Boda Boda fahren in Uganda (part 1)

So here begins the blog about Africa. It is hard to know where to start because there is so much to write. First and foremost, I fell in love with Uganda. After arriving in Berlin from Minnesota on Friday, I had two days to unpack and repack for Uganda. I left Sunday evening to Amsterdam, where I had a layover until the next day. Nothing like sleeping in a comfy chair all night. I was looking forward to watch the Germany soccer match, only to realize that I was in the Netherlands and they were playing at the same time. Therefore, I got to watch a small score in the upper corner and be entertained by the mice running around on the floor collecting food. Yummy. When I got on the plane the next day I was pumped because I got the seat with the all the leg room and I sat next to this really friendly Canadian rugby coach.

When we finally arrived, I had thought that Harry (an AIA colleague) would be picking me up so I just scanned the crowd for a group of white people or Harry. I didn’t have anyone from our teams’ number, so I just waited outside. Luckily my new friend, Daniel, was waiting with me for his ride as well. He went back in to check for his people and came back and said he saw a sign for Noah’s Ark Children’s Ministry. Good thing I happened to mention that to him, otherwise I would have been waiting there ALL NIGHT. They didn’t know what I looked like and I was looking for Harry.

Then came the ride from the airport to Mukono and let me tell you it was an experience. Dawn (she was our coordinator and was amazing the entire two weeks) said, “Feel free to take a nap.” since it was really late, but little did I know I would be bright eyed and bushy tailed fearing that I might not see my 25^th birthday. I have never experienced a place with so few traffic rules. It was crazy, it was like everything goes. Not to mention, we were driving in this big 15 passenger van and I thought we were going to lose our engine.  Cars pass each other all the time and they just flash their brights all the time. Seriously we had cars within 50 feet coming straight at us. I weirdly felt safe though. Along with all the vehicles on the road, there are tons of these motorcycle/dirt bikes that are called “Boda bodas”. More about those later.

A monkey outside our place

When we finally arrived at the children’s home, all the others were already sleeping. I couldn’t believe how nice the place we were staying at was. Our view was incredible and we had monkeys right outside our windows at time.

Our bedroom

Noah’s Ark Children Ministry Uganda is incredible and I was blown away with how self-sustaining it was. We went on a tour the first day and saw the entire facility. There are so many volunteers and Ugandan workers that make NACMU possible.  It consists of: 

*Farm with crops and a mango grove (they tasted AMAZING!)

*Animal farm with cows, chickens and pigs

*Nursery, primary, and secondary schools for the children in the home and some from the village

*A medical clinic available to the local community

*Church

*Home for the younger children

*Three home units for children 16 and older

*Housing for volunteers and many of the workers

*Warehouses to build all the furniture used at Noah’s Ark

*Library

Church, but they are in the process of building a new one

They have staff for each task, whether that is laundry staff, cooking staff, farmers, teachers, office staff, security, and medical staff. Noah’s Ark started out in one home with Peter and Peta (the founders from Holland) and fifty children and now houses 139 children and provides schooling to almost300, plus jobs for many people from the local community. Each and every child has a different story of how they ended up at NACMU and many times the police contact Peter and Peta to take in abandoned children that they have found (more specific stories to come later). This ministry is completely support based and has organizations in America, Germany and Holland that help support it.

Our days usually consisted of two different training sessions and then doing some work around Noah’s Ark in between. We also visited the children at school and ate dinner each night with them. Another opportunity we got was to visit the homes of the village kids. This is just a preface of NACMU and my next blog will be more about the details of our experiences and adventures. I am still waiting to get the pictures.

Our team minus Harry (5 Germans, 2 Americans)