Sunday, April 11I am sitting in our plane on the tarmac at Entebbe Airport. I am sad to leave Uganda. Above all else, the people are beautiful. When you take a moment to say hello, you get the warmest smile and heartfelt greeting. Ugandans seem to have an inner peace and grace. "You are welcome" is the greeting you receive and they truly mean it. Even the children possess these qualities. As I mentioned previously, driving is a real adventure yet I didn't see one person yelling or using a rude gesture.
What was really different for me on this trip was being such an obvious outsider. We were often the only white people in sight. On our road trip back from Katonga, which was several hours long, I saw only three groups of white people on the main road. One thing that has been funny is that Meg and I keep getting mistaken for sisters. This morning we were asked if we were twins; we both had a good laugh. I guess we all look the same! I did scare a couple of children today when their parents tried to get them to sit next to me! All kidding aside, although a curiosity at times, we were always treated with kindness.
We met with my new "brother" Patrick this morning to debrief. Both the Ugandan Ministry and a US agency have asked that Meg come back in May so they can continue to refine how we can work in concert to assure the successful implementation of our plan. Now, the tough work, we have to find funding for Meg's next trip.
We had a funny coincidence at the airport. Two of the volunteer medical professionals that we met in the rural clinic are on our flight through to Portland. We discussed the hope that a local student could be identified that had the desire and aptitude to become one of our scholars and then return to serve her community at the clinic. We compared notes on the enormous medical deficiencies yet concurred that the Ugandans were incredibly appreciative of the smallest kindness.
This trip has been unbelievable. Only in our dreams did we ever dare to imagine such unilateral support of our program. The only thing that could have been better is if we already had the funds in our account to launch the first 1,000 scholars. Say a prayer that our friend in Washington D.C. can do some creative maneuvering to get the funding soon.
My one regret is that I didn't get the time to take photos other than from a speeding vehicle as we crossed the countryside. It seemed we always had appointments that kept us on the run and/or in offices. It's been a great trip but we are happy to be heading home to our families. -
What was really different for me on this trip was being such an obvious outsider. We were often the only white people in sight. On our road trip back from Katonga, which was several hours long, I saw only three groups of white people on the main road. One thing that has been funny is that Meg and I keep getting mistaken for sisters. This morning we were asked if we were twins; we both had a good laugh. I guess we all look the same! I did scare a couple of children today when their parents tried to get them to sit next to me! All kidding aside, although a curiosity at times, we were always treated with kindness.
We met with my new "brother" Patrick this morning to debrief. Both the Ugandan Ministry and a US agency have asked that Meg come back in May so they can continue to refine how we can work in concert to assure the successful implementation of our plan. Now, the tough work, we have to find funding for Meg's next trip.
We had a funny coincidence at the airport. Two of the volunteer medical professionals that we met in the rural clinic are on our flight through to Portland. We discussed the hope that a local student could be identified that had the desire and aptitude to become one of our scholars and then return to serve her community at the clinic. We compared notes on the enormous medical deficiencies yet concurred that the Ugandans were incredibly appreciative of the smallest kindness.
This trip has been unbelievable. Only in our dreams did we ever dare to imagine such unilateral support of our program. The only thing that could have been better is if we already had the funds in our account to launch the first 1,000 scholars. Say a prayer that our friend in Washington D.C. can do some creative maneuvering to get the funding soon.
My one regret is that I didn't get the time to take photos other than from a speeding vehicle as we crossed the countryside. It seemed we always had appointments that kept us on the run and/or in offices. It's been a great trip but we are happy to be heading home to our families. -
-Tania
No comments:
Post a Comment