On my final weekend in Uganda, all seven of the interns joined by one of the eMi staff in Jinja and the three girls who have a street kids ministry in Kampala (takes breath) went to a lodge on the Nile near Jinja called The Hairy Lemon. We had heard about this place from other eMi staff and were told that it was a great and really chill place to stay. We booked a ‘crocodile bunkhouse’ with eleven beds for two nights and all headed out on Friday morning with public transit to spend the day in Jinja and then head to the Lemon that evening. After about three hours on the road we finally made it to Jinja. We ate lunch at our favourite restaurant called Ozzie’s which I have decided make the best burgers I have ever had to this day. After that we did some souvenir shopping, talked to some street kids for a while, and then met up with Brice, an architect from eMi in Jinja, who has a pick-up truck and was able to drive us to the Lemon with everyone in the back. What a sight we must have been on the road – a white pick-up filled to the brim with a group of mzungu’s traveling Africa-style.
After about an hour we arrived at the Lemon, but the lodge is actually an island and so we had to take a ferry out onto the Nile to get there. The ferry was a rickety canoe that they managed to fit many of us in at once and was oared by a single (muscular) man! The Hairy Lemon island itself was all it promised to be. It was super chill, the bunkhouse was simple and nice, the food was good, and we were all in each others great company. On Saturday David and Katherine went white water rafting as this part of the Victoria Nile has some of best rapids in the world; I was originally supposed to go but couldn’t because of my recent knee injury. The rest of us just chilled for the day swimming, playing volley ball, tossing a frisbee, reading books, and playing cards. It was heavenly to be in a place with so few people. One thing about Kampala is that is is impossible to escape the presence of people. It was a great time for me to meditate a lot on the trip and my rapidly approaching return to Canada. On Sunday we had our own worship time and then headed home after lunch. It was an awesome weekend although it was the calm before the storm! Upon my return it was time to begin packing and preparing to leave for home.
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