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