Uganda Mission
My Journal
These are some of Adam’s journal entries for Uganda
For more info on the journals, email me at [email protected]
Characters:
Johnson- Our Driver, guide of Uganda
Stephen- Head of CDTS (Community Development Through Sports)
Dawson- Adam's Friend (He didn't go to Uganda)
Bernaditte , Benita, and Bernard- Kids of Carrie and Bob's friend (Ugandan)
Matayo, Habert, and Hangson- Benjamin's and my Ugandan friends
Day 3
We arrived at the Entebbe airport at 7am and then went to find our bags. We were looking for 11 soccer bags and four personal bags. We found all of the bags except for one soccer bag so we went to “Lost Baggage Claim”. They did not have it but said that it might arrive on the next incoming flight which would be next week. So we left the airport and looked for Steven, a soccer coach who would distribute the soccer equipment to people who needed it. We found him next to a large van and we packed all 14 bags into the vehicle. We then smushed ourselves into the van – 14 bags, my family of four, Steven, a driver, and Samuel, Steven’s friend.
We rode for an hour, all hot and stuffy, tired and hungry to our hotel, the Red Chili Pepper. When we got there we found out that we could not check in until 2 pm – and it was only 10:30 am. Our family decided to go to Steven’s hotel to lay down and rest in his room. When we got there, we looked to see if any extra rooms were available. We booked two rooms that slept two people each and cancelled our reservations at the Red Chili Pepper. The hotel rooms were everything we could get in Uganda except we had cold showers and no drinkable water.
Day 7
We woke up this morning at 7:20am, and quickly packed the car. We were leaving the rented house today, to drive to Fort Portal, and the next day to Ibanda. We first drove to the Bead for Life village. They showed us how they make the beads, and showed us people making beads. It was really neat, the way they made the beads. I took more pictures, and we learned that there were 132 houses in the village. After the tour of the village, the guy who was leading the tour got in our car and we drove to a public transportation stop. We dropped him off there, and picked up Bernard and Bernaditte and drove for a long time. Before we picked them up, we ate at a restaurant called, “Santa Maria.” There was bathrooms that you could sit down in, and toilet paper. The faucet worked and had soap. It was like paradise. I ordered chicken and rice and also an orange soda. The chicken came in a small bowl of soup and Benjamin plowed his fork into the chicken shouting, “Lets feast!” The soup sprayed Benjamin, and he was wearing his nicest shirt. It was hilarious.
Day 8
We woke up this morning and had a quick breakfast, then got in the car when Johnson came. One of the two fan belts broke, so he brought a mechanic over to look at the engine. The mechanic said that we could run on one fan belt, but Johnson would have to get it replaced soon. So we continued our trek to Ibanda, and finally arrived. There were beautiful mountains surrounding the village, and lots of small houses. A dirt road took us to the house we were staying at, Betty and Mugisa’s house.
We passed lots of children and adults, all brown. I think my family were the only Mzungu in the village. When we walked in the house, there were 3 bedrooms, 1 living room, and a kitchen. There was no electricity so we had no toilets or anything. There was an outhouse that had a squat toilet, but no sink. You would have to pour water from the well on to your hands to wash them. After exploring the small house, we unloaded Johnson’s car and put up our mosquito nets. We passed a flat basketball around by kicking it. There were lots of brown kids sitting around our house, all just staring at us. We went out to the front of the house to pass the deflated basketball, and I tried to do a double scissors and fell flat on my face. I started laughing and all the black kids started laughing at me too. Every once in a while, Bernaditte would chase them away with a stick. My dad then walked us up to a huge boulder maybe 25 to 30 feet tall, and we were going to climb to the top. There was an easy way up, but me and Benjamin did not see it. We started climbing up a big cliff on the rock that was almost straight up. A few parts there were footholds, but a lot of the time I was barely clinging to the rock. Dad had went up the easy way, and when he saw what a steep drop it was, he told us to go down. Benjamin just jumped down, since he wasn’t very far up. I was already 2/3 the way there, so I couldn’t go back down. Dad stuck his leg out to me and I grabbed on, and climbed up his leg till I got to the top of the rock. There were coffee beans drying in the sun, on the top of the rock. After we looked around a bit, we headed down the road to the small trading center. Mom and Dad were reunited with old friends, and we found (soccer) Steven there. We grabbed a nice cold soda from the only place that had one. We talked with Steven then decided to walk down to the soccer field of Ibanda. Steven set up a soccer match on part of the field and we played an hour and forty minute soccer game. Our team was fouled once inside the penalty box, so Steven let me take the penalty kick. I made it and Benjamin’s and my team won, 1 to 0. The soccer field had long grass, cones for goals, and everyone except for us played barefoot. After soccer, we went to bed.
