Friday, September 12:  Well – we arrived after a long, uneventful (in a good way) journey.   Eight of us left Memorial Presbyterian Church in Midland at 1:00 pm on Wednesday and Jan Babcock drove the Vieles where we met at the Detroit airport.  We all arrived at our hotel in Kampala, Uganda at 1:00 a.m. on Friday (6:00 pm Thursday USA time).   After a quick night’s sleep we were up having breakfast at 8:00 a.m. – a meat turnover, eggs, toast, juice and coffee.   Our hosts at the hotel are wonderful and the food is very delicious.  After breakfast five of us headed to the local market to shop for locally made wares and five of us headed for shopping at the “western” market to complete our purchases for Michelle’s eight-month stay in the village, some banking and lunch.  We all met back at the hotel for a little rest, then off to Steven Bandutsya’s home for dinner.  Steven is a local Rotarian who is familiar with ACT and has been very supportive with the development of ACT in Uganda.  We will be working with him in the future on a program for exchange students.   Another highlight was Toni Stanfield, one of our team members, meeting Rauben.  Toni has sponsored him as an orphan through Christian Children’s Fund for the last two years and he has just completed his first two years at a vocational school in Kampala.  It was a great day full of interesting sights, sounds and meeting many friendly and welcoming individuals.

Saturday, September 13, 2014  Saturday’s travel from Kampala to Kabale turned out to be a bit more interesting than our travels from Michigan to Kampala.  We woke, had a good breakfast and packed up the two vans.  All of this went very well and we were on the road on time!   However, 1.5 hours into the trip, one of the vans had some issues with one of the wheels.  Thanks to some helpful villagers and the expertise of our two van drivers, it was fixed and we were on the road in about an hour.  During that hour we made friends with some of the children of the village and tried to handle the heat and sun.   A highlight of the trip was the stop at the equator … that’s something you can’t do everyday!   Back on the road again, and believe it or not, about two hours later the same van blew the alternator belt.  Once again, because of the expertise of our two van drivers, the belt from the air conditioner was removed and replaced the alternator belt.  Once again, we made friends with more village children while the van work was being done alongside the road and we once again survived the sun and heat.  Those in the van then rode in a very hot van, with only the breeze keeping them cool.   But, the story ends on a happy note … we made it to our hotel in Kabale before dark to a wonderful dinner and nice rooms.   We’re tired now and getting ready for bed.  Tomorrow is another day and we will be splitting up and heading off to five different churches in Muko subcounty.  Those who’ve been here before and looking forward to seeing old friends, and those who are here for the first time are looking forward to meeting new friends!