Traveling to Gratitude and Joy
In a Place Least Expected
2/13/2024
Just a few years ago, during an intense part of my life, I was traveling. A lot. I mean, a lot. Rarely would I travel beyond my home state of New York, yet here I was traveling in other states, and traveling internationally. In less than a year, I backpacked in Maine, I walked on the Camino in Spain for 3 days after a 6 day retreat, and I celebrated one sister’s 60th birthday with my other sisters and spouses in Ireland. But by far, the best was Uganda.
It was finally the year to go to Uganda, where I sponsor a child to go to school, get medical attention and eat. Not all of these are available to everyone in Uganda. For some, eating every day is a blessing. For some, receiving medical attention is a God-Send. For many, any schooling is unheard of in their families, as it costs money even for public school, and food comes first, medicine comes second.
So, my husband and I went to Uganda with 12 others on a humanitarian trip. It was truly a trip of a lifetime! We spent the first week in one town, doing what we were asked to do by the organization created by a fortunate Ugandan for less fortunate Ugandan children orphaned by AIDS. We brought with us lots of money for them to spend on the school and clinic, and many suitcases full of supplies. They had us paint the school, interview children who had sponsors back home, put away medical supplies at the clinic, and many other seemingly small tasks.
It may seem like so little. Yet, when speaking to the principal of the school, he explained that our being there is HUGE. I am white, and besides the team, I may have seen only 3 other white people. Yes, we stood out. Children chase after us with grins across their faces, shouting “Mugunzu! Mugunzu!” Which means White Person! While walking back to the guest house, frequently a small child would appear and hold my hand while wordlessly accompanying me. Being there, as white visitors, meant to them that the world had not forgotten them. Being there meant that there was still hope.
At the end of the first week, several of us went to a smaller town several hours away by bus. The main road was paved, the offshoots were not. We passed many places where the mud huts with grass roofs were in a grouping together surrounded by tall grass and mud. Sugar cane and papyrus grew in huge fields.
At this next town, there is a small primary school that had no electricity or running water. A few years back a team from our town in the USA installed a well and hand pump for the kids and teachers. We met the boy we were sponsoring, who did not yet know English, so we did our best to make him feel comfortable. In this town and as part of the school was a woman’s empowerment circle, teaching the women about money and creating a supportive community with weekly meetings.
Everyone we met was joyful despite the lack of funds. Money does not buy happiness. But it can buy school supplies, food, and medicine. The people of Uganda were grateful for whatever they received, never expecting more.
At the end of the trip, a celebration was held, with traditional music and dancing, and so much joy was spread, that I did not want to leave.
I knew I would be back. And I did go back, after a few years. The Uganda trip ended on March 1, 2020, and we went into lockdown two weeks later. Since then, I have been back twice, and I am going again in 3 weeks.
We are here on earth incarnated into this life. We get a chance to do something real, something meaningful. We wander around for a number of years trying to figure it out. Sometimes, we get a chance to figure it out more than once, with different careers, different friendships and other relationships, different passions. For me, Uganda is the only place I need to travel to now. The work there is never done, and I never get tired of being around the Ugandan Joy!
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