Arrival in Iganga

When I arrived at the airport a few days ago, my wolf pack was just one lone wolf. It quickly grew to twelve. This is the story of how it grew even further.

What a day! We travelled from Entebbe to Iganga. The distance would probably take only a couple of hours on I-35, but this journey took about six hours. We stopped in Kampala at the Walmart of Uganda, called Game, and a supermarket. We bought snacks and toured the stores for a rather long time while Phil went to secure our hotel reservations for the trip back into town. We continue… Kampala is crazy. Motorcycles, vans, and trucks litter the underdeveloped but massive city and drivers vie for position. We also stopped at Phil’s mechanic’s shop and visited for a while. It was here that I began to learn the hand shaking customs of Uganda. The men softly hold your hand for an extended amount of time. Even knowing this coming in, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat awkward the first time. The men will even walk hand in hand and arm in arm. Colton wouldn’t go for it.

We got back on the road and stared out the windows. The land is beautiful with much more vegetation than I expected. The people are friendly and the children laugh and wave at a van full of muzungus (white people). The driving is hilariously fun. At one point Phil, in the truck ahead, went to pass a big truck and trailer. We follow. Suddenly a Toyota Corona (no typo) passes us as well. Here we are, three wide on a two lane road, and I look up to see the grill of a large Mercedes truck bearing down on us. We avoided catastrophe and I could not stop laughing!

We stopped in a forest at a roadside market. The vehicles were surrounded with men and women holding out chicken on a stick and roasted bananas. We begin with the chicken, which a few of us were admittedly a little alarmed at the appearance. It as insanely delicious! We then begin to see the rest of the “on a stick” specials: livers and gizzards, beef and I think a lizard. The roasted bananas that we were each looking forward to actually terrible and I ended up with Kayla’s half chewed first bite on my lap as she frantically dug for money to buy some beef on a stick to wash out the flavor of the dried out corpse of a banana. We continued down the road.

Entering Iganga we drove through a stretch of bars and restaurants in little mud-brick shacks. The televisions inside were so loud that we could hear the vuvuzelas from the street. We arrive at Phil’s home to children yelling “Phillipo!” We emerge from the van to what seems like thousands of smiling and laughing faces. Children run, spin, and dance to us to hug and to say thank you before we have done anything. The tears were impossible to hold back. My final initial greeting was a darling little boy staring up at me with somewhat timid eyes but also full of curiosity. I crouch and hold his chubby little body close.

After unloading, we come out to play. We spend an hour arm wrestiling, roaring, dancing, singing, hugging and holding hands. At one point I think I had fifteen little hands in each of mine. My wolf pack had grown. We howled like a pack of twelve year old Ugandans and a bunch of happy muzungus. Eventually, it was time to say farewell for the night Thank yous are amazing and tears come again. Dinner and laughter say goodnight.

Father, thank you for more safe travelling, for good meals, and great company. Thank you for opening our eyes and breaking our hearts only slowly- any faster and we may be blinded.Please give us hearts for all we meet. Please give us hands to do your work. Please give us feet to walk the path. Please give us eyes that see like yours. Please give us ears that hear the cries. Father, please continue to protect us. Please continue to break our hearts. Please continue to hold our family’s hearts in yours. In Jesus name.