Feet First: August 2012

August 23, 2012

First Moments

Here are some pics when we first arrived in Kampala, Uganda...

At first glance, I thought this said "crap"

Here are some things you see along the road...anything and everything goes!

And beware of dangerous trenches...

We stayed at the Victoria Travel Hotel and this was our view from our balcony (there is a school directly across the street)

The hotel would get a daily visit from the Coca Cola delivery guy...

And at 7:00 am, we would be woken by the sound of goats and our hotel gatekeeper, Alex, who would sweep the parking lot each morning for an hour straight. We had the best looking parking lot in Kampala!

And if that didn't wake us, by 8:00 you could hear the sound of joyful school children, singing and chanting, as they headed to school...

As we walked around the neighborhood, we met some children who spoke little English...

Many of these children should have been in school, but they could not afford the monthly $30 school fees...

And so, we learned during our time here, that the majority of people in Uganda live off of $2 or less a day...

MANY eat only 1 meal per day...

and yet, if we only choose to forgo one $30 "restaurant" outing each month...

...WE could change the lives of one of these children who spend their days on the streets, instead of a classroom.

I don't know about you, but seeing these faces, hearing the very REAL life struggles...

It's changed the way that I look at things, the way that I view what is REALLY important, and what really is of value...

More pics to come...

August 14, 2012

Our Brother From Another Mother

We are home (as most of you know by now!) Sorry for my lack in writing during our trip. Our wifi was down most nights at our hotel so I wasn't able to get online to blog. Then when we headed for Chris's work trip, I was processing all that I had seen and experienced and lost my motivation to write.

Thank you for your words of encouragement and prayers while we were traveling! We absolutely LOVED Africa!!! And coming home has been really hard... not going to lie!!

I've been wrestling internally with both the good and the bad that we experienced firsthand, which I'll share at another time.

There are so many beautiful and exciting things about Africa - especially Uganda! As we begin to unpack all our emotions, and sort through our photos - we will share some of the highlights of our trip.

We fell in LOVE with Uganda!! Both Chris and I wanted to embrace the culture while being there, and in doing so, we needed to embrace the Ugandan people. At every chance we got, we would jump feet first into conversation with various people around us - even if they didn't speak English. I would try my best to speak "Luganda" - saying "Oli otya?" (How are you?) - often making a fool of myself, but I tried! We would smile and wave, and almost always, would receive a HUGE smile in return! Ugandans are some of the warmest and friendliest people that we have ever met.

One person that touched us (more than he knows) is our driver Brian! It's funny how God places people into your life at just the "right" time.

From the moment that we met Brian at the airport, we felt an instant connection to him. It was as if we had known him our entire life - "our brother from another mother".

He opened up his life to us, and if he allows us, we will share his heartbreaking, yet moving story with you. We had the special privilege of visiting his home - meeting his lovely wife and two foster daughters - April & Joyce!!!! We were honored to be the FIRST Americans that he has ever brought to his house! This visit was one of the MOST special moments of our life! Brian is a special man - and we are grateful to call him a friend.