Farewell...

Is the summer over already!? I feel like I just got here. I can't believe I am flying out tonight! The past few weeks in the village have been amazing, words cannot describe how great those kids are. We have had so much fun everyday...

I went on Safari last week for 3 days up north. I went with another volunteer from Ireland. We drove up on Tuesday and stayed in army tents with beds in them. The restaurant/bar was really nice and the food was great. We were staying in the middle of the game park so we had warthogs and hippos in our camp, that was sweet. On Wednesday morning we woke up when it was still dark outside and got in our safari trucks to catch the little ferry boat across the nile to begin our adventure. It was beautiful watching the sun rise over the nile. From there we went on a four hour safari and saw giraffes, elephants, lions, antelope, monkeys, buffalo, and other wild animals. Then we went back to the camp for lunch. After lunch we went back to the nile for a boat trip to the major falls in Murchison. We saw hundrens of hippos, seriously, and tons of crocs. We came so close to them! After that we went back for dinner. Thursday morning we hiked up to the falls for a couple hours then drove 6 hours back to Kamapala...

We got to Kampala around 5:30. I got to Mukono around 6, then I had to take a mutatu (taxi van) to Kisoga which takes a good 45 minutes. Of course my van didnt leave until close to 7. The road is an awful, bumby, dirt road and I hate taking it at night. Tina had said storms were coming but they all seemed to be going around the village, so that was good news. The mutatu finally leaves, with 20+ people in a 14 passanger van as usual. It gets dark half way there and there is massive lightening and thunder but no rain. So we reach Kisoga a little after 8. Its black outside. I get bombarded by boda boda (motercycle) drivers when I get off the mutatu, and my usual driver is not there. So I am a little nervous being alone at night. So I pick a boda driver and we hurry because at this point its starting to rain, and the only way to get to my village is by moterbike, thats how bad the little trail/road is. We leave and no more than half way there it starts down pouring. And let me just say that when it rains in Africa, it RAINS in Africa. So here we are in the midst of this huge thunderstorm. He pulls of at a random house/hut along the road because we obviously can't continue. We are soaking wet and walk into this house with an older lady laying on a mat on the floor and about seven children. None of them speak English, and I come to find out my boda driver desnt either. So we had small talk in the very little luganda that I know and sat there for a good 30 minutes. I loved just sitting in that house the family, listening to the rain pound on the tine roof, sitting my candle light. It was truly a God moment and really experiencing Africa... When the rain let up again we left, but the storm was still going strong. We sped through the now river to my village. The boda couldn't go down the lane to my house because it was too muddy, so here I am at 9pm walking through the tea plantation in muddy water, in the middle of a thunderstorm! I was laughing so hard. I got to my house and 10 kids were crammed inside with Tina waiting for me to come home. Water was just dripping everywhere from me. It was quite the experience...

Yesterday was my farewell assembly from the kids. I will tell you about it later because I don't want to start crying again in the internet cafe. It was very touching and soooo emotional. I will seriously miss those kids to the moon and back.

I fly out tonight so this is my final post from Uganda, but I will be writing more to fill in the gaps of the summer and reflect. Thank you all for supporting me through all of this financially and through prayer. This summer was life changing as I knew it would be. I fell inlove with the country, culture, people, and learned more than I ever thought possible. THANK YOU!!!!

grace, peace, and love,

bets