I think that's crazy

Saturday morning. Lugazi, Uganda.

The phone rings, our former cook, Irene, frantically asks our Country Director for the Mayor's phone number, and asks if she can come over. I follow Jackie out the door as quickly as the call came. When we arrive at Irene's home, we find two police officers arguing with our friend Pastor Bill, over a photograph that was taken of these two particular police officers, by Pastor Bill's wife, Linda. Background information is as follows. A girl turned up missin in Lugazi this morning and the last man seen with her was a friend of this particular Pastor. The two police officers, out of uniform and not carrying ID, charged into Pastor Bill's home demanding the location of his friend last seen with the girl. After being refused any information by the police officers, Bill, skeptical of these two men who may or may not really be police officers, pushes them out of his house. In the process, his wife took a picture to capture the two men's identity, just in case. We arrived, in the middle of this chaos and also just as the mayor was arriving. Tha mayor sat down with the pastor and one of the police officers and tried to figure things out. After, getting realtively nowhere, they decided to go to the Police Department and speak to the director to see if this really was "official business." And I find myself, escorting Pastor Bill to the Police Department. At this point, I'm not actually sure how I got involved or who volunteered me to go with Pastor Bill, but what I do know, I don't feel comfortable. I might end up in Ugandan Prison, just because of my association with this man. I realize that I might be in a lot of trouble, but afterall, we are good friends with the Mayor. Still, a scary place to find yourself, when you are 100% not connected with any of the chaos of the morning except that you came along to help a friend, not knowing what kind of "help" they needed, or trouble they were in. Well, long story short, I am writing this all to you know, so I am not in Prison. Nor is Pastor Bill. The director determined that taking a photograph was not a crime, it was protection. And the best part of the whole story... while we were discussing this issue with the director (well, I didn't discuss anything. For the first time in my life, I kept quite the entire length of the meeting) a report came from a different officer that the girl had been found. She had run away. No one was to blame. So we all agreed that this was a big misundrestanding, the Pastor and the Police officer made up and are now friends, and most useful of all, I got the phone number of the Director of Police, who gave us his promise that he would do anything he could to keep us safe. Not that we are in any real danger here, but lets be honest, it's nice to know the police are on your side when you are thousands of miles from home.

Tonight we are going to Mbira Rainforest lodge for dinner and a campfire. I can't wait.

In other news, you really should check out this hospital. They are an incredible partner of our now in working with People of have Disabilities. One of the projects we are working on here in Lugazi. Leave a comment!