Travel and first days in Uganda

Hello friends,

Greetings from Uganda!

After a good night's sleep I am in better shape to let you know how things are progressing....

The take-off from Montreal was interesting ~ 20cm of snow with a driving wind ~ but the plane was not delayed as I had feared. The de-icing of the plane was quite something to experience, and I had a window seat to observe it all. Two men in fireman-type gear were in two 'cherry-pickers' with enormous hoses with lights and red antennae on the end, which waggled up and down. They sprayed some sort of antifreeze all over the wings and body of the plane in great clouds of spray, all lit up by yellow, stadium-type lighting, and the snow continuing to blizzard down, or rather, across. It was all quite 'other-worldly'.

As usual, I didn't sleep on the flight, so my 13-hour layover at Heathrow was a mixture of dropping off for naps, staring vacantly into space, a few conversations and once using the internet. I managed to procure time on a comfy sofa so had a bit of a sleep there. I also read some of the wonderful notes given to me, and was blessed by them all over again. Thank you again to all who wrote.

The flight to Uganda is 8 hours, so I took a sleeping pill and actually slept quite a bit. I was met by my friend Bridget, who helped me put the 3 x 50-lb bags, 37-lb carry-on suitcase and 20-lb backpack into her car. My own stuff took up the carry-on suitcase and part of one of the large bags, and all the rest is destined for Amani and various other people. Bridget, and her husband John, are good friends from Christ Church, Beaurepaire now living in Entebbe, and they most kindly invited me to stay with them for the weekend, to give me a chance to get over the time change, the travel exhaustion and the change in the weather (that part didn't take long ~it's sunny and comfortably warm, with occasional thunder showers!!)

An interesting event happened at the luggage carousel. A fellow traveller, Canadian I'm sure, must have brought some maple syrup with them. Sadly for her/him and also for me, the container broke, and my 3rd bag was liberally doused with the sticky stuff. It was a good thing that I had packed almost everything in plastic bags, so much of it was easy to wipe off, but unfortunately it dripped into a box of small NT's and booklets too, so Bridget and I spent much of that afternoon washing the bag (yours, Heather!) and wiping off each individual book...

Yesterday we went to a nearby Wildlife Centre to admire lots of African animals, and also lots of fabulous wild birds in the trees all around. B. is very knowledgeable about the local birds now, so that made ID very easy.

This morning we went to a home fellowship of local missionaries for church, led by a young couple in their early 20's. It was a lovely time of worship, learning and fellowship. The youngest person there was a little 5-month-old girl ~ Hannah Grace ~ who has an amazing and horrifying story. Shortly after birth she was tied in a bag, the placenta still attached, and dropped into a local "long drop" or latrine and left to die. By the grace of God someone heard her cry, the police broke the concrete and sent a man on a rope to go down and rescue her. After a short stay with a Ugandan family who ended up not being able to keep her, she is being adopted by the lovely American family I met this morning. She is a beautiful, healthy, chubby baby. What a story of the depravity of man and the grace and mercy of God. She was literally "lifted out of the muck and mire..." and given the gift of salvation. The family has two little blonde girls of their own, and have another adopted Ugandan girl of 6 who has AIDS. The 4 sisters look so cute together, and are very attached to each other. What a family! I'll attach a couple of photos.

Tomorrow, Monday, I am going to Jinja to start my volunteer work there at the Amani Baby cottage. Thank you so much for praying. I am pretty much over the time change etc. YOur prayers for the transition to working at Amani would be appreciated.

This afternoon we are hoping to meet up briefly with a team from Lakeshore Evangelical Church who have been here for 2 weeks building a classroom for Watoto. It'll be fun for Bridget, John and I to see Ron and Sheila Elvidge again, and also Carol Brassard and Pastor Mario Sassi. They fly out tonight.

With much love to all,
Jill