On Monday, Rod called and said that he forgot his passport. As crew it is not required, but since he would be coming back into Nairobi as a passenger, he was going to need it. I had been thinking that day that it might be a good idea for Cristiana and I to just go over to Entebbe for the weekend, since it did not work out for us to meet him in South Africa the week before, as we wanted. So I checked the airline schedule and rates, and booked us tickets.
All week I kept telling Cristiana that we were going to go “find” Daddy, instead of him coming home. She was SOOOO excited about it all. That we were going on an airplane to find him.
Friday morning we rushed around getting the last packing done and off to the airport we went. It was really kind of weird knowing that we were going on an international flight, but just 50 minutes away -- as opposed to the normal seven or eight hours when we go on the first leg to the States. We had a normal, uneventful flight over, and then had a wonderful surprise for Cristiana. Since Rod was in uniform and has airport ramp privileges, he was at the airplane when we walked down the stairs. Entebbe airport is quite small, even though it is an international airport. The airplanes park close to the terminal everyone walks down steps and then into the airport, as opposed to walking through the jet way to the terminal.
Cristiana saw him and ran right up into his arms. It is always funny to watch the other passengers when we do that. :-) The perks of having a husband and Daddy as a pilot. We spent the weekend with another AIM AIR family, Dan and Cindy Stairs. It was a lot of fun.
On Saturday, Cristiana and I finally got to visit a Rafiki Village. These places are incredible. (Again, I will let Rod do all the explaining on how the history, etc.) We arrived just after the kids had finished a presentation for the large group. I wish we could have been there for that, but the traffic was worse in Kampala than we expected. We did get to look around the facilities, the homes, and get to meet the staff, as well as the group that Rod had flown that week. Cristiana got to play with some of the kids, although not really understanding why they were there. She played ball with a little girl, and got all dirty at the swing set.
The real reason for the trip was a weekend away from Nairobi, and a weekend with just our little family. It turned out to be much more than that. An incredible opportunity to see what the Rafiki Foundation people do and how they are making an impact on the children of the countries where they serve. There is a village here in Kenya, and we hope to go visit it in the neat future.
Here is a photo of Cristiana and the little girl playing ball, or dropping the ball is maybe a better way to put it. :-) They both enjoyed it.
Here I am visiting with a lady named Kim, originally from the States. (And, you get to see my belly that is growing!) Kim and her husband Kyle have been there in Uganda for just over a year now. He is the resident doctor, and she helps out with some with the younger classes a few hours a week. They have four children, 9, 7, 5, and 3.
