13 March 2007

Well we are in Kampala now. Yesterday was a stressful day. Everything went well until the end and then it got very long. We left Soroti about 8am then stopped in Jinja at noon for lunch. We ate at the Palm Tree Guest house where they have a Mexican restaurant. It was a bit expensive but good with a beautiful view including Lake Victoria. After we ate we went to the Baby Cottage, the orphanage in Jinja. Tim and Angie met with the lady there and we had a tour. Lydia found a friend right away and Josh watched the girls as they played on the playground. It is so cute to see a little Blondie holding hands with a little Ugandan girl. The orphanage was really nice. I have never been in an orphanage before and it broke my heart. Those precious children need someone to love them. Those babies need to be held. I know the staff there do that but not like a mother does. I could have cried. They are so cute! I just want to pick them up and give them all they need. I can not fathom seeing a bad orphanage where the kids are not cared for. I can hardly handle the thought. I have to trust that God is the Father of the fatherless. God loves them.

Anyway, there was about a dozen 3 to 4 year olds, about a dozen one year olds, and a dozen infants. It was nap time when we visited but they let us go right in and see them. The 3 and 4 year olds were so good. Not all of them were sleeping but they laid right there on their beds. Some of the babies and year olds were awake too but they just looked at us. They have about 30 bunk bed style cribs in the one year old room. Angie got to hold one of the infants who was crying. So precious! Most of the kids looked very healthy but small for their age. One infant was defiantly malnourished. A couple of the kids are HIV positive too. Most of the kids are abandon at birth or their mother has died. Almost every kid is fostered (same as adopted at home) by Ugandan Christians or to families in the US.

I don't know how Tim and Angie feel about all this so I will let them tell you, but I do know it is a definite possibility and they are hoping for September.

Then we were back on the road to Kampala (another hour, hour and a half). By now I had the worst splitting headache. The girls did good all in all traveling but it is still a long day in the car. We stopped at Game (the South African “WalMart”) when we arrived in town. We manged to spend a great deal of money in a short amount of time. We got a push lawn mower, step latter, small charcoal grill, mirrors...

Then the day got very...frustrating. The traffic was really bad and Tim and another car got in accident. It was just a scratch on the side but the people were not happy. Of course they thought it was our fault even though they were going way too fast. So there we sat in the middle of a traffic jam not knowing what to do in an accident situation. I was totally stressed out. My head hurt so bad. So I just prayed. Josh got out and tried to reason with the people but they just wanted money to fix their truck. We didn't want to deal with the police or wait so we paid them and finally left. (Long story short.)

After more traffic (don't travel after 5pm in Kampala), we made it to our hotel. We had supper and got ready for bed. I was thankful for a nice place to stay but everything cost money. Lets hope the rest of our trip goes better.

We are staying at the ARA (American Recreation Association) and it is really nice with kids. They have a playground, pool with kiddy pool, a huge video library, and even a kids menu. Someday Angie and I want to come on the third Saturday of the month when they have a flee market here. Can you believe it? I think it is ex pats selling toys, books, movies, crafts, anything they don't want anymore.