Yay, Ethiopian Airlines!

July 17

We had a nice drive back into Kampala the other day. We spent a little time at the souvenir shop and then at Lake Victoria for food. We waited until around 8:00pm before we left for the Airport, and dropped off the team. Robert then drove us back through Kampala to Seta. There was nasty traffic, and it took us quite a while. I took advantage of the opportunity and got my laser pointer out so I could play with people that were out and about. This place really does come alive when the sun goes down, it must have something to do with the temperature. We ended up getting back to the orphanage around 10:40pm. When we arrived at the orphanage all the lights were off and the gate was locked. I walked in and tried to find the keys to the gate. We eventually got in and had to rig up some quick mosquito nets before we could go to bed. It was the most primitive netting system I have seen... But it worked.

In the morning we woke up and went to church with the children. We washed some clothes and walked into town to get some of the essentials. I bought a bar of mint dark chocolate and a little box of tea. The children have been in testing at school all week, so the mornings are slow. After I wake up I usually have to go to the bathroom. Since they have closed the bathrooms that are near to us I walk across the orphanage to use the toilet. I get back to the house and we have tea and breakfast; which is either samosas or a granola bar. Then as we wake up we start to talk about what our lessons will look like for the Primary 7 children. We end up washing dishes, washing clothes, and talking to children and Mums throughout the day and then when 5:30pm rolls around we move down to the school and start to teach the lessons.

 

I have been slipping big hunks to children every now and then, it is so funny because you see the smaller children and they have sticky white nougat all over their face and hands. ...but they are so delicious!!

July 19

Get ready for a nice long paragraph...

I always forget what the last day is like when I am here without the whole team. I can't help but feel frustrated. The mums hear that we leave the next day and I get half a dozen mums coming up to me telling me that they have problems with their light bulb. There has been one mum that has been telling me she has a problem every day that I have been here. The initial frustration is that I was told that in all off the houses the light bulbs were replaced and the lights were turned on. The next one is that the mums will give me this look like i am turning my back on them and abandoning them with their problem if I can't fix it. I go to look at the mums house, and she shows me that her switch is broken. This means that I need to get into the container and find a switch, a screwdriver, and turn the power off. One of our interpreters sees me and tells me that breakfast and tea is ready, so I tell her to give me 15 minutes, so I go to the container and open it. I grab the cordless drill, find a screwdriver, then dig and dig through the place to find a switch. I lock the door of the container on may way out thinking this should be quick. I go to the house and set my things down in the main room and check the lights to make sure that I am in the right place. The switch does seem to be having problems. So I take my keys to the main panel to turn the power off to that house but I find that there is a new lock on the gate that protects the panel. Now I have to go find Mum Berna who has the keys. She isn't at her house. One of the Mums tells me where I can find her, so I go to find her. Then she says she will meet me at her house and she will give me the keys, so I go to her house and wait. She gets me the keys, and I walk back to the panel and unlock the gate. I open the panel and re-discover that unless I want to turn off the power to 15 houses i need to go to a different panel. I go to the new panel (which doesnt require a key) and turn off the breaker that shows the house I am working on. I walk back to the house and try turning the bulb on that still works. It still turns on. I start systematically turning off breakers until I have turned them all off except for the main breaker. The light still comes on, so I walk back to the panel and turn off the main switch for that panel, which I could have done from the main panel. The light finally turns off, so I go into the house and remove the old switch for the bad light, and wire in the new one. I set my tools outside so that I don't have to go back into the house, then walk back to the panel to turn on the power. The bad bulb still does not turn on. I grab the old switch and work it back and forth, and It feels like it works great. I think to myself, "Did I put the old switch back on? No, because this one has paint on it. It must be the bulb." I go to the container to look for more bulbs but find none. I go back to the house and tell her that I have no more bulbs, and can't fix it. She looks at me and says, "you don't have any lamp holders?" ...yes, I have lamp holders. I climb a set of bunk beds in the room and get in top of the wall. I inspect the light, and sure enough, the socket is all messed up. I climb down and walk back to the container and start to search for a lamp holder. I finally find one. I take it back to the house. Then I go back to the panel and turn off the main switch again. I go back to the house and try to take the drill, the screwdriver, and the new lamp holder up the bunk beds to the top of the wall. I get to the lamp holder to remove it, and the screws standard heads, which means that I have the wrong bit; back to the container. I get the new bit; back to the house, back up the wall, and start to remove the old switch. The dust is thick, and my nose is dripping. I shake my head to get rid of that drip on the tip of my nose, and realize that it is not a drip, but more like a shoelace. Without blowing a snot rocket in the house, and because of a lack of tissues in my pocket, I wipe it on my shirt and it looks like a slug crawled across my chest. I finish replacing the socket, and start to climb down. I take my things back outside and go to turn on the power again. I come back to the house to see if the light turns on, yes. I take the tools back to the container, lock the container, close up the panels, take the keys back to Mum Berna, then go to the bathroom on the other side of the orphanage, which I have been holding for some time, and walk back to the house and enjoy a nice cup of lukewarm tea. As frustrated as I was, on my way out of the Mum's house I saw a little boy in his school uniform standing in the doorway looking at me. His belly was big, and it was tucked into a maroon school sweater. He gave me a smile, and it made me smile. Sometimes it is easy to forget why I am here. If I put my frustrated face on, and walk around, who do they see in me? It's not Jesus. The work is worth the one smile that the little boy gave me. I remember that I am here to love these people, and not to worry about how many frustrating steps it takes to replace a lightbulb.

We finished our last day at the orphanage. It seemed to fly by from the moment I woke up. I don't even know what I did all day after the electrical fix. Our last bible study started on time and finished on time. It was on faith. "Saving faith isn't only knowing about God, saving faith isn't only for now, saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our eternal life." I wanted to emphasize that the saving faith if not accompanied by action is not a saving faith, like James chapter 2 talks about. The kids were a captive audience, and I think God worked on their hearts. At the end I asked them if any of them would like to accept the gift of eternal life from Jesus and many of them shouted, "Yes!" I told them that if in their heart they really wanted to, then they could pray a salvation prayer with me. I don't know how many of them accepted Christ, but I am so blessed to be a part of it.

A little later I was walking through the orphanage as it was getting dark and Godfrey came up to me and said that he was sad that I was leaving. He gave me a big hug. I started to walk again, but he just clinged on and started to walk with me. It has got to be so hard for those kids when visitors come and become so attached. I wish I never had to leave them. Someday in heaven, there won't be the sadness of departing.

Its 11:40pm.. We are now at the Uganda airport. Andrew, Julie, and I are playing a boardgame waiting to go to our gate. Andrew's plane takes off about 2 hours after ours.

1:50am.. on paper, our plane is flying away right now, but we are sitting in the terminal.

3:45am.. Oh here is Andrew coming through the gate boarding his plane to fly to Japan. Hey Buddy..

4:10am.. They are saying our flight has been cancelled. We are waiting to hear from the Ethiopian Airlines representative about what we can expect.

6:15am.. They are crossing our exit stamp on our passports off because we have to go back into Uganda to a hotel. We are boarding a bus for The Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel. Next flight will be around 5:00pm tomorrow.