In Uganda Again

I had forgotten how much time it takes to get from Kearney to Kampala, but after long series of flights, Allison, Rosemary, Curt, and I arrive safely at the EMI East Africa office. This has been an exciting week-greeting old friends and meeting new people! The official agenda for summer interns has been cultural orientation and office procedures (it was good to brush-up on everything), but also a lot of getting to know each other.

It really felt like coming home to me-not that I don’t consider Kearney my home anymore- but because it’s somewhere that is so incredibly familiar to me, and I just feel comfortable in the rickety matatu-taxis, drinking filtered water, buying food from a shack on a dirt road…just the norms of the third world.

There were a lot of new faces upon my return, people I’m very excited to get to know, but it has been so great to see the people I left last year. We have the same local staff, and I have already been invited back to visit one of our night guards at his village! It has also been great catching up with our cook and house help- two of which have had children since I’ve left, and I’m excited to visit their families again and see the new additions.

Tomorrow, Janet, Allie, Nick, Ryan, and I will join volunteers from the States on a project trip in a district called Pader. Janet will be leading the team of volunteers to design a community center with the Ugandan American Partnership Organization (UAPO, theuapo.org) Please pray especially for safe transportation, team unity, and endurance throughout the trip. We will be back at the office on June 5th, and the volunteers from home will get back on June 7th.