GULU, UGANDA Tuesday, May 20

I woke Eleanor this morning in time to get dressed and have breakfast before we headed into IJM Gulu for devotions and to meet the staff. She woke up, went to the bathroom and came straight back to bed saying, ugh, I think I have what Daddy had last night. She went directly back to the bathroom, got sick and then went to bed. Poor thing! She felt fine but tired when it was time to leave for the office (10 minutes away) so I left her to sleep and went on to devotions. The staff was wonderful and we met in a tiny hut on the IJM compound to listen to scripture and sing. The air was cool and the morning was fresh and beautiful.

We headed back to the hotel after devotions and E was dressed and ready to go. She felt a little weak of course, but we were so thankful she did not have any nausea the rest of the day. She said she had not felt bad all night, but just woke up and immediately felt sick and that was it. God was good to make this bug so minor for her.

We left the hotel for the Gulu airstrip where we caught a tiny Missionary Aviation Fellowship 6 seater plane to Kampala. Our pilot was Rembrandt from the Netherlands and prayed for us before we took off. It was awesome to just walk from the car out to the plane and hop on with no fuss. The flight was very smooth and very beautiful and lasted just 1 hour 20 minutes - quite a God send for E with her sickness - compared to our jarring 6 hour car ride on the way up. Such a gift!

E spent the rest of the day resting at the Rudy's and Philip worked for the afternoon at the office. Amy and I went out for a nice lunch and a little shopping. Oh, and to pick up our Belharzia medication for July!

Fun fact: The power was STILL out when we returned to the Rudy's today. The electrician finally arrived, after much hounding, around 6pm and was able to figure out the problem. The problem I caused. That lasted three whole days. Ugh!

I have a feeling that some people won't let me forget this one.

GULU, UGANDA Monday, May 19

What a Monday! Amy, E and I started off early by meeting Ben at The Recreation Project. Ben is a friend of the Rudy's and IJM and has led staff care days for us. Today we had the opportunity to sponsor 33 former child soldiers, now young adults, for a day in the woods. Read more about The Recreation Project here: http://therecreationproject.org. And enjoy watching the group feed Eleanor through the "spider web" - one of the morning games:



We then met Philip and Jesse for lunch by the office and visited several organizations listed below - all friends of IJM, and all doing amazing things in this underprivileged, war-torn community. The first three groups help women by teaching them not only a craft, but then helping them use the money from that craft to launch into other areas of business. They teach them to read and write and how to handle money and be smart with a business of their own. They teach them about Jesus and mentor them until they're ready to step back into independence again. It is really precious to see 165 women sitting and crocheting happily together, nursing babies, laughing and singing underneath the giant mango trees. For just a minute it feels like God really is on the move in Africa. And of course He is. It just rarely FEELS that way. Here are the websites - really worth a look:

http://www.remnantintl.org/about/

http://www.krochetkids.org

http://31bits.com/about/

http://invisiblechildren.com

We got to meet so many of the women and chat with leaders in each organization - it was a privilege. Krochet Kids is actually partnering with IJM's aftercare department so we got to hear more details about that as well - really exciting!

That night, Philip's stomach was bothering him so he went back to the hotel while E and I joined Jesse and Amy for dinner at Ben (Rec Project) and his wife Holly's "super hut." Ben and Holly have built this phenomenal house, modeled after an African hut - with all the smart parts including a thatched roof. It's two stories and has mahogany doors and windows along with an incredible outdoor master bath upstairs with a stone tub that looks out over the beautiful grasslands. They are completely off the grid with their own solar panels, etc. He said it only cost them $25-30,000 to build. Pretty amazing as it is laden with mahogany - everywhere you turn! I tried to take pictures. It was really great to be with them and they were so sweet to have us!

We returned to the hotel to find that Philip had indeed gotten sick so Eleanor and I got a separate room just in case. Poor Philip - we felt terrible for him!

