on my way home (to Arua that is)

On Saturday Oct. 3 we left the guest house at 5:30 am and began our 7 hour drive to Arua. Even though it was dark out, I still couldn’t sleep in the backseat. I just wanted to try to take in as much as I could. You could see the shop fronts in the dark and people up and sweeping in front of the doors. There were even a few adults and kids that were sleeping on the store fronts. Once daylight broke, you could really see how people in this country live. You could see the different villages and their huts. You could see people tending to gardens or the women who were hard at work carrying things on their heads and children on their backs. Some women were even gardening with children on their backs. We passed people who had to walk to the well to pump their water and then take it back to their huts. They hand wash their clothes and then lay them on the grass roof of the hut to dry.

It was really cool when we got to the Nile River. The amount of water that rushes through there is incredibly crazy and powerful. But if you want pictures of the river, you have to take them before you get to the bridge to cross. There is a lot of security by the bridge because they can’t afford to have anything happen to the bridge. They won’t even allow you to take pics of the bridge because they don’t want anyone to be able to plot destroying the bridge since that is the only way out for a lot of people. They will actually take your camera if you are caught taking a picture of the bridge or the water from the bridge. It’s pretty crazy.

Then we drove on a road where there was a history of rebels hiding out and ambushing vehicles back when you had to drive slow on it. The road has since been repaved and cars go too fast through there so it isn’t possible for them to ambush anymore. Plus there isn’t as much of an issue with rebels anymore. Around 1:30 we finally arrived in Arua and unloaded the truck with my many bags plus the food and stuff we bought for the house. I spent several hours working on getting unpacked and settled in. At 5:30 we had a team get together and played volleyball and ate dinner. It was great to finally meet the rest of my team plus the kids I am going to be working with.