Day 10
I felt good when I woke up this morning. After taking malaria pills and eating breakfast, Job came over. We walked down to the river, and halfway there, Mom had to go back to the house to get my medicine for a really bad stomach ache. When we got to the bridge, we decided to cross the river, to see how life was like before the bridge was there. The river was not hard to cross, if you knew the good places to step. Job told us where to step and we made it across without any incidents. Mom met us on the other side of the river because Johnson had drove her there after she got the medicine.
We then walked to a school with 880 students, and less than 20 teachers. We gave out Books of Hope to the kids, and they read through them. I saw Dawson’s book among the books. We then collected the Books of Hope, and gave them to the headmaster.
Benjamin and I gave them blank composition books to write their Books of Hope that we would take back to America. All this time we were in a classroom of about 80 kids. Some of the kids were really good artists. After that, my family walked outside where all the kids of the school were sitting underneath a big tree. Some students stood up and started singing. We were provided with soda and biscuits while some students sang. We were next shown their football (soccer) field. We got to play some with the girls team while everybody else watched us play soccer/football. After visiting the school, we walked to Job’s house and ate lunch. Johnson then drove us to Kasese where we visited Bishop Masereka. My parents talked with him a little while, and then we went to a supermarket. We bought cereal and all that stuff, but they had ice cream there. Mom and Dad bought us some ice cream, and it was the best ice cream I had ever had (probably because I hadn’t had any in such a long time). We ate dinner at the White House Hotel, and used the internet café there. I ate chicken and rice, also a chapati. It was good. Afterwards we drove home and went to bed.
Day 12
Benita’s cry woke me up today at 7:20am. I took my malaria pills and sat down to eat breakfast. Mom had made cinnamon toast, and I ate a couple pieces. Benjamin said he didn’t feel well and had a stomach ache, but we still had to go to church. We drove an hour up a bumpy, dirt, road that had lots of rocks. There was a beautiful view and Bwanandeke showed us how he makes coffee. Lots of kids followed us and stared. After about an hour, we finished the drive to the church. The church was actually in a school classroom, and was small in size with about 30 people squeezed into the room. The man in the front was speaking Lukonjo so I had no idea what he was saying. I sat at the front and pretty much just sat there the whole time. Finally my family and I were called up to the front to say some words about being in Uganda. After we talked, the service ended and we got in the car. After being stared at for a while, Johnson got in the car and drove us home. We arrived home at about 3:00pm.
Some Ugandan kids came over and we picked coffee beans from the trees and played soccer/football. Two kids gave us their email addresses and we gave them ours. Hopefully we’ll become pen pals. The kids left and we came inside. Mom cooked spaghetti and Steven came over with Juliette and they ate with us. I peeled my coffee beans and Benjamin fell asleep next to me on the floor. Dad carried Benjamin to his bed, and I got in bed too after brushing my teeth. Steven and Juliette left and everybody went to sleep.
