Fred in the Village: Day 14 & 15

AEM Love would like to introduce you to our first summer intern, Fred. He is a teenager, born in Uganda, raised in America from the age of 4. Join him as he shares daily posts during his month long adventure with the Lord. His journey began just 4 days ago when his 14 American teammates completed their short term mission trip and flew home.

Day 14: Today feels different from all the others

It is my first day without the American team; we dropped them off at the airport last night @8:30pm. Our plan was to drive straight from the airport 6 hours to the village but we were all too tired to drive any longer. We decided to pull over and sleep at a hotel for the night @12:30am. We woke up @6:00am in order to get a head start on the day, but our drive didn’t last long because @10:30am our car broke down in Jinja and we sat there until 8:40pm when the car got fixed. As I’ve heard my family say, “This is Africa!” Now we are back on the road and have a 4 hour drive to Soroti where we will be spending the night. My prayer for today is that we make it to Soroti safely and tomorrow to the village safely. As I sat in the car wondering why I decided to go on this extended trip God put the verse Psalms 22:22 on my heart!

Day 15: Looking smart

Today was a good day. We got to Soroti @12:30am; once we dropped off all the team Jabeth and I went to his place. I was really tired, but if you know me then you know I love my dinner. Jabeth and I went to find dinner in the city. It was so late our only choice was street food. I was particularly sad…not because I ate roadside food, but because I lost my five meal streak of only eating Rolexes. We grabbed food, took it home to eat, talked for a bit and went to bed. Now this is where the fun begins. I slept for a decent time last night, but when I woke up it was time to get moving. Jabeth told me the plan and we got straight to it. This is how it went…
1. Get a shower at the guest house across the road
2. Eat breakfast
3. Go to the AEM office
4. Go shopping for clothes for me and for groceries while we are in the village
5. Check on the car and get it fixed
6. Head to the village by mid day (12:30 pm to 1pm)

Immediately Jabeth walked me across the street to his friend’s guest house so I could take a shower. I was half confused because I just woke up, but Jabeth gave me towel before we left so I was holding a towel and a Walmart sack full of my toiletries. Fun fact: I thought that we were going to drop off the team at the airport and then head back to the village so I only had the clothes on my back. So, I’ve been wearing the same clothes for the past three days.

Anyways after my cold shower, and grabbing breakfast [Jabeth was so kind -when the restaurant didn’t have them, he got me a Rolex] we went on our way. A Rolex is an omelette wrapped in a chapati (like a hot grilled tortilla). At the AEM office we pumped up some soccer balls for the Saturday Program in the village and headed to the market after picking up the friend who let me shower. That is the way of “community” that we are missing in the US…she helped us so we were giving her a ride to the market. Once there, I was told we were going to get me a new pair of clothes. This market had 3 stories. First floor – kitchen and houseware. Second floor -had shoes, like A LOT of shoes. Third floor – clothes. Jabeth, Joyce, and Susan went down row by row looking for clothes for me. They would put it up to my body and turn their head to see if it would work. I felt I was on “say yes to the dress.” After a couple of choices they picked out two shirts and a pair of pants.

It was weird because he took me down different alleys and behind buildings until we got to this public bathroom where I could change into my new clothes. When I came out I looked like a whole new man, and in the words of the Ugandans I looked “smart.” Jabeth said that wasn’t it…after I changed he took me to get a hair cut with him, but there’s something you need to know about Jabeth. He gets a hair cut every two weeks, but the difference between their culture and ours is that a hair cut here only costs two U.S dollars while in America it’s like $20-$40. The weird part of it was this green jell that the barber rubbed on my face…it was grainy. He rubbed it on my face for about five minutes straight on every spot except my lips…even my eye lids!!!

Now it was time to get the groceries and get going. Let me just tell you in the market, there are lots of different smells; and in the market they have anything and everything you will ever need or want. They have fish, fruit, vegetables, chicken, clothes, shoes, and plants. It’s like a mall and an open market. Our team wasn’t finished shopping so we went to check on the car repair. Jabeth’s brother Haggai lives in the same city as him so we were walking down the street and saw him. Haggai is a boda (motorcycle taxi) driver, so he took us for a ride to the car shop. Things take longer in different cultures and with different tools, so the car wasn’t ready…time for lunch. I know what you’re thinking “Fred probably got a Rolex” the answer is no. I ate goat meat and rice. After the shopping was complete, we got street food for the rest of the team. I was so tired I leaned back in my chair and fell asleep. After I heard my name being called I woke up. At 2:00pm with groceries and a repaired car, we dropped off team members at their homes to repack and went to gather our own clothes for the next week in the village.

After a brief adventure to track down the security guard for our camp, he hands me the keys and I unlock the hut. Once opened I’m happy and ready to settle into hut life again. After reading my card for today I sat there in silence and it started to rain. It was dinner time so the five of us sat under the pavilion while it poured and thundered and ate our meal. My prayers for today are that the girl Jabeth is mentoring gets better from malaria, that we have a good day at the Saturday program tomorrow, and we make it back to Soroti safely tomorrow. My verse for today is Joshua 1:9. ~ Fred