Pictures - Mission Link, Bukaleba

The school children greeted us with Ugandan singing.

Orphanage Construction

Skinny Cow

One of the local village children that comes to watch the construction at the orphanage site.

School kids out to greet the Mission Link Team

Pictures-London Layover/Bukaleba

Settling In...

Ok, finally...some time to sit down and start in on this blog.

I'm here in Jinja, a town of about 80,000 at the source of the Nile.  The eMi team got to Uganda almost 2 weeks ago, I spent about a week in Kampala at the eMi office there getting oriented with a new culture and eMi's way of doing things.  

Kampala is pretty crazy. There are literally millions of people in the streets...I'm pretty sure there are no traffic laws either.  Everything moves at a fast past and you are definitely the only "mzungu" within a mile in every direction...Mzungu is what they call white people...apparently it's not meant to be offensive...I hope not, because people call me that all the time.  For the most part Ugandans are ridiculously nice people...they all seem to be excited to have you in their country and they are always willing to help you when you don't know where you're going.

After being in Kampala for a week, Jinja has been a nice change of pace...everything is much slower here.  Things slowed down even more when we went out to Bukaleba for 3 days last week.  Bukaleba is a piece of land (2,500 acres) that is owned by a ministry called Arise Africa that eMi has partnered with.  It sits on the North East side of Lake Victoria, the landscape is beautiful there.  Currently eMi is managing the construction of two buildings on the property and has developed a master plan for a school which will house several hundred students in the area as the local villages don't have access to schools.  Currently the Bukaleba property is without electricity or running water...but eMi is also currently working on a well system to provide the entire property with water.  

One thing to understand about Uganda is that poverty is the norm here...I'm just beginning to accept the fact that not everyone in this world has the opportunities that many of us have been afforded by living in the US.  I think I've always known that at some level, but now it is becoming real to me....I'm thankful for many things...but also I am  beginning to realize that much responsibility comes to those who have been blessed such as I have.  I can't wait to tell all of you of the experiences I'm having here...so many of you have supported me financially and prayerfully, and for that, I am thankful...