A Day Off 

The day started at 5:00am. The pain in my back from the kidney infection woke me up. Actually I didn’t really sleep well the whole night. The plan for the day was to drive to Lotordore to check on the Village Learning Center preparations, then backtrack to Omiya Anyima, which is on the way to Lotordore, to take Micah to visit his grandparents.

The trip to Kitgum takes about 2 hours on a dirt road that is under construction, then on past there another hour and half to reach the village of Lotordore at the foot of a beautiful mountain. It’s very deep in the bush.

Alyssa, Micah and Jeremiah were my travel companions.  The morning was cool but we knew that because of dry season it would later be scorching. Our lunches were packed and our water bottles were filled.

Upon reaching Kitgum, the first stop was the Bomah hotel to use the bathroom before venturing out to the remote villages. Fred and Susan are Kenyan missionaries serving the Lord in that village and I knew they had a latrine. But there would be no place in between to stop and ‘short-call’, especially in the dry season when everyone burns their fields.

The long drive aggravated the pain in my kidney, but we had to go talk to Micah’s grandparents concerning his adoption (another story). We reached Fred and Susan’s home in the village. Fred called a meeting with the parents of the children that will be coming to the VLC. The problem we were facing was that the Educators were graduated and ready to work and the people were delaying in the construction of the huts and classrooms. We went to find out why. Fred explained most of the problem was because it is so close to the Presidential and minsters of parliament elections that the people were all constantly attending the rally for campaigns. The candidates promise to give out cash and Waragi (alcohol) to this village of alcoholics!

So I stood under a tree and talked with the few who showed up about their priorities and left them with the choice that they should finish the huts and classrooms or we may have to send our educators to another village. Of course I said it all with kindness and love.

We left there and headed back to Omiya Anyima. On the way I noticed that my brakes weren’t feeling right. I called Keith and he said to just pump them and then check the fluid when I get to the grandparents hut in the village. When we reached there I got out to open the trunk and Jeremiah called me over to the other side of the car because it was smoking. There was smoke coming out from around the front tire of the passenger side. I called Keith and he said “Call Robb”. Robb is Erica’s husband and they live in Kitgum.

The visit with Micah and His grandparents was great and Alyssa will be adopting Micah. We are delighted. Keith suggested that I drive back to Kitgum very slowly and meet Robb and a mechanic, so I did.

Apparently it was miraculous that the tire did not erupt in flames. It was rather skewed by the time I finally reached the town. But the damage was great. Alyssa, Micah and Jeremiah were able to catch a bus back to Gulu and I stayed with the car. I felt the fever when I was in the village and it was going strong by the time I was in town. Robb took over and Erica took me to her house to rest and take medication.

I had forgotten about the 4 chickens in the box in the back of the car that we had bought in the village. They died. So we donated them to the Tender Trust orphanage. They were very thankful.

So while all this is going on with us in Kitgum, Keith and Martin were called to the EDI to put out fires….literally. It is common practice during the dry season to burn the dead grass, everywhere. Grass fires often get out of control. The fire moved into the compound and burned our banana trees and was headed for the piggery. They were fighting this using the hand pump borehole. Then Keith was trying to coach me and advise Robb in the middle of it.

Then one of the educators saw me drive into Erica’s compound and came to greet me. As I was talking with him he shared that his wife was a week overdue in delivering her baby. She was swelling and would soon need to have the baby taken out.  He had no money, because we had not received the sponsorship funds in our account here to pay their salaries. So I gave him what I had with me, after giving some to get Alyssa home and Erica and Robb promise to help pay for the car problems. Of course a life is more important than anything else.

So Erica and Robb will take me to Gulu tomorrow because they don’t want me to ride the bus with the kidney infection. Good friends. We will take the car part with us and buy a new one in Gulu or order one from Kampala then send Martin to retrieve the car.

This was our day off.