Window shopping and other stories...

This week has flown by.  I feel like I am flying at break neck speed, about to crash into... TANZANIA!!

We leave for Tanzania is 6 days, and there is so much to do.  Today, Saturday, is my last day off for a long, long time.  I am giving a talk at Carol's youth group tomorrow, then we start TZ prep week of insanity... then we actually go to Tanzania for almost 2 weeks... then right away off to Gulu for 3-4 days, next a course at Emmaus for a week, followed by a week of interviews of our internship program.  We finally end the month of September with the visit of Michael  Timmis, our long time partner at both Cornerstone Development and Veritas!

If you want to see exactly where my next month will take me, check out this map...

The last 2 weeks have been good.  I promised a detailed update about what a productive week looks like, and I have actually written it.  It'll be posted in stages over this week, to give you something to read while I am away.

The last few days were adventurous.  I thought I had everything set up to have a very functional, stream line week... but of course that is never how it actually goes.

I had a bunch of friends, from all over the world, here in Uganda this past week, so I wanted to see them all.  Thankfully, I was able to make the time.

So on Wednesday, at the last minute, I packed myself into a taxi and headed to Emmaus Center near Luwero.  It's a little less than an hour north of Kamapla.  I went to see Nancy and Lloyd Greenhaw, and a friend named Kevin who is from England.  All of us were in Rwanda together last year.  They were giving a course at Emmaus, so I just went to join them for lunch and the lunch break.

The trip also served another purpose... networking, of course.  A friend from Zambia was there, and I've been trying to connect for some time with them.  We were able to discuss possibilities for March of next year of going to Zambia for 2 weeks!  I also got the chance to see several others I needed to connect with, and also do some direct advertising to the whole group.  It was great!   It was especially wonderful to see "Mama Nancy"...we are kindred spirits I think. 

I rushed back to Kampala to have coffee with a new friend, then spent the evening working on various things and watching some West Wing.

Thursday was a weird day.  I wanted to go into work and try to get some things done, but that just didn't happen.  I spent the morning working on various loose ends at home, then headed into town to go to the Ethiopian Airlines office, the post office and get my internet fixed.  At about 1:30, I was in a taxi ready to go to the Cornerstone Ranch to see the team from SOS Europe that was serving at the ranch.   

At 3 pm, I got out of the taxi... which had not moved an inch.  Taxis sit in the park until they are full, then they leave for their destinations.  Well, mine hadn't added a single person since I had gotten in at 1:30.  I decided just to try to go Friday morning.  Then JUST as I was about to go home, a drive from the taxi that had been next to us came up to me and asked where I was going.  I told him and he promised that that was where they were going... which is annoying because I had asked while in the park.  He crammed me into the taxi and off we went.  It's a long way to the ranch, but we didn't stop much and somehow I made it to the road by 4:30.  Then I had to wait for Kenneth to come and pick me, we made it back to the ranch by 6:30 pm... I got some good time to catch up with Kenneth and Martha, two very good friends of mine.

When I got to the cottages where the team was staying, they were all there.  We played some banana grams and then had dinner.  After dinner we went to the Ranch fellowship, which was run by the Cornerstone Leadership Academy Boys (CLA).  They did a great job, I am always proud of my kids!  Kenneth picked us up from the fellowship because it started raining during it.  We dropped the team at the Cottages, and Kenneth dropped me at Martha's house.  Her place was very comfortable.

Martha and I had an amazing chat before bed... dreaming of the amazing things we can do with our lives!  I was so encouraged and inspired, it brought me so much joy.  The next morning she made me a great breakfast, before I walked back to the cottages.  The team had some time of prayer, and then got ready for the day.  We headed in the back of a truck out to a local primary school and worked hard sanding and painting for the morning.  It was great to get time to talk and be with the team of friends.  

We headed back for lunch at the cottages, and I had to say goodbye at that point.  As is SOS tradition they (unnecessarily) honored me, and we exchanged gifts.  I gave each of them small paintings/cards which I had made, and they gave me Toblerone (awesome!) and a far too generous donation.  I got some last minute time to chat with Rebekah from Dublin, whom I have known for over 6 years.  It was good to catch up a bit. It was very special to see this team, because 3 of them were from Dublin and I had served in their section of the NYPD youth group in Dublin 6 years ago!  They are grown up and doing great things with their lives, and I couldn't be more proud.

Then Kenneth took me, and a bunch of others to the road and we were off back to Kamapala.

En route I wanted to buy a pineapple.  Pineapple in Uganda is crazy good. Martha was traveling back to Kampala with me.  When the taxi pulled up by the pineapple (and other things) sellers, they all run to the car and put their various things up to and through the window for you to see and buy.  At this point, Martha made the most amazing comment... I said "I love shopping through windows"... Martha responded "It's window shopping!"  

And so it is, like everything else, window shopping takes on a whole new meaning in Uganda.