Day 17 - Goodbye Uganda

Greetings fervent readers,
 
The team awoke with mixed spirits; excitement, sadness and happiness to name a few.  Today marked our final full day in Uganda.  Joel led the team in this morning devotions, centring on John 18.  Once devos were completed, the wonderful Juliet provided breakfast for the last time, rolexes and chapattis (the end of an era really).  The morning was then spent packing – for some this was a gargantuan task, for others it was more manageable (I’ll admit the boys room did look like a bomb had hit prior to packing).  

After a lunch of samosa-like vegie pouches (yet another excellent meal) we headed to the Village of Hope for a final time.  On the agenda was a farewell party.  The event was kind of like the closing scenes of those movies where all the characters come together for a time of happiness and reflection.  We saw so many familiar faces; from Emma and the building team to Edith from the Home of Hope and Luke from YSU and of course the wonderful children and mammas from the Village.  The festivities included a traditional dance (the “Dance of the Land”) performed by the older girls.  We then returned the honour by performing, and teaching, a traditional Australian dance of our own, it’s called the “Nut Bush” (hopefully you’ve heard of it).
 
Then an African dance party broke out!  Everyone was up and moving from entirety of the board of Hope Builders to the youngest of the children from the Village.  The happy dancing was infectious and even I danced a little (I’m by no stretch of the imagination a dancer). 
 
The mood lowered, as it inevitably would, when the time to leave drew near.  Many tears were shed, many hugs were had and many farewells were said.  The hope on many of our minds was that it isn’t a “goodbye” just a “see ya later”.  We had one final prayer and returned to Suubi for dinner.
A dinner of spaghetti was waiting for us, it acted as a nice book end for our time in Uganda, it was both our first and last meal here.  We said our final goodbyes to the wonderful Juliet, Peace, Elizabeth and Jenny, then retired for an early night in preparation for our early departure for the next leg of our journey: Kenya.
 
- Aidan Del Socorro