Familiar Yet Changed

It has been a year since I have walked the dirt road of Bundibugyo. There are so many things here that are still so familiar and feel so natural. It took me a couple of minutes to remember the Lubwisi greetings because I have Moru in my head these days, but after greeting a couple of people it all came back to me. It has been great to sit on the front porch of the house where I used to stay catching up with neighborhood kids. Some of them have grown and matured so much in just a year. On Wednesday I went to visit St. Padre Pio where I taught a bit two years ago. The school has changed a lot. They have added new buildings which have beautiful educational pictures painted on the walls and the teachers have done a great job cover the inside walls with charts and posters. Two more classes were added so P5 is now their top class. I moved around to each of the classes to greet the students and was happy to see some familiar faces. When I taught I worked mainly with the older children in P2 and P3 and as I entered their classroom it warmed my heart to see their excited faces in response to my return. The most common phrase spoken to me in the last 48 hours as been ‘thank you for not forgetting us.’ It means a lot to the people of Bundibugyo to see us return. I am also thankful for the impact this place has had on my life and how the Lord continues to bring me back.

It was so great being greeted by familiar faces at the school. This is the class I most often taught almost two years back.