I woke up at 5 am to the call to prayer. I wasn’t able to take a jog. We are locked into our hotel by a pad lock. I decided to do a cross fit training. It was good to get a sweat going. It isn’t light out until about 6:30 so I spent some time reflecting on the trip and praying. I’ve been thinking about Bryn and Elena. I know there parents may have concerns about Gulu, but I’ve got to say, this place is not the same place it was 6 years ago. Two years of peace have transformed the economic life of the city. It is bustling with activity. I just don’t have the word to describe what I’m seeing right now.
To start off, we have breakfast with African coffee. It’s awesome! It’s brewed with milk and honey. I had a banana, an avocado, and chapatti (like a fried tortilla). We walked down to the Invisible Children Intern House. In Uganda, white people are called Mozungu. It’s not meant to be an insult. In the past, while people were pretty rare around here. Now, there are many NGOs in the area. The people on the street are nice, but for the most part, they are just trying to get there jobs done. The streets are not paved. They are made of red dirt. I’ll take some pictures and try to get them posted.
At the IC house we met with Jolly Okot and Jarred White. They shared about the work IC is doing in the area. It is quite extensive. They shared how IC and other groups have been able to make an incredible impact in this area. I have so much respect for Jolly. She has been a motherly figure in the organization from the start and I don’t think IC would exist without her. One program they are working on will mobilize thousands of farmers to produce organic cotton. This will then be ginned and fabricated in Ugandan textile mills. At each step in the process, the money made in Uganda will stay in Uganda. There is more to say about this and I will forward a very good description of the work being done here soon.
Later we meet with a teacher named Balaam. He was our guide to the Luo language. He was an excellent teacher. I feel like I have a lot of work to do to become proficient, but he gave us all a great start. When it was time for lunch, we took a boda boda. On every road there are many young men on motorcycles. For 500 US they will take you where you need to go. It was pretty exciting to sit on the back of his bike as see Gulu. I’m thinking of going out on a boda boda to film the town.
Later in the afternoon we went to explore the town. I met a man named Carl who is living in Uganda working with children affected by the war. He is there with his wife Julie and 2 daughters who are 9 and 5. It was really cool to see a family so much like my own. Who knows, maybe next summer Lisa and the girls will be here with me. I was thinking of video taping everything, but I need to be careful with that. People are not part of the landscape and I don’t want to take pictures that will exploit them. I’m still trying to find that balance. I’ve been able to talk to Lisa and the girls everyday, and that is a great comfort.
