Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
For the past two weeks, HEAL Ministries has been on holiday. That means no staff, no kids, and nothing to do here at The James Place.
Last week, a few of us went on safari together. We went through Red Chilli Hideaways, and with that company, we got three days on safari in Murchison Falls, and they gave us a free night at their Red Chilli Kampala the night before we left. So, we packed up our backpacks and went to Kampala for the day before the safari. We ate at Cafesserie, a restaurant that has delicious food. We got to see Mockingjay Part 1 in a theatre that's nicer than the one I go to at home. And we were able to just hang out and not worry about anything. We then got a free bus ride out to Red Chilli Kampala where we ate dinner together and talked a little before going to sleep.
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| Sunrise morning of departure |
The next morning we woke up bright and early before the sun was up, ate some breakfast, and then got in the van that was going to be our vehicle for the next three days. We had to drive about 6 1/2 hours in order to get to Murchison National Park, and then once we were in the park, it was another two hours to get to Murchison Falls. Needless to say, there was a lot of car time on this trip, but it was all worth it.
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| At the top of Murchison Falls |
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| A beautiful tree by the falls
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After visiting Murchison Falls, we drove to the Red Chilli Murchison campsite. It's an open campsite in the park, so wildlife roams freely. Warthogs live on the property, hoping to steal people's food. Warthogs are pretty adorable, in their own weird sort of way. The one begged for my food like a dog would while I was eating at the table. I couldn't get over how it acted just like a dog would.
Anyway, so there are warthogs that live on the camp constantly, but they warned that sometimes at night, hippos come out and graze. My mom has been telling me to stay away from hippos since before I left for Africa, and I thought, what are the chances of a hippo actually coming and grazing around our campsite. The way the warnings worded made it seem like a rare occurrence. Well, I was in my tent reading my Bible by flashlight (it was pitch black outside by this point). As I was reading, I started to hear this loud sound outside my tent. It was something eating and breathing heavily. I thought it was a warthog so I put my flashlight outside to see really quickly. Well, when I did that, I discovered that it was not a warthog, and instead a ginormous hippo that was eating outside my tent. My first thought was that if my mother knew how close I was to this hippo, she would fly out and kill me. There were people outside shining flashlights on it and walking around following the dang thing. I told them to be careful because they can be very deadly creatures, they kill about 3,000 people a year. Needless to say, I didn't leave my tent again that night. They kept coming and eating right next to my tent throughout the night, waking me up. They finally stopped coming at 3:30am. The next morning, we were up before 6am to grab breakfast and go wait in the van for the ferry. The National Park is split in two by the Nile. Our camp was on the south side and the big game is on the north side. That morning, we were doing a four hour game drive.
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| The Globe |
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| The Ferry - Ours is the tan van |
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| Leaving dust in our wake |
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| Sunrise over the Nile |
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| Antelope |
During the game drive, we got to see so many beautiful animals that God has created up close. I was the first one to spot a giraffe. We were the first people all week to spot lions. We ended up seeing two male lions that were brothers. They hadn't gotten to the age yet where they fight for dominancy of the pack. They acted just like my cats do at home. We were so close to them. If they wanted to jump up and kill us, they easily could have.
It took us a while to see an elephant but eventually we did. Later, during the 3 hour boat cruise on the Nile, we got to see the elephants much closer up. I never prayed to see anything specific on the trip, just that the Lord would show me more of who he is as Master Creator. And he truly answered that prayer. God was so present in the entirety of the trip. Giraffes, lions, elephants, water buffalo, baboons, hippos, so many beautiful birds, thousands of antelopes. We just got to see so many beautiful creatures that you normally only ever see on the Discovery Channel or in a zoo, all living in their natural environment, where they were created and meant to live.
