The excitement of going to Uganda was swallowed up in the business of the holidays. During the interview I was told that while a Rotary grant would pay for my flight, an overnight somewhere, a meal or two, and transportation, I would be responsible for $800. Brett and I began planning where the funds would come from. He had been given season tickets to a Bruins ice hockey game from his employer. Normally, the tickets would be used by Brett to take a client out or as a gift to a client or however Brett deemed fit. He asked his boss if it would be okay to raffle off the tickets to raise money for my trip. The response was yes, so Brett announced to his clients, friends, family, and Rotarians that he was raffling the tickets to raise support for me. He wound up raising over half the money! In the meantime I announced my upcoming trip to friends and family and asked if they would consider ordering baked goods from me. I got 3 cake orders, a couple orders for whoopie pies, and baked dozens of Valentine's Day cookies.
Shortly before Christmas I received an email from Barbara, one of our coordinators, suggesting our team meet for the first time at her house for dinner. A date was set for January 13. The day came and we gathered at Barbara's and Lawerence's home. I arrived not long after John and Ken, Carolyn (another one of our trip coordinators) was there as well, and Marty came shortly after. We had small talk, and finally Curt and Mary arrived. As we introduced ourselves and gave some background, I felt out of my league. It's a feeling that happens sometimes when you are a homemaker, the sense that others have experienced more of the world than you have, especially when you are in the presence of highly educated people, have only a high school diploma, and have spent a decade or more surrounded by children. In a sense you feel sheltered, and to be truthful, in some ways you are, but it is the sense (or perhaps fear) that others view you this way, and may make assumptions about your intelligence, or lack thereof, that can leave you unsettled.
Dinner was finally ready and we moved to the dining room. We started off with spring rolls. If you have never eaten spring rolls, they are a finger food. You just pick them up and dip them in soy or some other type of sauce. Some of us, myself included, started out by picking up our spring rolls by hand, and then it seemed the majority were using their forks. Subtly, those of us that started with our fingers put the rolls down and proceeded with our forks. I laughed about this to myself much later to think that here I am, a forty-three year old woman, and I succumbed to peer pressure!
Barbara and Carolyn shared about their trip to Uganda in December to prepare the way for us. They were amazed at the excellent hospitality that was exhibited by the Kijjansi Rotary club; they couldn't say enough wonderful things about James, the director of the Mbabaali Orphanage and the children there; and they were blown away by the kids at the Youth Passionate Organization. They proceeded to share about the logistics and what to expect, the driving conditions, the city, the weather. We talked about what type of weather we should be prepared for, etc... And we talked some more about passports, visas, shots, a timeline, the list went on and on. Looking back, I think I felt like I needed to be prepared for more rural conditions than I was actually exposed to. I realized I would be staying in a more affluent home, but getting around would take a bit more planning. In the end, I did okay, I can't say I over-packed, but I would certainly do things differently next time.
Curt and Mary were designated as our leaders. Curt was in charge of logistics, and Mary the music. We planned on getting together in the next week or so, and manged to do so about half a dozen times before our departure. We had gone back and forth with emails about the types of songs we felt would be a fair representation of American music, as well as a good fit for our group. When we finally met to sing together, there was definitely a learning curve, because we were still getting aquainted as well as becoming familiar with each other's musical abilities. I was blown away by John's and Ken's guitar playing. Mary had SUCH a beautiful, strong voice, and she really had a way of putting everything together and making us blend well as a team. I loved our rehearsals.
In the meantime, from the moment I knew I made the team, I began shopping here and there. We had discussed at our dinner at Barbara's the types of supplies we could bring for the orphanage, as well as medical supplies for the hospital. Every couple of weeks I would pick up a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. I also posted on Facebook that if people were interested, I had a small list of supplies they could donate to the orphanage. I had several friends make donations, I even had one family I only ever met on Facebook mail me a check for $100 to buy supplies. I was completely floored! I spent half on supplies and donated the other half to the orphanage. By the time we were ready to leave, I had quite a store, as well as gifts for my host family.
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