Forty hours is the time we spent in transit from Indianapolis to Lira, Uganda. Or calculated differently, from my rising Tuesday 7am (US time) to lights out, 9pm Thursday (Ugandan time) I was mostly wakeful for fifty-six hours. I note these time lapses, however, not to suggest that ours was a monumental achievement, but rather to highlight the wonder: how remarkable that we were able to travel such great distances in just forty hours.
A century ago, such a venture would have required weeks if not months. Likewise, how remarkable that our luggage landed at Entebbe when we landed. Admittedly, some of our pieces were worse for the ware; nevertheless, none were lost.
Upon our arriving at 3:30am, we then journied north to Lira, arriving there approximately nine hours later. Because of the early hour, at first we could see little of the countryside, apart from recognizing its rising and falling, like the crest and trough of ocean waves; but by 8am we saw that the land was richly green, exhibiting a variety of trees, including pines. I had not anticipated that this equitorial country would have so many acres given to pine trees. Whether or not these pines are a govenmental effort to reclaim portions of the land, I do not know; but that they bode well for Uganda’s future, I do not doubt. Moreover, as we journied north, and as I observed the great numbers of tin roofs, the many village markets en route, the many small-engine motorcyles, and the use of barbedwire, I concluded that economically Uganda is faring better than Malawi—although I also concluded that both countries are impoverished, the one more so than the other.
When once we arrived at our hotel in Lira, and after refreshing showers, we then toured the Otino Waa Orphange, which will be the site of our ministry. I would encourage you to turn to their website, in order to better understand and appreciate their ministry and history; even so, here I will make these observations: “Otino Waa” means “our children”; it was founded in 2003, when seventy-eight children were about to be abducted by “The Lord’s Resistence Army,” rebels who turned children into murderous, depraved “soldiers”; and they now provide home and fine schooling for nearly three hundred children.
I look forward to relating to “Our Children” both tomorrow and over the weekend, mindful that the Kingdom of God will be populated, literally and figuratively, by children.
Hopefully,
Stan