MID OF CHAPTER 31...STINKY BIRDS

 CHAPTER 31

...    They started to leave together.  Anne and Cary took their bikes and crossed the street.  Allen was paying at the cafe and also ended up talking to one of the waiters. They knew he’d follow them soon. 
      When Cary and Anne were across the street and riding the bikes, suddenly Anne’s tire went flat.  Cary stopped.  They were doing whatever they could, and suddenly something else happened that was very scary.  They happened to be on the wrong side of the street, because it was covered with trees and the trees were covered with pelicans, not far from the lake and river. 

There were hundreds and they were pooping.  While Anne and Cary were there, it was hitting their hats, clothes, shoes, and hands, and it was very stinky.  Allen came and he grabbed Anne’s bike and took it across the street.  He told Cary to head for home.
      As Cary started to ride, and glanced across, she saw a lot of guys standing out and laughing.  This mistake of theirs was making a lot of people happy.
      Cary had to ride the bike through the park area again.  By herself, without following Allen, in the dark, she was a bit scary.  She did it, but sometimes she was getting too close to the edge of the lane.  She also was smelling the stinkiness from her hat and her shoulders.   A few minutes later, she was able to pull into YWAM and it was late enough that lots of people wouldn’t be hanging out so they didn't have to smell her and laugh at her and embarrass
      Cary stuck into her room area, grabbed a towel, soaps, and shampoo, and ran over to the other side of the compound where she could take a shower. Even if she had to bend down, since it wasn’t high enough to be over her head, she would do it.  The clothes were dirty and stinky and her tennis shoes.  She had to wash it all, and scrub everything.  She had to let the water go down, wipe the place again, and then have more of the water officially let her have more and more of the soaps poured around her body so all the smelling is gone.

This portion is truly true.  The photo was not taken there, but it's just an example, more or less.  However, the trees were filled with the pelicans, and the reason Anne and I were there is true.  My stories are fictional and non-fictional.  This one is truly non-fictional. Even as I had to clean and clean me and my things.  YUK!!

PELICANS? IN UGANDA??

OK.  Here's the story.  Never told it before, not even mentioned it to my husband, which I did just as I was beginning this post.

Soroti, Uganda, is not near huge Lake Victoria.  Duh!  That's well known by anyone who is geographically oriented.  It's not near the Indian Ocean. ["Duh" continues.]  It IS near a lake-ish portion of Uganda, but not a consistent area -- I was told that the lakes sometimes had water reduced significantly at certain times of the year when the heat is much higher and the rain has backed off.  So, I never anticipated seeing a pelican in that part of Uganda, period.

When I was in Soroti to help some of those who were struggling after Joseph Kony's LRA rebels had invaded areas near the town, I never saw the lakes.  I knew they were nearby, but the pastors and other "protectors" wouldn't take me on any side rides, because they didn't know if we would be attacked.

I still was always surprised when I saw pelicans floating over the town, hanging out in trees.

About the time I was getting ready to leave Soroti,  I was invited to go out eating with a couple from UK.  Allan and Anne were YWAM leaders in Uganda and had been living at the Soroti YWAM compound for many years.  I had been staying there for some weeks.  They weren't young, probably in their 60s, but were very helpful and supportive of both public and missions-oriented Ugandans and for international missions folks who showed up, which would have been me at that moment.

They had bikes to ride to the eating area, and gave me one.  We made it to a main street on our edge of town, riding on a bumpy path across a big field.  Within a few minutes we reached the Taj Mahal cafe.  [YEP!  That was the name of this very non-fancy extremely casual place.]  We had a good time, eating cheap Ugandan food -- potatoes and fish and vegs -- and yammering and talking and sharing so many things we'd had in our hearts together while helping however we could in Soroti.  [They were leaving Uganda for UK soon and retiring from their ministry.  Wonderful couple!]

Then, just as it was turning dark outside, we left.  We grabbed our bikes and went across the street.  We started heading back to YWAM, and I was last in line, moving slowly.  That's when it was discovered that Anne's bike's rear tire was flat.  The two of us stopped.  Allan was a bit ahead of us.

Then a less-than-wonderful event occurred.  While we knelt next to her bike, suddenly white, sticky stuff began landing on our heads and clothes and legs.  She wore a hat; I didn't.

Immediately, we realized we had stopped under a long lane of scruffy trees.  And what spent long stretches of time up there were dozens... if not hundreds ... of pelicans.  Believe me, the result was awful.

Allan and Anne moved her bike out of that area to work on it.  The Ugandans across the street in front of the eating and hanging-out shops were pointing at us and laughing.  Always thought it was funny when Muzungus [white folks] had done something so dumb.

I rode back to the compound, not able to see clearly, because of the dark, and not having anyone I could follow, since A. and A. weren't leading me. I tried to keep my nose higher and higher so I couldn't smell myself.

When I reached my room, I tore off my clothes.  I went to a wash room and scrubbed myself the best I could, but it sure wasn't anything I could have done here.  In Omaha, at my house, I would have lived in a hot shower for hours!!!  And spread "Moonlight Path" all over my body, layers deep.

But now, remembering this event I LAUGH! ... Because the Ugandans laughed.  We made people happy during a disastrous stretch of time.  It was worth it.

It wasn't bullets or grenades hitting us in a war zone.  It was only bird poop -- so could have been much worse. 

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The Godly part:  we were missionaries and doing good jobs, but other bits of reality sometimes blended into our lives, bringing seriosity --- and humor. 
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The photos were taken by freebe sections online, so, even though not mine, they are not stolen.  [Even if I'd had a camera in my hand when this event took place, I can't imagine that I would have risked taking pictures and getting dirtier.  That would definitely be a "not me" activity.]