My Unexpected Adventure to Uganda

Day 1
I was going to travel to Rwanda for ten days but my flight got canceled. So now I have to stay in Uganda for three more days. After seeing the movie Invisible Children I was a little bit scared about being abducted by other child soldiers and never being able to come back. But luckily that never happened. I found myself wanting to live the life of the children who were running away from the soldiers in these three days. So I hung out with them. It was a lot more difficult than I thought. I experienced part of the life that these children did. I saw the fear in their eyes and felt the fear in mine. So I hid when they hid, I slept when they slept, I ran away when they ran away. I was truly scared of what could happen anytime and anywhere. I ate the one meal a day that they did. This dish that I ate was delicious, but smelled horrible. So far I am doing great, but I am feeling a little scared.



Day 2
Today I woke up to the sound of gun shots nearby. Apparently a young girl refused to go with the soldier so the young soldier shot the girl. I asked Jacob, "How often does this tragedy happen?" He told me that they have about one death every day. I couldn't believe it. Once every day? Anger rose up in me and I had to think of some way to stop it. Everyone gathered around the little girl and prayed. Even though I didn't know her name, I felt mournful that she had to die for no particular reason; just because some boy wanted her to be captured. We all held hands and I felt the roughness of Jacob's hands in mine. We all stayed together for a while, and then the girl's family buried her, and somehow everyone returned to every day life. By the time this memorial had ended, I realized that it was already 1:00 A.M. So Jacob and I left,and we kept running, hiding, and exhaustedly we ate our one and only meal. After that we gently fell into a restless asleep.


Day 3
Today as I was on my plane ride to Rwanda, I felt glad that my flight was canceled. I felt this way because if the flight wasn't canceled then I wouldn't have been able to meet Jacob and learn about the child-soldiers ("Invisible Children"). Jacob's life story was so interesting to learn from. Every day he has to go through fear, pain, and suffering; and worst of all he has to remember what he has seen, and remember his brother's death. Watching Jacob, I learned how he copes with sadness and death. Each day he takes a moment of silence for his brother, and he doesn't cry.
I thought that everything about the culture of the African people was very interesting. I would love to visit here for a longer period of time when I return again. Well, we just landed in Rwanda, so I have to go now. Bye.