It's interesting how things mean such different things to different people.
When our children were coming to visit, we were so excited. Someone asked how long it had been since we had seen them. We told them it was February 20 when they dropped us at the airport. The response was, "Oh it hasn't been that long then." We then proceeded to tell them that we had never gone this long without seeing our children. When Charissa was at Bible school, we dropped her on September 11 and she arrived home for Christmas on December 5- that is the longest we have ever gone without seeing one of our children.
In Uganda it is very different. Even though it is a small country, getting around is a huge challenge and a huge expense. One of the guesthouse staff told me that it would cost her 50,000 shillings to go see her mother in the village. If she takes her children, it would be 200,000 shillings and the journey would be about 6 or 7 hours by bus and then boda. She said that she sees her mom less than once per year...and they live in the same country! That just seems so unbelievable to us- no wonder they think we are whiners when we talk about how long it has been since we have seen our family.
Another interesting conversation occurred this week. A little background information- Uganda is about 1/3 the size of Saskatchewan and has 37 million people. Most people who visit here find the huge number of people to be overwhelming and the air quality to be poor. We have a team of 40 people staying at the guesthouse this week and one of them said, "Uganda is so beautiful. It is so bright and fresh. The weather is nice and cool and there is not many people." When one lives in Hong Kong, apparently Kampala is like a nice little country get away.
It really is all a matter of perspective.
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