Soroti town

Life in Africa is a bit different than in the States. Yesterday we went with Simon and Dena to their town called Soroti where they are building a group of apartments to rent out and eventually one large apartment on top will be just for them. We walked down to the bus depot to wait for the 10am bus, but it did not pull in where it should have. The “pilot” chose to park on the other side of the buildings there. Simon saw it and went to investigate whether it was going our way or not. Turns out it was our bus and we had to hurry to catch it because he was ready to leave. Meanwhile Amanda decided to buy a snack (something like a tortilla only thicker and layered with oil) so Dena went back for her and they almost missed the bus. This particular driver was in a big hurry to get there and back. It takes an hour and a half by bus to get to Soroti and we made it in one hour!!!! Coming in to Soroti town we almost hit a bota bota man (that’s a bicycle taxi) who wanted to cross the street but couldn’t judge the buses speed very well so he started across and then stopped. The driver slammed on the brakes and those in the aisle of the bus went flying forward. Thankfully we missed him by about an inch.

Soroti is a nice town. It is smaller than Mbale and flatter. Being farther north, it is also drier and warmer, but still a nice little place. Simon showed us his house in progress and Amanda and I made fast friends with the kids living around there because we could show them the pictures we took of them with our digital cameras. We stayed in a guest house called “Spacenet.” I think they arrived at that name because it is spacious and has internet access. Many stores and inns have strange names around here. It’s fun to figure out why they named them what they did. Sometimes you can’t figure it out. Oh well.

Our return trip today was quite different. The driver (pilot) was not in any hurry to get out of town this time. We got to the bus depot around 10:15ish and the bus was supposed to leave about then, but it wasn’t full so we waited for 2 hours while the driver and callers gathered passengers on there way to Kumi or Mbale or somewhere in between. Once all the seats were full he still thought there should be more people on the bus so the aisled was filled with people as well. Then we pulled forward about one hundred feet and crammed in a few more. Still he wasn’t satisfied so we pulled forward another few feet and packed in 2 or 3 others. Needless to say it was very hot and smelly in there. Simon asked a few times before we left when we would be on our way and was always told “soon” or “we leave now” and still we sat. African time is a lot like Israeli time—very elastic. =0) After we had pulled out of the Kumi station (which is about half way to Mbale), a man in the very back called out that he was supposed to get off there. So word was passed up to the driver and he and his companion pushed through all the people to get out. Just when you think you are on your way – alas…not quite. Very amusing though.

The country side is very beautiful between Soroti and Mbale, but we were all very happy to get out at Mbale and make the trek home. I can’t imagine what the ride will be like if we take the bus to Kigali (Rwanda). Hopefully we will chose a bus that won’t break down along the way. We shall see as the time approaches. All things are in God’s hands, so I know he will work it out accordingly.

Tuesday, Dr Jan took us out to the clinic in the village she works in. That was nice, but I’ll be happy not to alphabetize another box of medical records if I don’t have to. Connie and I walked into the center of town to look around the market for masking tape, but most of the people did not know what we were talking about. They probably have never seen masking tape before. Some didn’t understand English so that made it challenging too.

Well, I only have 2 minutes left on this computer so I guess I will have to tell you more about that later.

Hope you are all well, and enjoying the winter weather. It’s beautiful here today, but it might rain a little. The clouds look ominous to me.
See you soon.