On the road again...

Kristen here. Lyndsay, Michelle and I collaboratively compiled this blog entry last night and then we had a "glitch" in the internet and lost it. Ugh. So… we'll continue writing them in word document and posting later. Carrying on with our trip….

We last told you about Lambert…. since then we left for NY without problem and then onward to Brussels. That flight was great. Each seat had a small television monitor and on demand movies, television shows and games. It definitely occupied our attention for the 7 hour flight. In the Brussels airport we met some men working for Living Water International which is an organization my church has big ties with. They were headed to Rwanda and eventually would be near our area in Uganda. You should really check out LWI's website and mission. Very cool. 

We had to go through customs again in which Michelle, the Smuggler, had her toothpaste and pocket knife confiscated. They also wondered why she had 25 beanie babies in her bag.  (mom- they tried to steal my snack mix but I told them it was essential for my health.)The next plane wasn't as luxurious, and was an even longer trip. I was glad I spent the majority of it in a benadryl/jet lag coma. The plane stopped in Kigali, Rwanda before our final destination of Entebbe. I think we were on that plane for a total of 10 hours. I was close to slitting my wrist near the end (when I wasn't in my benadryl coma). Ok… so I was just really excited to get off the plane. But more so because of what we were about to embark upon. We had been trying to get to Uganda for over 3 days and it was finally within my grasp.

We de-planed. Sailed through customs and met Joie, our driver. We stayed in a "hotel" in Kampala over night. Lyndsay said it looked like something out of the "Saw" movie series, but Michelle and I both think it was….rustic. There was a bed, a mosquito net, and a "latrine" down the hall. To our disbelief, the toilet was a hole in the ground, sure there was a door to shut so no one saw, but a hole in the ground none the less. Not exactly your Hilton hotel…or even a Motel 6 for that matter. We all hated that we had separate rooms so we ended up snuggled together in one full sized bed. Did I mention how much I love these 2 girls? 3 ambiens (thank you, Dr. Place!) later we were all fast asleep.

The next day we drove from Kampala to Mbale (Mom and Dad- that place you circled on the atlas). I was in and out of jet-lagged consciousness during most of the trip and didn't feel car sick once. Please be impressed.  We stopped for lunch in Mbale before heading to our final destination, the Bududa district. We are very close to the Kenyan border. In fact, at one time Joie pointed to a mountain and said "right over that hill is Kenya!". 

We were welcomed by the Brazilian Doug, the FIMRC coordinator and fiance of Dr. Lisa (who is the pediatrician on site). He immediately fed us a TON of information about the country, the organization, Lisa's handwork, policies, yada yada yada. I was slightly overwhelmed (jet lag didn't help). We saw the clinic briefly and got settled in our guest house.

Our guest house (there will be photos to come, I hope…) has running water when the well is full. Lucky for us, it's still the rainy season! the 3 of us our in one room with bunks. There is a flushing toilet for number one which is in the same room as the shower, cold water only. The toilet is only to be flushed at the end of the day. The latrines out back, again a very small hole in the ground that needs foot adjustments for multi-duties. We are all contemplating whether intermittent bouts of constipation might actually be a good thing. We didn't come here for deluxe accommodations though, we have bigger plans...