lonnnngg timme!

okay first let me apologize that it has been well over a month since my last entry! things have changed a lot since i wrote last and i have so much to catch you all up on. i will first begin with: on august 1st i left gulu for kampala. the two months i spent in gulu have been more apprecitated in the past two or three weeks than when i was actually there. i love the small town of gulu where i spent my days becoming part of a community. i knew the women in the market by face and shopped there daily for my fruits and veggies. i knew boda boda (the motorcycle taxis) drivers by name and some by phone number - for the late night journeys that i often took to friends' homes. i was learning acholi and could point out and name every body part when the patients at the hospital would ask me (nore quieny? - where is your neck?).
my last week in gulu went by so quickly as i tried to say goodbye to all of my friends. when friday morning finally came to pack our things and pile into the car i felt rushed and not ready to go, but then again i dont think i would have ever felt completely ready. i am just so glad that i will be back with some friends from my university in january and dont have to wonder will i will be back next...
so the two or three week gap between when i was in gulu and when i left i was making new friendships and devloping my exsiting ones each and everyday. the one that has had the largest impact has been my friend flo. her and i met in the gyn ward at the hospital, she had been there for close to a month now suffering from cervical cancer. she is a mother of two and spent over the last ten years in one of the idp camps as a mother, business woman and farmer. her husband died because of the war quite some time ago and due to her recent illness being a single mother was even harder than it already was before. the gulu hospital couldnt do much more for her and she needed to go to kampala for radio therapy. so with the help of a friend of mine, who gave me some money before i left we were able to get her to kampala for treatment. upon her arrival we got her into a hospital and was told that she could be operated on to help get rid of a larger portion of the cancer than after a few months of recovery the radio therapy would zap the rest - prolonging her life even longer than i initially thought! so the sugery is done and she is still recovery and after a few months she will go back for radio therapy! keep her and her family in your prayers...
okay so this has been very very long and i have used too much time on the internet so i need to end it. but i am writing this from rwanda, where i have been traveling for the past ten days or so - i also made it to goma in easter drc for two nights and have so much to say about all of it but i will save that for a later date i promise! i will also load pictures up when i get back because internet connection here is so dang slow! homeward bound in less than a week...!!! mexican food here i come!