Day 13
I had wild dreams last night. Probably a side effect of my malaria pills. My best friends were in the wild dream, and I can’t wait to see them again. I woke up this morning and took my malaria pills. Mom and I were going to visit a school today while Dad and Benjamin participated in P.E. at another school. Johnson drove us to the school and dropped us off. Before we were dropped off, Betty had got in the car upset because of disagreements with her husband, Mugisa. At the school, we were taken to the headmaster’s office. We signed in to the school, which had 968 students and only 17 teachers. We (Mom and I) went into all the classrooms and greeted all the teachers and students. They were all very excited, and in the P1 and P2 classrooms, the kids went crazy when Mom took photos. We greeted the P3, P4, P5, and P6 classrooms before finally getting to our destination, P7. We first greeted them and then we handed out the Books of Hope, the ones from our schools. I saw my book and took a photo of the person who was holding it.
After 15 minutes, we collected the books and handed out workbooks (notebooks) to write their Books of Hope in. Mom gave me a chapati to go and eat outside. I ate it, then came back in to watch the kids write. We left the books at the school so that the kids could write more. We would pick them up (the books they wrote) later. Mom and I walked outside, where all the other students were waiting for us. They sang, and we gave the school some inflatable balls to play with when we left. As Johnson drove us from the school, kids ran in the dust of the car, chasing us. They stopped after about 100 meters. Johnson drove us to the footbridge in Maliba that Mom and Dad would cross 15 years ago. Johnson afterwards drove us to the trading center and dropped us off. We bought chapattis and cold sodas, then took a motorcycle home. We rested until 4:00pm, then we walked down to the soccer field. Benjamin and Dad were with us by that point. One of Steven’s workers showed us how to control the ball better, and we did that till 6:00pm. Mom walked over to a computer lab at the school and was going to upload pictures while me, Dad, and Benjamin walked home. I decided to help Mom, so I ran to catch up with her. It took me a while to find her, but I finally found her. After uploading the pictures, we walked home, ate supper, and went to bed.
Day 18
I woke up early this morning. Today was the soccer tournament. I hurriedly took my malaria ills and ate breakfast, then zoomed to the soccer field in Johnson’s car. Mom, Dad, and Benjamin were with me. We arrived at 10:45am, just in time for warm up. Benjamin and I were on the same team, along with Matayo (who Benjamin and I had made friends with earlier) and 4 other players. There were eight teams competing, and the way it was set up was that each team played 7 games, and whoever had the best record won the tournament. After warming up for the first game, we got set up for it. I played right midfield, and Benjamin played forward. Most of the game it was tied 0-0. Matayo dribbled the ball down the field, and acted like he was going to shoot. The goalkeeper came running out to block the shot, but Matayo passed the ball to an open goal, and Benjamin tapped it in.
We played 6 more games that day, and we won four, lost zero, and tied three times. Our last game that we played, if we won we would win the tournament. We were in first place out of the eight teams, so all we had to do was win. If we lost or tied, we probably wouldn’t win. The whistle blew. We had started the last match. In the opening minutes, Matayo scored. He had scored all the goals in all the seven games except for two. The opposing team kicked off again from midfield after the goal, but they couldn’t score. Halftime creeped up on us, and we changed sides. The second half was scoreless, and we won the tournament. We were very excited, especially the Ugandans. We got medals that we had brought over from the USA. We kept it, and I thought it was ironic we had won the tournament. The tournament had gone till 5:00, and so afterward we drove to a tiny hotel and ate dinner. I almost fell asleep on the way home, but I made it awake home and went to bed.
Day 19
I woke up this morning with a start. Today was our last day in Ibanda. It was Sunday so my family and I had a short service at our house we were staying at. I took my malaria pills and lay in bed to read. A breakfast consisting of oatmeal began the rest of the day. Matayo came over for the first time during our stay wearing his new medal. We gave him some of our old clothes, and they fit him well. When we gave him a school scholarship for one year with leftover mission money, he couldn’t stop thanking us.
