Or... over the lake and the hills... but you get the idea.
Sunday I was collected from where I was staying by the priest who was going to say mass. I had dressed up nicely. Father Bashabora had left early that morning.
We arrived at the grounds and things had already started, but they were waiting for the priest I was with. So I went and sat by Deo and visited with people for a little while. We had mass (which was painfully long), then I went to go to our "base" house and a friend stopped me. One of the students I had taught at the Missionaries of Africa a few weeks before had heard me on the radio with Fr. Bash and had come to see me. I invited him to join us for lunch.
At lunch Deo and I sat there and we just like "WE'RE DONE!!" It was a good moment. Various people who had worked with us ate with us and we visited with some friends and prayed for a few people.
Then we were off, trying to find out how we were getting to town. We walked for a ways, through twisting paths, our bags grabbed from us by helpful conference attendance who ran ahead of us. We stopped at the home of some of Deo's "Children"... he has 10. None of them are his actual children, a few are related to him but others aren't.
Because of his own experiences of hardship growing up, Deo has a huge heart for children who are neglected. This is how he ended up taking care of 10 children. They are now all in their teenage years and in the challenging part of the Ugandan school system. It was fun to meet them and chat with them. They are really great kids. They had a meeting, we took some photos, and gave them cookies.
We decided that between the two of us we had too much stuff for the next leg of our trip. So we consolidated into the smaller bag. I am so glad we did! I had my side bag and then just one small duffel for the trek ahead of us.
After meeting with the kids, Patrick and Dillion (two of them) took us to their school so we could see two of the others. Deo had a million things to do, so for the next 2-4 hours we walked and walked and walked through the back paths of Kabale... visiting his sister, getting jarred cans for boat fuel, etc. I was tired so I just followed a long.
Finally we got a boda for the right price and were off to Lake Bonyoni. The ride on a motorcycle was better than in a car, though at times trying for the small machine. The views were incredible, the mountains high, the lake sparkling like diamonds under the late afternoon sunlight. From the hill top, I could see the tallest mountain in Uganda in neighboring Kisoro. The boda man took us right to the boat dock. Deo had to hire a boat because it was sunday and no one was going. We had fuel and packed the boat with a bunch of people who had been at the conference and were trying to get home.
Being on the water did something wonderful for my soul. I miss lakes, I put my hand in the water and enjoyed. The mountains, in a 360 degree view, were totally breath taking. We were incredibly blessed to have a perfect day, the weather was bright, sunny and most importantly dry.
We were dropped off by the boat at a remote dock, hidden in a cove surrounded by reeds. Waving good bye we were greeted by the screams of delight from local children, dressed in only old, holey tshirts and bare feet. "Muzungu Muzungu *giggle giggle*...run away" was the shouts that echoed around us for some time. We began to walk. The place was beautiful, hills upon hills. We walked for a long time, next to rivers, and over them, up steep rocky paths, through euciliptis forests where the trees stretched so high above that they almost touched the clouds.
We made good time. Thankfully we didn't have to stumble around on the rocks in the darkness! I would have died. We made it to the trading center at dusk, and Deo was whisked away by locals all wanting to talk to him and see who this muzungu he had brought them was. In total we walked about 4.5 miles from the lake to the parish.
I went with the boy who was helping us with our bag. I wanted to reach the parish before sun down. On the way we saw the parish priest, who promised to quickly come back to meet me. On arrival the house girl took my bag and I met the other priest in the hall.
"You're the one!" he said... I looked at him confused "Am I the one?" I said. He didn't know Deo, so trying to explain who I was was difficult. But thankfully they were expecting us!
Once Deo reached we chated a bit with Father Dennis, the one I had met in the hall, and tried to listen to the radio, as we both wanted to know about Libya and the rest of the Arab world. We also had a really good, fun conversation about politics. It was enjoyable.
We ate late and bathed and went to sleep. My bed had a beautiful, heavy blanket on it... which effectively kept out the cold nights of the mountains of Kabale.
