Road to Lira.

Breakfast here is usually bread, hard-boiled eggs, bananas, and my favorite, African tea.  I never tire of this morning ritual. Today is Sunday and we can hear what must be hundreds singing at the church next door. With a warm cup of tea, a beautiful view and a lovely serenade, it’s a great start to the day.

Today was all about travel but we did take a couple of stops to enjoy this beautiful country.  Our driver, Moses, convinced us to visit the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary.  This park works tirelessly to protect these precious and endangered species. Armed guards stay with the rhinos 24 hours a day to protect them from poachers.  Before our walking tour in the bush, we viewed a story of a young couple next to two rhinos, the same two rhinos that only a few seconds after the picture was taken, almost fatally gored the woman. Well, lesson for us learned the easy way; don’t get too close. (I have to mention that happened in South Africa.)

They have 13 rhinos in total and I had to laugh when I saw one named Obama.  According to his bio, his mother was from the USA, and his father, from Kenya.  Poor Obama had been turned away by his mother when she became pregnant again.  Fortunately, Bella, another female, took Obama into her family. It was fantastic being only a couple dozen yards from these enormous creatures.  Even when they’d exhale, it felt like the earth and the sky together was letting out breath.  It was a powerful experience.

Next up more bumpy roads for another hour or so and we stopped at Karuma Falls.   We hiked a little bit past a large family of baboons, over huge trails of marching safari ants, and a pit with a python.  The falls aren’t falls as we know it, but rapids.  They are hundreds of yards from river bank to river bank with a torrent of water rushing over ancient boulders and surrounded by lush jungles.  When I stand at the water’s edge feeling the power of the water rushing by, the words that come to mind are wild, untamable, enormity, majesty and unparalleled beauty.

Next stop was Lira where we met one of our Gretta Scholars who works in rural Uganda.  Lira and the surrounding areas had been the epicenter of Kony’s Lords Resistance Army’s reign of terror for over 22 years.  The stories shared are beyond description but I can share a particularly eerie detail.  As told, people here would be fearful of strangers because the rebels masqueraded as one of them during the day, but at night, would carry out unspeakable acts of terror upon them.  Imagine that kind of detestable cunning.

So the scars can be seen and felt, but overall, Lira is a bustling town where people here are moving past the past, and getting on with life.  We met our Acio at the modest but lovely guest house she had arranged for us and then shared meal of Africa chapatti and goat stew.  We are very excited about tomorrow where we travel to Acio’s place of work. (MS)