Dead Man in the Street

The value of life is just not the same here in Africa. For example, crossing the street here will get you killed as demonstrated by the dead man we saw laying in the middle of the street on Saturday. Traffic continued to move by, as if it was business as usual. In the United States, a dead body in the road would have blocked traffic for hours. And worse yet, here another man took the shoes from the dead man’s body. Who knows how long he will lay there in the middle of the road. Someone said that people, especially white people, don’t stop because here, they are quick to judge and they will probably think it was you, who hit him with your car. Then on occasion maybe even take matters into their own hands, which often includes stoning people in the street. So unfortunately, you don't stop to help here often.


It is risky business here because there are no speed limits, no stop signs and everyone drives on the wrong side of the road! And to make matters worse, I have counted a total of only TWO (2) stop lights in the entire city of Kampala - which has close to 3 million people living in it! Therefore, I thought something so rare, deserved to have its picture taken!

Rooster Honorarium

Pastor Mark Bryant was here for a few days with some businessmen from his church in Boise, Idaho. We drove 2 ½ hours to a small village where the church was dedicating a new building. Here you can see a picture of their old church, which would allow rain all over the attenders.




Over 250 people showed up; many walking as many as 4 miles in order to be there. They are very excited to have a tin roof on their new building! The service lasted 4 hours, with two choirs, two sermons, an update from a local government official and about 8 greetings, including one from me.


They were dressed in their very finest for the occasion. Traditional Ugandan dresses are very colorful and extravagant.

They gave me some sugar cane as a gift, but they gave a rooster and some eggs to Pastor Mark as an honorarium for speaking. These people are the poorest of the poor and have nothing else to give. The rooster is the highest honor, they could give a guest speaker. It sure was entertaining to drive over two hours with a rooster in the car!

My Friend - Mr. Gecko

My first night here I woke up with a large spider bite on my foot. Anyone who knows my extreme fear of spiders might find that an ironic welcoming gift. However, after the second night in my room, I was startled by a new resident, Mr. Gecko. Turns out geckos eat mosquitoes and other insects, so since his presence, I have not been personally eaten in my room. So other than the random “droppings” I must sweep out of my room daily, I am happy to share my room with this guest! As you can see in the picture, he is in pursuit of one of my nemesis spiders!

After asking many of you in the States for suggestions for Mr. Gecko’s first name, I received many suggestions including....

• Gary the Gecko
  
• Chad or "Abstinence" - both courtesy of Chad Van Horn
  
• Lizzy - though I don't think suggesting your spouse's name wins you very many marriage points, Brian
• Gabriel - since he's my guardian angel (against spider bites)
  
• Then there were several votes for the name Geico (TV Ads sure do influence us way to much!)
  

Despite how great, many of these ideas are, I have come to think of him as just Mr. Gecko. :)