I’m writing to you from the little porch of the quaint little Gately Inn in Entebbe, Uganda. The trip is now over, I am just waiting for my plane to leave late tonight. After not having wifi for 10 days I can finally give you news.

This initial report will be brief but I promise there will many coming posts dedicated to all the stories I gathered and sights that I saw these last 10 days. Right now I am having a hard time sorting it all out- my head is full of both horrors and wonders. I am churning with stories of triumph and stories of  loss and bright memories of beautiful faces and glowing smiles piled on top of images of starving children and hopelessness etched into spirits as deep as the ocean I am about to cross. When I get a strong connection and a full charge (both battery-wise and emotionally/physically) I will post a gallery of my favorite images.

There was very little about this trip that was touristy. Even the few nights we stayed at a national park the days continued to be full of hard stories to hear. I saw a few astonishingly beautiful bits of nature  but I didn’t take a picture of any of them- my mind was elsewhere- although I do have them tucked away in a safe spot.

I learned a tremendous amount about an issue and a part of the world I was completely ignorant about although I didn’t think I was. In the weeks to come I will try to tell you what I have learned and hopefully change your way of seeing things just a bit. The Earth is a very large place and it is full of an amazing variety of things  which are both heart warming and heart breaking. In  northern Uganda, smiles and scars define every face. Whether shy or gap-toothed, visible or buried each is freshly remembered and each is freshly felt.

It is my job, my obligation to attend and bear witness. And it is my honor to tell the story of each.