Thursday, June 20, 2013

I made it...I really made it!

The turbulence was strong. I held onto my plane seat arm rest with thoughts of nervousness on my mind. But then there was a loud thud. The plane touched down and in that moment it really hit me, "Oh my gosh, I'm actually in Africa."




I had dreamed about it since I was a small child. I talked about it constantly growing up. I planned and fund-raised for it for 8 months, I had traveled to it for 23 hours, and that thud marked success; I was now in Africa.
As we walked towards customs, every Ugandan watched our every move. When we reached the customs line, we were disappointed to see the line wrapped around the building. We had been traveling for so long, and it was now 10:30 at night. The last thing any of us wanted to do was wait in line all nightt.

Just then a very giggly policed uniformed man approached us. I don't know about the rest of my team, but he brightened my evening. Every other word was a giggle. My mind could not resist comparing him to Rafiki in Lion King.
The officer asked us if we already had out visas. We told him we did, and then he opened the line and lead us to an empty area, where two women read our visas, used a electronic contraption to take our fingerprints, and then we were free to leave the airport.

I could feel a knot in my stomach, filled with anticipation and excitement as we approached the exit. This was it. Even though it was late at night, my eyes were about to see Africa in person for the first time!

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