I hope this works!

Denise and I have landed in the Pearl of Africa. We arrived safely after a 26 hour journey that took us from RDU to Newark (we were able to reroute our trip directly in New Jersey and skip Charlotte, thankfully) and then across the Atlantic to Amsterdam and then on to Entebbe. We were very tired when we arrived and had to wait a fair amount at the airport, to verify that we didn’t have swine flu and to receive our visas/passports. But Fr Stephen was waiting for us and we were so thankful to finally meet!

Our house is lovely….Bethany House in Entebbe. We have a breath-taking view of Lake Victoria, which is only about 1/4 of a mile way, from the look of things. The sun rises over the lake in the morning which is an amazing view. The sky at night is filled with bright stars, more than you’ve ever seen in your life. And you can see the Southern Cross and the Big Dipper at the same time, as we are on the Equator. The night is filled with exotic bird calls, peepers and bullfrogs on the lake, the buzz of mosquitos and lake flies, and some howling stray dogs that live down the road. These noises are what I missed the most when I left Uganda five years ago (well, maybe not the howling dogs). Bethany House is very spacious. Denise and I share a room, but there are three other bedrooms for guests traveling through. I believe Dr Emmanual Katangole will be staying there in June and then David Toole (also from Duke Divinity) will be arriving next Wednesday. We have a large kitchen and a nice living area. And, drum roll please, HOT WATER (though it takes a bit of time for it to actually turn warm). This experience is definitely different from my previous experience in Uganda, living in a very small dorm and sharing a bathroom with 11 other women!

We reside in Entebbe, which makes the trek to Kampala a bit of a hike. We walk about 1/2 mile to the main road to hail a matatu, and then we drive along the Entebbe-Kampala road for about 45 minutes to Uganda, with many stops along the way, and then we get off, walk along a very busy road in Kampala, cross the street, and hail another taxi that takes us to the hospice. So, that’s almost a 1.5 hour commute! We have a wonderful house, but we are considering some closer housing that will allow us to commute a shorter distance. We will see how it all shapes up.

We had a wonderful experience at the Hospice but I will need to write more about that later. Currently, we are at Fr Stephen’s seminary using the internet and they just rang the lunch bell, so we must run! Hopefully, more about the Hospice tomorrow!!
Blessings to all,
Heather (and Denise)