What I Saw In Africa

The students and Dr. McDonald who were going on to Kisiizi got back on the van and started on their way to Kisiizi.  About an hour on the road they passed a small village where there were some vendors and shops along the roads.  Then the van started to smoke and make a roaring sound.  Then Andrew pulled over on the shoulder of the road again and Dr. McDonald and Andrew got out of the van to check it out.  Now, there was a full load of students in the van; all of the students from Kisiizi, Kampala, my aunt’s worksite Luweero and Dr. McDonald and her daughter Jessica with their driver.  There were a total of ten of them in a fifteen passenger van.  My aunt thought that may be why they were having problems again with the van.   About 30 minutes had passed and Andrew could not figure out what was wrong with the van so Dr. McDonald suggested that they try to go back to the small town they had just passed and maybe there would be a mechanic there that could fix the van.  They loaded the van again and Andrew drive slowly back to the small village along the road there were a few houses sitting in the distance off of the road and no one was in sight.  When they got back to the small village everyone got out of the van and the students went shopping at the different shops there.  Andrew went to one of the store and asked about a mechanic and a man left to go and find one for him.  My aunt said they bought some chicken on a stick and sodas from a store and then they sat at a table on the side of a store waiting on the mechanic to come and help fix their van.  Finally, about an hour later a guy came and helped Andrew with the van.  He told him one of the belts was broken and he had a shop was further into town so he would be back with a belt to replace the old one.  While they were waiting Tanny, Joyce and Evelyn met a young lady who was trying to sell them some dresses.  They were some beautiful traditional dresses and Tanny bought several of them the young lady really thanked her because that was the only sale she had had the whole week.  Now, it was going late and the mechanic made it back with the belt and replaced it.  The van was now running properly.  The students boarded the van and Dr. McDonald told Andrew to take them back to Ishaka because it was getting dark and the roads in that part of the country was not safe at night.  She explained there were rebels that kidnap and rob people on the road at night and there were on street light to see the road.  My aunt said in the newspaper there were a lot of stories about missing foreigner on mission that were never found.  She also said when they were in Luweero she read in the daily newspaper about the rebels in the north ravaging villages taking the young girls and boys out of their homes to become a part of  their armies.  Uganda has for decades had civil unrest in the north part of their country and the current President Museveni overthrew their old government back in1986 with a violent overthrow.  That was why Dr. McDonald was nervous about going on to Kisiizi.  So, they all got back in the van and Andrew started back on the road to Ishaka when they got about a mile down the road there was a huge set of cow horns in the middle of the road blocking the road.  My aunt said the cow horns were not in the road when they first went down that rode.   Andrew noticed it and pulled the van on the right of the road to keep from hitting it and there stood several men on the side of the road where there was a house in the distance.  My aunt said Dr. McDonald told everyone to get down so that the men could not see them while Andrew got out of the van.  My aunt said she had a feeling something was not right with the situation because Dr. McDonald turned red a beak and she scared.  My aunt said she could her Andrew’s voice yelling at the men in their language and she said she was praying for their safely.  She could not understand what Andrew was saying to them but the tone he had was not a nice one.  They all exchanged words and Andrew had a tire iron with him.  It seemed as through they were going to rush the van but they only moved horn out of the middle of the road.  Andrew got back in the van and they went back to Ishaka and it had gotten very dark then.  When they got back to Ishaka the other students were surprised to see them.  My aunt told Tarsha about what had happened and she said it was a blessing they all got out of the situation alive.  She said there was a group or rebel who rule that part of the country and no one that live in that area travel that main road at night because they were notorious about killing people and kidnapping young boys for their armies.  Dr. McDonald had Andrew take her to a local hotel to get some rooms for them for that night stay.  My aunt said she stayed at the hospital guesthouse in Tarsha’s room with her.  Then she got a chance to meet Ann, Tarsha’s friend, she was there spending the night also.  Then that night my aunt realized her blessings because they were so far from home and in a very dangerous situa