It’s a 400m Race and I Have About 150m to Go!

The real Lion King

Pull up to the gate of Queen Elizabeth National Park and we are instantly greeted by a mother elephant and her 2 babies. Simply breathtaking, just breathtaking! I am literally sitting on the hotel balcony overlooking the national park. I can see animals out by the water taking their morning bath. Millions and millions of snow white butterflies surround me just fluttering so effortlessly. My goodness, the only thing I can say it look at God’s beautiful creations. This place is amazing I could go on and on forever. The lodge is all inclusive, so we could just sit here and eat all day if we wanted to. (The food is so good we tried, but it’s physically impossible!)
Some of us however have being dealing with similar feelings to when we first arrived at our hotel in Fort Portal. This place is just so gorgeous and we literally have everything at our fingertips, but we just came from a small village where we have students who live in make-shift houses with one room for an entire family. It is definitely a confusing situation to go back and forth between. The only way we know how to handle it is by simply talking and figuring out how we can better serve our village and each other.
On a lighter note however, some of us went out for our first Safari yesterday. Elephants, cobs, antelope, water buffalo, various birds, and more animals I can’t even name. Our driver wasn't exactly skilled at driving on safari terrain however, 4 of us were standing out the sun roof and he hit a huge bush! We were covered in leaves and I even got a couple scratches. It wasn't funny then, but it made for a great journal entry. This is seriously “The Lion King” real life edition! (And I love “The Lion King” so I’m in heaven!) I am going for the boat safari this afternoon and then back to the driving safari because I’m determined to see Simba.

Safari

Baby Elephant!

Of course I had to do a handstand on the equator!

Rewinding a bit, last weekend most of the group went to Lake Kinynga <Definitely misspelled but it sounded like this. It was beautiful as well. They had a dock that we swam off of and just relaxed. On Sunday we went to a new church. It was a nice reminder of home, the pastor is an American Missionary who has been here for a couple years and started this church. It felt like home and that was really nice. After church a couple of us went to visit a guy, Joseph, who we met the week before at the Catholic Church. He invited us all over to his Aunt’s house. The hospitality here is amazing, it greatly rivals Southern hospitality. They love having visitors and would do anything to make sure their guests are comfortable. They are such a loving people that would give their last for a friend.

The most amazing part of that day was when we met Joseph’s grandmother (Mukaka in Rutooro). She was 102 years old! Such a beautiful woman, she looked so good and I felt honored just to be in her presence. I had to touch her hand before leaving and instantly tears started streaming down my face. Not many people live to be 102 years old, especially in Uganda where the life expectancy is around the late 50’s I believe.

Joseph's 102 year old Grandmother

Tuesday this week was one of my student’s first times wearing shoes to school. Can you imagine seeing a student come to school every day for 4 weeks with no shoes? Once again I got a little teary eyed. Just being around him and feeling his positive spirit, you would never ever know how much he doesn’t have. These kids are amazing; they give me strength to keep going.

Lately, a couple of the girls have been doing spontaneous abs and legs workouts. Please imagine us all using our rooms and the den of our house as a workout and dance studio. It’s a pretty funny sight to see.

Another group from North Carolina arrived this weekend. They have a good number of high school students. They are affiliated with Embrace Uganda; it seems like a pretty cool organization that has really been making a difference in our community. On the one hand it’s nice to see people from home around the village so we are no longer the odd looking people around here haha, but it’s also weird having other Americans around. Now that we are half-way through the trip we feel like the big dogs around Kaihura :D.

Malena, Emily and I got a chance to make Chapati for dinner this week. It is very similar to a flat tortilla, but tastes a little different. It is my favorite food here, I’m obsessed with it. Stephen promised to give me the recipe so I can make it when I get home. School is going smoothly; and we are getting much better at volleyball (won 4 out of 5 games the other day!), everything is just great.

Making Chapati

I know we are a little over half-way through with the trip, but that’s not even something I want to think about. Cold showers and all, I’m just having such a good time I can’t imagine leaving my students, village mates, and new Duke friends. This trip has been such a blessing for all of us.

Me teaching in my class

Until Next Time,
*Nicole