KAMPALA, UGANDA Sunday, May 18 PART 2

The 6 hour road trip to Gulu was like nothing I have experienced before. We are visiting Uganda at the end of the rainy season and most of the road to Gulu is red dirt and full of pot holes. After a rain, the road becomes a sort of river and creates ruts and potholes that make the road seem more like a creek bed than a good place to travel at 50 mph. Somehow we managed it but I finally figured out that cinching down my lap belt might reduce the number of times my head hit the car ceiling. It helped and was worth the numb hips for sure. We did a lot of laughing and the whole thing became a bit of a delirious washing machine experience. We stopped at the "only decent bathroom between Kampala and Gulu" and enjoyed the first squatty potty we've seen in a few years. It came complete with soggy toilet paper classically placed upon a curiously wet floor.  Good memories.

The Rudy's were hoping to stop for dinner and a mini safari at the Chobe Lodge in Murcheson National Park on the way up to Gulu. The Lodge is on the Nile River and is in the middle of a game park. There are only three bridges across the Nile in Uganda - one we crossed in Jinja when we went rafting, the second is a foot bridge that we never saw and the third we crossed on this trip. Two out of three isn't bad! The river was raging and we could see spray coming off the rapids for as far as we could see. Just after the bridge we saw baboons across the road and knew our turn into the park would not be far. The baboons looked fierce and mean so we did not slow down except to drive around one that wouldn't move for our car. We made the turn into the park and started down the driveway for the Chobe Lodge. We saw wart hogs and Ugandan kobs and bushbucks. Beautiful, but really stupid guinea fowl - they kept running in front of our car. And then we saw giraffe! They were majestic and strange to just happen upon. We arrived to the lodge just as the sun was going down and oh, what a sight! The lobby of the lodge is like something from a travel magazine with floor to ceiling glass and a patio that looks out on the Nile. We stood on the patio and watched the hippos swimming right below us and tried to get some pictures with what little light was left. It really was magnificent.

Here is the website - you might find better photos here: http://www.chobelodgeuganda.com

We had dinner at the open air dining room hanging out over the Nile and listened to the hippos braying right underneath us. On our way out of the park we drove right up to a hippo sauntering toward the woods just as lazy as you please...lawsy miz scarlett. It looked back at us as if to say, seriously? What is there to see here, people? More animals popped out as we drove back to the main road - now it was dark so our headlights would catch a pair of eyes and we would have to drive up to see which animal we would find - it was a little scary since we in the middle of nowhere and were the only ones on the road! As we left the park, Amy said, aw bummer, no elephants. It was her first and last time to Chobe Lodge so she was so glad we had made it in the nick of time to see the sunset, but had hoped to spy some elephants. We were not on the creek bed, er road, five minutes when we spotted two enormous elephants right on the side of the road! Jesse quickly turned the car around and went back and we were frantically trying to take pictures and still keep moving - they were just feet away from us on the shoulder which was a little close for two wild beasts twice the size of our Land Cruiser! When we passed by them a second time, E had the window down and was taking a few flash photos, they decided they'd had enough. In a split second they flared their ears at us and jerked toward us - we all screamed to high heaven and Jesse floored the gas and we sped away screaming and laughing and all talking at once. What an adventure!

