Gulu to Arusha

Larry Comstock, a World Vision US person from New York who accompanied us on the trip, and I headed for Entebbe at 4:50 am. The amount of time the trip takes varies greatly depending on traffic which can frequently be congested. We made the whole trip from Gulu to Entebbe in record time: 5 ½ hours. Our driver, Bright, thought it would take 7 hours. The light traffic on the main highway between Kampala and Entebbe was especially shocking. I have never seen it so light, nor had Bright, and he makes the trip all of the time.

This is the saddest that I have ever felt leaving Uganda. The trip has been great, and I have grown so close to many of the WVU staff and former staff. The manager of the Gulu Cluster refers to me as a “Home Boy.” I do feel at home here.

My flight to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania left at 1:55 pm and took about 1 ½ hours. A taxi driver picked me up and then drove me about 45 miles to Arusha. The temperature when the aircraft landed was 86 but on the way to Arusha we ran into a thunderstorm. In Uganda it is the dry season and I was assuming that it would be the same here, but I was wrong. It is the rainy season which dampens (no pun intended) my hopes for actually getting a glimpse of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was completely covered in clouds and you can’t see it from Arusha. I might be able to get a glimpse of it early Monday morning when I will be in the vicinity again.

It’s just about 6:00 pm so I am going to get a little dinner an crash. I hope to blog about the St. Thomas Moore School this weekend because my schedule won’t be so jam packed full.

But I do want to give one vignette from yesterday. At the co-op where we bought the bead necklaces, there were quite a few children, mostly elementary school and younger in age. Charlie, Steffi, and Joan were like “children magnets.” I have a picture of Charlie seated in a chair surrounded by these children.