Long Awaited Return

I think I had forgotten how much my experience in Uganda had become a part of who I am until I found myself once again traveling along the road from Entebbe to Kampala. The familiar smell of the humid equatorial air mixed with odors of diesel fuel and dust and smoke from burning piles of trash unlocked a vault containing a flood of memories that had been sealed and pushed aside by four years of medical school, one year of graduate school, nearly three years of residency, and what seems like enough life-changing experiences to have filled up a whole lifetime. I had forgotten that a bicyclist carrying 2 passengers and a sack of flour would even consider cutting off a fully loaded lorrie on a crowded city street... let alone successfully accomplish the feat. I had forgotten my amazement at seeing women step out of dirty, one-roomed houses made of plywood in the middle of filthy slums with finely pressed and brightly colored clothes and immaculately done hair. I had forgotten that two lanes of pot-holed highway was somehow enough space to accommodate two directions of pedestrian traffic, a lane of bicyclists, the occasional wooden wheelbarrow, three or more vehicles of varying sizes squeezed side-by-side and separated by mere inches, and a constant weave of motorized scooters just to make things interesting. I had forgotten that people can seem like ants busily scurrying about their work, diving randomly into hidden road-side passages and appearing just as unexpectedly. I had forgotten that everyone has a cell phone. I had forgotten about the storks that lazily glide above the city and take turns standing watch over heaps of garbage. I had forgotten that 5 roadside shops would exist side-by-side and all sell the same refurbished weed-eaters in all the colors of the rainbow. I had forgotten how quickly one becomes drenched with sweat in the humid tropical air. I had forgotten how much I had missed Kenny and Monica, who had picked me up at the airport with their new son, Seth; and Doug and Destiny, who now have a three year old son and one on the way. I had forgotten that chaos can be beautiful and that "on time" can be relative. I had forgotten that uncertainty makes life exciting and I felt the anxiety that had resurged within me upon landing in Entebbe slowly fade away. I had forgotten how much I love Uganda and the way of life in East Africa- even though I was also remembering how very frustrating life in East Africa can be at the same time. I had forgotten that there is nothing more exciting than walking forward into the unknown with the deep assurance that a loving Father walks beside me, behind me, and before me whether through mountains or valleys, in safety or peril, with companionship or alone.
-Proverbs 3:5-6