I sat by the most wonderful man during our plane ride from London to Entebe. He is from the UK and helps people all over the world. He had a pretty noticeable stutter, which didn't bother me, but he told the most encouraging story regarding his stutter and different reasons he believes in God. He told me about his sister who, while she was alive, fostered severely handicapped children. One of the children she was fostering died, and he was asked to read the eulogy at her funeral. As he was telling me this story, he was crying. He explained that he's an emotional person and adding on his stutter does not make for the most comfortable public speeches. He told me that he prayed to God before giving the eulogy and not one tear did he cry and not one time did he stutter. He had several stories like that that were just absolutely encouraging. We talked almost the entire 8 hour plane ride. He is such a blessing to so many people just doing what he can, and I know that talk is something I'll always cherish and remember.
Last night we stayed at a really neat hotel near the airport in Entebe. We got up early this morning, got on our "coaster" and headed to St. Marks, which is a school that some of the children who used to be orphans at Lulwanda now attend. The Coaster and a view of our first hotel are pictured below.
The children we met with at St. Marks were so wonderful. They were 16 & 17 year olds taking six different classes a day and studying non stop. Their work ethic is something to be admired. I bonded pretty strongly with one girl in particular and she is pictured below with my mom (cutest picture ever... am I right???) as well as a picture of the group of students. She loved taking pictures on my camera. I showed her pictures of my brothers, Bo and Rex, on my camera and she told me they were handsome and asked if they are married! LOL that cracked me up. She was so sweet and humorous. She will undoubtedly stay in my thoughts always.
After visiting with the children for about an hour at the school, we loaded up the coaster and headed East. We were traveling in the coaster for over 7 hours! During this coaster ride we saw many different people and places. One boy in particular stuck in my mind. It was one of those moments I know I'll be albe to picture perfectly in my mind in 50 years! He was sitting on a stack of wood near a shop and I swore he was looking at me through the windows of the coaster... just staring in my eyes. I wasn't even sitting next to the window. I smiled then he smiled. I waved then he waved. It was just such a touching moment for me in so many ways that I can't even explain. It's funny how something so small can mean so much to a person. All of the people we drove past in the village were so happy! When they saw us, they would all smile and wave. Some would even say "hi mzungus", which basically means hi white people! Stepping on the the fairy and riding accross the Nile River towards our safari hotel made the long ride all worth it. Our hotel here is BEAUTIFUL! There's a few pictures below and a picture of our ride through the village where I saw the little boy.
Tomorrow morning we are going on a land safari here at the park, Murchison Falls, and later in the afternoon we will go on a boat tour on the Nile! It should be a wonderful day.
I realize that I wrote quite a bit here about moments or people I will always remember. I had three of those moments over the course of a few days. That may make is seem like I have moments like that and meet people like that all the time, but I assure you that isn't the case. I find myself forgetting who I talked to last week or where I went. These "moments" I'm talking about are what keep me going and keep me alive. They are rare, but they are so beautiful, and I'm SO blessed to have had three of them in just a few days. I'm sure that is only a small taste of what this trip is going to give me!
I have had many profound thoughts since being here, but that will have to be another post because it's late here, this wifi is fading, and I have to wake up at 5:30 to go see some lions! (btw not going to shoot any). I hope everyone is enjoying their fourth of July!
Happy Birthday America!
Amy
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