Hangson came over without Habert, and when I asked him why, he said Habert could not find his clothes. I told Hangson to ride back on his bike (he came by bicycle) and retrieve Habert to say bye. Twenty minutes later, Habert and Hangson were both there. We gave them school scholarships for one term (they were in secondary school) and they each got a pocket knife. We said our goodbyes to our new friends as they left. Some kids that were staying in Mugisa’s boy quarters named Sunday and Kule (pronounced cool-e) gave us handmade soccer balls. We thanked them and went down to the computer stations (computer lab) with Mom and Dad. For some reason, Matayo was there and we chased little Ugandan kids until we left. Mom and Dad were busy on the computer. After having fun playing (or scaring) little kids, we went home and ate dinner. Then, being tired from all the goodbyes, we went to bed.
Day 20
I woke up this morning at 8:00am, sad that we were leaving. I would say it was bittersweet leaving Ibanda. We were sad to leave our new friends and the culture, but happy to be going to a nicer place (money wise). We wolfed down breakfast and our malaria pills, then got in the car, ready to go. We had packed the day before. Johnson drove us out of Ibanda, and we all said our goodbyes to the small village.
Day 27
I slept in this morning. It was our last day in Uganda to relax. I took malaria pills, had a cup of tea, and ate breakfast. By the way, last night we went on a horseback ride. Mom and I rode first, as a guide walked the horses through the reserve. We saw a few baboons in the distance, and warthogs. We also saw Kob, orabee (I’m not sure about the spelling) and a few other animals. Back to today. Benjamin and I rested and hung out. We jumped on the trampoline a lot, and got hot and sweaty. We then ran and jumped in the pool. We played hearts with Dad, and played in the pool a lot. Benjamin and I made two hilarious music videos and Dad was videoing. We ate lunch, and then walked down to the Lake Albert. We watched the lake ripple when people stepped in the water. After that, we layed in bed or swam until dinner. We ate dinner, brushed our teeth, and went to bed.
Day 28
We packed our bags into Johnson’s car this morning and took our malaria pills. We had a good breakfast. The hotel packed us lunch for the road. It was our last day that we had all 24 hours in Uganda.
For more info on the journals, email me at [email protected]
Characters:
Johnson- Our Driver, guide of Uganda
Stephen- Head of CDTS (Community Development Through Sports)
Dawson- Adam's Friend (He didn't go to Uganda)
Bernaditte , Benita, and Bernard- Kids of Carrie and Bob's friend (Ugandan)
Matayo, Habert, and Hangson- Benjamin's and my Ugandan friends
Day 3
We arrived at the Entebbe airport at 7am and then went to find our bags. We were looking for 11 soccer bags and four personal bags. We found all of the bags except for one soccer bag so we went to “Lost Baggage Claim”. They did not have it but said that it might arrive on the next incoming flight which would be next week. So we left the airport and looked for Steven, a soccer coach who would distribute the soccer equipment to people who needed it. We found him next to a large van and we packed all 14 bags into the vehicle. We then smushed ourselves into the van – 14 bags, my family of four, Steven, a driver, and Samuel, Steven’s friend.
We rode for an hour, all hot and stuffy, tired and hungry to our hotel, the Red Chili Pepper. When we got there we found out that we could not check in until 2 pm – and it was only 10:30 am. Our family decided to go to Steven’s hotel to lay down and rest in his room. When we got there, we looked to see if any extra rooms were available. We booked two rooms that slept two people each and cancelled our reservations at the Red Chili Pepper. The hotel rooms were everything we could get in Uganda except we had cold showers and no drinkable water.
Day 7
We woke up this morning at 7:20am, and quickly packed the car. We were leaving the rented house today, to drive to Fort Portal, and the next day to Ibanda. We first drove to the Bead for Life village. They showed us how they make the beads, and showed us people making beads. It was really neat, the way they made the beads. I took more pictures, and we learned that there were 132 houses in the village. After the tour of the village, the guy who was leading the tour got in our car and we drove to a public transportation stop. We dropped him off there, and picked up Bernard and Bernaditte and drove for a long time. Before we picked them up, we ate at a restaurant called, “Santa Maria.” There was bathrooms that you could sit down in, and toilet paper. The faucet worked and had soap. It was like paradise. I ordered chicken and rice and also an orange soda. The chicken came in a small bowl of soup and Benjamin plowed his fork into the chicken shouting, “Lets feast!” The soup sprayed Benjamin, and he was wearing his nicest shirt. It was hilarious.
