Sunday, March 14, 2010

Safe and pretty much sound!

Hi from Uganda!
It was a long travel to my home for the next 10 weeks from when I left Friday morning, but it all went really smoothly. British Airways was amazing to fly with; I recommend it to anyone wanting to go international. Comfortable seats and good food (at least for an airline meal). It was weird seeing the sun set, rise, set again before making it to Uganda. The donations and I have all made it safely to the Musana volunteer house now. Luckily I don't feel like I have jet lag...maybe it's still coming but hopefully not!

So when I got to the Entebbe Airport, I was greeted by Andrea (the director who started the orphange from Colorado; she is awesome), Morris (he's in some head position at Musana), and PiPi (peepee: he is the volunteer assistant while I'm here). They are all great and were excited about the donations. We drove about 10 min to a hotel to sleep for the night. The arrangements were pretty nice, but I'll have to get used to cold showers which shouldn't be hard because it's very hot here. We ate breakfast before we left which was a banana, OJ, and bread and butter. On our way to Iganga we stopped on the side of the road to buy chicken on a stick from street vendors and it was good (lindsey, you would never have tried it by the looks of it lol). The trip in the van took about 4 hours. Driving is a bit different because it's on the left side of the road and much more reckless!

The first place I stopped when we got to Iganga was the cafe that the Orphanage is opening up this week. It looks great and I'll post some pictures soon. If anyone has some easy but good bakery recipes send them my way at brittany.leigh.cook@gmail.com. We are looking for ideas. I am excited to get a chance to work there. Everyone is excited that the cafe is getting hooked up with cable TV to help bring in more revenue. Futbol or soccer is very big here so people like watching the pro games. One not so good thing however, was that we found out from some people that Morris, the guy who picked me up, had his room broken into while we were gone, which is very hard to do at our house and all his stuff minus clothing was taken! That was a big downer. That doesn't mean I/we don't feel safe here just that we'll have to be more careful who knows about our house and keep everything locked up even inside the house.

After the cafe I headed to the house to drop my things off and then headed straight to Musana with the other volunteers. It's about a 3o min walk and pretty confusing path; I'll have to pay better attention tomorrow; it's all about landmarks I'm told. Iganga is what you would call a developing town i guess... it's not quite a city but they are getting bigger and spreading out with lots of little shops and markets.

When I got to Musana, all the kids were watching a movie but they all came out to hug me and hold my hand. They gave me a little tour of their home and their livestock (1 cow, 7 goats, and soon to be chickens). The kids are adorable and take any attention they can get. I showed some boys my soccer and basketball skills today (pretty hard to do in an ankle length skirt), helped kids make paper oragami balloons, swing kids, simply throw balls or frisbees, and love on them:)

We walked back to the cafe close to dark time (that's what I go by...the sun because i have no watch or phone). Their we had a farewell dinner for a man who was done with his 2 and half year volunteer bout in Uganda. It was fun. The weather is beautiful at night time and the stars are bright. We walked back home and now we've just been hanging out. Tomorrow, PiPi is taking me to the hospital to see about volunteering in the physical therapy department. Well that's i'll I've got for now and again I'll try to post some pictures soon. Much love to everyone! Until next time and bye for now :)...

4 comments:

  1. I can't wait to see pictures Brittany! It sounds like you're settling in well. Know that you have many people here praying for you!

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  2. I'm glad to hear that you made it there safe. God is going to do some amazing work in your life while you are in Uganda. One piece of encouragement I wanted to leave you with comes from a couple verses in Matthew:

    "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." ~ Matthew 5: 14-16 ~

    I will be praying for your safety and that God will be using you as a vessel to be a light to the people in Uganda. I love you and wish you all the best. Have a great time and talk to you soon!

    Sean

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  3. Cook...I'm so excicted for you! It sounds like things are starting off amazing. I'm so glad your flight and initial time there has been so smooth. I will be checking this blog like crazy, so keep up with the updates whenever you get a chance!

    love you!
    -cari :)

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  4. Brittany,
    We are so proud of you. Let God work through you on this journey. We will pray for you during you time in Uganda. Have a great time and enjoy your mission.

    Love,
    Diane Z.

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