So, as you can see, we made it (in the rain) to the Uganda Wildlife Center, more commonly known as the Entebbe Zoo. We had a group of 99 of us including every child from Hope Children’s Home, our teachers and a few others make this journey on three large buses. What a great time! The children began singing from the moment we left the children’s home. I am not quite sure if they stopped for more than a few moments the entire trip. I think some will tell you that the bus rides were more exciting than the zoo! It is wonderful to see so many lives filled with joy that were once filled with heartache and sadness.

As we drove away, we began with…."Do you want to know me?…(Oh yeah!)…My name is Alpha….(Oh yeah!)….I live in Gganda…(Oh yeah!)…oh yes I do do do…Do you want to know me……" and so on until everyone in the van had a chance to introduce themselves in the song.

Most of the kids have only been out of the village one other time when we took them to DiDi’s World, a local amusement park, early this year. They had a blast on this trip. We all had a blast on this trip watching the kids as they saw these animals for the first time. The one thing that kind of surprised me is that the only Giraffes we saw were in the photo above. Also, there were no elephants??? In an African zoo? I guess their lack of funds prevents them from providing the proper habitat for some animals so we were glad to see the ones that were there.

Before leaving the zoo, we paid for each child to experience a donkey ride. They ALL jumped on those donkeys like they had done it all of their lives, two at a time on two donkeys going round and round in the enclosure. Smiles were in abundance during this entire trip. To top the trip off, as we arrived back to our buses, there were many monkeys running all over the place eating out of our hands. They were wild monkeys, but obviously they have been fed before! They climbed all over our buses and even jumped into the window of one of them in the parking lot. I began to laugh hard at the thought of one of those monkeys jumping into Steve Bittner’s lap as he sat by the window. It actually almost happened until I walked by, unknowingly scaring the monkey who was on the roof about to make his move! Bummer. Oh well, another great day in Africa expressing the love of Jesus to the orphans in such a practical way, spending time with them and showing them that we care.

Mike