Here We Go...

Hello! Bonjour! And Jambo!

It’s time for an update on how things have been going in Africa…..

My sister and I arrived last week Tuesday after a long flight from Chicago to Brussels, Brussels to Rwanda, and Rwanda to Entebbe, Uganda. We arrived later in the evening around 9:30 p.m. and we’re greeted by the Streitzels at the airport. We then returned to an MAF family home to spend the night. Surprisingly, I slept through the whole night! What with the time difference and having slept for most of the flight, I expected restlessness, but God gave me sleep ( I can’t say the same for Kristen though…) for that evening.

The next morning we woke up at 6 a.m. to travel for our “safari” with the Streitzels and a young woman from Uganda named Angel who is like a daughter to them. We drove for a solid 5 hours before we reached Murchison Falls Park. We stayed at a camp called Red Chilli Rest Camp and it was pretty cool! We had a cabin that had a front room, 2 small bedrooms with 2 single beds each, and a bathroom. There were baboons and warthogs casually strolling through the camp at all times and we were told to lock up our cabin when we were not in it so that the baboons wouldn’t get into our food.  J Apparently they are very intelligent.

We decided to take the rest of that day and rest seeing as Kristen’s and my own jet lag was catching up with us quickly and everyone was tired from the drive. We rested, ate dinner, played a game or two of hearts, and then went to bed to catch up on a bit of sleep.

The next day we got up to go to see Murchison Falls (from the top of it) at around 10 a.m. and it was beautiful! The falls are massive and it flows straight into the Nile so we got a wonderful glimpse of the Nile as well from the top.

After we finished there, we went and ate lunch and then proceeded to go on a boat tour of the Nile. Yet again, gorgeous to see! Apart from the river itself and the greenery around us, we saw many animals; Hippos, Elephants, Water Buck, Buffalo, Kob, Crocs….all on the banks of the river. The tour hit its midpoint at the bottom of Murchison Falls, so we were then able to view it before us. It was beautiful! We then returned to the landing and finished our day with dinner, games, and sleep.

The next day was our much anticipated safari. We were going to take the drive in our own car and on our own in general, but the ferry to get across the river was down for maintenance for the week. Everything worked out though! We traveled by boat across the river at about 7 a.m. and paid a guide and driver to take us on our game drive. Our words and our pictures cannot describe how beautiful it was to see the landscape spread out before you; layer upon layer of mountains that appeared to be basking in sunlight with randomly placed bushes and trees throughout and animals on the hillsides and in the plains. There’s nothing like it! We were able to see a lot of animals; Hippos again, Water Buck, Bush Buck, Kob, Giraffes, Oribi, Warthogs, Baboons, and a Lion. A three-legged lion to be exact! Apparently, it ha been caught in a snare at some point and the people who maintain the park had to tranquilize it and amputate its leg (the poor thing!) and now the other lions have to bring it food. It was kind of amusing to see the Kob and Bucks just standing around it looking at it; normally they would have bolted away long before this!

After our game drive we piled into the car and drove back to Kampala where we spent the night with the Nason family and we went out to dinner at the ARA (American Recreation Association) which was very nice since I was able to get a hamburger; oh, American food….how I love you….

We spent the next 4 nights at the Nason’s house trying to solve a bit of a dilemma with our Congo visas; apparently, Congo changed the rule on getting a visa the day we left. They made it so that you have to obtain your visa from your country of residence before you come to said country. Unfortunately, Kristen and I were already IN Uganda when we found this out and the embassy in Uganda for Congo refused to give us visas.

So, on Tuesday (or yesterday for those who are getting a little lost in this jumble) we decided to leave for Bunia, DRC anyways and just obtain our visas here. This worked out wonderfully and we now have our visas! Thank God. We flew with Lary Strietzel in his tiny 4 seat plane yesterday and it was beautiful….at least, the part I was awake for was beautiful. I fell asleep from the Dramamine I took…J

When we arrived, it felt wonderful to unpack and settle in. Then we went off to the Ladies Prayer Meeting where we got to meet the other MAF women in Bunia. It was a blessing to know who they were.