KAMPALA, UGANDA Sunday, May 18 PART 1

Well, I blew it last night. For real. I took a late shower and didn't want to disturb anyone but was hoping to dry my hair. Who wants to sleep with Belharzia hair? Not me. The house was asleep so I snuck to the laundry room at the other end of the house, plugged in E's hair dryer and got to work. Within 2 minutes something blew and the power went out. Did I do that? E's American hair dryer is a 120 volt and the African voltage is 220 - if anything it should've blown out E's hair dryer. Maybe the power just went out. I checked to see if the houses around us had power and I saw a few lights on but remembered that some of them might have generators or power reserves to support a light or two. I snooped around with my phone light trying to find the power box to see if I had tripped something. When I couldn't find it, I decided to try to sneak out to the night guard and ask about the box - he might know more how to fix a fuse. I managed to be somewhat quiet about opening the enormous padlocked sliding doors with iron bars and slipped out of the house - I tapped quietly at the guard's door, sufficiently scaring the mess out of him. He couldn't understand my English but through a series of my hysterical gyrations he nodded and said, ah yes! Lights off! Yes, I pleaded, but I think it was ME! (Beating my chest now) I made them off! Box for power? Electrical box, power box for lights? Outside somewhere? Which place? Ridiculous. Yes, crazy muzungo madam, power is off, go back to bed. About this time the Rudy's massive black lab, Elgon, had waked up and was barking ferociously at me - I made him come and pet him to let him know it was me and to make him stop barking. He stopped and switched to crazy wagging and panting and sprinted for the open door of the house - NO! No, Elgon - I am whisper screaming at him now - ELGON-COME-ELGON-NO-ELGON-COME! He slips through the cracked doors and goes careening through the house for his food bowl - I am chasing him in circles - he is playing a game of catch-me-if-you-can and I am panicking about waking the house, whisper screaming and laughing hysterically in between. I finally catch him, get him outside and padlock the doors. I search for my headlamp and began systematically searching every room for the power box and finally find it up high in the hallway. I slowly go through flipping each fuse off and on, but nothing. All I can think about is the Rudy's fridge full of food and how to save it and what if there's an easy solution? There's only one thing left to do. I have to wake Amy. I sit outside their room for a good 10 minutes taking deep breaths and squeezing my eyes shut, not wanting to wake them, trying to think of another idea but to no avail. Finally I tap on the door and wake her and explain - she says don't worry, it's just a power outage - it happens all the time. Ok. I go back to bed feeling really silly about my escapade. Next morning we all get up for church and the power is still off - no way it could've been your hairdryer says Jesse, who is very handy. Whew. I'm relieved. We go to church and out to lunch and then stop by the house before heading up to Gulu. Still no power. Hmmmm.The Rudy's realize that their back house has power and is on a separate box...I begin feeling guilty again. Turns out, it must've been my hair dryer. Oops. Sorry Rudy's. Thankfully, the boys were staying with friends and the intern who lives in the back house (with power) was staying with Rachel so technically no one would be home the next few days anyway and there would be plenty of time for the electrician to arrive. In the meantime, the clever Rudy's ran an extension cord from the back house to the fridge so the food was safe until they could fix the power. Just another day in the life of a Ugandan ex-pat that has an idiot American come and blow out their grid in the name of vanity. Nice.

JINJA, UGANDA Saturday, May 17

We woke up early Saturday morning with great expectations - it was finally time to raft the NILE! The Rudy's, the Wilkes, P, E and I walked the 15 minutes to a nearby shopping center where we were told to meet our bus. The roads in Kampala are mostly dirt with ridiculous knee deep potholes, for which the city is well known - they even have t-shirts made about them. Our transport to Jinja arrived after we had enjoyed a 45 minute chat, which some might classify as a wait, and we then bounced along the hour and half drive to the Nile. When we got out, a lovely view of the White Nile river was accompanied by breakfast in an open air hut. Banana chocolate chip muffins, coffee, bananas, water and tea were delicious after such an early morning. We sunscreened up and got into our rafts to learn commands from our boat guide, Tom - a Tazmanian with blonde dreadlocks and wicked awesome tan. He was young, funny, sported the best tattoo I've seen in awhile along the inside of his calf - a giraffe with an impossibly long pencil-thin neck - and travels the world guiding white water tours. A total dude. We practiced all the tricks Tom taught us, including how to escape after getting stuck underneath a flipped boat. This completely debunking the idea that I might not actually swim in the Nile in an effort to avoid Belharizia - a type of worm larvae passed through snail feces in the water. The worms don't hatch for 8-10 weeks after exposure so we'll see how that pans out.  Children, if I seem disoriented and angry sometime in mid-July please find the meds in my bedside table and make me take them. Tom's overview of the river included two class 5 rapids, several class 4 and a few class 3 and that our first rapid would be a class 5 - a 12 foot waterfall they we would need to hit "just right." Our boat got a little quiet. We have video from our trip down the Nile but it really will not convey what the rapids were like from our perspective. As Tom informed us, the class is directly related to how bad the consequences have potential to be so the class 3 rapids - while fairly safe - were like nothing I've seen before.  Most of the rapids we went through were other-worldly and felt like something computer generated off The Perfect Storm. If I am able to upload the video you will see that we hit the first rapid exactly wrong and ended up going down the waterfall sideways. I was on the downward side so was actually standing when our boat hit the bottom of the waterfall. I have no idea how we didn't flip but our boat got sucked back under the falls and the safety raft came to our aid with a rope to tow us out. I was ready to go home after that one! Tom's response: Well, that was a bit of a close shave mates! Everyone ok?! Ha!

