At 12:30pm on Wednesday, March 22 I was asked to help chaperone a trip of 6 students to Uganda which would leave at 5:30am on the next day. One of the leaders who had been planning the trip since January had a death in the family and was unexpectedly on their way to the U.S. I amazed myself and was able to take care of affairs in the library, organize my family for a week without me, and pack myself up and even get a few hours sleep before we departed.

The trip was a part of the Interim Program the school has each year for students in grades 11 and 12. The trips are part educational, part adventure, and part fun. JT went on a Scuba trip, some students climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, some went camping, some to the island of Lamu for cultural studies, some biked through one of the game parks to the coast, and more.

Though mileage from Kijabe to Jinja, Uganda is only about 300 miles it took 14 and a half hours. There are many reasons for this amazing feat: 1) all commercial vehicles (we were in a school van) have speed governors which do not allow the vehicle to go faster than 80 kilometers per hour (about 45 mph); 2) about half of the road we traveled was so rough that you couldn’t go more than 50-60 kph; 3) we missed the turn for the short cut; 4) it took us 2 ½ hours to get processed through the border crossing because Uganda’s computers were down; 5) it got dark and driving in the dark in Africa is challenging and again you slow down.

We had a variety of activities once we got there. We took a 2 hour boat trip to an island on Lake Victoria where we camped and worked with students at a primary school one day. Another day we took a boat ride to the source of the Nile River and saw some of the most amazing birds. One afternoon we went to an orphanage and just played with and loved on the kids. I held 4 different children aged 4 months to about 2 years—Jason, Jeremiah, Sheria, and Hannah. I cried and prayed over each one. It’s so hard to see all those precious children who need parents so badly…

The highlight of the trip was rafting the Nile River. I didn’t know this for the first 45 years of my life, but the White Nile has some amazing rapids—many of which are Class 5. For those of you who don’t know much about rapids, Class 5 rapids are the most difficult and dangerous rapids that a commercial rafting company will attempt. There are Class 6 rapids, but these are off limits to groups like ours—thankfully!

Out of our 6 students—all girls—4 were VERY excited about the rafting and 2 were like me, a bit ambivalent. Remember, I didn’t really sign up for this, but was recruited at the last minute! We donned our protective helmets and super-duper life vests, grabbed paddles and hopped into the rafts in very peaceful water. Each raft holds 6-8 people. The guides taught us all we would need to know. How to swim through a rapid, how to get into the crucifix position to float through a rapid with shallow rocks, what to do when the raft flips, etc.

Then, before we had time to think about it too much we hit our first rapids—just class 1,2, & 3. This is pretty fun! Then a class 4 comes up. Approaching it is a bit daunting, but we slip right through getting very wet along the way. One nice thing about the Nile is that there is lots of “flat” water between rapids where you can recuperate and prepare for the next one. Sometimes you even hop out and just float down river. The guides assured us that Idi Amin’s soldiers had virtually eradicated the crocodile population on this part of the Nile…

Then the guide begins preparing us for our first Class 5 rapid. As we approach I say, “That noise I hear is not a train, is it?” He says, “no.” The guides do ask if everyone is okay about attempting the rapid—there is a safety boat you can opt to ride in. But we’ve already seen the guide thrown out of the safety boat so… we all go for it. Our raft made it through and the other raft flipped.

The second class 5 comes up next and our guide asks if we want to have some fun with this one. The girls all eagerly agree…never trust a Nile River guide when he asks you if you want to have fun with a rapid. He drove us straight into the worst spot and we flipped. There is a rope that you are supposed to hang onto and I had a death grip on the thing, but I was in the front and when it flipped I vaguely remember seeing the raft shoot over me as I shot downstream to surface about 50 yards away! Down and up several more times and I was into the flat water and got hauled into the safety boat! Whew! It happened so fast I wasn’t scared, but boy what a ride!

That was the only time I flipped out of the raft, the rest we made it through until I opted out of the last and worst one because one of the other ambivalent participants had had enough! We spent about 6 hours on the Nile and experienced it like no other river!! Next time you see me ask to see the DVD!

The last day we went on an ATV safari—something else I never really expected to do! It was fun, but I don’t need to do it again. We did go alongside the Nile and we got to see the rapids from a different angle. Probably a good thing we didn’t do that trip first!

Our trip back took only 11 hours as we got through the border crossing in less than an hour and found the short cut!

What an amazing and interesting trip. Uganda itself is a beautiful country. It is much greener and junglier than Kenya—at least near the Nile. The people are warm and friendly. The students we went with were just great. Jinja had major power and water outages while we were there so that we only got warm showers on 2 days, but I never heard a complaint from them. These kids at RVA are great! And God’s world is just so awesome. It was truly a privilege to get to go on this trip.

Hope all of you are doing well. May the Easter season remind your hearts of what is most important in this life.

Nancy