Gulu1

WE have reached Gulu very well. We left early Sunday morning and after 7 hours of traveling we reached. This city is much bigger than I thought, even bigger that Mbale. And if one didn’t know the war had been here, there would be no obvious signs in town.

IT was good that we reached a bit early because the original plan for the hotel turned out to be us sharing a very small bed. So we searched around and found something else. There are SO many kids that have come to town for competition!! We see the walking the streets and in vans all over. Last night, we went for dinner and a group came in right after us. Apparently the hotel was not ready to feed so many visitors, so after ordering food an hour before, some food finally came out. To our surprise it was NOTHING like what we ordered but with each plate she brought, the waitress kept saying, “Please, just eat what you see.” What??? So, we had no choice but to eat what we saw because it was already late. Then I feel like there should have been some compensation, but instead they charged us for an extra plate of food. There is nothing like “the customer is always right” here. But we tried to have grateful attitudes for having food and a place to stay.

This morning Ivan, Abel, and Teacher Francis left very early t meet up with the others from the Mbale team. After all the weigh ins and height checks, it turns out that Ivan passed through with no problem, but the corrupt people were not able to have competitors because they were too big. HA! That is what they get (is that wrong to say?).

Meanwhile, me, Glenn, Moses and Naster were able to meet with one of the Gulu church members and he took us to an IDP camp. Wow. There were SO many houses there. After asking many questions, I learned that the land was given by the government and people would have a 48 hour warning to leave because the rebels were coming. They would come to the camp and build houses where ever they found space. Things were really tight.. Houses basically on top of each other. Our guide said there were about 2500 people living in that little space. BUT the good news is that many of the houses were empty or torn down because a lot of people have moved back to the villages. This is a testimony to the Lord for bringing peace to the land!! I took many photos and have more to say but my time is limited.

Competitions begin tomorrow, so we are SO ready to see Ivan running. He actually will run an extra event since many competitors were disqualified for size. Thanks for the prayers and keep them coming!