On our next rapid, video evidence suggests that our dear guide, Tom, henceforth to be referred to as the devil - Tasmanian, of course, flipped our boat on purpose. It was our first class 3 rapid and I think he felt we were a high risk kind of group and didn't want things to get boring. Lordy mercy. After a series of absurd rapids - honestly, in the adrenaline it has all become a blur - we had to get out and walk along one stretch of rapids because they were just too dangerous. We weren't allowed to bring a camera, but I sure wish I'd had it - the river raged so intensely there was actually a standing rip-curl - like an ocean wave at the beach. We put in at the end of this stretch to catch the last rapid of the series - Amy and I jumped in the boat that was taking the "chicken" route. The rest of our boat opted out of the rapid named "the Bad Place" and paddled hard over to the rapid known as "50/50." They gambled and lost and we watched them flip and eventually get reclaimed by the safety kayakers that followed us throughout the trip. Shaking, but pumped from the adventure, we all climbed the hill to a beautiful overlook where a hot lunch of cream of mushroom soup and build-your-own-burritos was waiting. There were beautiful old wooden chests full of dishes and utensils like something off an old ship that stay at the open air hut for our rafting company's meals. It was like something out of Swiss Family Robinson. We ate and watched another group take on the next rapid and flip. Oh joy.

After lunch a hard rain began to fall and we took the next rapid in a deluge but made it through unscathed. The sun came back out and we finished our time on the river with a bang by surfing the last rapid for a quick moment - again, if the video makes it on you will see it. It was pretty awesome. We finished with a float on our backs in the African sun on the great Nile river. Remind me to take my medicine in July.

Back at the base, we got to laugh as we watched photos and videos of our group while chowing down on muchomo and baked potatoes, orange Fanta and African beer. What a day, what a DAY!

KAMPALA, UGANDA Friday, May 16

Today we woke up to a pouring monsoon rain in Kampala. Jesse made us scrambled eggs and toast and we had breakfast looking out over the Rudy's palatial front porch and beautiful green lawn - it's huge! We walked up the red dirt street to the IJM office and had fun singing with the staff and having devotions. Jesse asked everyone to go around and tell their name, what they do and what it's like working for Philip/Daddy. It was pretty funny because some people said - so fun, very encouraging, etc. Others said - it makes me really need God's grace, very hard, it has it's ups and downs - ha! Then it got around to E and she said, "Well, I don't work for him, but I live with him and I can tell you the experience is very much the same as you described!" Haha - she got good laughs for that!

We had made plans this morning to take a boda (motorcycle taxi) tour of the city, but with the rains, we decided instead to try to connect to IJM's internet and let E catch up on some studying while I updated the blog. I am STILL not able to post photos- a good reminder of what the Rudy's and IJM staff are up against with internet connection.

Jesse and Amy's farewell party was this afternoon and his staff went all out and hired Jesse's favorite roadside pork joint to come and prepare a feast for him. Of course they wanted to serve lunch at 1:00, but the pork guy said having lunch ready at 2:30 should not be a problem at all. It stressed the staff out, but made the rest of us laugh and eat a granola bar. We had Muchomo - meat on a stick - and some kind of bland mash along with freshly chopped tomatoes, onions and avocados that fall from the tree in the IJM compound. Really good! Everyone ate outside and there were lovely centerpieces on each table. One table had a centerpiece of 2 toy hippos attacking an avocado - not sure what that was about - but I'm guessing they ran out of vases for the flower centerpieces. People played ball on the lawn and then after lunch was over we went inside and watched some funny videos and slide shows about the Rudy's time in Uganda. Everyone had lots of tears and kind words as they shared how much the Rudy's had meant to them in their five years in Kampala. It was a really sweet time.

Later that night we went with the Rudy's and the Wilkes' and their children to a beautiful restaurant called The Lawns. It was a large open air hut overlooking a big lawn, hence the name. Giant bunnies hopped around the lawn and everyone seemed to think that was perfectly normal. We went on an African culinary adventure at The Lawns and by the end of the evening we had tried crocodile ribs, springbok - a type of African antelope, gazelle, and a really good ostrich curry.

After dinner, and in true form, Philip tried to catch one of the bunnies and ran after it up a hill, which was slick, lost his footing, dove after the bunny, fell backward and flipped down the hill. I didn't see it but E tells me there was lots of flailing involved.