I arrive at the Entebbe airport late Saturday night. Several members of the Mukisa family are there to greet me. We say hello and hug in the dark. It is close to midnight. After almost 22 hours of flying, I still had several more hours until I will arrive at my new home. I stay that night in a hotel in Kampala and sleep in a strange sort of limbo --I'm neither here nor there. The next day, we drive for four hours to Budondo. It is a village made up of gorgeous green landscape, dirt roads and semi-permanent homes made of brick, cement and sand. An occasional permanent house is erected among the rest. The land is rich with fruit trees (mangoes, passion fruit, jackfruit, avocados, bananas) as well as sugarcane, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes and beans.
We live pretty modestly here. There is no refrigerator, so all of our meals are extremely fresh and very delicious. We often spend afternoons eating ripe fruits underneath the mango tree. I have learned that it is the same mango tree where many community members have gathered to discuss the creation of the Suubi Center.
The week has been full of learning and listening. Mr. Mukisa shares his life--how he was able to travel to Russia for his degree, how it sprung his desire to bring all he had learned back to his community, how he saw that he could be the start of an amazing upward change in Budondo. He is always looking back to his home, one that he loves, and thinking "how can I make it better?"
And his whole family is like that. They are all driven, socially conscious people who want to ignite change in their village. It's truly incredible. I find myself in awe of their motivations and convictions.
I finally visit the Suubi Center on Thursday. It was a hot stroll through the village. Mukisa and I pass and greet neighbors. I smile and wave and acknowledge the shouts of muzungu from the children. When we reach the center and it looks just as I had seen in the pictures. The brick exterior amidst the trees and grass. The sign that reads "Suubi Women's Reproductive Health Project". I can't believe I'm finally here.
I realize just how much work we have to do. The rooms are unfinished, with rocks piled on floors; wasps have made the ceilings their new home and were agitated by our intrusion; widows and doors and floors were still missing.
A few days earlier, Denis and I had tried to withdraw the money wired by Mama Hope so that construction could begin. But they had not yet received the funds. Apparently they were stuck in a bank in London. I got the impression that this would not be the first roadblock we would face when it came to our project.
So the center was far from finished. Oh well. That meant I would get to see its last days of construction and its doors finally open for the public. Mukisa suggests that we have a bike rally on opening day, a fun and noticeable event to announce that services were open. I couldn't wait.
When we get home, we settle beneath the trees to eat a jackfruit given to us by one of the neighbors. I was delighted to find that it's sweet fruit tastes exactly like an orange Starburst candy. More please!
The sun goes down and the village is blanketed in darkness. It will take time for my eyes to adjust.
Now, as I write, we sit in the courtyard. Jojo--Mukisa's four year old grandson-- has just finished his bath and is wrapped up in an oversized orange blanket. He cuddles next to Denis as they tease the kitten who has made her regular dinner-time appearance. We get news that the money transfer had gone through. Finally.
Tomorrow, the real work will begin.
