Goodbye

I’ve never been good at saying goodbyes, but somehow this was much easier than I thought. Or maybe I just haven’t fully comprehended it yet.

It was pouring when I woke up Friday morning. I had planned to go to the market to get last-minute gifts and souvenirs, but the rain throws a wrench in any traveling plans. Nobody wants to travel in the rain, especially boda bodas. Kristi joked, “Uganda is crying because we’re leaving.”

Instagram Story

But I cried, too. That morning, I was sent Sam Smith’s “Stay with Me.” It was 10am and the lyrics caught me off guard because part of me wanted to stay. But my family’s constant questioning of “When are you taking us here?” gives me hope that I will be back.

When it finally stopped raining, Kristi and I went to Oasis Mall to use all our Ugandan shillings. I found birthday presents and banana chips for the plane ride.

After stuffing everything in my suitcase and checking out, we had a follow-up team meeting. Earlier in the week, Joe, Edgar, Peace, and I had a conversation about team dynamics after we leave. Don’t get me wrong, Peace and Edgar are both intelligent, hard-working, and kind individuals. Both of them are a joy to work with, but they were never given the time or opportunity to get to know each other before being thrown into a team with me and Joe. I’ve had the blessing of working one-on-one with each person and thus had time to understand each one’s work style and personality quirks, but not everyone on the team has had this privilege. We (Peace and Edgar. Joe and I just sat and listened) talked through a lot of misunderstandings and tension that built up in the past six weeks, and I’m really glad and relieved that we’re leaving them in a much better position to work together for the next few months. I’m really glad Joe and I got to know each other before we headed into the field. But we’re a great team.

Teamwork

We also had our last local food meal for lunch with John Henry. All the past GSBFellows raved about John Henry, but he turned out to be quite a different person than what they said. I guess friends and colleagues are very different things. I wonder if they’re mutually exclusive? Or can one relationship help (or hinder?) the other?

Drive to the airport: this is why you don’t try to drive in Kampala. It took us an hour to drive 1 kilometer. Don’t ask me how this is possible. I don’t know. It wasn’t even funny how awful the traffic was. I guess I never realized this because Joe and I always had the privilege of commuting via boda. I’m glad I didn’t experience the bizarre traffic jam until my last day in Uganda.

I said goodbye to one of my favourite Ugandans at the airport, and I was surprised I didn’t cry. Maybe because there were a lot of other people around. Or maybe I had been preparing myself for this all week.

We laid over in Amsterdam. I sat on the wrong side of the airplane so I missed the sunrise, but as the plane touched down, the organization of the land surprised me. Suburbs were neatly fitted on grids and fields used for agriculture were uniform and rectangular (in its strictest meaning). Yes, I’ve been living in chaos for seven weeks. No street in Kampala is straight, and I still have a hard time figuring out where I am in the city.

And guess what I found at the airport! While we were still in Uganda, Sammi asked us what the first thing we would do when we get home was. I said shower and unpack, but I know that’s not what she meant, so I changed my answer to play piano. There was a baby grand sitting in the middle of one of the lounge areas, and I couldn’t help myself. Yikes I hadn’t played for seven weeks and my fingers are quite out of shape. But at least I didn’t have to wait until getting home to make music again.

#SchipholPiano 

Well I’m home now! It feels like a dream, but maybe because I’m super sleepy. I can’t believe it’s been seven crazy weeks in Uganda; I’ve learned and experienced so much. Field work is officially finished, and now there's analysis and writing up deliverables (and reflection and discernment!). I'm not sure how often I'll be posting from now until November, but I'll keep you posted. Thank you for following my Uganda adventures. It's been an honour.

Until Next Time

Sipi Falls

We took last Friday off of work to go to Sipi Falls, and it took an entire day to travel to Mbale. But to be fair, I spent four hours waiting for people, helping others check out because they forgot, and we ended up taking the noon bus to Mbale (which we almost didn’t make). It’s fine. I’m not going to miss waiting for people and being taken for granted.

We reached Mbale around 6 and checked into Traveler’s Inn that Kristi and Efren recommended when they came a few weeks ago. The place was really nice! We got local food for dinner and sat on the rooftop to watch the lunar eclipse. The moon slowly disappeared behind the earth’s shadow, and it was crazy to just sit and chat for four hours. It was a very relaxing way to end the long day.

After breakfast, we drove an hour to Sipi Falls. We checked into Sipi Falls Lodge, and look at the hut that we slept in!

The Hut

We settled in, and Rogers our guide took us on a six hour hike to the three waterfalls in the park. We walked through lots of villages with lots of banana, corn, and coffee plants. This is another post that I just need to let the pictures speak for themselves. So here:

Sipi Falls

Hiking

Deep Thinkers

Water Falling

Then we went abseiling next to the waterfall. I had no idea what that meant, but basically you have a rope tied around your waist, and you are slowly let down 110 meters next to the waterfall. The view was stunning, and pictures cannot do justice to the feeling of being dropped down into the middle of a rainbow created by the mist from the waterfall.

Let me down!

 Can you see me?

God is so, so good to me. Even the sunset was amazing. The clouds were just right to create the colours. I don’t know how much more spoiled I can be…

Sipi Sunset 

And I love Huda because she has a fantastic iPhone 8 camera (with portrait mode!) and is not afraid to take too many pictures. Not gonna lie but I take great pictures of her, too. Actually, she’s just a beautiful model and poses well.

With the Beautiful Photographer

We woke up the next morning at 5:30 to watch the sunrise. I love seeing colours come to life and watching the world light up under the sun. But I don’t have any good pictures because Huda didn’t go haha.

After breakfast, we went on a coffee tour. We learned to make coffee from beginning to end. It was cool! More pics:

Coffee Beans

Human Coffee Grinder

Better than Peet's

We also met a tour guide named Job this weekend. He helped us with abseiling and taught us how to dance after dinner Saturday night. It was so much fun, and I doubt he usually gets to do this with other tourists who come to Sipi. We had to say goodbye to him after our coffee tour, and he looked so sad; he went inside the reception even before we left. It felt like a withdrawal...  What is it like to say goodbye every single day, and never see the people you meet again? And risk being a fading memory to them… This small incident reminded me that I need to treasure every interaction I have. I won’t know how God will use the various conversations and experiences to share His love.

Job

On our way back, we stopped in Jinja to get lunch and meet Bashir. The rest of the story is in the previous post ("A Day as a Tugende Credit Officer").

Oh man, my mom just sent me the worship songs we sang at the Hillsong service last year  in Australia. I’m so excited to go back down under, another country beautiful in its own way. But I’m still in Uganda for 36 hrs, and it’s becoming real!

I don’t know if I’ll have time to blog again before we leave, but brief work update: we reached 301 surveys, PTL! And we entered all the data. Also had a round of intellectual property drama but it’s all fine now. It was funny for everyone around us but not so funny for me and Joe. From my point of view, John Henry still doesn’t understand that we're fellows and not employees of Tugende. That’s why he was offended and somehow thought there was “an unfair representation of [his] integrity.” But “Gosh this is sure different from what we agreed to under the tree on July 13.” Thanks for bailing us out, Keith.

OK, I need to go and pack. It’s our last night at Bushpig, and it’s been a good time. See you all very, very soon :) Nkusubwa nyoo.