Oh, the camp where we can look at the goat-breeding income-generation project is only a 30- or 45-minute drive away, said Stephen, the Kitgum director of the Youth Social Work Association.We will be back in under two hours. As the skies darkened for the daily rainy season downpour, Stephen reassured me that the minivan we had hired would have no trouble getting back. He knew a road that always stayed dried.
Six hours later, two of them stuck on a muddy road, I can say this: Stephen has questionable judgment.
His intentions were good enough -- to show off his group's program in a Kitgum District internally displaced person's camp. But the rain came down harder and longer than any other day we have been here. That dry road Stephen had mentioned was indeed dry. But he didn't seem to consider that we also had to take a tiny road off of the good road that was more like a rocky path going up a hill. We went a few yards, but there was no way we were going to make it. The first time we got stuck was when Ayela was trying to turn the van around. A couple of passersby kindly stopped and helped push out out.
We backtracked the 45 minutes it took us to get stuck and went on the road we had used to go to the camp. The road was soup. The mud was soft and cars had made gullies with their car tires. We got stuck in one of them. One of the back tires got stuck up to the van frame and we simply weren't budging. We became the entertainment in the area as people gathered to watch. A few young men helped to rock the car to move the tire, but it was useless. I had visions of being stuck there late into the night -- and I'll explain later why I was trying to get back quickly. Finally, a public-transportation truck full of men and women finally came from the other direction. I don't think it would have stopped to help except we were blocking the road. After another half hour or so, Ayela used the truck's jack to life up the back end and place some bricks men had collected and put them under the tire. We finally got back to our hotel at about 5 p.m. after what was supposed to be a quick morning trip.
We freshened up a bit and Ayela pushed on to Gulu. See, a subplot that has run through this visit is that my mother has been hospitalized in a Cleveland suburb with pneumonia so I am cutting the trip short. Michael and I are scheduled to return Thursday June 17. Now, I'm shooting for Sunday or Monday but we are encountering difficulty in changing our reservations. Still, I wanted to get back to Gulu, which is closer to the airport, say goodbye to Jennifer, and be ready to speed to the airport if possible.
We got to Abitimo's house in Gulu at about 7 p.m. Jennifer gave Michael and I big hugs and we all went into the house to chat. It was dark in the living room -- electricity in Gulu is off as much as it is on it seems. So by two flashlight lamps, we chatted. We talked about the apartment that leftover reader donations will finance for at least for a couple of months. We are hoping to find a small piece of property and a house to buy for Jennifer's family, so everyone can move from Kitgum to be with Jennifer in Gulu. We audio taped Jennifer pretending she was a radio reporter interviewing her mom, then videotaped an interview with her. We'll post them when we get back. Then it was time for us to go. I told Jennifer to be humble, respectful and a serious student. She agreed and we hugged again. As we were driving out of the compound, Jennifer was walking toward the kitchen. Under the Gulu night sky, Jennifer's journey ends -- for now.
