Time can be subjective

Today was our longest trip; we visited the EPC church in Kassanda. This day started out like any other but soon, that would change. We headed into central Kampala from our hotel and turned left. I don’t know any other way to describe it. There are no street signs, very few traffic signs and three traffic signals in the whole city. This was definitely not modeled after the Romans grid system. After driving for about 15 minutes away from the Kampala the paved road ended and the worst road ever created in human history started. For the next two hours it was as if someone had mounted four jackhammers in place of our wheels and pointed us into a dust storm. The red dirt (especially on the return) was so prevalent we made mud pies in the showers. Anyway we drove for nearly two hours on the worst road in the world and then; we turned off the major highway onto a side road.

Eventually we found our way to the little village we were searching for and arrived at the church. Once there we were quickly dragged inside by the pastor. The whole building was packed with children. She quickly told us they had some musical numbers for us in store. We let her know that we were looking forward to the music but we were limited on our time. The choir quickly got on stage and began rejoicing as only Africans can, singing and dancing and smiling and truly worshiping, the songs were simple and on the same beat but they were a lot of fun. After twenty minutes of praise the pastor got up and said that we could not stay very long and that they would like us to hear one song from the Sunday school kids. These kids took the next six minutes singing their way onto the stage and then setup for their song. Once again the song was great, we clapped along with the rest of the crowd and after about 10 minutes they finished and we all clapped and cheered as they left the stage. The pastor again came on stage as we prepared to go up and begin handing out shoes. She said that the choir would now “present for our visitors two numbers.” As we settled back into our chairs the choir began singing their way up to the stage, after 10 minutes they were ready for their two numbers. The choir was great, we all clapped and at least swayed a little bit for the next twenty-five…. two songs. Eventually the second song ended and the choir left the stage, singing….and dancing….two steps forward one back and as the last member made it to the floor the pastor once again took the mic and introduced PD. He quickly jumped up on stage, introduced the rest of us and the shoe giving began.

This time was more confused that the others but the results were the same; we gave many shoes to many wonderful children, and still had more children that needed them. On the way out we waved and shook hands with many children. Then the road beckoned and the finish to our red coating of dust was begun. Our ride, while very dirty was uneventful, (we did get pulled over by he police on the way out, did I forget that part?) and we made our appointment back in town due to some very creative navigating by our driver Robert. Pictures from our day are included above.