Friday, April 28th, 2023 8:30am

Good Morning! I made it, I'm here in Uganda and it feels unbelievable. My flight from Seattle to Dubai was as expected...long...so long, but uneventful in all the right ways. I had a 15-hour layover, so I booked a hotel for the night and made a feeble attempt to get some sleep. 

 

The morning view from my hotel in Dubai

Back at the airport by 7am, I took a 5.5 hour flight to Entebbe, Uganda. My flight was not full, however there was another flight that came in around the same time, so getting through customs and the airport was slow going. My memory of the baggage claim at the airport was every man (or woman) for themselves! There are carts available and people would grab a cart and push it close to the conveyor belt in order to pull their boxes and large luggage directly on to the cart. If you see your bag, you push through the crowd or wait until there is a clearing. On my last visit, I waited. and waited. and waited. This time, I quickly grabbed my cart and found a close spot, proving that you can teach an old dog a new trick! 

Picho was waiting for me and it's hard to put into words my feelings upon seeing him again. We blocked traffic hugging each other and it felt like no time had passed, falling quickly into comfortable conversation, catching up on over 4 years of separation. Driving back to Kampala, it felt like I could finally take a deep breath again. I could not help but think of how happy my parents would have been that I have returned to a place I love so much, to people I love so much, and to work that I love so much. 

When I'm in Kampala, I stay at the ITW (Imaging the World) office, which is a house in town, with guest rooms. Eddie and his son Rian live at the office as security and have also kept in touch with me over the years. I am happy to say that Rian had no trouble getting comfortable with me again.

Rian and I in 2018

Reunited in 2023

When Picho and Eddie asked what I wanted for dinner, I immediately said beans and chapati, which made them laugh. Food has such a wonderful way of connecting us to memories and I had no idea such a simple meal could make me so happy! 

Fresh beans with vegetables, rice and chapati

For those of you who don't know, I have struggled with insomnia for over 30 years. I have a very strict sleep hygiene that I adhere to, including blackout curtains, sleep schedule, dark, cool room, no electronics, you get the idea. Needless to say, after 3 days of travel, my brain had no idea what to do! I was exhausted but was determined to stay up late and force myself into Uganda time. When I finally climbed under my mosquito net into bed, I was so grateful. I was also quickly reminded what it was like to sleep in Kampala, neighborhood dogs barking, someone's home alarm going off, loud conversations, more dogs barking, no breeze, too much breeze, and yet I somehow managed to sleep enough to feel almost human this morning! My hair has gone off the rails with the humidity, I have stuffed myself with small, sweet bananas and Ugandan peanut butter for breakfast, and I am just so incredibly happy to be back here. 

Today I will be reunited with Allan and Renny, we will catch up with each other and talk about the upcoming trip to Kenya, and I will repack for another flight. We will leave tomorrow morning, bright and early and I will hopefully be able to write again tomorrow night from the Maasai Mara North Park. 

Thanks to all of you for your encouraging words of love and support. I could not do this without you!

Much love, Jo (MB)