Thursday and Friday

7/14

Got a phone call at 10 am “Could we be ready to leave in an hour?” Considering I’d been packed for nearly two weeks and Lacy was practically still packed we said “Sure.” Headed over to the CLIDE office at 11 am and finally left Soroti at 4pm. Everything seems to be a challenge here. Anyway, we arrived to the peace village without too much problem on the way even though we had to travel in the dark. The road is pretty dry and passable. Lacy and I are currently laying in the dark in the hut. There are a few of the CLIDE guys sleeping outside and in the other hut but we are the only ladies so we have this one to ourselves. We had roasted cassava for supper tonight and will be sleeping by 10 pm. 

Lacy holding our cassava supper in our hut after we arrived in the evening. 

7/15

Its 9pm and we are trying to stay awake while waiting for the trucks to arrive from Soroti. It was our first full day in the peace village. As the “advance team” we are a small group setting up camp, tents, arranging for water and latrines and all the things that 70+ people will need to live here for a week. We are sunburned and unfortunately discovered all of the things that we thought were packed in the vehicle but will actually be coming with the next trip. (Like milk, bread, spoons, basins….) But “dry tea” (black tea without milk) and some mango leather that I packed at the last minute went a long way and it was fun to be working today.  We were up at 6:30 because the guys needed stuff from the hut we were sleeping in so we jumped right into the day. Midafternoon Lacy and I walked down the hill into the village and it was interesting to see it through “beginners” eyes again. (I’m sure Lacy will write about it!) We drew a crowd within seconds and had two women grabbing us and demanding food ( at least I think they wanted food) so we didn’t stay long. We had rice and beans around 8pm, had a nice cup shower in the bathing shelter by the light of the full moon and I spent some time jotting some notes on what I may be teaching the village health workers (VHTs) next week and now we'd like to call it a night but are still waiting. The trucks were supposed to be loaded this morning and driven up here this afternoon but they must have left late. There is no cell phone reception way out here so we wait and pray they are not broken down on the way or stuck in the mud somewhere. We’ll unload the second advance group's trucks when they get here then call it a night. 

The start of our camp in the background and the village in the more distant background.