The challange to get from Entebee/Kampala to Soroti

So we started our drive from Entebbe to Soroti with high expectations of learning how Jennifer and her friend Beckie live. Hello, my name is Don Hendriksen. Today I am guest writing in Jennifer's blog in hopes of explaining what it's like to travel in Uganda. Let me start with a single word; Unbelievable!

My wife, Marybeth, and I arrived in Uganda on October 27. We spent the first few days visiting with Jennifer and her roommate, our daughter, Beckie, along with members of the International team stationed in Soroti. We enjoyed helping the team do some team building while we looked after their children. It was a great way to meet the team and to get to know the children.

So now it was time to travel from Entebee to Soroti. We were very excited to see Uganda for the 1st time and to see how Jennifer and Beckie live. We were told that the drive would take around 6 hours and that the roads were not so great. “Not so great”??? An understatement to say the least. It was culture shock like I've never experienced. I thought the roads in Michigan were bad after a long winter. I thoughts the roads in Mexico were in bad shape. I thought I saw some bad roads in Kuala Lumpur. I hadn't seen anything till Uganda.

To start, there are potholes everywhere. Not just little potholes but large, deep potholes. Ones that swallow the whole car. There is no avoiding them all so you focus on avoiding the biggest ones. If a pothole is filled it's filled with dirt so it last only a week or two.

Second, the shoulder encroaches on the road so that what should be two lanes becomes only one with deep edges to catch a tire or two. It becomes a game of chicken with an approaching car, truck or bus. You stay centered as long as you can and at the last minute you see who gives in first.

Now add into the mix hundreds or perhaps thousands of bicycles, scooters and people walking sharing the same road. Some of the bikes have large items balanced horizontally across the back, using up even more road space. Some of the walkers are balancing large items on their heads while keeping small children in tow.

Now lets add in the trucks; lots of trucks. These are slow moving, overloaded trucks (hence the potholes). If it is dark, the trucks turn on their brights just before it passes.

Oh, and did I mention the cows? Yes, there are cows also sharing the road. Sometimes 20 or more are trying to cross. Sometimes it's just the lone cow or goat trying to join up with the heard.

Along the way we passed people in dressed all white suits, the police. They stand along the road to wave you down if they see a violation. When there are no police and no potholes, there are speed bumps. Lots and lots of speed bumps. Some are rippled, some are humps. And when the government can't afford to spend the money on speed bumps, the people in the village dig their own trenches across the road to create a reverse speed bump.

Now, add all this to driving on left and this American felt like he was in a very intense video game for 6 hours. I know now why Jennifer and Beckie asked that we pray before we left. The next time they say there are going to Entebbe to pick somebody up from the airport, pray for them. Really pray for them.