Coming home- again!

The last few days have flown by and no blog posts have got done. So here it is, the last one I will write in Kampala. I will do one more once we are home to let you know we have reached safely.

On Monday we had our facilities team retreat. A nice time to get to know each other a bit better, learn together, encourage each other and pray together. It was a really great way to begin to wrap up our time here.

Yesterday (I guess I should say it is Wednesday morning here) we tied up a few loose ends and then went out for lunch with four members of the leadership team. We discussed our future plans and how we can continue to be part of the Watoto team going forward. We have some exciting plans and can’t wait to share them with you when we are back.

Last night we packed and settled our hotel bill. That was a bit of an ordeal since we brought US dollars that were too old (they need to be specific years). We had a lot of money in Ugandan shillings so we paid 2.7 million in Ugandan shillings, however many newer US dollars we had and the rest went on our credit card. Just another adventure!

We woke at 4:30 AM to flashing lightning and to the sound of rain pouring down. It is rainy season here so that is not unexpected, but rain makes me very sad here. You see, Kampala is built on several hills (I can’t remember exactly how many) and basically the more well off you are, the higher your home is on a hill. Of course that is not an exact rule, but it is a general premise that we will operate under for this conversation.

What I am trying to tell you is that the slum areas of Kampala are always at the bottom of the hills. All of the rain that falls comes rushing down the hills and ends up in the slum. In 2013, we drove past a slum the morning after a bad rain storm and saw people wading chest deep in water. What about the babies and children, were they washed away? Housing in the slum is usually scrap materials held together to make walls and a roof, well sort of.

When I hear the rain, I start to pray for the people in the slums. People die in the slums because of rain. I’m not talking a hurricane or a tropical storm, just a rain. To make this even more personal, two of Joanna’s kids (my kids), live in the slum with their families. This situation just got real- my children living through that.

So I started crying and praying at 4:30 and I will continue to do that throughout the day. Praying for safety for the people in the slums.

Also we will be saying our “see you later” to everyone here. You may remember from 2013, we don’t say bye, we just say see you later. So it is a rainy day outside and a rainy (teary) day inside.