First in a series by Daniel Bedard who traveled with Fr. Dominic Tumusiimie to Rubanda, Uganda, and Fr. Dominic. Today’s post is mainly written by Dan.

Like all trips, a sense of adventure always comes into play especially when you leave for a month. For Fr. Dominic he was going home to his family, friends and his children at the school he founded in Rubanda, Uganda. For me, I was going to an unknown world that my mind had no comprehension as to what I would see and feel.

Our departure started with a sense of separation for Paula and me. Paula’s apprehension for my safety, and for me, Paula’s being alone for the first time. Departing from Portland we had a very pleasant bus trip to Logan Airport. Fr. Dominic and I quickly set the tone of really getting to know each other by sharing many stories. All seemed well till we met our first challenge which turned out to be the first of very many in our journey. With many trials to get our tickets out of that self-service machine, we quickly found out we were 70 lbs. over our weight limit on the luggage. We opened all our suitcases to figure out what to do. We decided to pay an extra $200 and overweight one bag by 70 lbs. We only had 0.2 lbs. before we needed to pay more. Our flight to Newark, New Jersey was uneventful, other than the great views.

Arriving in Newark we met Fr. Dominic’s friend Fr. Joseph, from his same Religious Order who works as a chaplain at St. Pope John Paul II College in Uganda. Many stories and catching up were shared. Prior to leaving, heavy ice built on the wings: 20 minutes of glycol spraying to deice the wings. Our flight from Newport was pretty special for me. This was the first time I watched the coast of America fade away knowing I was now in unchartered territory in my life. Fr. Dominic was very excited, talking more about home and what was waiting for him. The flight was perfect. We arrived in Brussels. Belgium in 8 hours. 42 deg. and cloudy on arrival.

Our group got a little larger. We met another priest and his friends and some sisters from Uganda. We were definitely starting a fellowship. We boarded our plane to Kigali, Rwanda. This was an 8-hour flight. I was in an inside seat. I did not see most of the plane window view. I did see the Sierra desert. We flew over the Nile in Egypt and a very large lake in the middle of the desert. It was odd to see this much water with not one tree on the edge. I ended up seated next to a lady from Rwanda. She was French-speaking and we talked for 3 hours. She and her husband owned 100 acres of land, a herd of cattle, a large pineapple plantation, cornfields, and rice paddies. She was very much interested in U.S. agriculture. This was such a challenge for me to sharpen my French language. Upon arrival, we stayed on the tarmac till the plane unloaded and reloaded for departure. We arrived in Entebbe Uganda 1 hour after liftoff.

Upon arrival, we met Fr. Julius and Barbara. They had a car and accommodations waiting for us. Fr. Dominic was so excited to be home. I felt like I was in Florida. Palm trees, warm air. We arrived in the night so not much more was seen. I was given the front seat so I went to sit and was told a couple of times by Barbra and Fr. Julius that I was going on the wrong side of the car. Finally, with slight embarrassment, I realized Uganda was an English colony with the driving on the left side of the road. On our trip to our accommodations, I experienced the ride of my life. No street lights anywhere and into major highway construction. There was no sense of order. I felt like every car was going to hit us head-on. Zigzag all over the place. Many major bumps. This was a white-knuckle experience. Everyone else looked pretty comfortable. Fr. Dominic spent this time catching up with his friend Fr. Julius.

We arrived at a compound operated by an order of Sisters. Barbra had arranged these accommodations. We settled in for the evening. Room was comfortable. Our bath consisted of a small blue basin. No hot water. Our beds had large nets for mosquitos. We went to bed.

Up at 5:30 am with a rooster crowing. This became the norm for the next month. Outside view was very basic housing outside the compound. The walls of the compound had barb wire and the other wall had broken glass to make the climb very painful. In my mind, I felt that this could be a very dangerous world. Fr. Dominic quickly put these thoughts out by explaining this was only to deter food theft and animal incursions. We ate breakfast. Bread, eggs, tea and fresh pineapples.

We went to Mass with Fr. being the celebrant. I read the reading and helped as the altar server.

We first went to the Cell phone store. My first sights of Uganda lay before me as we headed towards the center of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. I saw nothing but chaos. People walking in front of Fr. Dominic’s car, bicycles cutting us off, cars, taxis, and buses weaving in and out. My eyes were in a constant panic. Fr. Dominic and Julius and Barbra were as cool as cucumbers. With some concern I kept my feelings close. We stopped at a cell phone service center and bought a new line for Uganda $20 for 3GB. We then went to a Centenary Bank for Uganda money. I took 1 million shillings. First time to be a millionaire what a feeling.

From there we went to visit some friends of Fr. Dominic and on the way, we dropped off Fr. Julius. The sisters lived in the back streets. Very hard, poor roads. Humps, bumps and very narrow. We bought pineapples as a gift for the Sisters. Found the place and met Sister Martha, Sr. Elizabeth, and two other associates. Very nice compound. They were in the health field. We were invited for lunch: rice, chicken, fresh bread, gravy and fresh pineapples. We then went on the garden tour. There, I shared some of my garden techniques. I even planted some potatoes. The land is very poor. Soil lacks water.

