Now that we have been on about food, I
want to speak of an enormous kindness that was shown unto me. Let me
put you guys in context first...this is literally skipping from my
first day to my final moments but...we shall work backwards from
here.
My last day in Kampala, I was really
tired and I was really frustrated by the fact that I did not know my
way around sufficiently enough for me to get myself home. I find this
very frustrating about travel, the fact that when you are new to a
place, you are like a child, you need to depend on anyone and
everyone! So my friends and I had spent the previous evening at a uni
that is about 2 hours out of kampala and when we got back into town
the next day, my friends still wanted to be out and about exploring
and being touristy. I was done with Kampala, homesickness had set in,
I was very ready to be back on Kenyan soil, home ground. So I asked a
friend, a ugandan girl that we had been spending time with, if she
would be so kind as to help me get back to where we were staying and
she was fine with that since it was on her route home. Now, this girl
is absolutely lovely! She is so sweet and she went to great lengths
to talk to me, find out how my stay had been and just be friendly.
But I was having none of that! I was so preoccupied with all the
packing I had to do before my bus left, shower, have one of Patrick's
rolexes for dinner...and she just could not take a hint! Ha ha! I can
be so cold. feeling ashamed
We
were approaching the stop where the taxi would drop us off, somewhere
I finally recognised, and this girl kept going on and on about how
she would show me a different route to the house and I should just
trust her. So I decided, why not. Only to get off the taxi and have
her suggest that we pass by her house for dinner. WAIT, SAY WHAT?!
I was actually greatly angered by this. I felt like she was totally
destabilizing all the carefully made plans I had just made for the
next few hours, but since it was already out of my control, again we
were in a place I did not recognise so I could not take myself home,
I said why not. I almost cried within the next hour. She took me to
her house. I met her older sister and 4 little nieces and nephews.
She served me a meal and they were all in awe. She kept saying
proudly, 'This is my friend, she's from Kenya', showing me off like I
was some prized possession and I realised that she looked up to me
and she admired me and for the past hour or so I had done nothing but
my level best to disregard her and use her for the mere need of being
able to find my way to where we were staying. I was so ashamed of
myself. So I never got my last taste of Patrick's amazing rolex, my
evening ended up going nothing like I had planned, but I was happy
for the alternative route the day took. It reminded me
that...sometimes, even when we do not feel like, we must. If not for
ourselves, then for others. Because they always deserve better.
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