When we arrived back at the house after that meeting, Kristen and I took naps (much needed) and then we ate a wonderful dinner that Kathleen (an MAF wife) brought over and her and her family ate with us; some great fellowship to welcome us to Bunia.

After that, Kristen and I decided to go to bed. I walked into our bedroom and BAM on the wall there’s a cockroach. I have NEVER seen a cockroach and so this completely freaked me out! Sheryl came in and killed it with a fly-swatter (We thought it would take more than that to kill it) as Kristen and I just watched in horror. It was amusing to say the least.

We went to bed and let’s just say, I had a restless night just thinking about what could possibly be crawling on me. Oops…..I probably shouldn’t mention that….haha

We woke up this morning and relaxed a bit to prepare to go to the market for the first time. Sheryl has told us before that this is not her favorite part of her life here and both Kristen and I were wondering why because it sounded so fun to us……and hey, it really was a blast.

There is absolutely nothing I can compare the open market of Bunia with that would make you understand it. Booth after booth, row after row, and alley after complicated alley, take you far into the marketplace to find what you need. With shops selling everything from bananas, mangoes, papayas, blood fruit, passion fruit, and pineapples to tomatoes, potatoes, avocadoes, onions, garlic, and fresh meat. There were shops for cloth and clothing and shoes and house products and baskets and mattresses and just about anything you can think of! It was a bit overwhelming, but also very exciting.

We had gotten almost all of our shopping list (Cloth for me which I got and it’s beautiful; groceries for Sheryl; Cloth for Kristen as well) and were headed to the back of the market where we had been told we would find mangoes. We went to the back of the marker and actually proceeded to go just outside the market. We found our mangoes and were about to head back into the market to find bananas when we saw a woman sitting selling these beautiful bananas. Sheryl went over and began to speak to her and find out a price when all these women came over and started talking and talking and pointing and tapping us and telling us not to buy her bananas. We had no idea what the problem was! We left with the approving glances of about 30 Congolese women following us and a woman guiding us to where we could find bananas. Since we still had no idea why we were told not to buy from that woman, Sheryl asked one of the young women who had told us not to. She said something to the extent of “Those bananas do not come from the banana tree.”

What? Bananas that don’t come form the banana tree? Ok…..

We still have no idea what that meant, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

Now we are sitting at the house having a rest. We just made some chocolate chip cookies (a treat!) and are enjoying the beautiful day.

I hope you all are enjoying your nice summers and I would hope you will pray for my sister and I as we continue to adapt to life here in Bunia! Message me on facebook if you have any questions!

Maranatha.

-Kelly

P.S. I learned a new Swahili word today: Muzungu. It means “foreigner” and it is CONSTANTLY said to us or at us or about us when we are out and about. That was the most prevalent word I heard in the market today……I guess we are an oddity…..:) Who would have thought?

No Time Like The Present......

I have less than two days until I am officially on a plane to Entebbe, Uganda....and can I let you in on a secret? I'm slightly terrified! I'm scared that something I'll mess up while travelling or miss a connecting flight, or get sick, or be uncomfortable on the plane, or arrive exhausted, or.....let's back this up. Who am I to worry about any of these things? God is in control! Yeah, something might happen, but it's still all part of his plan. Matthew 6:27 states, "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to his life?" and in Matthew 6:34," Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
I have to keep applying this.
With only 2 days left, I'm also starting to get a bit nervous in general. I know how much I'm going to miss my family, my boyfriend, my friends, my home, my city. I'm leaving it all behind for a while and that's a scary thing! I know though that I need to keep my eyes in front of me and not look back and, hey, the benefit of that is that not only can I look at the wonderful trip that's before me and the way I'll be service God in the capacity He's chosen for me, but I can also look beyond that and begin to explore what I'll be doing with my life AFTER this trip. :) I can't wait to see how I'll be able to apply all the things I'm going to learn over the next five months! I know I'm jumping ahead of myself a little, but I can't help it. :) I'm excited for the future. I'm excited for my life. And I'm definitely excited to see where God is taking me.
Please continue to pray and please please please especially have me in your prayers this coming Monday (June 13). It will be crazy, but I'm still excited and I'm sure many tears will be incorporated into that day.  Don't forget to keep checking back here for updates! God Bless!

Maranatha!
-Kelly