Family Visit

My dad and brother came to visit me just after Christmas for a week and a half. It was good to see them. I have not been home sick much since I have been here, but it was comforting to see family again. After living here for a while I have forgotten some of the difference as the environment around me becomes familiar. One of the things my brother mentioned was the smell. There is a strange smell here that you can't quite put your finger on. I think it is a mixture of exhaust fumes and burning garbage, but I don't smell it any more.

Here are some of the highlights of their visit.

One day we went downtown Kampala to experience it. We took a taxi van there. These taxis are public transit system for the country, think small buses that have set routes but pick up and drop passengers where ever. They are not too much bigger than a minivan but there is nothing but seat, there is no trunk. Taking a taxi is an experience in itself. You wave one down as it is driving by and you get in. There is a driver and a conductor who gets passengers and collects money. There are seats for 14 passengers plus the driver, so you would expect that when the are 14 passengers the taxi would drive until someone got out. But the conductor continues to get more passengers and people just squish in. The most that I have seen in one taxis is 25 people, only 10 more than it is designed for. Taxis are also cheap. Our trip from my place to downtown was about 6 km but it costs only 1000 shillings each, about 40 cents.

We walked around downtown for a while. We went into Owino market, which is a large open air market where people sell almost anything, shoes, electronics, clothes, tires, fruits and vegetables. There are narrow pathways and again many shops selling the same thing beside each other. Everybody wants you to come and see their goods. After that we walked to see the taxis park. This is a large parking lot with hundreds of taxis that looks like there is no order but somehow there is. After this my brother asked me if we were there for any reason. I said to see and experience it. He said well I have seen it so we can go now. Apparently he was not a fan of downtown. But then again neither am I. This reminded me why I rarely frequent downtown Kampala. It is busy, crowded with people and since there are fewer muzungu, white people, there you attract a lot of attention and looks. But it is generally safe and people are friendly. It is not my idea of fun, apparently it is not Mike's either.

Taxi Park downtown Kampala, somehow you can actually go places from here

The next day we went to Jinja to go whitewater rafting on the Nile. It was a lot of fun. I have been rafting twice before this but the rapid here were bigger than the one I had been at before. Thankfully the river is also deeper so it is generally okay if you flip the boat. We stayed overnight at the rafting company's camp overlooking the Nile, it is quite beautiful.

Sunset over the Nile River

From Jinja we went to Sipi Falls in eastern Uganda. Sipi Falls is near the Kenyan border. The Sipi river flows down the mountain side and there is a series of three large waterfalls. We stayed at a lodge below the middle falls. It was very beautiful and relaxing. The three falls are not right beside each other so we went hiking one day to the other two falls.

Sipi Falls

Coffee tree

On the way back to Kampala we had another cultural experience when our driver had to stop in town to pick up a goat for his boss. So we drove for five hours with a live goat in the trunk of the van. Not something you would expect when you are paying for the drive, but that is how things work here.

Our extra passenger for the ride home

We returned to Kampala for the night and then drove to western Uganda to Queen Elizabeth National Park to do a safari. On the way we passed over the equator. It was exciting to see the animals in their environment. We saw hippos, antelope, zebras, crocodiles, water buffalo, elephants and lions. We also took a boat ride on the Kazinga Channel which connects Lake George and Lake Edward. We saw many hippos and elephants up close. Our boat drove over a hippo who came up right beside us, don`t worry the boat was large. It was a great experience to share with family.

Lions

Hippos

Elephants

This hippo was actually this close to the boat

Baboons

Overall it was a good trip. My dad and brother enjoyed themselves. It was good to be able to share some of my experiences here and the beauty of Uganda. I have not hosted people for a long period before, so it was more tiring than I thought it would be, planning and making sure that everything is going well. But I am glad that they came. They left in the middle of the Toronto airport mess, so I was glad that their flight was not cancelled and they made it home safely.

I have been a bit behind in my updates as this happened a month ago already, where has January gone. I will write an update soon about what has happened this month, it has been busy.

Thank you for reading.

Some prayer requests:
-Our team, we have 12 climbers, is preparing for the Kilimanjaro climb leaving on Feb 15th. Prayer for safety in training and while we are climbing. Pray for the fundraising efforts of the climbers, the purpose of the climb is to raise money and awareness of our new office building.

-We had a new group of interns, some are returning from last term, arrive last week. Pray for their adjustment to life in Uganda and working in our office. Pray for the staff in the office to receive them well as it can be tough to be constantly welcome new people.

-I will be mentoring one of the interns this term. I don`t feel prepared or equipped to do this, but God is able to use me in my weakness.