Day 8
We woke up this morning and had a quick breakfast, then got in the car when Johnson came. One of the two fan belts broke, so he brought a mechanic over to look at the engine. The mechanic said that we could run on one fan belt, but Johnson would have to get it replaced soon. So we continued our trek to Ibanda, and finally arrived. There were beautiful mountains surrounding the village, and lots of small houses. A dirt road took us to the house we were staying at, Betty and Mugisa’s house.
We passed lots of children and adults, all brown. I think my family were the only Mzungu in the village. When we walked in the house, there were 3 bedrooms, 1 living room, and a kitchen. There was no electricity so we had no toilets or anything. There was an outhouse that had a squat toilet, but no sink. You would have to pour water from the well on to your hands to wash them. After exploring the small house, we unloaded Johnson’s car and put up our mosquito nets. We passed a flat basketball around by kicking it. There were lots of brown kids sitting around our house, all just staring at us. We went out to the front of the house to pass the deflated basketball, and I tried to do a double scissors and fell flat on my face. I started laughing and all the black kids started laughing at me too. Every once in a while, Bernaditte would chase them away with a stick. My dad then walked us up to a huge boulder maybe 25 to 30 feet tall, and we were going to climb to the top. There was an easy way up, but me and Benjamin did not see it. We started climbing up a big cliff on the rock that was almost straight up. A few parts there were footholds, but a lot of the time I was barely clinging to the rock. Dad had went up the easy way, and when he saw what a steep drop it was, he told us to go down. Benjamin just jumped down, since he wasn’t very far up. I was already 2/3 the way there, so I couldn’t go back down. Dad stuck his leg out to me and I grabbed on, and climbed up his leg till I got to the top of the rock. There were coffee beans drying in the sun, on the top of the rock. After we looked around a bit, we headed down the road to the small trading center. Mom and Dad were reunited with old friends, and we found (soccer) Steven there. We grabbed a nice cold soda from the only place that had one. We talked with Steven then decided to walk down to the soccer field of Ibanda. Steven set up a soccer match on part of the field and we played an hour and forty minute soccer game. Our team was fouled once inside the penalty box, so Steven let me take the penalty kick. I made it and Benjamin’s and my team won, 1 to 0. The soccer field had long grass, cones for goals, and everyone except for us played barefoot. After soccer, we went to bed.
Day 10
I felt good when I woke up this morning. After taking malaria pills and eating breakfast, Job came over. We walked down to the river, and halfway there, Mom had to go back to the house to get my medicine for a really bad stomach ache. When we got to the bridge, we decided to cross the river, to see how life was like before the bridge was there. The river was not hard to cross, if you knew the good places to step. Job told us where to step and we made it across without any incidents. Mom met us on the other side of the river because Johnson had drove her there after she got the medicine.
We then walked to a school with 880 students, and less than 20 teachers. We gave out Books of Hope to the kids, and they read through them. I saw Dawson’s book among the books. We then collected the Books of Hope, and gave them to the headmaster.
Benjamin and I gave them blank composition books to write their Books of Hope that we would take back to America. All this time we were in a classroom of about 80 kids. Some of the kids were really good artists. After that, my family walked outside where all the kids of the school were sitting underneath a big tree. Some students stood up and started singing. We were provided with soda and biscuits while some students sang. We were next shown their football (soccer) field. We got to play some with the girls team while everybody else watched us play soccer/football. After visiting the school, we walked to Job’s house and ate lunch. Johnson then drove us to Kasese where we visited Bishop Masereka. My parents talked with him a little while, and then we went to a supermarket. We bought cereal and all that stuff, but they had ice cream there. Mom and Dad bought us some ice cream, and it was the best ice cream I had ever had (probably because I hadn’t had any in such a long time). We ate dinner at the White House Hotel, and used the internet café there. I ate chicken and rice, also a chapati. It was good. Afterwards we drove home and went to bed.
