Hallelujah! I slept! It was only for about 2 hours, but I feel much better. I cannot wait to sleep in a bed tonight. I have a time trying to sleep in an airplane seat, sitting upright. My legs and bottom go numb and if I do manage to go to sleep, I wake up numb and hurting all over. I have no idea how some of these people have been able to sleep the majority of the flight.
We are now 1 hour from Entebbe, Uganda. I am anxious to see how customs goes and how long it takes to get our luggage and get to our accommodations.
God give us strength for any work we may need to accomplish today. We are not sure of our itinerary. We are hoping for some rest time before we start working, but are more than willing to jump in from the get go if needed.
There is a beautiful sunrise this morning, as we approach Entebbe.
We arrived in Entebbe at 7:45 am and went through customs. It was mostly uneventful except for Joey and Jonathan misplacing $100. In hindsight, we all believe that someone got himself a nice tip, from the unsuspecting and naive Americans.
We met our guides, Andrew and Paul, outside and everyone got to work loading the bus with our luggage. Once everyone was loaded and we were on the road, Andrew had us all introduce ourselves. He spent a lot of time trying to get our names right. He struggled with my name for a long time. ; )
As we drove along, Andrew pointed out different things along the way and gave us a list of "do's and don'ts", one of which was that we were to be careful with our cameras. We were not allowed to take pictures of guards, policeman, or of any government buildings. He also told us to be very careful when taking pictures outside the window of the bus, to keep the strap around our wrists, so that no one could "borrow" them from us.
We arrived at Adonai 1, one of the guesthouses that Watoto owns. We would be staying at Adonai 3, but it wasn't ready for us yet. Another team had just left and they were getting it ready for our arrival. We were served a hot breakfast of eggs, toast, cereal, and freshly squeezed juice. We sat around chatting and getting to know our guides, until we received a call that our accommodations were ready. Andrew told us that he would be taking us to exchange our American money for Ugandan shillings and that we would get lunch while we were out. Before we left, we were given time to take shower and freshen up. Oh, that shower felt amazing, after 28 hours of traveling.
We were taken to the Garden Mall in Kampala, and we exchanged our money. We were to have lunch in the food court afterwards, and Andrew and Paul told us that it wasn't like the food courts we were used to in America. Once you are seated, you are bombarded with workers from the restaurants, all wanting you to take their menu and order from it. There were at least five different menus pushed in front of me all at once. It was very unnerving.
I ordered a cheese pizza. LOL! I am just not sure of the meat here. I'm afraid I'll end eating dog or giraffe or something. Woody ordered goat meat. The men all had fun trying that. It was fun watching everyone try and figure out how to pay their bills with Ugandan currency. I was glad I had Joey to take care of mine.
Once we were back at the guesthouse, we all took a much needed nap. Some of us had gotten very little sleep on the plane. I slept four hours. I probably would have slept the entire night if we hadn't been called for dinner, with a knock on our door. It was very hard getting out of that bed. The girls had prepared chicken, rice, cabbage, and fresh pineapple. It was very good and the pineapple was delicious!
Many of us were still tired after dinner, so we retired to our rooms. Just as we were getting ready for bed, the lights went out. We spent some time fumbling through our suitcases, using the light from our cell phone. Who goes to a third world country and doesn't bring a flashlight? Apparently me!
We were scheduled to go to KPC (Kampala Pentecostal Church) for our orientation the next day, as well as the Bulrushes facility. We would deliver the diapers and bottles that we brought and would get to see the babies. I couldn't wait to get my hands on those babies!
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