Sure enough, Rose was at the airport to meet me, and Pat (my new friend) saw her first! Made sure we connected and then left. I almost cried when I saw Rose, because that was what I was most nervous about.
She and our driver, Charles, took me to a hotel along Lake Victoria where I spent my first night. I didn't sleep much, but it was nice to lay down and not be moving!
They were late picking me up in the morning, which gave me time to contact my family and face time with my parents. It was really nice, and calmed my nerves once they knew I was okay!
I think Charles picked me up around noon, and we went to pick up Rose, and then headed out around 1. We got to Village of Hope (VOH) around 6. It is a beautiful place! Much nicer than I expected!
I have my own hut, which I will share with people when teams come in, but for now I get to set up camp. The hut is a lot like a yurt, if that helps.
Janelle and Donna greeted me when I came in. Janelle then gave me a tour of the children's homes, and introduced me to the house moms and staff. There are two little boys who have already stolen my heart! They are sons of the house moms, but I don't know who they belong to. One is Ronnie, and he's about 2 years old and ADORABLE, the other is Stephen, and he likes to give high fives!
We ate dinner in the dark, and then I went right to bed, because I was exhausted from jet lag and traveling all day.
This morning, I got up and hung out in the dining area while I finished some letters that I brought with me (thank you Jennifer and HPC!) While I was there, I was able to introduce myself to a bunch of the teachers. I had met some of them last night, but it was nice to meet them in the daylight and learn names with faces!
After a while, Donna asked if I wanted to walk around and visit the children and see the land. So we took a nice walk, and I met lots of kids and staff members. At one point, I had 7 little children (kids of the staff) following me trying to hold my hands. I won them over, but I think it will take some time to win over the older kids...or so I thought.
After the walk, Donna gave me the wifi info so that I could contact home. So, I came in my hut to try to get it to work. A couple of boys who love electronics saw me, and wanted to see what I was doing. I couldn't get the internet to work, so I gave up and showed them a game on my ipad. The three of us started playing this game, like Sorry, and suddenly I had about 20 boys surrounding me and leaning on me to play the game and count. I think that might be my "in" with this group! It was really awesome!
Today they are encouraging me just to relax and hang out with people, so that is what I am going to do. But I wanted to send a quick update while I had the chance.
A few things...
1. Remember the spider I told you about, that someone had shown me a picture of? They said that they have never seen something like that here. WHEW!
2. Janelle has lived here for over 4 years and only seen one snake, and it was little. It was a cobra, but it was little.
3. Last night I enjoyed watching the lightning bugs as I watched the lightning in the background! Cool to experience both at the same time!
4. The food is good!
I hear laughing outside, so I want to go see the children! Thanks for your prayers! I am here, safe, healthy, and happy!!! And the electronic lover is already back.
View of Lake Victoria from my hotel
My hut
The dining area
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