Day 12
Benita’s cry woke me up today at 7:20am. I took my malaria pills and sat down to eat breakfast. Mom had made cinnamon toast, and I ate a couple pieces. Benjamin said he didn’t feel well and had a stomach ache, but we still had to go to church. We drove an hour up a bumpy, dirt, road that had lots of rocks. There was a beautiful view and Bwanandeke showed us how he makes coffee. Lots of kids followed us and stared. After about an hour, we finished the drive to the church. The church was actually in a school classroom, and was small in size with about 30 people squeezed into the room. The man in the front was speaking Lukonjo so I had no idea what he was saying. I sat at the front and pretty much just sat there the whole time. Finally my family and I were called up to the front to say some words about being in Uganda. After we talked, the service ended and we got in the car. After being stared at for a while, Johnson got in the car and drove us home. We arrived home at about 3:00pm.
Some Ugandan kids came over and we picked coffee beans from the trees and played soccer/football. Two kids gave us their email addresses and we gave them ours. Hopefully we’ll become pen pals. The kids left and we came inside. Mom cooked spaghetti and Steven came over with Juliette and they ate with us. I peeled my coffee beans and Benjamin fell asleep next to me on the floor. Dad carried Benjamin to his bed, and I got in bed too after brushing my teeth. Steven and Juliette left and everybody went to sleep.
Day 13
I had wild dreams last night. Probably a side effect of my malaria pills. My best friends were in the wild dream, and I can’t wait to see them again. I woke up this morning and took my malaria pills. Mom and I were going to visit a school today while Dad and Benjamin participated in P.E. at another school. Johnson drove us to the school and dropped us off. Before we were dropped off, Betty had got in the car upset because of disagreements with her husband, Mugisa. At the school, we were taken to the headmaster’s office. We signed in to the school, which had 968 students and only 17 teachers. We (Mom and I) went into all the classrooms and greeted all the teachers and students. They were all very excited, and in the P1 and P2 classrooms, the kids went crazy when Mom took photos. We greeted the P3, P4, P5, and P6 classrooms before finally getting to our destination, P7. We first greeted them and then we handed out the Books of Hope, the ones from our schools. I saw my book and took a photo of the person who was holding it.
After 15 minutes, we collected the books and handed out workbooks (notebooks) to write their Books of Hope in. Mom gave me a chapati to go and eat outside. I ate it, then came back in to watch the kids write. We left the books at the school so that the kids could write more. We would pick them up (the books they wrote) later. Mom and I walked outside, where all the other students were waiting for us. They sang, and we gave the school some inflatable balls to play with when we left. As Johnson drove us from the school, kids ran in the dust of the car, chasing us. They stopped after about 100 meters. Johnson drove us to the footbridge in Maliba that Mom and Dad would cross 15 years ago. Johnson afterwards drove us to the trading center and dropped us off. We bought chapattis and cold sodas, then took a motorcycle home. We rested until 4:00pm, then we walked down to the soccer field. Benjamin and Dad were with us by that point. One of Steven’s workers showed us how to control the ball better, and we did that till 6:00pm. Mom walked over to a computer lab at the school and was going to upload pictures while me, Dad, and Benjamin walked home. I decided to help Mom, so I ran to catch up with her. It took me a while to find her, but I finally found her. After uploading the pictures, we walked home, ate supper, and went to bed.
