Day trip to the Equator

Last Saturday morning I was making coffee at the Medair teamhouse in Kampala when Jo – another Medair staff member who lives there – bounded in with a great idea of getting out of the city & going to the Equator! What an exciting adventure, I know that’s what you’re thinking… so by midday Jo & myself and two other Medair ladies, Mags and Moira, who work at another of our Medair programs in Abim, Uganda, headed for the Equator. It’s about an hour drive once you get out of the traffic-crazed city and its actually an amazing tar road all the way down – we did hit some pretty deep pot holes at points, but the fact that most of the road was asphalt was just unbelievable to me! Plus, it was through a beautiful area of the country. Down south it is amazingly green, rolling hills all around. I forgot how much I love road trips. Plus it was great to get to know some new people, these ladies are all quite fun. Mags & Moira are both from the UK, Jo is from New Zealand. Someone decided to capitalize on the adventure of visiting the actual Equator & now there is a bit of a tourist-trap strip mall, African style, surrounding the Equator. A couple coffee shops/cafes as well as a number of craft stores line the road for about 200 meters or so. We did in fact enjoy the café which boasted chai smoothies and guacamole with chipati chips. Yummy!

The craft strip

Notice the "Did U Know?" stands? You can pay a few dollars to watch water swirl one way on the North side of the Equator and another way on the South side - we didn't pay...

Emergency Water Kit

I wanted to share some things that have gone on over the past few weeks - sorry for my lack of communication recently!

About two weeks ago our team spent a few days testing out an Emergency Water Kit that is a vital piece of our project here in Kaabong. This kit is designed to be set up within 24 hours to respond to an outbreak of a water-bourne disease such as typhoid or cholera which can devestate a community within days. The kit allows us to set up a water pumping and filtering system to provide clean water to a community and therefore stop the spread of a disease due to lack of clean water supply. The process goes like this:


1. Jetting water (using the force of water through a pipe to 'drill' a hole into the earth to reach a new, clean source of water)

2. Pumping water from the jetted source

3. Filling a tank full of the pumped water

4. Pumping the water through a chlorination tank to cleanse it

5. Pumping the clean water into a bladder tank

6. Water flows out via tap stands for people to access it


It was fascinating for me to watch this process, as I'm not technical when it comes to this stuff. :) I tried to help as I could, but my role in these emergencies would really be to hold down the fort and keep the team in communication with our offices and be a support along the way. So I became the photographer for these days and tried to keep the kids who gathered entertained as well! What I love about this part of our project is that 1)we have not had an outbreak yet that needed such a massive response (yeah!) and 2)that it really would make a HUGE difference in a very short period of time. Let's pray this is never needed, but if it is we are much better prepared for it now & will continue to tweak our ability to respond quickly and as a cohesive team.

Dola & Trace are testing the chlorination treatments

the raging Kaabong river...

Charles, Jacob (Coco), Simon, Dola & Trace - our dynamic Watsan team!

My first RnR

Last Friday I packed a bag & said goodbye to Kaabong, anxiously awaiting the next morning when I would pick up my good friend Tif from the airport in Entebbe here, welcoming her to a month of Uganda research (and first a week of fun with me!). The airstrip in Kaabong District is about a 25 minute drive from town down a very curvy, bumpy dirt road. We fly with MAF mostly (Mission Aviation Fellowship) as they have become more popular for reaching destinations around the country. The morning a MAF flight is coming in we have to call their office in Kampala and ask for the estimated arrival time, then we venture out to the airstrip to meet the plane. Most often it is a 12-seater plane that dives in & I've learned to tell who the pilot is by the length of the landing. One guy stops the plane within 100 meters of hitting the strip, smooth as a bird! And really, it feels more like SkyRide than Air Uganda. They shove your luggage in a compartment under the plane, you climb in & find a seat, then you are off to who knows how many destinations to drop someone or pick someone else up and finally end up at their strip just outside of Kampala! On Friday after I got on we stopped in Kologo, Patongo, Kotido, Lira, & then on to the final destination. It took about 3 1/2 hours, but I got to see a lot of Uganda that I would never see otherwise.

Tif arrived safely on Saturday morning & we spent the day resting and talking. I can't even tell you what a blessing it is to see a familiar face, let alone someone who knows & loves me dearly. And to make the day even better, Jared Mackey called me up to see if he & the Theisens could swing by & exchange some luggage Tif had brought to Kampala for them. What a joy it was to see Jared, Jeff & Michelle. Jared is one of my pastors from TNL, but more than that a good friend that I came to Uganda with last year. Jeff & Michelle are friends from Portland who live in northern Uganda.

On Sunday we visited an orphanage called Jordan House here in the city. The children are beautiful, of course, and they have a church service every Sunday. We sang and danced with them – about 50 from age 2 to age 16. They love to get hugs and to welcome you. There’s something about being surrounded by these children that never ceases to stir my heart. I have to wonder what I may be able to contribute to an orphan’s life – maybe one day God will reveal that to me. For now, I’ll keep on with where I’m at and see where this road leads.

Tiffani also brought me lots of fun treats from friends in the US. Thanks to each of you who were thinking of me - it was like Christmas in November! We even had a Tim Tam Slam, thanks to Brian & Kelley Gray!

Monday was another refreshing day of spending time with Jared & Tiffani exploring downtown Kampala complete with pizza for lunch and amazing Indian food for dinner! My taste buds are so happy this week!

Today I got a haircut at the local mall – a bit of a risk, I know, but it ended up ok I think. Good enough, at least. We found this great New York Kitchen diner that made amazing pizza, bagel sandwiches and (drumroll please…) pumpkin cheesecake! Wow, I couldn’t pass it up as fall and pumpkin are very missed right now in my non-seasoned life of rainy vs. wet season! I miss autumn!