Day 2:

Saturday was an interesting day; well every day in Africa is an interesting day. Anyway, I was supposed to be picked up at 9:00 am to finally get my phone working. Being without a phone in Africa can be a little terrifying. On Friday trying to find a bus and traveling by bodaboda, I got separated from my keeper (Alexa). My boda driver lost her and her driver in the traffic. My driver was supposed to know where we needed to go and hers didn’t. I’m on the other side of Kampala from where we started, which was on another side of Kampala from my hotel, and I have NO idea how to get to my hotel other than to point in the general direction, which I didn’t even know what direction that would be and no phone. With a phone, I could have called somebody and gotten them to tell the bodaboda driver where to take me. Now it’s getting late, about to be dark, and I’m totally at the mercy of this bodaboda driver who has already lost my keeper. Now a keeper is an African assigned to you to keep you from doing STUPID THINGS…LIKE GETTING LOST!

We got to where I was supposed to go but no Alexa. After waiting a couple of minutes, my driver asks ME if I think they are lost. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! Now I’m thinking, “What’s the penalty for killing a bodaboda driver?” As each minute goes by, my terror goes up and my worry about the penalty for killing this bodaboda driver goes down; I’m getting close to zero on that worry. I’m thinking, “If he asks me to pay him, HE’S IN FOR THE SURPRISE OF HIS NOW SHORT LIFE.” It’s now over 10 minutes later and still no Alexa. I tell the Lord that I’m in Christ and that Christ is in me and that the way I see this situation is that right now HE’S GOTTEN HIMSELF IN A BAD SITUATION.

Now of course Alexa and her bodaboda show up. All I can say to the Lord is, “Awe man, really, again?” Now I start feeling sorry for my boda driver. Alexa is hopping up and down mad. I start wondering, “What’s the penalty for a young Africa women killing a bodaboda driver? The way Alexa was carrying on they must get a reward. A little back story, Alexa had been put in charge of helping me and taken care of me. It was a great honor for her, usually that is something that a man would do. If she lost me, it would have been very shameful for her and her family.  She might even lose her job. So she was scared and mad.  Let me tell you that a scared, mad African women is sight to behold!

Ok back to the phone and my Saturday. They were supposed to pick me up at 9:00 am so at 11:00 am they show up and off we go.  To get a SIM card in Uganda, you have to show some form of ID, in my case my passport, so you have to go to a MTN store.  We stop and go through all the hoops.  Medad’s son is acting like we need to get going, so he says that we will get time on my phone at Medad’s house.

Well, getting minutes for my phone sure didn’t happen. I was told the night before that they would be taking me to Rev Medad’s house for the presentation, which is a formal, public meeting of the parents and all the family members of the couple that’s getting married; it’s just kind of like a pre-marriage reception.  When we get to Medad’s house just in time for food, I know why he was in a hurry. I then find out that, not only is this going to be a presentation but, after all the meeting and greetings, we will be going to a church in Kampala for the wedding. Oh, this is going to be a long day!

There’s over 100 people that has to be transported from Medad’s house to the church. I never have any idea how far something is in Kampala, but it takes us 45 min with traffic to get to the church. They put me on a small bus that seats 26 with around 100 Africans, just kidding, around 35 to 40, then off we go. As I said, Africa is always interesting.

On my way home we finally stopped to put some shillings on my phone, so now I’m good to go.  So that was my day of trying to get my phone squared away.  Next time I have to wait 15-20 minutes at the phone store for them to straighten something out I will be glad it went so quickly.  Oh, what a difference a change of perspective makes.

And now the rest of the story: At the presentation and wedding, I made a new friend, Abigail.  I have to say it was my favorite part. 🙂

So I only wanted a working phone but… I got a working phone AND a new friend. Doesn’t get much better.