Day 18
I woke up early this morning. Today was the soccer tournament. I hurriedly took my malaria ills and ate breakfast, then zoomed to the soccer field in Johnson’s car. Mom, Dad, and Benjamin were with me. We arrived at 10:45am, just in time for warm up. Benjamin and I were on the same team, along with Matayo (who Benjamin and I had made friends with earlier) and 4 other players. There were eight teams competing, and the way it was set up was that each team played 7 games, and whoever had the best record won the tournament. After warming up for the first game, we got set up for it. I played right midfield, and Benjamin played forward. Most of the game it was tied 0-0. Matayo dribbled the ball down the field, and acted like he was going to shoot. The goalkeeper came running out to block the shot, but Matayo passed the ball to an open goal, and Benjamin tapped it in.
We played 6 more games that day, and we won four, lost zero, and tied three times. Our last game that we played, if we won we would win the tournament. We were in first place out of the eight teams, so all we had to do was win. If we lost or tied, we probably wouldn’t win. The whistle blew. We had started the last match. In the opening minutes, Matayo scored. He had scored all the goals in all the seven games except for two. The opposing team kicked off again from midfield after the goal, but they couldn’t score. Halftime creeped up on us, and we changed sides. The second half was scoreless, and we won the tournament. We were very excited, especially the Ugandans. We got medals that we had brought over from the USA. We kept it, and I thought it was ironic we had won the tournament. The tournament had gone till 5:00, and so afterward we drove to a tiny hotel and ate dinner. I almost fell asleep on the way home, but I made it awake home and went to bed.
Day 19
I woke up this morning with a start. Today was our last day in Ibanda. It was Sunday so my family and I had a short service at our house we were staying at. I took my malaria pills and lay in bed to read. A breakfast consisting of oatmeal began the rest of the day. Matayo came over for the first time during our stay wearing his new medal. We gave him some of our old clothes, and they fit him well. When we gave him a school scholarship for one year with leftover mission money, he couldn’t stop thanking us.
Hangson came over without Habert, and when I asked him why, he said Habert could not find his clothes. I told Hangson to ride back on his bike (he came by bicycle) and retrieve Habert to say bye. Twenty minutes later, Habert and Hangson were both there. We gave them school scholarships for one term (they were in secondary school) and they each got a pocket knife. We said our goodbyes to our new friends as they left. Some kids that were staying in Mugisa’s boy quarters named Sunday and Kule (pronounced cool-e) gave us handmade soccer balls. We thanked them and went down to the computer stations (computer lab) with Mom and Dad. For some reason, Matayo was there and we chased little Ugandan kids until we left. Mom and Dad were busy on the computer. After having fun playing (or scaring) little kids, we went home and ate dinner. Then, being tired from all the goodbyes, we went to bed.
Day 20
I woke up this morning at 8:00am, sad that we were leaving. I would say it was bittersweet leaving Ibanda. We were sad to leave our new friends and the culture, but happy to be going to a nicer place (money wise). We wolfed down breakfast and our malaria pills, then got in the car, ready to go. We had packed the day before. Johnson drove us out of Ibanda, and we all said our goodbyes to the small village.
Day 27
I slept in this morning. It was our last day in Uganda to relax. I took malaria pills, had a cup of tea, and ate breakfast. By the way, last night we went on a horseback ride. Mom and I rode first, as a guide walked the horses through the reserve. We saw a few baboons in the distance, and warthogs. We also saw Kob, orabee (I’m not sure about the spelling) and a few other animals. Back to today. Benjamin and I rested and hung out. We jumped on the trampoline a lot, and got hot and sweaty. We then ran and jumped in the pool. We played hearts with Dad, and played in the pool a lot. Benjamin and I made two hilarious music videos and Dad was videoing. We ate lunch, and then walked down to the Lake Albert. We watched the lake ripple when people stepped in the water. After that, we layed in bed or swam until dinner. We ate dinner, brushed our teeth, and went to bed.
Day 28
We packed our bags into Johnson’s car this morning and took our malaria pills. We had a good breakfast. The hotel packed us lunch for the road. It was our last day that we had all 24 hours in Uganda.
