10 Miles in Africa

(Tuesday, June 15) Gabriel met me at the gate at 6:00 a.m. for an early morning walk. Before coming to Uganda, I asked about the possibility of arranging for a long walk to keep up with my 3-Day for the Cure pace and to see parts of Uganda not easily reachable. Twas dark still and navigating the canyonous, red, dirt road was challenging even with a flashlight. We walked about 15 minutes down Entebbe road to pick up Augustine from the School of Ministry. Between Gabriel and Augustine, as pointed out by my aunt, I was guarded by angels.

One of six students in his School of Ministry class, Augustine described his work with his classmates in evangelizing in this area and his ongoing work to disciple these people. His boldness is admirable. Augustine also serves as a translator at the church we attended.

Back onto another canyonous road, as they all are such when diverting from Entebbe road, we followed the shore of Lake Victoria from a distance. Passing us on the road were children walking to school in their uniforms and lots of men hauling numerous empty water jugs toward Entebbe road, their bicycles overloaded. I cannot imagine having to haul water every day from miles away on these roads.

A few extravagant houses (likely owned by Americans) were well positioned on this beautiful land. In stark contrast were the small brick houses, and then the shacks hardly the size of my bedroom. Further away from the road the homes were in poor repair and of modest material. It seemed as though those homes were positioned on a small plot of land where they grew the only food they would eat.

The birds in Africa are amazing, so many different birds than any I’ve seen in America. The only one I recognized was the partridge and that was because of the introduction that used to accompany The Partridge Family television show. At one point I did see a bald eagle, as had been seen a few other times on this trip.

The children in the area stared with jaws dropped at this mzungu as we passed and most wouldn’t even wave hello. This response contrasted with the children nearer Lauren’s duplex who live nearer Entebbe road. Beautiful, very dark-skinned children, screaming “Hi mzungo” at every pass.