TIA

So I know I haven't blogged since Morocco, but yesterday cannot go undocumented, as it was my most favorite day in Uganda ever. It started with The Recreation Project which is a ropes course. It was supposed to be a partner teacher activity, but my school, Sir Samuel Baker (aka Sam Baker, SSB or The Baker from here on out) was having a reunion so none of our teachers could attend. It was really fun with trust falls, zip lines and rock walls. Sarah, Josh and I left early to make is to school for the reunion. We hurried home to change and left to find bodas. As we were leaving, Michael Jackson told us we had less than 10 minutes till it started raining, but we thought we could make it. We were wrong. We got half way down our street when we could see the downpour coming toward us. We looked at each other and immediately ran back to the house. We made it to the security guard shelter just in time. So we spent the next hour waiting for the rain to stop.
When it finally did, KaCee (who was drenched) pulled up on a boda. I didn't think about it but her boda was coming from Lacor, the opposite side of town than SSB. I jumped on and told Josh and Sarah that I'd meet them there. My boda immediately went the wrong way. I was trying to communicate this to him but I don't think he spoke English. He eventually stopped to ask for directions. When we were about halfway there, he still had no idea where we were (luckily, I did). He pulled over at another boda stand so that I could switch boda drivers. As I pulled away with my competent boda driver, he told me that he completed O level ( the first part of secondary school) at SSB. (He also completed A level, the second part, in Kampala, so why he was driving a boda was unclear.) As we were talking he mentioned that he attended SSB from '95-'98. My heart suddenly dropped. There was a mass abduction by the LRA in 1996 where 39 boys were abducted from the dorms at 3am. These boys were trained and later abducted 130 girls from Aboke SS in Apak district 3 months later. My boda driver (I later found out his name was Komakech Joe), told me (on his own accord, I didn't ask) that he was there that night. He was among the student abducted and was in captivity for 39 days. At that moment, I knew I was supposed to get lost so that I could meet this man and hear a small part of something bigger and the reason for me being here. Even though I only shared a 10 minute boda ride with him on a muddy, then dusty, African dirt road, he was able to put my purpose and my presence into perspective. I have heard stories similar to this one before but never so quickly, with such openness, resilience and genuine desire to tell me a story about my destination.
The rest of the day only mirrored my boda experience. We celebrated the reunion of "The Old Boys," alumni of SSB since 1953. It was incredible. After, the 900+ current students, "The Young Boys" cleared the assembly hall for the biggest middle/high school dance ever. All boys, Sarah, Godfrey (our teacher escort) and I showed off our dance moves. Mine, of course, was the running man.
Days like this is when I love TIA (this is Africa) because if I had been worried about time and plans, it would have been a miserable day. However, because I embraced TIA, I learned more in a day than my entire summer last year.