Emhoff Family Adventures: August 2021

Uganda Week 1: Orphanage

Sunday, July 25- Monday, July 26:

One of the many bags containing egg incubators and other supplies for the orphanage.

Our long day started around 6am as we finalized our packing and loaded the car. We left our house at 8am. We arrived at SeaTac airport around 10:30am. Our first flight took off at 1:30pm and was a non-stop to Amsterdam. Overall the flight was smooth and uneventful. Most of the kids stayed up and watched movies. After around a 9-hour flight we arrived in Amsterdam. We walked around the airport to kill some time during our layover. The kids were starving, so we bought some sandwiches to hold them over (we did have two meals on the flight over). We boarded our second flight and took off around 11:30am, heading to Kigali, Rwanda. A lot of us slept, or at least tried to, on this flight. Our flight path took us over the Alps, the Mediterranean, and Egypt.

Waiting in Seattle

Flying into Amsterdam

Flying over Egypt and the Mediterranean

Siena trying to get some sleep

We landed in Kigali after an 8-hour flight. Some people got off in Rwanda while others boarded. Through-passengers weren't allowed to get off of the plane, so we sat there for a good hour or so (a little bit longer since there was a guy that was asleep while they cleaned the plane and forgot to get off of the plane). The crew had to move the staircase back to the plane so he could disembark. Our 3rd flight was the shortest at 45 minutes. We landed at the airport in Entebbe, Uganda at 10:30pm. It took a while to turn in our health screening forms, take our temperature, check our yellow fever vaccine cards, and then get our visas. After we picked up our checked bags and went through customs, the final checkpoint was for COVID. Since I am vaccinated and Elise is too young to get it, we were cleared to enter. Becky and the other three kids had to go get tested at an off-site facility and wait for the results, which could take 3-4 hours. By this time it was already 11:30pm. Our driver took Elise and I to our Airbnb house, while the others took a bus to the testing site. It was a little nerve-racking since we had no way to communicate with each other or our driver. The driver said he would go and wait for Becky and the kids at the testing site and we had to trust him that he would actually do that. I was expecting them to get back around 4am, but they actually arrived at our place a little before 2am. Overall, we had been up and moving for around 34 hours!

We finally made it to Uganda (with all of our bags)!

Waiting at the COVID test site at 1am

Our Airbnb in Entebbe

Tuesday, July 27:

Even though we were exhausted, no one could really sleep, so we were up by 7am. After everyone showered, we went out for a walk to go find a place to eat. Fortunately, there was a restaurant only about 4 minutes away. We had a big breakfast out on the deck overlooking Lake Victoria. The weather was very pleasant, with a breeze coming off of the lake. We then noticed that the COVID testing site where Becky went last night was literally right down the hill from the restaurant. After breakfast we walked back to our Airbnb and our driver, Peter, was there waiting for us. We loaded all our gear into his van and were off. Before we drove out to the Hands for an African Child orphanage, we stopped to pick up some grocery items for Becky's parents. It took about two hours to get from Entebbe out to the orphanage, which is located outside of the town of Bukomero.

Breakfast overlooking Lake Victoria

Driving out to the orphanage

Police checkpoint

Along the way we by-passed Kampala. Due to the COVID lockdown, traffic was lighter than usual, so the drive was quicker than usual. We finally arrived at the orphanage and were greeted by Becky's parents. They then took us on a tour of the site. We were amazed at how much was going on. The houses were in different stages of completion. There are around 50 people working out here. The rest of the day we unpacked and took naps, since the time change was catching up to us. In the evening we ate dinner outside.

Pouring a concrete slab for one of the houses

The barn at the orphanage

One of the houses going up

First finished house

Candelabra tree with houses in the background

Wednesday, July 28:

Checking out the chicken house with Benard

After breakfast we met Benard, who is the chicken person for the orphanage. He took us on a tour of the chicken house and showed us some of the chickens. Currently he has around 220 hens and 28 roosters. He was so excited that we made it here safely with the three new incubators for him. We then went back and unpacked all of our large suitcases, which contained all the things we brought over for Becky's parents. Fortunately, everything was still there and intact.

Chicken house

During the day the boys worked on taking some metal locking bars off of the shipping containers and the girls fed the goats and played with the neighbor kids. The two neighbor kids come around every day and sell bananas and mangos. Today they came by and had some lunch with us, then they helped make banana nut muffins for the workers. I walked around with Terry and looked at some of the projects. We had a great dinner outside underneath a tall tree.