We enjoyed our stay, took many pictures and shared many stories and laughs. We all became good friends. We still connect today by WhatsApp. We did more driving around Entebbe. We stopped at a store and there we realized gas was leaking. We had just filled up. We had scraped the bottom of the car so many times that I stopped counting. We felt that it was safe and drove back to the compound. Our friend the night or day watchman was waiting for us. He was always there and I felt nobody sleeps here. Ate a late supper. Rice, chicken, bread and tea and pineapples and Mangos. It was so good I could not stop eating the fruits. Went to bed

Up at 5:30 am with the faithful rooster. Ate breakfast. Uganda tea fruits, cereal and bread and honey. We all left for Jinja to the Apostles of Jesus which is Fr. Dominic’s Order Retreat Center. This is a 4-hour drive east. We drove through the capital of Kampala. This is a very chaotic city. There seem to be no highway rules. Just Amazing to the senses. We stopped at a garage to repair the leaking gas. All that was found was some loose bolts in the gas tube spout. We saw many plantations of bananas, pineapples, sugarcane and rice. We drove to the site where the headwaters of the Nile starts. Actually, saw the Nile River and the 3 tributaries that is the source of the Nile. I was thinking just before this that God was good to us. With much confusion, Barbra navigated us to the Apostles of Jesus spiritual center. There we met Fr. Alex and Fr. Paul. We were given a meal. Chicken, Rice, Boiled bananas, Peanut sauce with eggplant, sweet potatoes, avocado and Irish potatoes with pineapples for deserts. Afterward, we were given the tour of the grounds. This was a shrine for the 22 Uganda Catholic Martyrs that were killed for their faith in Uganda in 1886. Beautiful shrine. Up some steep steps was a nice chapel. After the tour, I sat with Fr. Paul and discussed the Knights of Columbus. Fr. Paul was a fourth-degree Knight here in the States. He was very passionate and wanted a council in his parish. He was just given a parish by his Bishop, who was also 100% behind the idea for a council. Fr. Dominic then sat with Fr. Paul and spoke for a while. Barbra and I walked the grounds and took a bunch of pictures. We then left at dusk. The drive home was long and tough. Much traffic, poor visibility. Fr. was very tired. We made several stops. One was for me and where we stopped I walked off the roadside and I went to go only to be stopped by a police officer. All place to stop was at an officer’s home. Many people on the road. Again walkers, bikes, zigzag cars and everything that had wheels. We ended up in a very congested roundabout. And again Fr. Dominic’s car was damaged. We finally arrived in a complete traffic jam in the middle of the city. Finally made it home. Went to bed very late.

Up at 5:30 am. Fr. left early to fix the car and meet some friends. Barbra and I went to her home where she introduced me to her friends. Henry came with us and walked around in the neighborhood. I got to see the back road of the city. All dirt, potholes and very narrow. All had animals, small gardens, and business shops. Very small and singular businesses. Barbra brought me to her shop. She is a dressmaker. Henry tagged along with us. We ended up going to Lake Victoria. There we saw the sights of the fishing world. I picked a good fish and it was processed and cooked for us. Tilapia, fried with chips. Very good. We actually took a motorboat, as they call it, as transportation. Motorcycles are commonly known as bodaboda. Afterward, we went for a walk around the University and was given a tour. We bought some jackfruit and pineapples. We went to her apartment where Henry and neighbors sat in conversation. Great morning. We then took a taxi and went to an outdoor market where we stopped and had dinner. Fr. Dominic let us know that he would not be back for a while. It was taking longer to repair the car, he notified us. We decided to go to the city in Kampala. Barbra needed to pick up a suit for Fr. Dominic. We went throughout the city on foot. What an experience. I decided to buy a dress for Paula, so we went shopping for material for her to make a dress. We then came back to the compound where Barbra left for home. Next morning Fr. Dominic arrived and we had breakfast. We packed and loaded the car. Barbra arrived and we started our journey to Rubanda.

Our journey to Rubanda was very pleasing to the eyes. At this point, I no longer was seeing the confusion of the city. A street language was appearing. We ended up dropping off Barbra as she got us out of the outline of the city. We drove for 2 hours seeing many sights of roadside stands. We stopped for roadside veggies. We were mobbed each time with sellers of produce. An outpost of consolidated businesses. We went from city life to the plains and the waters of Lake Victoria where all the fish were sold. We traveled through the cattle country where the president was born and eventually we could see the hills of Rubanda valleys; then it got dark. We soon ended up stopping at a buffet style eatery. There Fr. Dominic met a friend: former parish priest Fr Wenceslaus going the same direction as us. He was basically hopping from one person to another person he knew. He lived about 25 miles from Fr. Dominic’s home.

There a vendor was selling raw honey. Father bought ½ gallon. We drove till we got to his friend’s house. We met his mom who is 91 years old. We left at nightfall. We soon arrived in Kabale. We stopped for supplies at the store. We arrived at Father’s. Compound or home at 11 pm. Everyone was sleeping except Laticia, Alex and Louis and the younger children. I did not know their names at this point. We had a meal that was prepared for us. We sat and talked for a while. Catching up on all what had happened. We got our luggage settled in and went to bed.

We have arrived in Rubanda in the middle of the night.

I did not know what I was going to see in the morning.

[Ed. note – Our feature image is of Fr.Dominic and Dan at the Equator Marker. In many ways, as you’ll see, Dan’s world gets turned upside down, starting with, of course, going form Maine’s cold winter to Uganda’s warm summer where the daylight hours are partly during our night time hours – from the Northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere, from the western to the eastern. We’re looking forward to sharing this adventure with all of you.]