I sit in a van bumping along. It jerks and veers and my very bones rattle. The dirt road is not flat or straight. It has a giant hump all along the center and we sit tilted. Children yell “Mzungu! Mzungu!” They love the short term missionaries. I smile and wave, knowing the routine. This is my third time in Uganda.
An older couple next to me point at a baby running behind their 5 year old sibling. A college girl takes their picture and someone says how it’s crazy that this toddler knows exactly where they’re going and doesn’t need a parent. I jump a bit in my seat, biting my lip while smiling ear-to-ear, my foot tapping in anticipation. Bumba, our leader, looks back at me and laughs. I look over at Teacher Laura, our other leader and resident American, and she smiles at me. “Are you excited?” She asks me. I nod.
I look back out at the chocolate colored children, yelling greetings in high pitched voices, running through billows of dust, and I think “Next to Piper, this is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.” Their clothes are ripped and too big and stained red with dust, but to me, they might as well have been wearing Gucci.
We drive past mud huts and stores with the same three logos of the companies that painted them and a church that’s currently being expanded. A boy with his goat stands and waves and a herdsman drives cows down the street. Others think it’s crazy while I think it’s perfect. We drive through a large gate into a compound, driving through a mud puddle, past a big tree to the guest house. All of our suitcases our packed in the back of the van.
I look and I see my usual crowd. There’s Paul, Fevera and Felix, Caleb, Joshua, Wanaynay, Annet, Elvis, and all the kids who I can recognize but their names I didn’t quite catch. I see the boy who I’ll teach to play Tic-Tac-Toe and who is really smart, and the boy who says “Wee-woo” in an addictive way with a contagious smile, and the little girl who climbs all over me but doesn’t speak English- well, several little people who don’t speak English. All of them I’ve come to know as friends. All of them know me as their friend.
This is home. Uganda is home. Kamonkoli is home. Hines Ugandan Ministries is home. Genesis Nursery and Primary School is home. I’ve learned so much here. I’ve taught so much here. Part of my heart I’ve left behind. I just can’t wait to reunite it with the other half.
Commentaires