By Corey (sorry if some of this overlaps with Wendy's version): It was glorious to arrive at our hotel in Entebbe, Uganda and have a
nice shower. Check-in was very smooth and reasonably efficient considering
they require photocopies of all passports (which is almost always done in Asia
and Europe), covid tests, temperatures, and vaccination data. The Best Western Premier was very nice. We tend to judge hotels
based on their water pressure and air conditioning and this one passed with
flying colors! I was exhausted, but the kids were starving and a 10th Cliff
bar (in the past 30 hrs) wasn't going to cut it for them so they headed down
to the 24-hour restaurant in the hotel with Wendy. They ordered hamburgers, pizza, and
fries, but unfortunately none of it was very familiar (spoiler alert, they'd
come to really crave this food later in our trip).
Some samples of the food in Uganda. Lots of beans, rice, and root vegetables, and occasionally some chicken or goat. It was a bit hard to take at first but we all warmed up to it.
From Entebbe to St. Bakhita's is about a 9 hr drive, but less than 350 miles. On US highways, the drive would take about 5-6 hrs. Believe me, Ugandan roads are not I-80. Even when there is a long stretch of highway, about every mile they break up the pace by using 2 rumble strips, a large table top speed bump, followed by 2 more rumble strips.
My driver, Nassir (awesome guy, by the way) said they serve two purposes... To slow traffic in the villages, and to keep drivers awake. Ugandans are very clever though and if it is possible to go around something (literally and figuratively), they will find a way. For example, I saw some guys along the road throwing dirt into the valleys of the rumble strips to smooth them out. As the hours wore on, Nassir took to ignoring the strips and speed bumps all together, which seemed to please everyone in our van. Our motto in our van was, "anything to get us their quicker."
A typical road in remote villages of Northern Uganda.
Along the road from Entebbe to Gulu, at one of the many 'check points,' we were asked to pull over. There was a lot of chattering back and forth, switching from English to Acholi and back, and some references to God, and before long it was "all sorted" and we were back on our way. Various explanations ensued but the most logical was that the officer was telling us there was a 7:30pm curfew, after which we couldn't be on the roads (it was about 8:45p at that point). Next stop - Gulu!
Our late-night excitement at one of the check points.
Not much to report from Gulu. Our hotel was fine and the breakfast was presented very nicely but it was taking us some time to get used to the different spices and eggs that have yokes that are off-white. And I don't think I'll ever get used to chicken gizzards for breakfast, and that's coming from a guy who LOVES breakfast meat! The pineapple and bananas are really delicious though so we all loaded up on those. One 'rookie' mistake we made was going to a café in Gulu and allowing the server to walk off with our credit card to process the check. Almost everywhere, outside of the US, brings a portable credit card machine to the table so you can always see your card. This café had one, but for some reason the waitress left with our card. About 4 hours later I started receiving the fraud alerts. Thank you to Chase for catching it quick and to the scammer who bought a $3,175 electric bike online and $365 work of GrubHub, I hope you end up in prison.
Looking for something familiar. I settled on a hot, mystery-meat pie. I didn't get sick and it filled me up - success!
Our entry into the gates of St. Bakhita's Vocational Training Center (SBVTC) will forever be etched into my memory. We were the 3rd van in the convoy but we heard the celebration long before we turned into the gates. It was almost exactly 9pm, so it was pitch black, and most of the region uses little to no light at dark, so as the headlights on our van made the turn, we were welcomed with 78 students and about a staff, waving branches and screaming and cheering and hugging and just trying to get close to us. And then they spotted Wendy in the 2nd van, and between the yelling and cheers, I heard chants of Mama, Mama, Mama...and then the tears came - for me and everyone else. Thankfully someone started to sing a St. Bakhita's welcome song so it allowed me a moment to compose myself and try to comfort my kids. It was just simply overwhelming, and I've never been prouder of anyone than I was of Wendy, at that moment.
We were thoroughly exhausted but the welcome gave us enough energy to head to the central meeting area where the girls performed traditional cultural dances and songs. It was a very long day, but it could not have ended any better.
We are all so proud of Wendy and what she has accomplished!
Our first dinner after arriving at St. Bakhita's.
The next morning the girls had more to welcome us including traditional dances, songs, and poems. We 'mostly' had our emotions under control this morning but it was all still so touching and sincere.
A common request - "take my pic, take my pic"
Oh, and the babies of St. Bakhita's....
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