Adventure

May 12, 2008
What a blessed day. Even this morning I was thinking how good things come to those who do things excellently. At first I was thinking of the drivers and cooks that help with missions, how since they did good in their every day job, they are now blessed by consistent work during the summer, but it also applies to today too.

On this wonderful morning, I was accompanied by the top 3 students in each of the classes, along with 9 other teachers and staff. This was the reward "trip" the kids got because they worked the hardest this term and made the best "marks" (aka grades). And what a treat it was. When I arrived at the home I found 18 kids, smartly dressed in their best attire, and ready to hit the town. This in itself is hopefully a motivator for those who were left behind and did school while they saw their friends leave to have fun.

We piled into our faithful blue and white van and were off. From the start there were little whispers of excitement over the road, the bumps in the road, the people passing by, or stories of a previous time they might have ridden in a motorcar. They were excited and their inquisitness was addressed by Teacher Favor, who acted somewhat like a tour guide. I realized that it is the simple things that I take for granted. For example, to ride in a motorcar, or to see a train. The train the kids saw was only 6 cars, but it made a world of a difference to put a concept into a practical. Wow! God is good.

Our first stop was the border between Kenya and Uganda. I will admit i was a little nervious arriving at the border because i didn't carry my passport and I was now feeling unsure as to whether our final desitnation was in Uganda or Kenya. Luckily it was just an educational stop to see where and how the people and cars moved from place to place. They enjoyed standing on the bridge, "no man's land" that was over the river that divided the two countries.

Our time at the border was not long because we had bigger and better to get to. On the way to our final destination we stopped for chappati (like tortillas but thicker) and then drove through a forest that was know for its baboons. Imagine the excitement of the kids as they saw these crazy "baboos" on the road. As we stopped to take a closer look, the nerviousness rose and I heard one of the girls say, "Let's shut all the windows so they can't get in." Well, maybe that girl was me, and it was a valid point because at one point I was trapped with someone leaning over me to the window to hand a baboon an ear of maize. Literally the big papa baboon got on its two legs, came to the window, and reached its hairy baboon arms right towards me. I was not so calm. But none enter in. Though I was later sent to get bananas from Edward's car and as I reached he said, "Now you run back to the van before they realize you have bananas." Oh great! There were many baboons, even 2 mothers that had babies on their bellies.

Once through the babooned forest we continued another hour until we reached a place called Sangalo Beach, our final destination. It is a sand beach on the shore of Lake Victoria. When we first walked near the water you could see the timidness and curiosity in the kids' faces. What are we here for? Can we get closer? Are there animals in the lake? Well, after getting the go-ahead to take off their shoes they went closer. You could see some of their faces now looking really tempted to take the next step from wetting their feet to being totally submerged. Mind you that they were all still dressed in their nice clothes. Well, the ok was given and Naster and Emma were the first brave ones to lead the pack. Eventually the sexes went to different areas of the beach and the clothes came off. What a funny sight to see all these kids with sheer joy on their faces as they splashed in the water in their whity tidy's and pretended to swim. Auntie Nusula even decided to join in and became a fish over the next 3 hours, swimming around and playing with the girls.

To add to the fun of swimming, there was a small fishing boat that came near the shore and asked the kids if they wanted a ride. So all who were brave enough to enter went aboard this little wooden canoe and were paddled out into the water. This is the first time most of the kids, and even the adults, had been on a boat.

Being right at the shore of the 2nd largest fresh water lake in the world, of course we could not leave without having eaten some fish. Expecting to see a whole fish served on my plate, I was greatly surprised when we had fried fillets. I know, lame to mention it, but here all meat, fish, chicken is always cooked and served with bones (which becomes a bit tricky seeing as i don't eat bones) and here comes my main point.... the fish was so delicious and the first time since I have been here that my taste buds have been reminded of my Dad's home cooking (b/c DAD- you are the best cook i know and nothing has even been close to matching you). So I was smiling and my stomach was smiling and all was well. After eating we loaded up and headed back home. What a fun fun day.