The Christmas letter sent Dec 1 by a mailing service in the USA seems to be arriving this week, as we have heard from a few readers. Hooray. Meanwhile for the first time in over a year we entered an AIRPORT and FLEW to another country. Which was surreal.
But in this case, about as safe as it gets, given the fact that we are in the vaccine-less continent.
To rewind a bit, we have had no intention of pushing the COVID safety boundaries (MOSSY is our favourite accronym, as it sounds like a very much not-rolling stone, we quietly stay where we fell and gather moss. Masked, Outdoors, Sanitised, Socially Spaced, and You-centered. . . . we go about our days wearing our facial coverings, staying at two-arms length in sunshine and breeze, thinking about protecting others from our exposures in the hospital, slathering on the hand sanitiser.) Unlike most years, we pretty much stayed in Bundibugyo, with a couple of long-weekends after the strictest lock-down lifted, to camp or get groceries. I think we were present for every Thursday team meeting all year, but may have forgotten a miss. But over the past few weeks it became apparent that our partners in Burundi were not going to cancel a summit they were planning with us, and our team there actually wanted us to come, and we pondered the risks and believed it was the right thing to do.
So last Saturday, we drove to Kampala in time to meet our two new colleagues arriving in Entebbe. Laura is a teacher headed to Litein, Kenya for two years, but spending her first 5 months in Bundibugyo to fill a gap we will have and to gain some variety of experience while her eventual team leaders wrap up a home assignment. Grayson wanted to come for an 18 month apprenticeship but . . COVID . . and we are happy to welcome him for three months instead. Ann is the Apprentice and Internship leader, so we joined her orientation for the first couple of days as they began a 7-day period of caution in Entebbe and Kampala before traveling to Bundibugyo tomorrow (they both tested negative again, so good to go!). As we enjoyed MOSSY meetings and meals talking about culture and team life . . . we also popped up to Kampala to sort out our own travel.
Long story short, the Burundian embassy staff were amazing in processing all our visa work virtually the week prior, but never mentioned the little detail that they had moved their physical embassy in Kampala recently. So that final day of getting actual approval stamped in our passports turned out to be a treasure-hunt of a challenge. In spite of wrong advice, Google-map fail, wrong addresses on the web, no one answering phones . . . good old footwork and asking enough gate guards and boda drivers finally led us to the new site. Then we chalked up another life lesson: the good deal they offered on visa costs was indeed too good to be true, somehow they seemed to have categorised us as Ugandan not American, so another trip to the bank to pay the balance and at last we were legal. Then it was just a matter of getting negative COVID tests processed by the Uganda Viral Research Institute, which came back at 10 pm Monday, allowing us to head to the airport by 6 am Tuesday.
the treasure hunt hiking the hills of Kampala
perks of Uganda: mobile testing
The airport was a ghost town. We were two of the four total passengers on our flight. Good service and quite safe, we landed in Bujumbura. We could really use a few months in France at some point to booster-dose my now 40-year-expired French class, but we made it through a 10-step immigration and COVID-testing process once again in the airport, and were bused with our two Burundian co-fliers to a quarantine hotel we had booked ahead of time. New rules as of a few weeks ago due to the spread of mutant viral variants: Burundi closed land and water borders and requires all arriving air passengers to sit 7 days in a hotel room and be re-tested negative before release.
exit loung, Entebbe Airport
final step: arrival COVID tests in tents outside the airport in Bujumbura
As jails go, this one is very pleasant. We are not supposed to step outside, but we do have a little patio area with a yard of palm trees in front, a glimpse of the lake across a highway, and two very acclimated spectacularly beautiful Crested Cranes that preen and peck and are fond of toast fragments. Our room is simple but spacious, more of a suite, with a couch area, hot pot, dorm fridge, electricity and a solidly functional bathroom, and small AIR CONDITIONED bedroom. Three days have gone by quickly, and here we are smack at the midpoint in day 4.
current view from my computer
when the mosquitoes get too intense, moving inside to work
And as it turns out, subtracting hospital work and leading our team-on-the-ground does open up some space, but it does NOT leave us bored or restless. In fact we've had non-stop work the last couple days with meetings, phone calls, email, discussion, planning. I guess we let some work accumulate knowing we'd have this stretch of Area Director office time. Frankly I'm glad for the space of this week. So far have read two novels and inching my way through Four Hundred Souls. We do jumping jacks and pushups on the patio, and order delicious grilled fish and crispy Belgian fries for dinner. Sleeping probably 1-2 hours longer than normal every night. No complaints.
If all goes well, we will get a third negative COVID test on Sunday (day 6) and be released Monday (day 7) . . . but of course that could all get pushed back a day, or more, or our test could be positive (hard to see how unless Crested Cranes are transmitters). That gives us a few days with our Kibuye team, then two days of meetings about our partnership here with the leaders of Hope Africa University.
Prayers we would be filled with the Spirit as we get this opportunity to see a team face-to-face, and build relationship with our partners. After a lock-down year of COVID, we know this is a huge privilege.
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