uganda: week six.

two weeks from today. two weeks from today, i will be home in america. i cannot believe time has gone by this quickly. at the beginning, looking at eight weeks away from my family, i thought i would be in uganda forever. but now that we are at only two weeks left, only fourteen days, i am really sad it’s coming to an end. it’s a mix of emotions actually because i never want to leave these kids and the work happening here but i miss my family and friends back home. by realizing that my time left here is so short, i was given more motivation to experience a lot this week. i want my last days here to be full and this week did not disappoint. so here you have it; the week six highlights!

• this past sunday was the world cup final. now i don’t know how you watched the final game. to be honest, if i had been in america, i probably wouldn’t have even watched the game or i would have gone to a party with lots of food and a huge TV. my experience here in uganda has obviously been a little different. to watch the world cup final, a bunch of the missionaries, some of their kids, and the interns drove about ten minutes away to the village of kikube to watch the game at one of the teachers’ house. now this house is about 9 feet by 11 feet. smaller even than my room in america. and we watched on a maybe 24 inch TV. at one point, i looked around the room and counted 17 of us total but no one complained or argued. it was so great to be together and have a place to even watch the world cup. there is such a blessing in the people around you being content with what they have.
• on monday, i went into jinja children’s hospital with our american nurse here to observe her. this week was her last week at the ugandan hospital so that she could obtain her ugandan nursing license. i got to observe in a new ward that day but she took me on a tour around the entire hospital. i left feeling a little “traumatized” in her words. i don’t think i could explain to you how heartbreaking the medical system is here. and the entire time i was there, i just kept hoping and praying that the people i have met here and fallen in love with don’t use the type of care i saw that day. she also took me to jinja main hospital where she worked for four weeks. same heartbreaking story, just this time with adults. it was definitely a hard day to process.
• i also learned how to drive the ATV on monday! i got back from the hospital and two of the GSF guys knew i had been dying to learn so they took me around campus! it was great to mark one of the first things off my african bucket list.
• on tuesday, a bunch of us climbed the water tower! it was an amazing view!! you can pretty much see all of campus from the tower. it was such a neat experience to look over the land that God has blessed GSF with and to think of all the amazing things that happen all over this campus on a daily basis. it is also a really good way to look at the campus that you do life in all the time and feel really small. even from that short distance.
• on wednesday, because my parents begged, we took a break from doing daredevilish things.
• on thursday, auntie claudia (my adoptive mom) took me, kaitlin, and her kids to get street food in the neighboring village of nyenga. on the way back to GSF, we climbed up onto her roof rack and cruised through the sugarcane fields. if you have never driven through the sugarcane fields at sunset on top of a landcruiser in africa, i highly suggest you put it on your bucket list. easily one of the best moments of my internship so far. 
• on friday, the interns were in charge of campus! the missionaries and ugandan managers had a leadership retreat so that left the interns running the office. does that scare you a little bit because i don’t think you were the only one. luckily it was a very quiet day in the office for us.

God has been so faithful this entire trip to provide just what i need when i need it: whether that is rest or encouragement or a phone call from home. and i know and believe that for the last two weeks, He will continue to do the same. i am ready to be home but i am not ready to leave. does that make sense to you? okay good. me neither.