26 February 2007

The big day – our move to Soroti. And Angie's 30th birthday! The day started out frustratingly slow. Angie and I waited with the kids as Tim and Josh picked up furniture and the truck picked up appliances. Once we had it all together we were afraid it wasn't all going to fit. What a lot of stuff! You just have to see the pictures to believe it. We were loaded! A small flat bed truck and our van carried 24 pieces of luggage, two fridges, three stoves (one for Maggie), two strollers, a queen size bed frame, a twin bunk bed, a crib, desk, couch, two chairs, two coffee tables, six fans, carry-on luggage, groceries, and 7 adults and 4 kids.

Our van didn't go very fast with that kind of load. We also got in quite a bit of slow traffic. Our trip ended up taking about 6 hours. That is a long trip. The kids did great though. I stayed awake to see what Uganda looked like. The landscape is very lush and beautiful. There where areas of jungle, forest with pine trees, tea plantations, lots of sugar cane, papyrus fields, the Nile River and Lake Victoria. We even saw monkeys once.

There are small towns along the way and two bigger towns. Our first break is Jinja. It is an hour and a half from Kampala. We didn't see much of Jinja but I know it is the place with nice resorts and restaurants. It is on the Nile and Lake Victoria. They have a huge dam there that powers all of Uganda with electricity. We stopped at a gas station there that had a convenient store! Josh got an ice cream bar and the girls and I got drinks and snacks. How nice is that? The other gas station in town has a chinese restaurant attached to it.

The next big town is Mbale and it is about 2 hours from Jinja. Mbale is a hour and a half from Soroti and where we will get extra supplies and enjoy their pool and restaurant. By the time we arrived in Mbale it was already 5pm and rain was coming. We were in a hurry to get to Soroti before dark.

I saw more traditional dress traveling but still not as much as Nigeria.
And there defiantly are not as many people in Uganda. The roads were ok and one part they were bad – dirt, pavement, dirt, pavement kind of bad. But they are working on the road so there is hope.

Our last hour to Soroti the landscape changed and I began to feel like I was back in Mahula. There were less trees and hills with rocks. There were more huts too. As we approached Soroti you come to what looks like New Orleans or maybe the Everglades. I think it is swap from the Nile or our lake here. I was surprised at what Soroti looked like but I didn't have anything in mind really either. It is definitely a town and not a city.

Our home was a little bit out of town and I was shocked at the location.
Like Angie said, “this may be the slums of Soroti.” It wasn't what we expected. I just kept reminding myself it is the first day and they are always bad. It can only get better. The men quickly unloaded before the rain came. We had stuff everywhere and no where to sit. We tried to set up “beds” for the night (mattresses with bug nets). Our duplexes are small, very small by American standards. The screens don't fit right and the whole thing African made and African standards. But it has tile floors and a hot water heater. Francis, Maggie, and Beatrice (the widow who works with widows) had supper prepared for us. Just as we began to eat the power went out and that was enough to make all of us want to cry. Angie was dreading this moment. She said all along we do not want to get there just before dark and have the power go off. So we ate by candle light. Thankfully Tim and Angie had bought some furniture that we sit on. The kids wanted to burn off some steam and had no idea what was going on around them. I was getting frustrated and started to snap at the girls. Thankfully Josh kept his cool pretty well and watched the girls. Oh, the best part was when we were all ready for bed and I went into the bathroom to find a big cockroach. Gross! Why are we here?