At the End of the Eland's Tongue

When I woke up Monday morning, I never suspected that in the late afternoon I’d be standing in the sun with one of Africa’s largest antelopes licking my hand. But let me backtrack…

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The day started with a hearty pancake breakfast (we’re fed pretty well here at the guesthouse) followed by World Religions class at the Bible School. The rest of the morning found me at my post at the Baby House, hugging kids, singing Mary Poppins, trying to keep little hands from pulling too hard on my skirt and learning Lugandan phrases from the kids—all while trying to wash the dishes with a bar of soap! (Doing the dishes this way is one of the first things I had to learn how to do here.)

Soon Jjaaja Rita arrived, and we spent the rest of the morning in class with the kids. Upon finishing up helping the kids eat their lunch, I returned to my dorm at 12:30 as usual and finished sketching the alphabet flashcards for Jjaaja. I was fiddling with a bread bag to make a PB sandwich when Jordan walked by with an announcement.

“We’re going to the zoo now if you want to come.”

Oh. Thus, grabbing my field bag and a cliff bar for lunch, I set off among seven Bible College students to catch a taxi bound for Entebbe. Somehow the vehicle managed to absorb all eight of us, although in the shuffle of life on a taxi I ended up changing seats at least three times before we finally pulled off near the zoo!

Soon we were walking around the enclosures, snapping photos, and watching the antics of the many cage-less monkeys which ran wild around the sidewalks, the benches and the trees. When a giant eland, a type of native antelope, walked up to us and knocked its horns against the chain link fence at a climactic moment by the giraffe cage, the highlight of the trip had come.

A quick glance off of either side of the zoo pathways
afforded some pretty incredible jungle scenery.

Putting out my hand, I felt the long, grey, sandpaper tongue of the eland contact my fingers. When it had stopped grazing, I actually had to check my hand to make sure all the knuckle hair was still there!

The Crowned Crane,
National Symbol of Uganda

 

Dusk began to settle over Uganda as our taxi drove back towards Kampala at around 6:00. Curiously, the students decided that public transport would be a good place to host a worship sing-along, so I spent the ride in the back right seat listening to a cappella songs and watching night sweep over the roadside villages. This is the start of the social time of the day for many Ugandans, after the long hours of the workday are through. Now lights turn on, cooking fires ignite, market stands wake up and people start filling the dusty red streets. It’s rather pleasant to watch, and even more pleasant to walk through.

–In a group, of course. We climbed out of the taxi, walked past the boda stand to the road where you turn into to go home, and proceeded uphill. When we stopped at a stand selling popcorn, I stood still among the sights of the night market, the smell of cooking samosas and cowpeas, and the mingled sounds of voices, boda motors and broadcast preaching. What a good evening to be alive…