-It has gotten busy lately and I am feeling like I have a lot of stuff to do and don`t always feel like I have the time to do it. Pray for strength and discernment to know what to do and what not to do.

Thank you again for reading and for you prayer and support. It has been encouraging for me.

God bless,

Matt

Christmas in Kampala

Happy new year,

I know it was a couple of weeks ago, but in Uganda if you haven't seen or talked to someone since the new year that is how you are greeted even if it is three weeks later.

So Christmas has come and gone a few weeks ago. I have been quite busy the last couple of weeks.

Right before Christmas I found an apartment to move into. Apartment hunting is different in Uganda. There are no websites that you can browse through ads to see nice pictures and descriptions before going to see a place. Here you need to know somebody. I used the broker that EMI typically uses. The process involves phoning the broker and explaining how big a place you want, how much you want to pay, what area of town you want to live in. Then you wait for the broker to check his contacts and get back to you. So I went with Brittany from our office to look at a bunch of places, about ten of them. I was hoping for a one bedroom apartment near our office. Of all the places we looked at there was only a single one bedroom apartment, the rest were two or more. A couple of the places were houses that were more than I wanted to pay. Two were very close to the office but one we couldn't see inside as the landlord didn't pick up the phone. Getting a hold of people can sometimes be a challenge here. The other close place didn't feel very secure. The remainder of the places were further away than I would have liked.

After thinking about these places I decided that I should keep looking. I phoned the broker and asked him to keep looking. After not hearing anything for a week I assumed I would be homeless soon. But he phoned back and said he had two places for me to see nearby. One of the places worked fine for me. I told the broker to contact the landlord. Then I got some money so that I could pay the deposit because a place is not yours unless you have paid some money. I went through the apartment with the landlord to show him what needed to be fixed before I moved in, things like locks on the windows, leaking toilet, doors that wouldn't close, windows without screens, etc. No place is perfect around here. But I now have a place to stay and to settle into. I think I have moved enough over the past year (From Canada to England back to Canada, to Uganda with the interns, house sitting in Kampala for two months, and now to this place) so it is nice to have more permanent base. I have all the basics, a bed and kitchen stuff, I can eat and sleep. But it is lacking on the rest of the furniture.

Kitchen

Living Room View

Living Room

Bathroom

Apartment Building

 I bought a motorcycle from a friend who was moving to Lebanon. It has been fun to learn to ride it. It is much easier to get around now and I have a sense of freedom and flexibility now. Driving in Uganda is different. They drive on the left side of the road, most of the time, you really drive where the road has less potholes. I am enjoying it.

My Bike

I spent Christmas in Kampala. It was quite different from my typical Christmas. The weather was sunny and 27 degrees, so there was no snow. I was not surrounded by family and friends from Canada. The buildup to Christmas was different as well, there is not as much hype here. I don't see all the commercials, advertising, store displays, etc that appear before Christmas. I had an enjoyable day but it didn't feel like it was Christmas.

On Christmas Eve I went down to one of the slums in Kampala with the staff and boys from Doors Ministries to spend time with the street kids there. We talked with them, played a game of football and gave them a meal. It was a great experience. Mark, one of the Ugandan men that works at Doors, told me that one of the street boys asked him why we would all come down there to spend time with them especially those of us who were from other countries. Mark replied it is because we love you. Such a great way to show God's love to these kids who most people pass over as hopeless.

As I saw these kids in the slums I was reminded that the boys who live at the Doors house all came from that environment. Living on the streets, stealing to get food, sniffing gas to get high and dull their senses. It feels like such a hopeless place. But looking at these young men at Doors you would never know that is where they have come from. The are young men who love God, love each other, they have hopes and dreams and they have compassion for the kids around them. It was a great reminder that no one is hopeless in God's eyes. If He can change their lives He can change anyone's life.

Christmas day I spent at Doors. We went to church in the morning. Afterwards we came back to the house for breakfast, some delicious pancakes. We spent some time together singing and worshipping. We had a Ugandan meal together for lunch. Beans, rice, posho, sweet potatoes, chicken and beef. It was a good time. After lunch we played some team games together, wheelbarrow races, piggyback races, relays, etc. It was a lot of fun and good to see others have fun. Afterwards we played a game of football (soccer) in the yard. I have never done that on Christmas day before. We finished the day watching a movie with a projector on the wall outside. Overall is was an enjoyable day spent with my family here in Uganda.

The only snow in Uganda, cooling our drinks.

The men, dressed in their new shirts and ties.

Team Relay Games

So that is how I spent my Christmas in Uganda. After Christmas my dad and brother came to visit me for a week and a half. I will share more about that in another post.

Thank you for reading and God bless. 

Matt