NicolesLetters.org

June 21st, 2008 Mukono, Uganda Day 1

Adventures in Traveling

Ethiopia?? Just wait, I’ll get there. It all started out as a busy Thursday morning in the San Diego airport. Close to 30 people traveling to Entebbe, Uganda via Chicago..London..Nariobi..2 tons of luggage 75% of that supplies for Victors Christian Junior School in Mukono, Uganda. 47 hours after departing San Diego we arrive at the hotel in Mukono. First I have to say that I have never seen such a large group of people travel together and have their patience tried as much as this trip has so far. I also have to say that I was so happy to see everyone encourage one another and I never heard one complaint or a single ounce of frustration. After checking three bags each, again mostly supplies for the school we made it to our gate. Our plane ended up leaving a bit (45 min) late from San Diego, normally that wouldn’t be a problem, well it worried us as we only had 1 hour total before our connection was off to London. With no time to spare we arrived to our Gate C 15 in Chicago off to London. We all boarded the plane praying that our luggage would follow. We would only have two hours in London; really just enough time to clear customs and make our way to the other side of the airport (we weren’t going to have to collect our luggage as United and Kenya Airlines are working together). Our red-eye to London wasn’t bad at all (easy for me to say, I slept for 90% of the flight –surprise!) We landed in London at 8 am to find that our flight to Nairobi to our surprise was cancelled! Yikes! What next? Well we then found out that our luggage was delivered to a different terminal. After about 2 hours of the chaperones (teachers of the students) searching for our stuff the airline sent the luggage to the terminal we were in and we finally collected all 70 of our suitcases. We then waited in line, which was a four-hour line full of the passengers that were also supposed to be on one of the two Kenya Airways flights that morning to Entebbe. It took about an hour before we found out that the rest of the flights for the day were booked and over booked for that matter. We waited for about 3 hours, there was only one woman working the counter for Kenya Airways and the line was very long. Luckily the chaperones in our group did not give up and took it to the top. With the help of the chaperones, Chris, John, Jannell, Rob and another man in the group, Marty, we were told that Ethiopia Air (which was already booked solid) would have 30 seats for us to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, then on to Entebbe (this information was given to us by the Kenya Airways people with a list of our names and flight times). This was at about 1or 2pm. We didn’t really have anywhere to go with all of our bags so we hung out, slept, they did give us a few food vouchers, so we ate a little and at about 4 we ventured outside to get some fresh air. We were told that the counter for Ethiopia Air would open at 5:30pm so we could check in then. We arrived to the counter right at 5:30; we were then told that they did not have our names in the system. We prayed for a miracle, knowing that it would be quite difficult to transport all of us and the luggage to a hotel for the night. A miracle happened and all of a sudden they made room for us on the flight. By this time an hour had passed of are we going to get on this flight? Are we going to make it there in the next couple of days? Everything was over sold everywhere we turned. We had the right guy at the counter with Ethiopia Air and he got us on. It probably took us at least an hour and a half to check in and get our bags through. Everyone stayed in good spirits and hoped for the best. We grabbed a bite to eat before our flight boarded at 9 something for a 9:45 flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Our flight ended up being not so bad (again, easy for me to say, I slept), most slept only a few struggled to sleep, as we were all exhausted. We landed at about 8am to a rough landing, rain, etc. Not the smoothest landing and to my surprise I wasn’t feeling so hot, I’ll spare any additional information. We had three hours before our flight left for Entebbe, just enough time to grab a bite and browse some of the shops with local Ethiopian jewelry, scarves and other goodies. They did have great coffee also. After getting on the plane finally to Entebbe, it felt great knowing that the next stop was Uganda. It was just a quick 1 hour 40 minute flight and again everyone stayed in great spirits despite the fact of flying two red-eyes in a row and having what was going to be a 2 hour layover in London be a 13 hour one instead was history now. We powered through and arrived safe and sound in Uganda. After making it through customs we went to collect our luggage. Well…… hmmm… after waiting for over two hours for our luggage we were told it didn’t make it on the plane in London. What? Really? We did however get a handful (meaning 6 or 8 pieces) of checked suitcases; apparently those ones did get checked. Ironically the very last piece of luggage checked was one of the ones that made it. That means that 62 suitcases are coming on the flight tomorrow. Pastor Gabriel, Grace and Sylvia waited for hours for us at the airport and they were happy when we were able to make our way out of the luggage area and see them. Grace and Sylvia help to manage the children and are the ones to select which children are eligible for sponsorship; Sylvia is a Social Worker and between the two of them they know all the children and their stories. I went in the van with Grace and Sylvia to catch up with them. They are doing great, they told me how excited the kids are to have sponsors and they are excited to have us visit them. They gave me some quick updates on a few of the kids and it seems like all of the kids are doing great. From Entebbe we made it to the hotel at about 5 or 5:30pm, the hotel had dinner prepared, water waiting and were just wonderful. As everyone will venture out for the safari, I am staying to work on profiles of more kids for sponsorship. I will go to the church service in the morning and see many of the kids in the afternoon. I had the typical dinner here at the hotel, which was fantastic; Talapia, rice, soup and bread. Tomorrow I should have pictures since I will be at the school. More tomorrow. Nicole