Sunday I was collected from where I was staying by the priest who was going to say mass. I had dressed up nicely. Father Bashabora had left early that morning.
We arrived at the grounds and things had already started, but they were waiting for the priest I was with. So I went and sat by Deo and visited with people for a little while. We had mass (which was painfully long), then I went to go to our "base" house and a friend stopped me. One of the students I had taught at the Missionaries of Africa a few weeks before had heard me on the radio with Fr. Bash and had come to see me. I invited him to join us for lunch.
At lunch Deo and I sat there and we just like "WE'RE DONE!!" It was a good moment. Various people who had worked with us ate with us and we visited with some friends and prayed for a few people.
Then we were off, trying to find out how we were getting to town. We walked for a ways, through twisting paths, our bags grabbed from us by helpful conference attendance who ran ahead of us. We stopped at the home of some of Deo's "Children"... he has 10. None of them are his actual children, a few are related to him but others aren't.
Because of his own experiences of hardship growing up, Deo has a huge heart for children who are neglected. This is how he ended up taking care of 10 children. They are now all in their teenage years and in the challenging part of the Ugandan school system. It was fun to meet them and chat with them. They are really great kids. They had a meeting, we took some photos, and gave them cookies.
We decided that between the two of us we had too much stuff for the next leg of our trip. So we consolidated into the smaller bag. I am so glad we did! I had my side bag and then just one small duffel for the trek ahead of us.
After meeting with the kids, Patrick and Dillion (two of them) took us to their school so we could see two of the others. Deo had a million things to do, so for the next 2-4 hours we walked and walked and walked through the back paths of Kabale... visiting his sister, getting jarred cans for boat fuel, etc. I was tired so I just followed a long.
Finally we got a boda for the right price and were off to Lake Bonyoni. The ride on a motorcycle was better than in a car, though at times trying for the small machine. The views were incredible, the mountains high, the lake sparkling like diamonds under the late afternoon sunlight. From the hill top, I could see the tallest mountain in Uganda in neighboring Kisoro. The boda man took us right to the boat dock. Deo had to hire a boat because it was sunday and no one was going. We had fuel and packed the boat with a bunch of people who had been at the conference and were trying to get home.
Being on the water did something wonderful for my soul. I miss lakes, I put my hand in the water and enjoyed. The mountains, in a 360 degree view, were totally breath taking. We were incredibly blessed to have a perfect day, the weather was bright, sunny and most importantly dry.
We were dropped off by the boat at a remote dock, hidden in a cove surrounded by reeds. Waving good bye we were greeted by the screams of delight from local children, dressed in only old, holey tshirts and bare feet. "Muzungu Muzungu *giggle giggle*...run away" was the shouts that echoed around us for some time. We began to walk. The place was beautiful, hills upon hills. We walked for a long time, next to rivers, and over them, up steep rocky paths, through euciliptis forests where the trees stretched so high above that they almost touched the clouds.
We made good time. Thankfully we didn't have to stumble around on the rocks in the darkness! I would have died. We made it to the trading center at dusk, and Deo was whisked away by locals all wanting to talk to him and see who this muzungu he had brought them was. In total we walked about 4.5 miles from the lake to the parish.
I went with the boy who was helping us with our bag. I wanted to reach the parish before sun down. On the way we saw the parish priest, who promised to quickly come back to meet me. On arrival the house girl took my bag and I met the other priest in the hall.
"You're the one!" he said... I looked at him confused "Am I the one?" I said. He didn't know Deo, so trying to explain who I was was difficult. But thankfully they were expecting us!
Once Deo reached we chated a bit with Father Dennis, the one I had met in the hall, and tried to listen to the radio, as we both wanted to know about Libya and the rest of the Arab world. We also had a really good, fun conversation about politics. It was enjoyable.
We ate late and bathed and went to sleep. My bed had a beautiful, heavy blanket on it... which effectively kept out the cold nights of the mountains of Kabale.
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