April 30th.
Today marked the beginning of our 4-day Jinja adventures
with the ebisodde! And to start it off with a bang, I poisoned myself by
drinking bad milk. But, despite my unsettled stomach, I am an EKISODDE (a
beast); I grabbed my bags, picked up my feet and walked straight out the door.
We boarded our first taxi to town to catch the connecting bus that would take
us all the way to Jinja. No matter how much I wanted to rest my eyes and sleep
due to the constant, lulling shutter of the bus, I had to keep my eyes open, to
take notice of all my surroundings as we traveled along Jinja road. After an
hour passed, we were dropped off like orphans on the side of the road, in the
middle of this unknown Jinja town. In a minute we were on boda’s heading to the
designated area we were to be pick up by our keeper. As we waited at the café,
I realized just how beautiful and simple this town was. I watched as the town
people walked by minding their own business… (I’m so used to MZUNGU attention
now, its odd when people aren’t staring.). The thing is, Jinja is a tourist
town, so they get a constant stream of whites, they’re used to the sight! There
were some old men relaxing at the table next to ours, probably chatting about
how the troublemaker in town got put in jail overnight for drunk driving. ..
haha! Kathy Bisset, the one we were supposed to stay with sent her gardener to
pick us up from the café. What’s funny was, she told him to look for 4 mzungu
girls, but our group was actually made up of 2 natives and one mzungu (moi).
So, it turned out he was standing next to us for 10 minutes before realizing
that we were the ones! We finally, reached our final destination, lugging all
our luggage. I was in awe! The house was surrounded by exotic plants and
flowers! I felt as if we were going to a resort where we would spend our days
relaxing in meditation within nature. We
were greeted by two massive dogs, which didn’t settle well with Brenda and
Irene (Africans aren’t used to having pet dogs!). Approaching the home, the
mother and mastermind of this beautiful sanctuary, came out to greet us warmly
with her tight hugs. Instantly I felt at home, almost as if I was going to
visit my grandparents. Our room was all set up, waiting for its expected
occupants. Inside the house, it was even more beautiful, with the many African
inspired decorations. And my personal favorite, the window seat that gave you a
wonderful view of the lush garden. The house was built back in the 50’s, when
the British still controlled Uganda, so the architecture was much different
than most of the African homes. After we settled in a bit, with the direction
of our “mother” we went exploring around Jinja, sticking close to home… but in
the first PARTIAL day we got to visit an orphanage, we checked out the lake
(lake victoria), and we hit main street (theeee place to beee)… before we
finally reached home, to find roast beef sandwiches waiting for us. And with
that, the first ½ day of our Jinja adventures was over. Yet it hadn’t even
begun.
the Bisset's house
their garden... absolutely Gorgeous place to wake up in.
AND.. the woooonderful couple that took us in!
May 1st.
My whole body burns and stings with the intense heat of
fire. I’m quite positive if an egg were to be broken on my skin right now, it’d
fry. It’s the result of a full day under the African sun and my daily dosage of
malaria meds… the medicine makes your skin burn at a fast rate, as if my skin
isn’t sensitive enough. Within 5 years I will most likely have skin cancer.
Today, was a very lovely day though… the couple we’re staying with are
pampering us like we’re they’re own grandchildren. We woke up to French toast
frying on the stove, and hot coffee in a pot!! (I confess, I was extremely
excited about the coffee!), I’m already looking forward to tomorrow’s dosage.