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| Water Buffalo |
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| Elephant with Hippos |
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| Giraffe |
That second night, a hippo came around again at 8:30pm, grazing away. This one was massive, I'm pretty sure he was a male that weighed around 7000 pounds. This fellow like the grass that was directly next to/slightly below my tent and kept pushing his giant head into my tent. The day before, the staff said that they never disturb the tents so that when you're in them, you're completely safe. (The tents that are provided for you are permanent tents...heavier tarp like materials with actual beds inside.) So, as this 7,000 pound creature was pushing his head into my tent, I felt the Lord's presence with me and just put my hand against the tent. So here I am, with about a centimeter of tarp separating me from this creature that could kill me in an instant if it wanted to. But this creature that the Lord made wanted nothing to do with me, it only wanted the grass that was beneath my tent. I think it was this moment that took my breath away the most during the safari. How often is it that someone can say they basically pet a 7,000 pound hippo? When I told my mom, she cried.
The last day, we traveled to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary. I didn't know this, but in 1983 rhinos went extinct in Uganda. They were all killed in order for their horns. Our guide told us that a rhino's horns (they each have two) can weigh up to 9 kilos each. On the black market, one kilo of rhino horn is sold for $65,000. This Rhino Sanctuary opened in 2000, when they brought two rhinos in from Kenya. Now, 14 years later, they have a total of 6 adults (at least one was acquired from Walt Disney World) and 9 calves. Our guide explained that when they reach 30 rhinos, they will start releasing them into the wild elsewhere in Uganda (such as Murchison Falls National Park). We had asked our game driver about poachers, because while on our game drive we saw an elephant with a very shortened trunk and a giraffe that was limping. Our guide told us that if the poachers are caught, they are killed. That is the punishment. They don't take poaching lightly and they constantly have rangers on patrol. Our guide was actually the ranger who saved the limping giraffe that we saw the year before from a poachers trap. While at the Rhino Sanctuary, we ended up seeing three of the white rhinos. We saw Moja, Kenyan for "Number 1" and he had recently become the alpha. And then we saw Bella and Luna. Luna was Bella's baby, born in April of this year. Our guide said that we were really lucky to see all three of them. He explained that the week before, Moja had mated with Bella and left her. He had come back the night before we got there to check and see if he was successful in impregnating her. Rhinos mate purely to conceive. We were able to walk within about 20 feet of these beautiful creatures.
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| Bella and Luna |
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| Moja |
Overall, I had an awesome time on safari. God was so present and the beauty he has created is breathtaking.
After getting back from safari, we were able to just rest and hang out. I spent all day Christmas Eve making food. Christmas day I went to a church in the morning that ended up being 3 1/2 hours long. After that I came back and ate left overs (there was a really bad storm going on at this point and we lost power), and then went to Mary and Emma's house to hang out with them. We talked and watched movies and just enjoyed being together seeing as we couldn't be with our families. This was my first Christmas away from home and it was definitely weird. It didn't feel like Christmas here at all (with it being 80+ degrees and sweating every day, that doesn't really say Christmas to me). However, we did celebrate Christ's birth and that's what it really is all about. Christ is the greatest gift of all. I got to Skype with my family (minus my brother who was at Debbie's house with her family) when I got back from Mary and Emma's. That was really nice. It was wonderful to see my family, but hard knowing that I wasn't actually able to be with them. However, God was with me and got me through.
Tomorrow The James Place opens, and work resumes. I'm so excited to have the children back, it's been so quiet without them. One more day completely in charge, and then Trey will be back on Tuesday and Tina the week after that. I just found out that there is an intern coming on January 13th. There are going to be many transitions soon, and I'm just praying that God will allow me to handle them all with grace. I'm excited for Tina to come back, to be under her guidance and learn from her.
For all of those who are wondering, I still haven't figured out what I'm doing when this internship is over. However, that is okay. The Lord will show me in his own timing what I'm meant to do. I don't need to worry about it. Oh, and I got my return ticket home. I'll be flying back to New Jersey on June 13th so I'll be home in time for my sister's high school graduation on the 18th.
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