Now in Uganda

Yesterday was the 28th of July.  The team made it to the Nairobi airport (sans Daniel, who left on an earlier flight), through checkin, bags delivered (we were concerned over weight), and security.  We boarded the flight after about 90 minutes, and the flight was an hour long--a very short hop over lake Victoria to Entebbe.

We arrived at a very hot and muggy airport, but adapted quickly, found Daniel, and loaded a "14 passenger" van with 11 people and our pile of luggage.  I was compressed from the sides, head to seat, and seet to knees.  For three hours!  It was good to be out finally.  We did catch some glimpses of the Ugandan city and countryside as we motored along at 120kph to make it to Kjojo before nightfall.

Our hotel is a four story round building.  Concentric patio on each floor, and stairway in the middle.  So the rooms are kind of pie-shaped.  We were glad to have the beds!

We rejoined for dinner and met with our Ugandan connections. Anita, Abel, and Arthur, I think.  And one young guy's name is "Innocent".  It tickled some of us when he introduced himself "I am Innocent".   

Our food took about 90 minutes to arrive, so we were really hungry when we got it.  Then a short evening with Sam, working our our devotional workbook about our trip, and we hit the rack.  The building's generator was shut down for the night (no electricity, no water, and no wifi).  Ha ha!  I forgot to mention that there is no wifi when even when the power is on.  Therefore, I'll post some text via cell, but I'll have to keep the photos to a minimum.

Today (the 29th) we'll meet the Ugandan team again at 9 and figure out the order of the day (remember "Semper Gumby"?).

The Hearts and Hands organization is who we'll be working with for all of the projects we'll see in Uganda.

I just looked through my photos and most of them are blurry roadside pictures, so here's one of the 6:45 sunrise this morning (the 9th).  The air is smoky from breakfast cooking fires--I noticed that about 4am.

Random fact, Ugandan shillings to USD is 1:2600.  They don't speak Swahili here.  Two weeks of immersion in Kenya aren't helpful here.  (Smile.)

I hear birds and roosters, hammering, and the occasional horn.

I've been thinking about the folks back at work.  I am witnessing the third world, and seeing projects that are changing lives, and the folks at my company are working hard to get ready for the big event--which will also (continue to) change people's lives.  The difference is two or three orders of magnitude in annual income and standard of living, but I think other things are the same--at the human level.  When Mike introduces me to others in Africa, he uses a dated example of what I do, but he also references our product on the web.  I am amazed at how many people--way out in the sticks even--get it and have even seen it.  There was ONE group of folks that hadn't seen it or heard of it, but I also wonder if that's a language barrier too (could be, but probably not).  Still, for any of my coworkers that are reading, your product is known globally and has already changed the world.  So keep it up!

Jon and Sam