After we ate our 5 star meal, we had a little devotion time together, to start
the day off right. One passage that encouraged me and reminded me of how great
God is, was Psalm 8… “How majestic is your name in all the earth…” He created
the vast skies, and yet he still see’s and cares for me! Once we ate from our
Father’s feast, we packed up our things and began our day long adventure; first
stop, kingfisher resort, and it wasn’t the first time I’d been there… but since
the last time I’d been there was 8 years back, my 9 year old mind gave me
recollections of HUGE pools, yet in reality, the pools were quite small. There
was a group of Germans that were staying at the resort; actually they were part
of a big medical team. And thanks to Irene’s outgoing personality, we got to
talking with one of them and found out she is a born again, which was
encouraging! It felt so good immersing my body in those divine pools… letting
my head slip under the surface into the kingdom below! I attempted to coax
Irene and Brenda out to the deep side, but this move was apparently too beasty
for thee ebisodde! Once we had our fill of the high life, we got on boda’s to
visit “St. Moses’ children center”, to check out the way they run things… and
compare it to the other one we had visited! Turns out there was a volunteer
team from England staying there and I noticed the ever-strong sun already
tainted their pale skin. The kids were super shy there. And on we went; next
stop was Main Street to chill actually, our real goal in this stop was the
attraction of Rolex’s (chapati’s with eggs, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, and
sausage… all rolled up). As we relaxed on Main Street, I couldn’t help but
practice my people watching skills! Haha.. It’s entertaining watching the
different mzungu’s pass by, wondering where they’re coming from. After we
scarfed down our Rolex’s, we headed off by foot down to the lake, to catch a
boat ride to the source of the Nile. Brenda had the opportunity of facing her
fears of going on water, and she overcame it! We boarded the small, wooden motorboat
to the source of the Nile. The ride was beautiful… because it happened to be
the perfect time of day, right when the sun was dropping down to shine through
the African trees, creating a shimmer on the surface of the water. We stopped
and got off onto an island for a brief time. Now I can say, that I’ve drank a
coke on the source of the Nile! I feel so accomplished. All this for the price
of a full body burn, it was worth it… plus, when we reached home I was given
actual aloe vera to soothe my stinging body, and for dinner there was
mac’n’cheese (homemade baby!). I’m so thankful for all that’s happened so far,
but the Jinja adventure is still in full swing… until next time.
coffee and french toast :)
kingfisher resort.
one of the friendly kids @ st. moses children centre.
source of the nile!! WOOOH
macaroni and cheese for dinner!
May 2nd.
Today started off with a pleasant surprise… turns out
Rebecca was coming to join our Ebisodde group! She adds quite the flavor, another
crazy spice to the whole group… which probably balances me out a bit! Before
she arrived though, I set out, by myself to see if I could find Katy Davis. If
you haven’t heard of her , she’s a single girl of 22 years ( I think) who has
adopted 13 kids. I haven’t read her book yet, but I got to read a few of her
blog posts, and her passion for what she does and whom she’s living for is
obvious. She’s a fellow soldier of the most high God! But, unfortunately, when
I got to her house she was too busy (makes sense right?!)… I at least got to
talk to some of her kids as they were doing their school outside. When I
returned from her house, all us FOUR girls headed to the great Itande falls on
boda boda’s (motorcycle transport), which turned out to be much father than we
expected (about a 40 min. drive)! But once reaching, we knew all that butt and
back pain was worth it! The falls were MAGNIFICENT! The force of the water
flowing was absolutely humbling. The sun was also beating down on us at the
time, so I couldn’t resist from dipping my body into a shallow, calm side pool.
I actually went all the way under, it was too tempting! And it was my
preparation for the long, hot, and dusty ride home. The ride back was to say
the least dusty… when I finally got to a mirror, I had aged a good 20 years.
And now I’m finally back at home, the day still not fully used… and I
definitely do not intend on spending the rest of it sitting on this window
seat, although it is pleasant. Maybe I’ll spend the afternoon in Australia… or India…
choices, choices. Eeeeh, I think I’ll
opt to swim at a pool in Jinja… yeaaaah… hahaa! J
Btw. I’m a professional at “bush peeing” now.
Got back from the pool. We decided to take an afternoon
swim, which happened to be kinda cold! But, I enjoyed the time nevertheless.
And upon our return, the smell of homemade pizza welcomed us back.
at itande falls!
PIZZA!
the whole group on our last night...
May 3rd.
Well, today is our final day in Jinja and it saddens me to
know I have to leave this quaint town, and the ever-caring “parents”. But, it
was time this morning, we ate cereal, which definitely reminded me of home
(Cali), which in result made me miss my family. But despite those depressing
thoughts, breakfast around the table, surrounded by my good friends distracted
my wandering thoughts and brought me back to the present. Most of the morning
we spent laying around, relaxing and soaking in our last moments in this
beautiful paradise before having to leave it forever. We got to have one last
devotion time together as girls.. which prepared me for the day ahead. And with
that we got all our luggage and started our trek back home (Zana). J
And THAT is the end of our great Jinja Adventures avec the
ebisodde!
Thank you, thank you.
last breakfast... CEREAL! at last.
on the bus heading home...
there was a chicken in front of us... haha :)
