So many blessings

I’m here in Jinja, Uganda, safe and sound! My trip from the United States to Entebbe, Uganda was a pretty big emotional roller coaster with extreme highs and lows but overall, it was a very good experience. I saw God’s blessings and graces pouring on me from the very beginning, starting with a student traveling to Mumbai. We met while trying to navigate the London airport, which is a lot tougher than Dulles and I asked him for directions. It turns out that he went to Mason and lives near Wegman’s in Fairfax! By that time in my trip, I just wanted some familiarity and God heard my prayers.

 Next came three girls that I also met in London. I didn’t know it but I was actually sitting across the aisle from one of the girls on the way to London. Two of them went to JMU plus they were going to Uganda! Two of them had already been to Uganda so I asked some questions and listened to their stories. It was so awesome to see some girls my own age doing similar work in the same country! I stayed with them all the way until I got my luggage in Uganda… and then came an almost sleepless night in Entebbe. In the first two minutes after we parted ways, I really hoped I’d had a travel partner. Being in a different country, all by myself, with English being the national language yet everyone having a thick accent and just relying on strangers for transportation was probably the scariest part to this trip. So, I prayed. I don’t think I stopped praying from the time I left the United States to when I finally made it to Jinja. I prayed for sleep, for someone to talk to, for the kids I was going to see, for my flight being on time to connect to London, for the three girls going to counsel women who were involved with domestic violence, for my visa to work, for my luggage to be all there, for the driver for the hotel to be kind and Christian, for a safe night all alone in the hotel, for there to be someone at the hotel to drive me to Jinja, and for a safe drive to Jinja… and that’s only to mention a few prayers. Everything turned out fine, even though it sounded like there was someone in my bathroom all night at the hotel (turns out the air conditioning drains about every twenty minutes into these giant tubes which makes a huge splashing sound).  The three hour drive was also pretty eventful which consisted of dodging huge pot holes while also just missing pedestrians, boda’s (motorcycles), and other cars. It’s just slightly different from American driving. 

And then, my whole journey completely changed when I got to the baby cottage. When traveling to a different country, I’ve been aware of a few things already. I think the biggest thing is that a country isn’t made up of its landscapes—the mountains and rivers and cities. Those definitely define a part of a country but without knowing the people within a country, you have no idea what the country consists of. My surroundings in Uganda are COMPLETELY different from the States but I instantly felt at home as soon as I entered the cottage because of the kids inside. Kids are kids, no matter their ethnicity or their background. They all need attention, love, food, sleep, and shelter. I love them all already… all fifty two of them. My jobs will include helping out with preschool in the morning and then playing with/ feeding the little boys in the afternoon. I’m Auntie Colleen and there’s four “momma’s” for each house (three houses in all). Today we played outside for a while and at one point, I had 4 babies in my lap! This is the life:)  It’ll be exhausting but so much fun!