To Lira and back again

What a weekend. Our group of home stays students (American) traveled to Lira on Friday. It was a 6-hour trip, but was very enjoyable. We road in a coaster and the giant windows could easily slide wide open making it easy for pictures, air circulation, and scoping the landscape. We crossed the Nile River along the way where we found Baboons along side the road! We are all over joyed to them. Any how, we arrive in the evening for our first experience. We stopped at a Sankofa Café (Sankofa - means looking behind, moving forward.) A younger American man who lives in Lira with his wife owns it. It also is stationed three stories up where we can walk out on a balcony, but evening more exciting was the fact they served a variety of American foods! I ordered a BBQ burger and a large coffee shake…I was very satisfied and enthused to hear about the mans story and experience living in Uganda. After spending hours there relaxing and enjoying one another’s company we made our way back to the hostel where we continued to get spoiled! I had my own room with a large bed fully equipped with a misquito net and a conjoined room for bathing and an American style toilet…not a squatty potty ☺ We sang some praise and worships songs and read scripture before bed. Morning came and we had a great breakfast and my shower had some warm water that made my usual bathing time extended. Next we went to Otino Waa School for orphans and the “less fortunate” which is joined by the owners in Path ministries as well. http://pathministries.net/ The ones who started it are American and the placed is been truly blessed that to put it all on paper would be impossible! They have a few hundred orphans after starting out with around 50. It has expanded into providing a home with mothers for them, education, vocational school to train them to get involved in the community and a large church! Check the place out one child costs 100 a month to take care of and they rely fully on the grace of God to provide. It was very amazing and touching. They also have some orphans who were previous LRA members and some who were orphaned as a result of the 20 year war. We ate lunch there and it was also fantastic. Coslaw, sesame seed salad, pizza, cookies, and sodas, then topped off with ice cream. We visited there other location briefly and saw where he and his wife reside. The home was extremely beautiful and also a gift from God as someone who believed in what they were doing provided the funds to build the home. The home would cost at least $300,000 , but only cost 68,000 to build here…that is not enough to pay for the materials back home. I am tempted to go work for 10-12 years in the states and purchase a second home..who knows. After that we visited a lady, retired policeman, who started a home for women who have been victims of abuse such. This also was very inspiring to hear about and encouraging seeing someone trying to help those in need. We concluded the evening at our hostel where we had two Peace Corps members come and talk with us about their experience. We had another amazing meal with them; candle lit, and under the star lit sky. It was really pretty. Everything was…the places we visited, their stories, the food, and Gods manifestations! We left after going to church in the morning only after shaking hands with about 100 Ugandans, which was a fraction of the amount that were there. All was a good experience…PS my arm got sun burnt at the window seat I had. Check out my pictures ya’ll!