"Have You Ever...?"

Sadie's post!


Monday, yes indeed it is Monday, the second day of the shortest month of 2009, can you believe it?
Well this week I have acquired some good experience to throw out when playing the ever awkward “Have you ever” game. ( for those of you fortunate enough to have missed out on this social embarrassment, it is a game in which you say things that you have done by asking the group “have you ever…” and then everyone who has done this has to stand up and frantically search for an empty chair, somewhat like musical chairs without the music.)
“Have you ever”… eaten dinner with a Hippo? Well, we did, or at least in close-ish proximity with a wild member of the hippopotami family. As we sat at the Café in the Queen Elizabeth National Park across a small open space separated by a gapped tree line we saw, on the bush-style air strip, Mr. Hippo grazing lightly on a salad of wheat grass and sage brush (these names are merely guesses; remnants of Sim Safari which I played many years ago).
“Have you ever”… seen the stars from the equator on a crystal clear night? Now coming from Alaska I have spent a number of nights gazing at them through till the sunrise, I’ve experienced some pretty spectacular moments of cosmic panorama, but this was different. The stars we so numerous that, it nearly made this crystal clear sky appear foggy, while in fact it was the stars themselves, being so many that they were overtaking the black void. The blanket we call night now appeared to be a thin veil allowing an overflow of light to be channeled through every perforation.
The very next night there were three lightning storms happening at the same time right around us, while we were in the middle of them without any such storming. To the east there was pink lightning, to the south it was blue, and to the west I was a crimson red and orange. It was a spectacle to which no fireworks could compare, hand in hand with Norah, a 14 year old from the orphanage we stared into the sky while navigating our way to the cabin and trying to steer clear of our friendly neighborhood warthog family.
“Have you ever”… smelled the sulfur of a salt crater lake in the plains of the eastern rift valley? As we embarked on our day of animal viewing the kids started to accuse one another of eating too many eggs for breakfast as they cracked the windows to air out the bus. But the smell only became more powerful and no less odious with them open. The Guide laughed and explained that the smell was issuing from, what looked like a God sized spoonful taken out of the chunky monkey ice cream we call the African plain, more technically a crater lake. Disappointed the boys retracted their statement of packing Brian Ogama in a suitcase if he couldn’t control his “gassing”.
Apparently this salt lake is a beacon to animals who are injured or sick, they migrate here, wallow in the mud for some time and come out all better. Isn’t our God amazing, He even takes care of the wildebeest’s booboos and battle wounds! Jehovah Raffa… Our God the Healer. If He takes such good care of them, should we not trust Him to give us what we need, even in our sickness and infirmities? ( Matt 6:25-34)
“Have you ever”… Had your camera die while taking a picture of a herd of elephants? Yes, it should have been more charged. No, I could not have changed the batteries because it is rechargeable and there is only one. No, I did not cry. Yes, I did resist the urge to through it out the window in frustration and tell it to find its own way back to camp (Silly Elphs, always doing their own thing). I did get one good shot of Madame Elephante’ she was massive, but not the biggest of the day. The elephants were quite magnificent. We saw a new born learning how to walk, the entire herd stood guard on every side while this youngster took its first steps. (Notice I say ‘youngster’ not ‘little one’, these guys come out weighing up to around 180 pounds! This is more understandable when you realize they are in the oven for 22 months!)
Now I’m going to pause the game for a minute (give you world travelers a break from trying to find a new seat). The day I left for GSF in preparation for an early departure in the morning for Queen Eliz., was also the last day of the reading club at GSF. For celebration we had a party for the kids and took them to lunch and swimming. Then we came back to GSF and had a soccer (foot ball) game. There was a group of people from Canada visiting that formed the opposing team on the field. I cannot express what an honor it was to have all of the kids say that “Auntie Sadie” was going to play on the Uganda team. We lined up, facing our opponents, and each team sang their national anthem. I had never heard either, It was strange(in a good way) hearing the Canadian one and even stranger when my team sang theirs and I began to place my right hand over my heart, then stopped short. I had no idea of tune or words… I couldn’t even fake it! (And of course there had to be a video camera going). It was a great game we won 3 to 1. Yay! Go Uganda!
After the game I received word that Megan was ill and shivering (mind you it is around 90 degrees outside!). Praise God she is better and back at her amazingness. Though it was a huge burden to be away from my dear friend and housemate, in here time of tumultuous malady. It gives comfort knowing that we may be absent in body but present in spirit though prayer. After a relatively swift recovery on Meg’s part we had to go to Kampala to get our visa paper work turned in. So we went with a Ugandan lady, who works with global outreach, on a taxi. She was amazing with negotiating prices; she worked hard to get the “muzungu skin color” taxes down to a local’s price. We rode in the larger taxi called a Costa for most of the trip, switching to a Matato, smaller van size, taxi for a short distance to the taxi park. Ahh… the taxi park; picture Rubix Cube without the organization, with vendors running in between the ‘boxes’ and people trying to do their own thing. One moment you think you will never get out and then somehow you fit through a spot the size of card board box, at points you feel like you have stepped into Alice in wonderland, Ugandan style.
“Have you ever”… contemplated escape routes and extrication methods while riding in the back of a crowded taxi? As we turned down a side road on our own way to the taxi park in a Matato, the barley wide enough for a two lane road suddenly became a muddled four to five lane road. Taxis squeezed into every space, whether available or not. (This was the closest to claustrophobia I had felt since being trapped in a culvert with walls of snow on both sides when I was a wee lass). At some point, I’m not sure if it was the concocting smells of body odor, exhaust fumes, and the consuming heat inside the cramped taxi, whatever it was sent my mind into a mode telling me to prepare for the worst. With the taxis being so close together if a quick exit were necessary the only route of escape would have been through one side window and into the neighboring taxi’s window and again until a semi open space could be reached. Then extraction of the other stranded passengers would be a tricky endeavor, especially in light of the not so accessible positioning of the vehicle by emergency personnel. But thanks be to God that is not a common occurrence and this little, busy mind, did not have to carry out any such musings. Though at the time it filled the space in my brain that would otherwise have been figuring out how to purchase and distribute deodorant to all of the passengers on board, whilst yet being confined to the very same air as they. Needless to say, planning escape routes was a welcome diversion.

