Hours of uncomfortably repositioning myself in the airplane seat, scores of stops on the London tube en route to sight-seeing during an 8 hour lay-over, three croissant rolls to tie me over, and thirty-six hours of travel later, I arrived to the ICY house that I will be calling home for the next three months.
My time in Uganda has been incredible in just the three days that I have been here. I am grateful to have avoided the full potential of jet-lag and have been able to jump right into the rhythm of the ICY Ugandan lifestyle.
I have always wanted to walk off an airplane and see my name written across a white sheet of paper, held by the anxious people who dart their eyes left and right attempting to make eye contact with the person whom which the name belongs. My dream came true upon my arrival to the Entebbe airport. After getting my luggage, I walked out of the terminal and instantly smiled when I saw my name printed across white computer paper. The two young Ugandan people immediately greeted my with a welcoming embrace. Amanda and Moses volunteer with ICY in their free time from university studying and working. They loaded my belongings into the car and we began to drive to Kampala. The king of Libya was in Kampala that Wednesday for the official dedication of Africa’s second largest mosque, so traffic and closed roads dramatically increased the time of the average 45 minute drive.
Off the main routes and through unlevel dirt roads, the ICY house is located in Ntinda. I am sharing a room with Jen who is from California and the ICY development coordinator for the Uganda chapter. The house also has its first married couple of volunteers who are staying in the room beside me. Jed and Laura from Georgia are just a bit older than me, and arrived 10 days before I landed in Africa. They plan to be here through the end of June. Sarah is a local Ugandan who has been helping out with ICY and lives across the hall from my room. She is a spunky 24 year old who was recovering from a relapse of malaria upon my arrival. Wilson, also Ugandan, is the director for this ICY chapter and lives in a wing off the house. He is sarcastic in conversation and passionate about the LORD.
After I unloaded my bags and took a much-needed shower, I took a short nap until my first African meal of rice, beans, and avocado. I had the opportunity to visit with everyone a bit for the remainder of the afternoon, which was relaxing and fairly uneventful. It allowed for me to take in the African hill scenery from the courtyard of our house and watch the sun go down before having dinner and finally being able to stretch out and have a horizontal sleep after two days.
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