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Choice Greetings from Uganda!

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As they say here, choice greetings from Uganda!

No matter how you cut it, the travel is LONG, but it went as well as could be hoped for: on time (and early!) flights, being the first off the plane and second in immigration, quick (undamaged) bags, and the only thing slowing us down on exit was having to feed the bags through the x-ray machine (which no one was looking at!).

Now we’re enjoying a cool, cloudy (but not rainy!) morning over delicious Ugandan coffee, playful white faced monkeys running across the roof, and the same white tabby cat as last June asking for eggs.

Perfect!

It was 30 hours from when I left my house to when I got the hotel, with 3 hours of sleep, so this is a short (hopefully coherent) newsletter. This afternoon we’ll go to the compound where I’m sure I’ll have to dance (!) — I’ll try to stand in the back, but tune into our Instagram page to see how it goes. (Touch the Slum has one, too, and they are probably more likely to post slightly embarrassing video of yours truly trying to do African dancing… Not that you’d want to see that…)

More coming soon. For now, I’m thankful for safe travel, begging cats, goofy monkeys, a view of Lake Victoria, and hot Ugandan coffee.

And you!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS Just click the icon below for Instagram. We’ll have a lot of great content once I wake up!

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“Choice Greetings From Uganda!”

You know you’re in Uganda when there’s a tree growing through your room! To be honest, by the time I got to the Kampala Forest Resort (one of my favorite places to stay anywhere!) at 1:30am, I didn’t pay the tree that much attention. It had been a VERY long, frustrating day of bad weather, flight delays, and the “new normal” of travel (which doesn’t have much to recommend it). But waking up to the tree, and coming out for COFFEE and breakfast and seeing Lake Victoria in the distance were worth it.

I’m not heading to the compound until 12:30, and it’ll be a fairly short day. But I have ALL THE GOODIES that I was able to bring from donations over the past 2 years:

  • a tactical laptop
  • iPad Mini
  • iPhone 11 ProMax
  • 2 suitcases full of baby clothes
  • 1 suitcase full of women’s clothes
  • 66 sets of reusable sanitary pads
  • a full bin of disposable sanitary pads
  • medical equipment from MDS
  • books, toys, and games

In short, it’s going to be an *amazing* Christmas-in-May!

When my son and I were here last, Touch the Slum was working out of a cramped 2-room office in the slum.

Now we have a full compound, 12 resident girls, 60 students, 18 staff, and 30+ babies and children every day. To say that’s a big change in the last 2 years is an understatement, and it’s all thanks to YOU and your support.

I’ll be adding a 3rd weekly email for the 2 1/2 weeks I’m gone, since the schedule is full and I want you to see all that we’re doing.

Webele nyo!

Jennings

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