“Have you ever”… witnessed the looting of a petrol truck while it lay precariously on one side after rolling into that position? As we drove by, at first I was glad to see so many out to help in the cleanup of the toxic substance that had spilled out of the tanker, emptying its contents into the surrounding Mavera rainforest. Then later I was told that the people were not so much aiding as pilfering and making off with the valuable substance. We passed it on the way to Kampala, with a crowd surrounding it, and then we passed it several hours later on the way back, the truck still in the same position. No effort had been made to right the truck or block it off and protect anyone or thing from combustion, but the petrol had rapidly been disappearing. I feel for that driver... I certainly hope he was being diligent while he was driving and that the missing petrol didn’t have to come out of his pay.
Any who, I’m sure you’ve gotten a clue as to how the game works now and you are eager to go and show it to all of your friends, or worst enemies depending on how you enjoyed it. So I will not inhibit you any longer from doing so.
Go and make many memories for future “have you ever” moments. In doing so, I pray that you will be struck by the greatness of God’s creation and moved by the power of His love. He is truly, yet beyond, immense… everything that I have seen and experienced this week has been a vivid representation, but only partial, of that, from the lighting storms, to the caring, familial elephants, and the healing crater lakes. His thoughts go so far beyond our thoughts that our solar system could not contain them all.
All my love to you my dear friends, family and blog wanderers,
Weraba! (Good- bye, in Luganda)
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and make you stand blameless in the presence of His glory, the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be the glory, majesty, dominion and authority, from before time and forever!” Jude 24-25
P.S To all of you linguistically and grammatically oriented people I am deeply sorry and am working on my grammar, not enough obviously. If in reading this you have experienced the equivalent of nails on a chalk board, I will not blame you for sending me back an edited version or just ceasing to read my blogs all together. No hard feelings… on my side at least.
P.P.S The ideas and view shared in this blog portray only a portion of all that is being observed and experienced. Please do not make assumptions or draw conclusions about the people or the culture based solely on these, somewhat satirical, account s which I have given. The people and culture of Uganda is a deep and beautiful culture full of tradition and also bursting with new ideas for growth and future expansions. On the same note, there are more thoughts and happenings than can be expressed in one blog, well even many blogs for that matter. Please enjoy this for what it is, a Snip-It, glance into the mind and experiences of yours truly. Thank you for all of you love, support and prayers. They mean more than you know.
Sadie