Day 1: Off to Uganda – Happy to Finally Hug Sweet Phoebe

First, thank you to the person who sent an amazing, very large donation, anonymously. It made me cry tears of joy and gratitude. I wonder if you really understand the good you have done. I hope you are reading this.

After snow causing delays in Brussels, we landed in Entebbe, Uganda around 1:30 am. On the plane, it was fun to watch a few movies, read a book and sleep a little but we were really happy to step out into the warm Ugandan air and head for the Gorilla Guesthouse. Max, our driver was a delight and cheerful even at that ungodly hour. The manager had to be woken up to give us a key and direct us to our room but was happy to accommodate my suggestion that we just take care of payment in the light time of morning. We fell into bed at 3:00 a.m. and I didn’t wake until 8:30 which is unheard of for me.

We have stayed at this lovely hotel for many years while in Uganda.

At breakfast, on the familiar open patio, I was serenaded with birdsong as I wrote my morning scribbles and enjoyed hearing several languages in tables nearby. Helen joined me after a while, and we discussed what we thought the day would bring.

 After breakfast we sat on the stone porch outside our room, watched the birds and waited for Phoebe.  Traveling with Helen means doing my best to become a birder. It’s fabulous! I see tails, wings and beaks that otherwise I’d never notice, and I get to hear exotic names like scarlet crested sunbird and double-toothed barbet. Time flew by and before we knew it, Phoebe appeared with Claire, her newest boarder. Phoebe welcomes young girls and animals into her life without even trying. Claire is delightful and talented. She can crochet anything and showed us her pretty work. She stays with Phoebe during school breaks and helps train new tailors at the sewing center.

Phoebe and I have not seen each other since March of 2020, and both of us were so happy to be together again. As always, she looks gorgeous with her stunning high heels and elegant dress while I had pulled on some capris and an old linen top. Maureen and I always used to say that we felt like country mice around her. But mostly she exudes self-confidence and grace, putting everyone around her at ease. I so admire that. She is my hero.

Phoebe Nabwami - our wonderful MoonCatcher Uganda Coordinator.

We spent the rest of the day at the new sewing building. In addition to the Nordlys Foundation (Saratoga Springs, New York) this space was built with money donated in memory of our dear friend Maureen Fernandez who made these trips with me in our early years and became close to Phoebe as well. Later in the trip we will dedicate the building to Maureen.

Phoebe is helping young mothers and students, who haven’t completed school, to sew and find productive ways to support themselves and use their time. They are lovely and each introduced herself while I tried (not so successfully) to learn all their names. Along with new faces I found Grace and Sylvia, “from the beginning” tailors of MCP there and Desire (once a MCP student and now well on her way to becoming an IT pro.) Patricia, a young woman who Maureen gifted with a machine and some sewing tools, was there as well. Her business is booming and her self-confidence has soared.

We gave everyone MoonCatcher pins and lollipops. The two babies in the room were entertained with bubbles donated by one of the many people who brought me gifts to give to people here. Thank you all for these.

We met Alfred who cares for the pigs the tailors have bought with savings club money. He’s responsible for cleaning the pens and feeding the animals. I took a turn at cranking the hand mill that we’d sent during the pandemic lock-down. Alfred made it look so easy, but it took both hands on the crank and all my strength to just barely turn it. I did love seeing it in use though. We were milling dried corn for the pigs.

We ate outside in a gazebo reserved just for us and discussed the International Rotary grant that we recently received for our work in Uganda, and will start to implement on this trip. Phoebe had bought us a bottle of wine, so we toasted to the start of another Ugandan adventure and then off to bed.