Uncle Mike here...11:20 pm in Uganda..we are all about to go to bed..talking about our day (it was a good one!), and rubbing aloe on our sunburns from the aloe plant just outside the front door. We started the day with Scott and I escorting the girls to school (they leave at daylight...about 6:30 am) so we came back and caught an extra hour of sleep before our morning cup of coffee. When everyone woke, we headed out on a journey to several villages in the area. We visited the villages where some of the kids in the Amazima program either came from or currently live. Hopefully pictures will be downloaded tomorrow of our day. We walked about 3 or 4 miles down the railroad and through the bush to visit these people. They were all small villages made up of tiny mud huts, usually anywhere from 30 to 7o people living in each village. Im sure someone else will post some more details from some of these visits...there were many memorable moments. Perhaps if we ever can get te pictures to download, they may tell the stories better than I ever could. After several hours spent in the various villages, we made our way to Canaan childrens home, where we were swarmed by hundreds of kids, excited to see their Aunt Katie and the "vis-tas". From there we experienced our first Piki ride home! Riding on the backs of little motorcycles...nother little piece of Africa we will always remember. Later in the day we went to Amani orphanage (yes it was a packed day and we are exhausted) where we spent a couple of hours visiting the kids there. Forgot to mention, we had a stop at a coffee stop in Jinja on the way to Amani, where we refueled. Speaking of food, I must say, the Ugandan food grows on you...we are all enjoying it (and Michael is enjoying his mac n cheese!). Finally we arrived home at around 6:30 pm to find all the kids engaged in their evening worship and dance. Agnes (who has stolen my heart....maybe more about that later) plays the drums (bongo) and leads everyone in song and dance...if we could download video of that it would blow you away. Yes we all danced and I must say Landon has rythm! They so enjoy us dancing with them (maybe they just enjoy laughing at our inability to keep up with them!). In fact, Agnes told someone the other day (i wont say which one of us) that her dancing (oops did I say "her") offended her because it was so bad! Agnes also has a wonderful sense of humor, which I love. Every night I tell a bedtime story to Agnes, Margaret, Prossi, and Margaret (Ive got a pretty good backlog of made up stories that Annabelle and Milleranne have heard countless times) so these girls just love em. They think Im so creative but Ive had about 12 years of making them up! Anyway, back to dancing. At dark we came inside and i put on some George Strait and we taught the girls a little two steppin! I have good reason to believe that theyve never heard of George Strait, country music, and certainly not the two-step. We had a ball! Agnes and I two stepped and it took her about two minutes to be better at it than me...no big surprise there. So then comes dinner and off to bed (after everyone...all 14...have baths). Agnes always tells me at bedtime "I love you Uncle" with the biggest sheepish grin I have ever seen. That in itself has made this trip worthwhile.
After 5 days here, I can see how some people fall in love with Africa. Ive seen tshirts that say "I need Africa more than Africa needs me." I am beginning to understand what that means.