We arrived in Entebbe and were warmly greeted by Victor and Gift from the Friends of Canon Gideon Foundation. After a short ride in a van gifted by Sally Hubbard and others in the USA, we had the honor to meet Bishop Samuel, the former head of the Diocese of Uganda!

After enjoying some local lemonade and a view of Lake Victoria, we ventured on to FOCAGIFO. The Hotel and Catering Department cooked us a wonderful meal of chicken wings, fries, and vegetables and every meal has been served with fresh fruit juice that cannot be rivaled. Knowing of our travel fatigue, we were brought back to our rooms to sleep for the next 12 hours. The lodging is incredible and we have individual chambers and restrooms in Canon Gideon’s “Royalty House.”

We opened our orientation the next morning with a reading from Matthew and sang a song about Jesus calming the storm as a “Winner Man.” We are certainly among many other winning men and women here. Everyone here is kind and welcoming, especially out hosts Ruth, Jen Francis, Gift, Victor,  Milly and of course Canon Gideon. We have made great friends with the children who live in the compound, they are big fans of snapchat filters. Then we finally got to meet the students that we will be working with and they seem to be eager to learn and excited to be at FOCAGIFO with us!

Our last orientation was followed by a quick walking tour through Wakiso. The mud roads are lined with small concrete, wood, and clay huts, each bristling with people and bright colored textiles. Each street introduced a new chorus of “Bye Mzungu!” (Hello white person) and curious eyes watched our every step. The Boda Boda motorcycles zip quickly between the large Mutatu vans that storm towards the smoothest route on the bumpy roads. There are dozens of chickens, ducks, goats, that line the streets alongside dogs that we sadly cannot pet. Most of the buildings here are either schools, hair salons, small markets, or homes. We even got the chance to look inside one of the bigger markets full of eclectic items. There is an entirely new culture, infrastructure, language, and climate that we have to acclimate to, and we are having a blast of every second of it.