What if everybody could live like ...

We are at 1/3 of the project, a good time to take a few days off to relax from an exciting first period. The first period has been a rollercoaster, but we can look back to quite some great achievements. In the Netherlands we used to say: “a good start is half of the work done!”. The designs are almost ready, almost all the written content is ready, the Content Management System (CMS) is implemented, the video content is initiated, the music project is initiated, we have a lead for a good photographer who might help us, we have contact with Safaricom for helping us doing the marketing, we have started to investigate the use of cartoonist (2 trials have been set up), panel groups are in place. In other words, a lot of things have been achieved so far and time for a short vacation.

Our trip went to our neighboring country, Uganda. They call Uganda the Pearl of Africa. And to already jump ahead to the conclusion, nature like it is the Pearl of Africa. What a beautiful country! We had decided to travel by bus from Nairobi to Kampala. It was cheap, but right now I have to say I regret this a bit. The journey took 16 hours, which at the end you really hate the bus. Sad things was that we had to leave the next day again at 06:00 for another 10 hours’ drive to the west of Uganda, to Kisoro. This is a small town in the mountain area of Uganda.

As we came closer to our goal, we could see an amazing beauty being revolved. Green mountains, Volcanos and endless fertile lands. We arranged this ambitious travel schema, to be able to take advantage of a huge discount the government had given for April and May to track the rare and almost disappeared species of mountain gorillas. In June you would pay more than double to enter the Bwindi forest to track the gorillas, so therefore we wanted to be at the last day of May to be capable to enjoy the trekking. And man, how beautiful it was!!! Early in the morning again we drove in a Jeep through the beautiful landscapes of this area. We saw one of the most amazing sunrises (see pictures below) and got ready for the tracking. After 2,5 hours tracking through though bushes which our guides made a fresh path through we came at the place where a group gorillas was located. We were allowed to spend 1 hour with these amazing creatures. What a magnificent animals. One of the gorillas was a little bit annoyed by one lady of our group, so he kicked the poor girl into the pushes. That was quite funny for us to see and we even got it on tape, but the poor girl was terrified of the gorillas after this incident. But we have enjoyed it fully and we feel blessed to be able to experience these kind of crazy things.

On Sunday we went climbing a volcano. Towards Rwanda and Congo almost 10 volcanos are lying in a line. The Sabyinyo can only be climbed from the Uganda side, but the top is located at a 3 land point with Rwanda and Congo. The hiking was very tough. I have to praise Talitha, because she is afraid of heights, but she completed this insane trekking. The last 200 meters we had to climb through stairs which went straight up in the air with a cliff of 1500 meters on your side. With shaking hands and legs we reached the top and another beautiful landscape was revolved before us. We have a picture where our legs are in Rwanda, our left hand in Congo and our right hand in Uganda. It was an amazing experience.

On Monday we left to travel to Lake Bunyonyi. This lake is the most beautiful lake in Uganda. This was also an amazing experience with beautiful landscapes. In the evening we saw a beautiful sunset and had an amazing diner at the lake side. On Tuesday we travelled back to Kampala to finish our crazy days on Wednesday with rafting on the Nile. Rafting is measured in grades, with grade 5 as the most difficult grade for rafting in the world. On this 8 rapid long part of the nile, 3 grades 5 were to be taken. Man oh man, what an experience to be smashed through these rapid waters. The power of the water is enormous and the adrenaline is indescribable. The weird thing was that at a rapid 3 the boat got flipped and we were suddenly struggling within the strong streams of the Nile. But the experience was one of a lifetime.

So you can imagine how we had enjoyed these 4 crazy days (excluding the travelling). All 4 activities are once of a lifetime experiences and we had an amazing time. But we also wanted to see the other side of the beautiful country Uganda is. Because for those who know history and know a little bit of Uganda, this is also a country with huge problems. So we decided to stay our remaining 4 days with my great friend and brother from another mother, mr Fulukas Boroa. We wanted to see a bit more how he is managing the Girls Project, were he and his wife are fully dedicated to get young girls out of the prostitution.

This set us with both of our feet on the ground. Going with Fulukas and Miriam to meet the girls was an impressive and shocking experience. On one day you are enjoying yourself like a little child in a raft boat and the other day you sit in a 2 by 2 meter room with 1 bed for a girl of 17 years old and her baby of 2 years old, to hear stories about how she was involved in the sex trade when she was 13. A world we cannot understand with our western mind. Girls who lose their parents through AIDS and are left behind on the streets with no other option to sell themselves for a roof above their heads and something little to eat. For those who have a daughter, just take a minute and imagine your daughter being 13 years old. Imagine that she has to sell her body for some little safety and security. I guess you either have to find it horrifying or you need to check up on yourself what is wrong with you that you don’t have any feeling by such a thought, isn’t?

The way Fulukas and Miriam are dedicating their lives to help these people, while they also have a family of 4 boys and a house which need much more maintenance than any house in the Netherlands, gets you thinking about how I live my life. I do not know people personally who are a bigger example for me than these 2 blessed people. One of the most amazing things I found about the whole experience was that Fulukas and Miriam sometimes ask the girls to come over to their house to stay there for a little while. For the girls this is like a visit to heaven, just a beacon of peace and rest. Just a few days experiencing family times, a good house and food, but most of all peace. We had a few girls staying over while we were there to. Really impressive.

Fulukas has this big dream for the piece of land which he bought and from all over the world they buy into his vision. And I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that I just know he will manage this huge dream to build a shelter for these girls and all kinds of facilities so that the girls can maintain themselves and learn to get skills to be able to do something different than prostitution. A dream which I hope to see alive when I’m still living!

My mind just goes crazy during these blessed days with the family of Fulukas. I’m just wondering, what if all Christian families would be like this family, what if we all opened our doors to these children who are suffering from the most horrifying things you can imagine, what we the world would look like? What if we all knew that beside maintaining our own families there are so many opportunities we could achieve to make the world a better place? What if we really made the decision not to pursue only personal happiness, but a happiness for all? I just hope when I grow up I can be like Fulukas! He is that bright star which makes me smile every day and I’m pretty sure God smiles at him to!

Blessed with so many beautiful experiences we travelled back with the bus from Kampala to Nairobi. What an amazing time …

Ro