jumping into a puddle wearing no boots

The title to this entry will make more sense further on. Well, we are here! After almost 30 hrs of traveling, we made it to Amani Baby Cottage in Jinja, Uganda. I was way too excited to pay attention to the fact that we had been awake for almost 50 hrs straight. Once we landed at the airport in Entebe, we got our luggage and met our taxi driver. We learned later that we were very fortunate to have gotten all our luggage, a few of the other girls had theirs lost when they arrived a few weeks ago. Once our driver helped get our luggage into the van, we left Entebe for Jinja around 10:30pm. Despite being beyond tired, I didn't really sleep at all during the 3 hr drive to Jinja. We passed through Kampala, the capital. There were people out everywhere. Small outdoor night clubs, pool tables, small 24 hr stores, people selling some type of bread by candle light. Men riding bicycles, and bodas on the sides of the road, and women carying packages on their heads. The headlights of the minivan only allowed us to see things in imediate view, i'm sure that there was a lot we missed because it was dark. Everything about Uganda imediately felt different, the warm air, the smells, everything we were seeing. It was unlike anything. In the begining of the drive I was able to relate somewhat to what Peru was like, but as we continued to drive i waa realizing just how completely different Uganda is from anywhere else i've ever been or heard about. It is amazing, and i am completely excited to be living here for the next 3 months.

It's 3:30 pm right now in Uganda. We have break/lunch in the middle of the day while the kids nap. It's almost time to go back to work, so i will finish the rest later. Hope everyone back home is doing well!

Continued:
i wake up around 6am every morning, just before the sunrise, to the sounds of babies crying and roosters crowing. it is simple and wonderful. i just made toast and had fresh pineapple for breakfast. I was taken around the smaller villages down by the lake yesterday. We had taken bodas into town (these are men who ride motor scooters/motor cycles),we pay the equivalent to 50 cents USD to catch a ride with them. I didn't think i would ride one my first full day here but I did. We decided just to walk back and we saw one of the mama's (the Ugandan ladies who help look after the kids). Her name is Judy. She was the first person to amaze me while here, on my first day. As we were walking we asked her to show us how to get down to the lake, it wasn't too far, but as we were walking she began telling me about her family. She is a mother of 3, but looks after 5 children. Her sister, and her sister's husband died so she was left with their two children. Her husband was shot in 2008, while she was pregnant with their last child, her name is precious. So here I am, walking along lake victoria in Jinja, Uganda, with this singe mother of 5, who comes to work and take care of children here every day, just so she can feed her own. She also said she has to give money to her mother who doesn't work,so that she too can eat. I am here, feeling completely small, but completely encouraged with humanity. This woman's spirit is like no other. As we were walking back, I tripped and fell in the mud face first (go figure). She kept apologizing, and offered me the only other outfit she had in he bag, so that I wouldn't be embarrassed walking back through the villages. I told her that i was fine, and that sometimes you should just laugh when you do things like this. She brought me to a house, or rather a hut in the closest village, where the let me use a bucket of water to wash up. What a way to introduce myself to Uganda!