“Mzungu” Bye-Bye!

I spent the last two weeks soaking in my time here and in the Nile River. The final day  at St. Ursula’s was filled with so much joy–a choir sang us farewell, we cut and shared a cake with everyone, and we exchanged gifts. It was also St. Anne’s feast day, and people sang “happy feast day” three times to me there. There were many hugs and St. Ursula’s sure will be missed. The way the kids run up to greet you and take you by the hand to the swings to be pushed, the smiles painted on their faces when they play with those colorful parachutes that remind me of vacation bible school, the love and intentionality they put into each shoe, bag, rosary, and tablecloth they make–this place is so special. I could’ve never imagined the plans God had in store for me the first time I took the twenty minute walk to St. Ursula’s, and I feel so blessed to have been able to witness a community so filled with love and joy.

We also spent the last days bonding with those around us at Flood House. We introduced Br. Nina to music legends like Coldplay (his favorite), Queen, Elton John, etc., and we showed Fr. Henry how to do the Celtic Chant cheer that we do at Notre Dame football games. He would make a great priest-in-residence at ND. 

At Holy Cross Lake View, we cheered on the students at a cross country race. After giving our closing speeches at the end of school Mass on Wednesday at Lake View, we taught the school how to do the Cotton Eyed Joe because they love to dance and hear about our proms. The last English class Celia and I taught was filled with hangman, heads up seven up, raffles, and more dancing. The students enjoyed that class since they hadn’t heard of those games before, and there was a field trip going on that made it hard to teach material anyway. Celia and I ran up part of the massive hill that runs from the school to our house to conclude our two months in Jinja.

We also went over to a seminarian’s house for dinner one night, which was cool because we hadn’t really been in a  Ugandan house up to this point. We met him in Fort Portal, and it was interesting seeing the family dynamic. Between that dinner, many cups of coffee, and many laxatives, I finally relieved myself of nine days of constipation. Everyone warned me of traveler’s diarrhea, but I will be sure to warn future program participants to consider an alternative possibility. Luckily, we all managed to escape getting ill while being here, which we are all very thankful for.

We also had the chance to soak in the Nile River and be in de-Nile more! We first went to Itanda Falls where we heard the powerful rushing of the water at the rapids. There were also pretty big spiders, but I kept my cool. Luckily, they weren’t hairy. We also went to Busowoko Falls where we got in tubes for a “tube massage” and laid against some rapids before riding down them and going for a swim. It was all so fun and beautiful, especially at sunset, and I would say it was probably the coolest thing we’ve done in Jinja and maybe in all of Uganda. 

The way home was very, very long. After four hours of driving (there was lots of traffic), we stopped in Kampala on the way to say some final farewells to some priests and brothers before heading to the Imperial Hotel on Lake Victoria where Avery’s dad, who came to visit for a few days having spent the summer in the neighboring country of Tanzania where he is from, stayed for a night or two after we left. We enjoyed a final dinner with a view of Lake Victoria before heading for our two flights that were both nearly nine hours, the first to Brussels and then to O’Hare (the latter of which had great on-flight food–wow did I miss ravioli!). I had an eight hour layover in O’Hare due to flight delays and ended up arriving in SDF around 11:45pm. Seeing my parents and grandparents past security wiped away my 46 hours of exhaustion, and it is such a relief to be home. 

And that’s the end. This mzungu (“white person” - the children lovingly call us this from the side of the road but not in a racist way) has left Uganda, but the memories made in the Pearl of Africa will never leave my heart. Though I’m back in my old Kentucky home, I can’t possibly think of a way to conclude this blog that would do justice to the two months I spent on the equator, but I want to at least say thank you to all of you who followed along with my journeys on this blog. Your constant love and support has been so appreciated these past two months. Webale!