Friday morning, May 23

Congratulations to us! We made it to Kampala and back in one piece and had a good but busy day. David is a really good driver but the roads and the driving conditions are much different here. I’d say traveling once we’re in country is the most dangerous thing we do. (Of course, to avoid the real dangers, we do take malaria medicine and stay away from unboiled/unbottled water.)

Yesterday on the drive, I was reminded of what a beautiful place this is. There is luscious vegetation, almost “ Jurassic Park ” style so there’s an abundance of fruits and vegetables--sweet bananas, pineapples, tomatoes, avocadoes, squash, cucumbers, fresh beans. The drive to Kampala takes us through Mubira Rain Forest Preserve, past huge tea plantations where workers are hand-picking the leaves and also past large sugar cane fields. (These are real plantations as opposed to when we go to the village and someone shows us his banana plantation and we find three plants.) The tea is David’s favorite. It’s such a beautiful green across the valley and hills.

We also drive through a trade center that’s known for it’s fast food—chicken on a stick. I’ve never had it. If you pull your vehicle over, the guys selling the chicken run up to your car windows to get you to buy their chicken. Irene got sick once after eating one so she won’t eat it. It’s one of my Zach’s favorite things so I’d really like to try it sometime.

I need to take and upload a pic of my favorite tree here. I call it the Dr. Seuss tree because it has these long skinny elegantly twisting branches with a green ball of leaves at the tip of each branch. It reminds me of something you might find in “Cat in the Hat.”

Two quick updates: 1. We ran into Danyne Randolph and her mom outside the Source the other day so I got to hold baby Jagpal (I’m not sure how it’s spelled but it’s pronounced like Jag Paul). It’s an Indian name since Surj, his dad is an Indian and it’s one that Danyne’s family from Texas can pronounce. I don’t think we’ll have time to go to the Palm Tree Resort that Surj owns/runs but we’ll probably see them Wednesday at the airport since we’ll be on the same flight to Amsterdam with Danyne’s mom. The baby is absolutely gorgeous, beautiful. He has amazingly white skin and lots of black hair. I told Danyne that he was whiter and even more beautiful than I expected and she laughed and said the baby is whiter than his older sisters expected too. Danyne adopted two Ugandan baby girls either while Z was here in 03 or right after that. Then she and Surj were married a little over a year ago.

2. I forgot to tell you what Bobby told us on Wednesday about the beehive they hung the other day. The afternoon after we were at Agri’s place, he called Bobby and in his very slow, monotone with long pauses to build the drama, said, “Boehbbee, I am standing in front of our bee hive. (long pause) I am watching bees fly in and out of our hive.” So, looks like there’s a good chance this first hive will be a success and once that happens, they can hang some more of them. Bobby said the first have only had about a 50% chance of drawing any bees.

I haven’t said much about what we did in Kampala yesterday but we went to the Garden City Mall just briefly to get cash out of the ATM there and look at the expensive craft store, Banana Boat. Just to get ideas about what they have to sell that we might want to look for at the craft market. Then we drove to the craft market to do the real looking/shopping. There are maybe 40 outdoor stalls surrounding a small grassy that carry lots of jewelry, clothing, carvings and stuff like that. Irene was buying ceramics from one of the stalls there for the craft shop at the Source and since she was buying things wholesale, I was able to get a few things cheaper than I would have otherwise. So, I bought a ceramic water pitcher with a couple of cups and really struggled over whether to buy the tray in the shape of a fish that’s flat and easier to pack or the casserole dish that’s in the shape of a fish with a lid. I liked them both but was really in love with the casserole dish and she was willing to come off the price a little more on it than she would the tray so that’s the one I bought. I told Irene that I’ll get the tray the next time. She didn’t even buy the fish tray because the girl wouldn’t bring the price down enough for her. I haven’t looked at the ceramics website but here it is http://www.mukisa-uganda.com/. I’ll have to bring that stuff back in my carry-on probably so I may regret my purchase at least on the day we travel.

Ok, ok, yes, I did buy a nativity set. Just one. The barn is made out of banana-fiber and I think the figures are corn husks. You’ll have to come see me to see it. DJ shops for things to resell for the Victoria Nile crafts business that helps fund African missions stuff but I shop for me and for gifts. Are you surprised? Yeah, I don’t think so.

I’ll try to tell you one funny story before I close. I’m sure the humor will be lost in the translation but I’m gonna try. A few days ago, Jeff and David had been meeting with Roy and Ricky all morning. Roy and Ricky are Ugandan and we’re around mostly Ugandans. Even though there are a good many bazungu (white-folks) here, we still stand out in a crowd. Ok, so the other day, David, Jeff, Roy and Ricky are walking down the sidewalk to a restaurant for lunch. David’s just talking away, telling Roy all about something while Ricky and Jeff follow. David’s got the hand motions going and the whole bit. Jeff just stops on the sidewalk and bends double laughing because he looks up and sees DJ talking but that’s NOT Roy. That whole time he’s been walking alongside some other tall Ugandan man with a striped-shirt who hasn’t even been responding to David and NOT Roy ! Finally, DJ looks up and realizes he’s been lecturing to some stranger and he turns around to see Roy, Ricky and Jeff all laughing at him.

Maybe I should’ve had Jeff tell it and maybe I should just delete it but I’ll leave it just in case you enjoy it anyway. DJ has more meetings today and we’re gonna see another one of my very favorite people, Ronald Bwana, and his son Alex. Ronald works at the Bogles house here in town so we’ll just stop in to see him sometime today. Then this afternoon we’re meeting with Ben and Bobby at the Langfords house so I’ll get to see Kym. She just got back on Tuesday from her grandmother’s funeral in the States. I like Ben and Kym a lot and just love their son, Eli. He’s just a hoot! Their younger son, Noah, was just a newborn when we were here last year. I think we’re going to this new restaurant for a soda and to visit. It’s called Ginger on the Nile and I think it’s right down on the water. Then tonight we’re eating at Joan’s place. We’ve never been there and spend the day in the village tomorrow and Sunday. I may check in again tomorrow if we get home early enough.

Ok, one thing is that David hired a carpenter to make and install some screen doors for Irene. They sleep under mosquito nets but that only helps after you’re in bed and asleep and that’s not usually when mosquitoes like to fly in through the door so we’re hoping that will help cut down on the mosquito issue. We haven’t actually had many at all. I think the first night we were here, there were some in our bedrooms and then maybe two nights ago, I got a bite. Oh and Zach, Gerald is just loving the Manchester U shirt you sent him especially after their big win the other night. We didn’t watch the game because it came on too late—9:45 and we left early at 7 am for Kampala . It’s gotten cooler here the last week or so. Much nicer than when we arrived and it’s raining every two or three days a little bit so that’s making it very pleasant for the most part.

Love to everybody there, I’m sure I’ve forgotten something I wanted to tell you but I’ll try to tell it to you later.