Tangents, clips, and short stories from a jumbled brain

Its November time now. Days have passed. Months even. Soon enough it is going to be years.

I'm almost 21 now. How quickly life passes us by. My oldest nephew is eight . My dad is almost 62. Right now I find myself in Seattle, and like most days, my mind drifts back to my beloved Africa. I don't talk about it too much anymore; i mean what can be said about the best experience of your life except for just that-it was the best thing i have ever done. Who really wants to hear about Africa every day? So instead, I find myself wandering on campus alone laughing at the small things i enjoy; public restrooms, toilet paper, jeans, fast food, restaurants w/ food that comes within 20 minutes, internet, milk, bread, houses, air conditioning, doors, locks, sidewalks, lights, school, classrooms, desks, voting, the gospel, a comfy bed, foood, laptops, slippers, tap water, electricity, cell phones...the list continues....Literally, each and every day my mind wanders to the wonders of this life i live here that is so different than my dear uganda. Just today sitting in my brothers beautiful home I was in awe at the simple daily activity of cooking dinner and the appliances and the amount of delicious food that was available.

Tonight Suzy Gillies and her family came over to my brother's house because they just moved to WA. She is also in love with Uganda and went there in March and is going back in June with JAckie! I absolutely LOVED talking about Africa with her. No one else really wants to hear much about it, but swapping stories and experiences quite honestly makes me excited to be alive and that Africa was not just a dream and that those people exist and are real and most importantly that this is my purpose and i need to go back to that place. . .It's my catalyst; my motivation to be more than what i'm being and to do more than what i think i must do.

Whoa, what a tangent i just went on.

This blog was supposed to be about some short stories; a first of the many small 'clips' of experiences i believe it is time to share. .. so, here it goes.

-I remember after being in Africa for two days it felt like we had been there for weeks. I quickly felt comfortable with my team and the people we were working with and I enjoyed the projects we had going on for us at Hope Orphanage. Man, I loved those kids. We had to haul bricks from one side of the yard to the other so we made a long assembly line of volunteers and kids and sang songs and laughed and danced and got buff. We sang Old McDonald, and other kids songs and they taught us some African ones as well. I hate myself for not writing down specifics. One of the workers there (see i forgot his name and i am kicking myself...) I just absolutely fell in love with. I think he is the kindest man I have ever met in my entire life. He volunteered at the home and was so helpful. He is the epitome of the African man. He is so pure and good. Anyways, we also hauled clay that day. We walked up the road a long ways, then down a long road to where they were digging up clay. We put handfuls of the clay in our pails and (IT WAS HEAVY) and hauled it back up the hill/road. We did this several times and I tried to put it on my head but it hurt so bad. One girl, Kristen, made a leaf cushion for Rylee and so Rylee was able to put the pail on her head. The kids couldn't really speak english and we definitely could not speak Luganda, but we communicated. I never felt that there was a barrier or frustrated b/c we did not speak the same language. There was always joy with those kids. One in particular, Isaac, I didn't know yet, but soon became fast friends with him that day. I was hauling clay and he came running down the hill and could not stop and totally ran into me. He was so embarressed and felt awful. I let him know that it was completely fine, and after that he did all these little things to serve me. He washed my hands, got me a plate and silverware, cleaned my dishes after, cut down a jackfruit from the tree and opened it for me to eat. (A WHOLE JACKFRUIT. THEY ARE HUGE. . pictures soon..)Anyways, after that we had a special bond. I miss that kid. . .i never got to properly say goodbye.


Well, that was jumbled and maybe not that interesting....but it's time for me to write down my 'short stories' about my african life. Perhaps, my feelings too. I never really did a great job of that...so this blog is going to be the place were i can get any random thoughts out about africa.
Yeah, I know, it is, infact, about time....
Well, weleba my friends.

Love,
Vickitoria.