(I posted this a few hours after writing it)
We’re in Uganda!
We spent Monday and Tuesday trying to sort out my luggage, I
only had a 23kg allowance for my suitcase, and the first time we weighed it it
was 31kg! We had to take out lots of toiletries and my pillow (Mum I’ve changed
my mind please can you post it out to me!) and do lots of re-arranging but we
were finally sorted!
Mum, Dad and George took me to Heathrow on Tuesday to meet
up with my team at 5pm. After checking in our luggage we stopped off for a café
nero before saying goodbye! (Although I ended up having to say two goodbyes,
because my hand luggage was too big and we needed to cull some stuff from it!)
In security, Anna got her marmite confiscated L but apart from that we
were all good! Our plane was due to leave at 9pm but due to some delays we didn’t
take off until about half past/quarter to ten. The flight lasted about 8 hours,
and much as we tried, we didn’t get much sleep! I managed to watch Monsters
University and some friends episodes which is a bonus. We landed at about
7:30am local time (5:30am UK time) and despite our lack of sleep we were all
very excited to finally be in Uganda!
Much to our bemusement, as we walked into Entebbe airport we
spotted Oritise from JLS! (note for my grandparents: JLS are a boyband who came
2nd on the X Factor a few years back) Sarah was the only one brave
enough to go up to him and ask for a photo, but me and Anna sneaked into it
too! Visit London on a regular basis: see no celebs… come to Uganda: spot one
as soon as you enter the airport!
After chasing our luggage round baggage reclaim, we set off
with our trolleys to find Alex and the other Smile volunteers who had come to
pick us up. The journey to the Smile Centre took just over an hour and it gave
us the chance to experience Ugandan traffic first hand(!). About 50 minutes
into the journey, Brian, who was driving Susie, Jon and I, received a phone
call with the news that his wife had just given birth! Congratulations to the
both of you on your new arrival!
We’re all currently resting before it’s time for lunch (although
it feels like it should be bedtime soon!). The five of us girls are in a room
together and Jon is next door. Malaria nets are up, there are suitcases all
over the floor and our tummies are rumbling; but we’re just so relieved and
excited to be here and start our adventure! I’ve stuck all my ‘bon voyage’ and ‘good
luck’ cards up round my bed so thank you if one of them is from you :)
Olivia, the lovely centre manager, made us lunch which was
very yummy! However I seem to be hungry all the time… (nothing changes)
Lots of love to you all back home.
Grace xxxx
Prayer requests:
-
Please pray for tummies to settle after our long
journey here
-
Pray that we will all get a restorative night’s
sleep
-
Pray that we will start to bond with the Ugandan
volunteers
-
That we quickly settle into life here
Thank you x
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