Field Trip to the Zoo

This past Wednesday, we took a “field trip” to the Educational Wildlife Center (zoo) with most of our Kampala students. For the majority of them, it was their first time to the zoo and perhaps even their first time to the neighboring town of Entebbe.

The trip got off to a rough start. We had rented two small buses to transport everyone from Kampala to the zoo in Entebbe. However, on the way, we were pulled over by traffic police three times!! In Uganda, the police are NOT your friends! Most of them are just out to line their own pockets, and will often expect a bribe in exchange for not giving you a hassle or a ticket. Also, it does not help if there are Mzungus in the vehicle, because the police will expect more money. (In Uganda, white skin = money.) It is a frustrating experience. The police will nitpick at any little thing that they can – problems with insurance, overcrowding, invalid driving permit – although, in reality, they are not really concerned about enforcing the laws. They just want to find some way to “get” you so that you will be forced to bribe your way out of a ticket or a trip downtown. Needless to say, our driver had to pay off the police three times before we finally made it to Entebbe.

Once we finally arrived at the zoo, we divided the kids into several groups and set off around the center with our guides. We saw monkeys, zebra, gazelle, snakes, hyena, a lion, crocodiles, ostriches, and even white rhinos. The students were quite interested in seeing and hearing about the different animals. My favorite was the white rhinos. I had never seen a rhino up close before and you cannot see them in the game parks in Uganda because they have all died out. After the tour, we ate lunch and then let everyone choose to do either a donkey ride or a short boat ride on Lake Victoria. Most kids chose the boat ride. We played a few games on the beach and then headed back to Kampala by mid-afternoon.

The best thing about the trip was just the opportunity to “hang out” with all the kids. We had students from age 8 or 9 all the way up to 19 or 20. Many of the older students are very good about watching over and playing with the younger children. It made our job of keeping track of everyone much less stressful to know that these kids are not only well-behaved, but they can take care of themselves and of each other. There are only a few who need constant supervision. One of those few is a little girl named Lakijja Lillian. She is one of the youngest and most attention-hungry children in the group. Whenever we hadn’t seen Lillian for a while, we went searching for her to make sure she wasn’t in a cage with the lion! At one point, I came upon her all by herself, doing one of the cutest things. She had poured her soda into a water bottle and was using the cap of the bottle to feed small amounts of the liquid into the mouths of a mother gorilla and her baby. Funny thing is that the gorillas were only statues, not real. Yet she was so content and so happy to be sharing her soda with them. (See photo below.) It reminded me of the way little girls back home play “house” with their dolls and pretend that they are mothers. Lillian does not have any dolls at home. In fact, I don’t know whether she ever even knew her mother. She lives with her grandmother who is often working and does not have the time to give her two grandchildren any much needed attention. Lillian has already been very toughened by life. She is quick to fight and quick to cry when other kids tease her. She displays very obviously a deep well of emotional need. It touched my heart deeply to see Lillian able to just be a little girl for once, playing “pretend”, a smile on her face. I silently praised God for bringing all of these students, including Lillian, to be a part of Children of Hope.

On the way back to Kampala, the kids were even more jovial than on the way over. They sang and sang and sang on the way back! The zoo trip was a great way to close out their holiday time. They will all return to school on Monday to begin the new school year.