Moving On

Entry from Jack's journal
Entry from Eileen's journal follows
Saturday, January 16

We traveled up to Murchison Falls National Park on Saturday and I didn't keep journal notes on this part of the trip. So, I'll contribute a few pictures and videos to supplement Eileen's journaling of the safari experience.

On the road, north of Kampala

Leisurely lunch at Masindi

At the park entrance, north of Masindi

Colorful Kingfisher


Murchison Falls

Entry from Eileen's journal
Saturday, January 16
Burdens
Day 9, January 16, 2010, eastern Uganda
How many ways are there to carry burdens?
We see women and girls with babies tied on their backs,
45-pound water jugs balanced on heads,
banana bunches on shoulders,
long canes of sugar loaded on bicycles,
arms high in the air holding kebabs of roasted goat for sale,
Genevieve serving bowls of rice, matoke, and groundnut sauce,
motorcycles hauling body-sized bags of charcoal, furniture, or a pig.

What about other burdens?
Hauling the water jugs long distances every day.
Food preparation that encompasses the entire day: digging your potatoes,
steaming mashed banana,
boiling rice after shaking and sifting away the red dust,
roasting groundnuts,
rolling out chapatti,
boiling drinking water,
picking fruit,
gathering eggs,
washing the dishes.
What about doing all your laundry by hand?
Walking everywhere?

And there are other burdens–
children with no mothers and fathers due to HIV/AIDS,
malaria,
wounds but no doctors,
bad teeth,
children you can’t feed,
schools with no supplies,
drought,
famine,
prisoners with no beds,
no soap,
no salt,
no jobs,
no money,
corruption,
violence,
discouragement,
sin.
Are these burdens to these people?

I don’t know.
If they are, I think of Jesus’ words in Matthew 11, 28, 30: “Come all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Also, Paul’s admonition in Galatians 6:2, “Carry each others burdens and you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Samuel will stay to take Milca to the lab and run other errands while the rest of us go to Murchison Falls and on a safari in Murchison National Park. Our vehicle breaks down in about three miles. Ismael, our driver, calls for help. We wait several hours. Eventually we make it to the magnificent falls. The five of us have rented, via Samuel, a cabana the next two nights. Two ugly warthogs sleep side by side outside the Red Chili Resort restaurant. “On the savannah, the vast savannah, the warthogs sleep tonight . . . !” There are two tiny, half-inch frogs in the shower.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder