Day1: Beautiful & mean

Well after our first full day here the day was full of beauty. Brock and I had the opportunity to take a ride with Charles and Tom on the Nile River by way of our boat captain, Joel. How cool?!  We saw so much including beautiful mountains, monkies, exotic birds, lizards, and so much more.  Also included in the beauty is the hearts of the people here. We saw so much poverty in our first day driving from Entebbe to Jinja but yet there was joy everywhere. During our boat ride yesterday I looked on shore and saw a little girl walking from a hill down to the Nile River to fetch water with two yellow containers. She saw us out on the boat and waved. I waved back at her and in return she gave me the biggest smile I might have ever seen. She was adorable. In that moment I was so humbled. A little girl walking, who knows how far, to "fetch" a resource I take for granted everyday was filled with joy and excitement from just a wave from a "Mzungu", which is anyone who isn't black. It was if it made her day and she would have a smile the entire hike back to her hut. After that same moment our captain, Joel, pointed out two beautiful views. We all agreed of the beauty. Then he told us that both spots he pointed to were prisons. He told us how prisoners in Uganda are lashed for certain things and enslaved for simply the right to drink outrage and sleep on a concrete floor. It was a gripping story. I asked what type of criminals were there...surely they are murderers and rapists. He informed me that over 60% of the people there are innocent but are just too poor or ignorant of the law to defend themselves. This broke my heart. Overall I learned yesterday that Uganda is mean. Not the people but the life that is typically lived by the people has no mercy on them. Yet, the difficulties do not rob these beautiful peoples' joy. And many, rest their joy in Jesus. Charles, one of the men we are traveling with from here said at dinner that "we all have everything we need." How humbling. The lessons I have learned after only one day are big here in the beautiful and mean place of Uganda. -Josh