Dear friends and family,

After one month immersed in this foreign place in the Southwest corner of Uganda, it is finally happening; I know people and people know me as more than just a white (and supposedly wealthy) tourist "Omuzungu". This phenomenon came to me yesterday as I was making my "quick" 1-hour trip into town and on the way I stopped to talk to not one but four local friends and boy did this fill me with joy. It was like that feeling you get Sophomore year in college when all of a sudden, in stark contrast to your freshman days, you suddenly recognize half of campus as you are waving in all directions while booking it to class. I ran into our compound guard picking up (nasty looking) food for the guard dogs, two high school girls who I met last week as they are selling notebooks to raise money for school fees (a very noble cause), and the bank security guard who always metal detects me before I enter Barclays Bank to get small change for the market. 

Speaking of the Central Market... Emily and I can no longer make a quick run to the market where word has traveled fast that we are practicing our Runyankore and every booth owner has taken it upon themselves to help us. We go to see Debra or "mama" (remarkable coincidence that she has two daughters named Meggie and Emily- allowed for immediate bonding) for our g-nuts, Kirsten for out bananas and Watermelons, Sarah for our pineapple, and I can not remember the bean ladies names but we are regulars there as well. And then for my favorite mangoes we have to venture into the alley of mango and lemon boys who always attempt to woo us over and hitch a ride back to America.
One of my favorite days this past week was filled with hours of venturing through the back roads of our district called Boma, followed by games of UNO with our sweet neighbor girl and our compound guard. I have included some photos from this lovely day:

The beauty in this place continues to put me in awe of the earth God has created and the happiness of the people here from the simplest joys in life causes me to continually thank and praise the Lord for all His blessings. These next weeks I am joining the 3rd year PT students at the college here for their unit on Pediatrics. This will not only give me a brilliant overview of how children are treated in therapy here but it will also open up the opportunity for more relationships with students here who share my passion for therapy. Please pray over this lovely opportunity I have been blessed with; that I can have a learners attitude and that I can find confidence in such a different learning environment (it takes so much more energy for me to understand the English that is spoken here by the lecturers and the students).

Blessings,

Meg