels and I was starting to talk to fill the void, I suddenly mentioned that the carton also had Bibles. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I wasn’t sure if this was a good thing to say or not. Maybe the people I was speaking to were Muslims. But then God walked into the picture. Actually He was already there but I saw Him for the first time. The woman who had been so intent upon the medicine suddenly put the medicine down and asked if she could have a Bible. In my mind, I did a quick calculation. I knew that Phil had requested 20 and that Jen had ordered 24. So I was quick to respond with a resounding “Yes”. The three people with her than asked if they could have one as well. Well, I may not be very good at math, you can ask anyone in my family, but 24 minus 4 is 20. So Phil got what he needed, they got their Bibles and we got through customs with everything intact! Yahoo for us, and for them. They were excited and we were thrilled.
Then we went to the Entebbe Flight Hotel where we spent the night (Linda after no sleep for over 24 hours it looked very nice to us – it had a horizontal surface to sleep on). Phil, Susan, Scovia and Peter ate dinner (Liz and I sat with them but were much to exhausted to lift the utensils to our mouth) and finally went to bed at midnight our time! We did get a chance to see Susan’s baby, Keith, and he is just the cutest thing in the world! The next morning we got up and began our drive to Iganga. Once we got outside of Kampala and back on the red dirt roads with the crazy drivers we felt right at home. The countryside with the perpetual market places, goats on the side of the roads, and people everywhere brought back all the memories of last year. And when we finally pulled into Phil’s house all the children were there waiting for us. We got hugs from them all, recognizing some and astonished by the growth of others. Jen and Blake, I told Moses that you said hello and he immediately asked if I remembered him. When I said yes and his name was Moses he was so excited. I told him at some point we would phone you and he broke into the biggest grin. Mark and Jacque Phiona is as cute as ever. She too wore a perpetual smile! Actually many of the children were shy but I’m sure that will change over the next month. Then they went home to eat dinner. We plan to see them today as soon as they get out of school.
Phil, Liz and I sat up last night and compared our list of kids to his. He told us who has left since our last review and who has since come to the orphanage. Nine children have left for various reasons (I will personally communicate with each sponsor) and he has added 24 new children for a total of 139 children. There is a possibility that another two may be leaving but at this time he is unsure.
And so our day ended. We got up this morning and took showers. Yeah to that! Our last one was in San Antonio the day we left. We did arrive in Iganga to no power and it remained that way all night. By the time we got in bed last night it was HOT. So now we are clean, the power is back on, and we are good to go. But everyone around us is sick. I will update you again tonight. But until then know we are thinking about you and love you all.
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