Monday the 16th was a sad day, as we drove away from Kibaale I couldn't believe that it was a whole two weeks since we had first driven up that red dirt hill and through those gates. We had to get up super early, because Jeff (who very kindly drove us to Kampala) needed to leave early enough to have some time to do business in the city after a 4ish hour drive. We were worried about not being able to say goodbye to our kids, and unfortunately only Reagan and Jackie were there by the time we left. I was so glad I got to say goodbye to them (they took it very well this time- last time we were all bawling our eyes out :( ) but I was so sad that I didn't get to say goodbye to Clair. Carissa and Megan didn't get to say goodbye to their three kids either. So it wasn't the best goodbye from Kibaale. But Megan and I are hoping to be back there again soon, so its not goodbye for good!
We are now in Entebbe, after staying for two nights in Kampala. Our flight to South Africa leaves at 7am tomorrow morning, so we're staying at the Entebbe Airport Guesthouse. Since I haven't posted about anything since the 10th, I'll do a quick catch up now about our last week in Kibaale.
On Wednesday the 11th, Carissa, Megan and I got to do quite a few different things. In the morning we went on two more Nursery homevisits with Shannon (sponsor children of her friends and family). The first one seemed to be doing pretty well, but the second one was so sad. Both parents and one of the children were HIV positive, and it was obvious that they were very weak. They had quite a nice house, but the parents weren't able to work, or even just keep it clean, so it was very dark and not entirely finished. Apparently they didn't have enough food, and one of the first things they said was "We are hungry". It was not a good situation :(
When we got back from that, our whole family was taken on another homevisit, but of a quite different kind. This was a (nearly) child-headed household, with a heartbreaking story. Up until a few months ago, both parents were in the home with their 8 children. However, they fought terrible, sometimes getting so angry and violent that the children would sleep outside. Finally the mom had enough and left one morning, taking three of her children with her. And while the dad hasn't left completely, the social worker said that he was very rarely there, leaving the oldest (12) to take care of the other 4 remaining children.
**Cassy, if you're reading this, the house was right behind the house where we found little baby Canone!! I tried to find him, but I couldn't see him anywhere :( **
In the evening, us three girls got the amazing opportunity of joining some of the nurses from the clinic on their outreach to a neighboring village, where they were doing baby imunizations! We were surrounded by dozens of tiny, gorgeous babies, and when the head nurse found out that we love babies, he sat us down, and supplied us with a steady stream of them to cuddle.. Oh man it was hard to give them back!!! The air was full of crying and wailing, but it was so cool to see all those babies being given the necessary immunizations to remain healthy.
The rest of our days were full of spending time with the kids during their recess and lunch, doing laundry, and hanging out.
On Sunday we were getting ready to go to church (exhausted from a terrible night... see the full story on Carissa's blog! *link in sidebar*) when Reagan and his sister showed up at our door, all dressed up and ready to go. I think they were told to come with us to whichever church we went to, because when we left they just started following us, and then left the second we left haha :)
On Sunday the 15th we visited a few homes of friends' sponsor children, and then headed up Kibaale Hill. It was only Carissa, Megan and I, joined by Joel Dyke (an excellent tour guide, and great at taking people up the hill!! :D) and Jackie. It was boiling hot, and we were all dying on the way up. However, once we reached the top, it began pouring with rain. Within one minute we were all absolutely drenched, and looking ridiculous as we struggled, slipped, and fell back down the hill in our flipflops. But as crazy as it was, we had a blast (Joel said it was "the best time on Kibaale Hill, EVER!") and its a great story to laugh about.
Anyway, that's a very brief look at our last week.. now we're heading off to South Africa! I'm not really sure what to expect, and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't rather stay here in Uganda, but I'm interested to see what South Africa will be like, and to meet all the people there and everything.
So, deep breath, and away we go on our next and last (for now) leg of the journey!
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