My friends, I really cannot believe that the time has gone so quickly!\u00a0\u00a0 Since I’m at the end of my internet time, I’ll work tonight to get photos uploaded so at least you can have a glimpse of what life here is all about.\u00a0\u00a0 I promise to work on the photos and other stories as soon as I return.\u00a0 I have so very many!!<\/p>\n
I thought I would take an opportunity also to reflect a bit about my total journey here as a whole.<\/p>\n
I came here wanting to change a life, and in doing that, mine was changed forever.\u00a0 This place gets into your skin.\u00a0 It digs deep into your heart.\u00a0 It creates a soulful yearning for more.\u00a0\u00a0 I’ll never forget this experience it was one full of colorful tapestry of a multitude of experiences that are as difficult to write\u00a0 about as one can ever imagine.<\/p>\n
I’m sorry to keep you waiting about the kids, but they are so very precious to me and I want to honor them with the right words.\u00a0\u00a0 I want those children to change touch your heart too, so I have to pray for the words.\u00a0 I can’t wait for you to meet them all.<\/p>\n
Tonight I will take Farouk, my driver, out to dinner for our last meal together.\u00a0\u00a0 I can’t imagine another person I’d rather have on this journey with me.\u00a0 He’s an amazing guy with a heart as big as Africa.\u00a0\u00a0 He took me to the Internal Displaced Persons Camps and Former War Zone, and gladly drove for 8 hours each way or more.\u00a0\u00a0 He maneuvered at least 400,001 potholes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He safely and expertly talked and drove at the same time and educated and dealt with the “traffic ah jams” and he slowed down the car so I could take photos of baboons and other silly things. \u00a0 I’ll miss him waiting until I got the shot then asking “Goot eett?” \u00a0 He waited on me in all my appointments and he knew instinctively when I wasn’t comfortable going in alone.\u00a0 He drove me to village orphanages where no car had been in ages.\u00a0 He loved on the children and passed out donations. \u00a0 He put my heavy tote on his shoulder when I needed to take pictures or hold children. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He was so honest with me and my possessions. \u00a0 He injured his foot transporting our baggage (thankfully it was not broken) and he smilingly greeted us with his special “You are welcome!” every morning with his foot swollen up like a balloon.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 The other amazing thing about him is that he’s traveled all over this country and some others as well.\u00a0 He knows the back roads, side roads and all the roads between.\u00a0 He didn’t think a thing about all my “moving\u00a0 all around.”\u00a0 \u00a0 He has a comfortable car and he turns on the AC!\u00a0\u00a0 I’m so very thankful to him for his hospitality, his graciousness to my Mzungu-ness, and him always looking out for me saying “mind your step Madame.”\u00a0 I was treated like a queen.<\/p>\n
He laughed at my goofy jokes and made a few of his own.\u00a0 He rode in the boat with me on the Nile and he know more about the species of flora and fauna than did our guide.\u00a0 He even went to church with me. \u00a0 We had an amazing journey, my good man Farouk and I.\u00a0 My goodness would this have been a desolate trip without him. I would have been completely lost.\u00a0 May God have many blessings for my driver, my cultural adviser, my protector, my forever friend and the best dimpled smile in East Africa!<\/p>\n
I had brought three watches, and I wanted to give those to the men that touched my heart.\u00a0\u00a0 I think I managed that.\u00a0 Farouk will drive with his on tonight.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Without an excellent driver you cannot negotiate this country in the beginning.\u00a0 Farouk is ready to be working for me in the future as we send teams of volunteers and also adoptive families.\u00a0\u00a0 I came here with this perfect idea in mind to find the right man for the job, and I really did.\u00a0 Farouk you are always welcome sir!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tonight I will take Farouk, my driver, out to dinner for our last meal together. I can’t imagine another person I’d rather have on this journey with me. He’s an amazing guy with a heart as big as Africa. He took me to the Internal Displaced Persons Camps and Former War Zone, and gladly drove for 8 hours each way or more. He maneuvered at least 400,001 potholes. He safely and expertly talked and drove at the same time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[251,253,252,254,5,185],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-african","tag-driver","tag-east-africa","tag-farouk","tag-uganda","tag-ugandan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions\/402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}