uganda at last

Hello from Kampala! We arrived in Entebbe last night after quite the adventure...

In Phoenix, our flight was delayed long enough that we would miss our first connection. Our coordinator, Theresa, rescheduled us to an earlier flight so we could still catch our first connection in Atlanta. This meant leaving earlier than we expected, so we threw our bags in the vans and sprinted to the airport with a little over an hour to board. Of course when we got to the ticket counter there was a mix-up with checking our bags and all the tags had to be handwritten, which meant they were twice as likely to get lost. After checking our bags, we ran to security only to find out that since our group had booked at the last minute, we had ALL been selected for advanced security screening. We were each patted down, x-rayed, and our bags were swiped for particles and thoroughly rifled through. One of our members, Ro, managed to get through first and sprinted ahead to hold the plane. By the time the rest of use emerged through security we had missed our flight and soon realized poor Ro was on her way to Atlanta without a clue as to where the rest of us were.

After a few hours of waiting around in Phoenix, and one of our cars getting hit in the airport, we caught the next flight to Atlanta. We ran off the plane and had to go out of security to get our boarding tickets to to D.C. Tickets in hand we re-entered security and, of course, were all selected for advanced screening yet again. Fortunately we all made it to D.C. and met up with our lost team member, Ro. As the plane began boarding our leader, Julia, was informed that her ticket had been voided with no explanation. The rest of us boarded, thinking we'd have to make our way to Addis Abba, Ethiopia alone. Fortunately, Julia appeared on board shortly after. Our plane flew 15 hours from D.C. to Rome, to Ethiopia, where we re-boarded and flew 2 hours to Entebbe, Uganda. We arrived exhausted and disoriented. We waited at baggage claim not expecting any of our luggage to arrive, but amazingly, it all did. We were the first Go ED trip to have all of the luggage arrive on time.

All in all we are in Uganda safe and sound and I think the adventure turned out to be a bonding experience for all of us. I could not ask for a better group to be a part of. Being back in Uganda feels wonderful (I was in Uganda for 2 months last summer). Stepping off the plane the familiar sweet tangy smell of the air flooded my nostrils in a welcome, driving from the airport I could pick out familiar sights from my last trip, and the distinct Ugandan accent is all around.

Right now, I'm sitting in our lounge, over looking the backyard with the sound of monkeys and birds chattering in the background. Time for breakfast!

Much Love,
Elizabeth