Five thirty. Five freaking thirty. That is when my leaders and a few fellow team mates stormed into my room and woke us up on March 3rd (a.k.a. my birthday). They told us to be ready in half an hour and pack like it was any ordinary day. Confused and half asleep we all got ready to go on our mystery adventure. Turns out we were taking a trip to Gulu. Gulu is a town that a few of my team mates and myself had really wanted to visit. In Gulu there is an office for Invisible Children. If you don't know about Invisible children you probably don't know me very well. HA ok but seriously if you don't know them I am begging you- PLEASE check out their website! You're life will be changed. It's www.invisiblechildren.com.
Well it was Saturday, so the office was closed. But we got to meet up with a girl named Collins. Collins is literally the coolest African I have met! She was a roadie for Invisible Children and she wears skinny jeans. We got to see her college campus and hang out in the dorms. It's amazing how similar they were to my dorms at University of Delaware. It made me feel a little more at home! She took us to st. Mary hospital, where many children would sleep so they could avoid the LRA. It was really interesting to see places that I have read so much about.
After the hospital we were going to go to a village for some touristy type hings. However, we had a little malfunction. The bottom of our van hit a rock. We were stranded in the middle of no where Uganda, no cell service, and just a bit of water. Right before we began walking to try and find either cell service or the next town we prayed. We prayed that we would safely get out of there. What do we see when we open our eyes? A pick-up truck coming down the road. We ask them if they can take us to town and they agree. So we fit 11 people in the back of a truck and a few more in the front and get going. Turns out the owners of this truck were super awesome (I only heard, I was busy trying to stay alive in the back). So thirty minutes later we make it to town. Then after about an hour of walking we made it back to the dorms.
In the dorms some girls had made us dinner. WOW it was great! They pulled out all the stops. After dinner my awesome team brought me a cake! They also got me an African doll. Strange that a 19 year old would get a doll for her birthday- but it had hello kitty on it. Need I say more? The Ugandans told me that there was a tradition here that the birthday girl had to get water pored on her, so needless to say, I got soaked.
They also gave me a Ugandan name, "Lamaro", meaning "loved".
After that we packed up and went home. It was such a great day! I can't believe that I got to turn 19 in Uganda. God is just so good! I miss and love you all back home very much!
<3 Darby
