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Monday, June 18, 2012

Our Ugandan Adventure!

This weekend was very eventful to say the least! We left Thursday afternoon to head into Nairobi, where we met our bus that would take us 10 hours to Jinja, Uganda. After dealing with having to cross the boarder at 4am and not sleeping hardly at all, we arrived safe and sound at a gas station on the side of the road. Thankfully, among the hoard of boda boda's (same as Kenyan piki's) that wanted to drive us to our destination was a nice man named Simon who called a taxi that would take us to the resort. This resort turned out to be more like a backpacker's hostile, but it was great none the less! After getting checked in, we took some boda boda's into town to get some pizza and coffee.




We had some wonderful pizza at a place called Surgio's which is owned by an Italian family. It was SO good! Then we went to The Source for some coffee and internet. We met up with Jake, a guy we met at the hostile who was meeting up with some street boys. He bought them all drinks and we sat around the table sharing the gospel. It was powerful to hear the questions and doubts these young boys had and how much they longed for something more. They all ran away from their homes, and are now living on the streets of Jinja. They said that they beg for food all day, and if they don't find food, they eat dirt. One boy was carrying a sheet that he used to sleep on, but the other boys had nothing. None of them wanted the life that home offered, so they choose this life of living on the streets. The saddest part is that they feel betrayed by God for letting their lives end up like this. We prayed over them, and Jake took them to the market for some shopping. It was great to see God working in a place we totally weren't expecting. 


Praying over Omar


Coffee at The Source with the street boys and Jake. 

After seeing Jinja we headed back to our rooms to get ready for the night cruise on the Nile. I have to say it was a little disappointed cause it was kind of short and the clouds covered the sunset, but we met some great people! I feel like we have been so blessed to come across people from all over the world with amazing stories and very interesting backgrounds. A guy we met earlier that morning at the hostile was on the cruise with us. He evidently produced this video of a group of orphan boys that he works with re-creating the 1986 World Series game where Bill Buckner's error led to the Mets winning the series. He basically was freaking out because he was "becoming a celebrity over night." I don't know if anyone actually saw it on ESPN, and if you did please let me know! We would get a laugh out of it for sure. Here's the video. 






Saturday was our big rafting day! We left early in the morning to gear up and head out. I'm the only one of the four of us girls that had ever been rafting before, so we decided to try to take it easy. The only other people that didn't want to go full out were a big Venezuelan man named Antonio, a sweet Irish girl named Gi, and a story telling South African named Kevin. It was an interesting group. I was a little worried in the beginning when our guide Henry asked if everyone could swim and Antonio and Gi both said no. We had so much fun though! After the first grade 5 rapid, we were all ready to hit the water hard! We ended up not flipping at all, but it was an exciting day for sure! 





Our group with our amazing guide Henry

After rafting and dinner we headed back to the hostile to wait for our bus back to Kenya. We met Wil and Ben from California who were also waiting for a bus.


It was exhausting, but SO worth it! I loved Uganda and all the people I got to meet. Now we're back in the hospital for two weeks. It's crazy to think I'll be home in 15 days! 

Prayer:
- Continued enthusiasm about my work in the hospital 
- That ministry opportunities would present themselves and that God would prepare me for whatever that entails

Praise:
- Made it home from Uganda safe and sound
- My ankle is doing much better! We're planning on hiking Mt. Longonot my last weekend in Kenya :)









2 comments:

Shannon said...

Cassie I just LOVE reading about your time in Africa! Your pictures are amazing too. When we're back at school I want you to teach me all the Swahili you learn :).
p.s. I loved your "time in Kenya" idea, hope you don't mind that I borrowed it too.

Cassie said...

Shannon! I love reading your blog too. I would love to teach you some Swahilli, but I don't know very much! And I love the time in Kenya thing too! I saw it on another blog and I took it, so please use it!

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