Day 12 - Kampala

I’m so very tired right now, I barely have the energy to write in my journal. But today as I was writing a letter to my family and updating my blog with everything I have written so far, I realized as I read my journal entries how much they help me remember exactly what happened that day! When you come to a country and do this type of work, or go on a mission, or any other similar monotonous work, the days seem to blend together and you forget the important things that happen while you are in the service of others because there are just to many to remember!! I have proven to myself how important it is to write in a journal, after the prophets have counseled for years. I understand the purpose and I really am grateful that I do it, I will be so happy later when I go back. Also, it’s important that others hear what I’m doing. Ok, even I can tell when my writing is bad, it’s bad right now, I’m tired.

We got up this morning and hopped right on a taxi. No, we didn’t even get to shower, the water was off. I was not too happy about it because I’m used to showering every day, especially in this type of weather and conditions, you get dirty so fast and you collect tons of dirt. I feel nasty right now, the water IS back on, but I don’t quite have the energy to shower. I will definitely be wiping my face and neck down for sure, as well as brushing my teeth. Anyway... the taxi ride was one hour and cost us 2500 shillings, which equates to $1.52 to get to the capitol which is about 50 km or 30 miles. The ride is normally supposed to take anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 hours, but I guess with our crazy taxi drivers they shorten that time pretty well. When we got there Ashley went to Parliament and visited with a man name Mr. Hamis. Jackie and I wondered to about 3 banks, back and forth, trying to get money out to pay rent. The catch is that we needed US dollars, not shillings. The problem with drawing shillings and changing it to USD is that is costs you, so we were trying our very best to get USD directly from the card. We finally got to where we needed to be and you know what? We didn’t have our frickin’ passports. It was actually just Jackie that needed it because I didn’t need USD for any reason. We weren’t too happy that we had come all the way to Kampala to have forgotten what we needed. But we figured we could do it tomorrow since we are going to Entebbe to pick up the rest of the volunteers. After the bank runaround, we went and had lunch at Nado’s. Jackie made it sounds like it was good, although I wasn’t too impressed. I ended up having a pepperoni and pineapple (my favorite combo pizza) and it was interesting to say the least. I ate the whole thing of course because I was starving but it was weird. Jackie had a chicken salad that looked pretty good, but wasn’t so great when she had it. It was fine, okay, but not fabulous. We left satisfied in our stomach but not in our minds. We made our way to Click - Internet Place and proceeded to use the internet for about 3 1 /2 hours. It was SUCH a good session, though we were under the impression that we would have broadband internet, we did not. It was a little faster than here in Lugazi, but not much, I was disappointed. I had a bunch of pics to send, an e-mail to write, facebook to check, blogs to update, and information to research. It ended up being OK though and I got it all done. I was so excited to finally get my blog and pics updated on my blog, I really hope they liked the pictures.

We actually met Ashley before internet and met Mr. Hamis. He was a nice man, well dressed, and happy to meet us. It was a quite aquaintance and then we were off to the Internet. Ashley went and grabbed a bite before she met us there.

After we finished with the Internet, we made our way by boda boda to Garden City. I don’t think I’ve ever feared for my life as much as I did then. This driver was absolutely insane. Weaving in and out of cars and people, riding the painted middle line between traffic to get ahead. Cutting people off, on the sidewalk, etc. I was very scarred and wasn’t sure I could continue the ride. I prayed my life be spared (once again), and it was, thankfully. I arrived a minute earlier than JackAsh and the ride was only 3-4 minutes, that gives you an idea of how fast the ride was. We went in to the grocery store there hoping to find permethrin, but to no avail. I checked with the pharmacy before leaving the store and they set they were out of it and that it would be back in stock in 2 days, we were not happy. Yet another thing that we came to Kampala for and were unable to obtain.

We grabbed an ice cream cone, bought a bottle of water at the airtime shacks on the road where we caught a taxi and made our way home. The ride this time was about 1 hour 15 minutes, not too bad. But it was closer to night and a little more scary. I listed to my iPod some of the way as Jackie and Ashley conversed. It’s hard to sit 3 next to each other and have a conversation, it gets pretty loud. We stopped by the market and grabbed some bananas. I bought 15 bananas on the stock for 1500 shillings! That’s only .90 cents!

-I just grabbed a banana, trail mix, and glass of water... I’m starving!!-

It’s crazy what you can get here for so cheap, but then again bananas grow like weeds over here, and when I say that I don’t mean fast, I mean in quantity. Jackie then decided she wanted to stop by one of the guys making chipati. I told her to be careful and advised her not to do it. She decided however that she would take one for the team and determine whether or not they were safe to eat by waiting to see if she got sick. The man cracked and egg, threw some chopped cabbage in and through it on the grill. This was comforting, as I knew it was being COOKED and that anything living would die. It wasn’t until he threw the chipati on top of the egg, flipped it over, threw another chipati on top and then placed his entire hand over the thing and pushed down as if to force it together, that I got grossed out and decided, “No.” But of course, I had to have a bite once it was done, do I did. It was wonderful, really, I would have bought one if I couldn’t have talked him into being a little more sanitary. We shall see what happens, I hope that she doesn’t get sick, I wish we could ALWAYS trust that it would be sanitary, it was only .36 cents and two of them would have filled you up.

On our way back to our house we found Zahara and Uda coming out of their store. We said hello, exchanged hugs, and made our way to Zahara’s house. It was beautiful, a very nice house that was well kept, I appreciated their cleanliness very much. We were brought juice and biscuits (crackers), it was all very good and so hospitable. They are again some of the nicest people I have ever met and I’m so excited to have a relationship with them, somebody we can trust and enjoy time with. Uda told us that she would be over tomorrow with chipati for us, I’m beyond excited. We said goodnight and headed home.

JackAsh has been doing a bunch of administrative work tonight. I have been been organizing my things and putting up hooks for mosquito nets. We are all pretty tired. Jackie is on the phone with her dad, I’m excited for her to talk to her family, she hasn’t spoken to them since she left SLC! Well, it is time, I must sleep as I will wake tomorrow at 8am. I hope I can get a good 7 hours again, that would be prefect. Until tomorrow.