Tears and Laughter

Last Wednesday, I traveled by bus down to Kigali, Rwanda for another quick trip to visit some AIM missionaries, the Gaskills, who've become dear friends of ours. I completely enjoyed my time with their family and valued the opportunity to observe at Kigali International Christian School while it was in session. I think I smiled the entire time I was in the kindergarten classroom and was excited to discover some Twin Cities/North Minneapolis connections with the second grade teacher. I picked up some more beautiful fabrics at a market, met some wonderful people, and before I knew it I was back on the bus headed north to Uganda. But this time with a traveling companion!

We had the pleasure of hosting Grace Gaskill in Mbarara this weekend. It started off with a 5:30am bus ride from Kigali which included:

• A "mix up the fruit basket" type of game with everyone attempting to find and claim the seats they'd purchased.
• Many people getting on and off the bus at random points along the way. Often the bus would slow down, the conductor would open the door, and someone would hop on or off the bus without the bus ever coming to a complete stop.
• A man who tried to sneak onto the bus at the border using a ticket from the day before. He sat in our row, but he sat in the seat that belonged to another lady. When she told him he needed to move, he got caught and kicked off the bus. Grace and I were told by a man sitting in front of us, "You should have known he didn't belong there. When you came you were sitting by a woman. And now you are sitting by a man." We laughed because what else was there to do.
• Laughing again as we sat in the bus watching someone who worked at the border yell at a person sitting a few rows up from us who had thrown some garbage out the window. "Do you want to get arrested?? It's a simple matter of you getting up, going around there, and picking it up!" I appreciate the efforts because Uganda is covered in lots of garbage.
• The final person to get on the bus during the trip turned out to be a traveling salesman. For the last 45 minutes of the bus ride, this man stood in the aisle giving a speech about the products he was selling. It's a pretty good technique if you ask me. It's not like the passengers could go anywhere or had anything else to do!

We made it back to Mbarara safely, and spent the afternoon relaxing and napping after having such an early morning. We had plans to go into town Friday evening for the weekly movie ministry night. This part of the day took an extremely unexpected turn.

Without going into too many details, there was a political rally happening in Mbarara, and we accidentally wound up in the middle of it. Police were everywhere, there were swarms of people, streets were blocked, our favorite "supermarket" that is always open was barred up, and a truck of soldiers armed with large sticks for beating drove by.

As we wove through traffic just trying to get to our destination quickly and safely, it hit us.
Tear gas.
A burning sensation I've never experienced before and hopefully never will again.

Our boda drivers quickly turned around, dodging people and large trucks, and headed back in the direction we had come. As we were in the process of getting turned around and driving out of the gassed area, a group of Ugandans saw that we had been affected by the tear gas, as well. They began to laugh and excitedly say, "Look! They got the muzungus too!"

Yes, it's true. Tear gas doesn't discriminate.

With tears and mascara running down our cheeks we decided that, clearly, the only option was to go back home... which we did. Right away. Once again, we're so thankful for good boda drivers who keep us safe!

It was a surreal experience and hard to believe we got caught up in something like that in little Mbarara where our lives are typically so "normal."

The rest of our weekend was, thankfully, not quite so eventful but still plenty of fun. Recently, one of our teammates explained Mbarara as "a place that's not exactly rampant with entertainment." This couldn't be more true. When people come to visit we have to really rack our brains to think of places to show them and things to do, but we've become pretty good at creating our own entertainment around here.

Getting pedicures at "California Nails"

Going to central market

hanging out with friends

I'm thankful for opportunities to visit other countries and see first-hand how missionaries are serving all over Africa, and it's been a pleasure getting to host a friend in our home and sharing our lives with her for a few days. While Mbarara might not be the most "exciting" place to visit, we're never short on good company or plenty of laughter!

And sometimes a few tears.