Feeding the goats

Taking off locking bars

Dining pavilion

Cob house for drying corn

Trying to keep up with Terry and all of the projects

Laying bricks

Mixing concrete

Pouring another concrete slab

Starting the walls on another house

Lunch with the neighbor kids

Making banana nut muffins

Dinner under the tree (tank house in background)

Thursday, July 29:

Setting up the incubators

Becky worked most of the morning with Benard to get the three incubators up and running. It took a little bit of rigging, but they got all of them running. The boys worked on and off with the shipping containers, while the girls fed the goats again. Some of the young men working here have determined that their ticket to America is to marry our daughters. Most of them are very shy and don't speak a lot of English. I helped the boys and sat and talked with Benard. After lunch the neighbor kids came back and hung out with the kids.

Plugged in and working

Working and talking with Benard

Neighbor kids bringing fruit

Watching the water truck fill the tanks

In the afternoon Terry showed us around more of the property and where the schools and community will be located. We then walked with the neighbor kids to their house in the nearby village. We met their mom and the rest of their siblings and their grandmother. They fed us pineapple and mangos from their garden. We sat there for a while and the mom told us she was still cooking. We didn't know if she meant for us or just for them. She eventually brought out a huge meal for all of us. The main meal was sweet potatoes and mashed plantains. Everyone had a bowl of sauce that contained ground peanuts, tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions. You mixed in the sweet potatoes and plantains into the sauce and ate it. It was actually very tasty. By this time it was getting very overcast, so we told them goodbye and they walked with us down the road. The mom gave us some mangos and a bag of peanuts. The neighbor kids are going to come over tomorrow and show us how to cook the peanuts.

Son of one of the workers

Local kids getting water from the pump

Holding the neighbor kids' new baby sister

Visiting the neighbor kids' home

Dinner with the neighbors

Walking back to the orphanage

Neighbor kids

Friday, July 30:

Flowers around the orphanage

After breakfast we went with Terry and Jennifer for a short hike around one end of the property. Most of the time we were bushwhacking through the brush. Some of the plants have large thorns and stick to your clothes. There are some unique rock formations on the top of two of the hills.

Hike around the orphanage property

One of the many sharp bushes

Cool rock formations

In the afternoon Terry, Jacob, and I took the truck and drove into the town of Bukomero for some plumbing parts. We had to keep reminding Terry to "think left". After we got the parts we stopped at a street vendor and got some chapati, which is a concoction of beans and pieces of flatbread mixed together. It was very tasty. The rest of the afternoon I helped Terry put together the pump and pressure tank system that we brought with us.

Planting seeds

Putting together the pressure tank system

Making lunch

Saturday, July 31:

Building a chicken roost with scrap wood

Yesterday while we were helping Benard with the chickens, we noticed that many of the chickens were trying to squeeze onto one roost at night and many were trying to roost on the nesting boxes. We asked Benard if we could have the kids make another roost and he agreed. So this morning Becky and I helped the kids make a roost-like contraption out of scrap wood. It ended up being pretty sturdy. Shortly after we installed it in the chicken coop, some of the hens started testing it out.

Later in the day I helped Gerald and Nelson, two of the workers, hook up the pump and pressure tank system to the large tank under the tank house. They are very friendly and were very curious as to how the pressure tank system works.

Chickens using the new roost

Climbing the water tower

The barn (made with shipping containers)

Locals boys at the water pump

Jennifer with the mango lady

The mango lady

Helping Nelson and Gerald install the pressure tank and pump to the tank house

Unfortunately, with the power supply here being very inconsistent, Becky and Benard could not keep the incubators at a consistent temperature. The incubators need to be kept around 99 degrees and with the power going on and off the temperature kept fluctuating. They tried hooking them up to a generator, but figured that would be too expensive and would require someone to always be monitoring the hen house to see if the power is out. Becky looked at the cost of hooking up a solar panel and battery system, but that too would be quite expensive. So in the meantime, they will need to wait until the power is more consistent.

In the evening the workers had movie night. They brought out a projector with a DVD player and speaker and showed "Godzilla vs. Kong" out under the eating pavilion, plus two other movies. The kids went out and watched with some of the workers. I think they went to bed around 1:30am.

Outdoor movie night

Sunday, August 1:

Church under the tree

Since there are a number of the workers that are members of our church, we had a short church service this morning outside under the big tree. There were a little over 20 people that attended. It was a very simple, yet spiritual meeting. The weather was beautiful outside, with a slight breeze blowing in the air. After our church service, everyone took a moment to introduce themselves. Everyone is very friendly and genuinely want to know more about you. It was neat to hear everyone’s life stories.

Meeting everyone after church

Since we ate dinner at the neighbor kids’ house the other day, we decided to invite them over for lunch today. Jennifer made a chicken and rice soup and brownies for dessert. Everyone sat around and talked for a while, then we took them on a tour of the orphanage. Benard joined us and helped translate for the grandmother.

Later in the day Becky and a few of the kids went for a hike with some kids up to the big rock piles on the hillside. After dinner the workers had another movie night, and of course the kids went over to watch with the workers.