Mission accomplished.
Our work is done, and we now begin our journeys home. First the long drive across Uganda from Kasese to Kampala. Then after our last night our team flies together from Kampala to Nairobi to London where we part ways and I board my flight from London to Miami then on to Tampa.
So the long drive back to Kampala became our last opportunity to really soak in the experience.
Part of me can’t shaking the idea of getting back to the comforts of home. This makes me think again about the differences in our lives. I think about the people that cart huge jugs of water around because they don’t have plumbing and public water systems.
One of the first things that I’m going to do when I get home is to take a shower. I’ll probably use the equivalent of one of those jugs of water in my shower.
I wonder if I’d use as much of it to bathe if I had to cart it a couple of miles from the river to my home.
I think about the homes that we drive by and how they’re made. As we arrive in Kampala I see new construction that confirms that even larger scale construction projects lack the building quality that make these safe places to live and work.
I’m heading home to a place that was built to withstand a category 4 or 5 hurricane. A virtual fortress.
In fact, as I write this, we’ve seen the effects that natural disasters can have on similar construction. The January 12th earthquake in Haiti resulted in such widespread damage because the building standards weren’t at a level reuired to handle such an event.
The construction that I’ve seen throughout the parts of Africa that I’ve just visited are of similar standards. I cringe at the thought of a similar disaster happening in a place like Kampala.
Our worlds are very different.
But this isn’t a night to be sad. It’s a night to celebrate! We’ve just finished an important work, and it’s something that we should be proud of!
Certainly we didn’t fix the world’s problems in a two week trip. But we did plant a seed.
A seed that we pray will bear great fruit in the months and years to come. They are seeds of hope and a future. It is a hope that can only come through love and nurturing. We stood beside them, sowed our minds and hearts into them, and let them know how much we believe in them.
We leave behind hundreds of people whose lives will never be the same because of the work that we’ve just done! And THAT my friend, was cause to celebrate!
I thank God every day that I’m able to impact other people’s lives in a positive way, and I pray that I continue to have opportunities to deliver Hope to many others…
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Check out more from this series in the africa diaries.
Thrilled to read more about your trip, I’ll be in Kampala in 3 weeks now, can’t wait to get back again… I really didn’t know you guys worked over there, out church has been working in the area for years now and also partner with African Renewal Ministries. Can’t wait to read more about your trip when I can get to a computer, have a safe trip home, it’s a long haul 🙂