Similar to our visit in Bolivia, this was an emotionally mixed trip to Kampala, Uganda. When Julia participated in the World Vision Youth Ambassador program, it was a pretty close group as a whole. However, with a group that size, there are naturally concentric circles of closeness. Of her six closest YA friends, two of them have passed away. We visited one family and grave site in Bolivia and the second one is here in Uganda. His name was Alan, but most people called him ARK, and he passed away in 2021 after fighting an MS-like disease for a number of years. The ’98 YA from Uganda was a close friend to ARK and his family and he was instrumental in helping us coordinate things in Uganda.
The ’98 YA picked us up from airport late afternoon and took us to a restaurant where we met up with ARK’s 14 year-old son and his mother. The waitress took our picture and then said “another poise” which my family loves to do 
Bitter-sweet picture of Julia and ARK’s son, holding a picture of Julia and ARK back in 1997. Julia commented that she thought ARK’s son might look more like the picture than she does, 26 years later!! It was hard knowing that if COVID hadn’t happened and we had done the trip in 2020 as planned, we would have been able to see ARK before he passed away.
Julia shared and told some stories about her time with ARK on the YA program. The girls also shared a video of all the different activities that we do during the winter with snow that we had put together.
The next generation of YAs.
The ’98 YA, like so many other YAs we have met, was friendly, kind, and a joy to be with. He was extremely helpful and made this visit possible and we are glad to call him a friend.
ARK’s son taught the girls a few magic tricks and then he and his mom gave us gifts of Maasai blankets.
The next day we met ARK’s parents, one of his siblings, and a few other relatives. Our first stop was still in Kampala where we met his mother, one of his sisters, and a few other family members at their primary residence. This is the house where ARK was cared for while he was sick.
We then travelled outside the city to their ancestral village where the family burial plot is. ARK’s father and other family members were already there and had prepared a lunch for us. But first, we visited ARK’s grave site.
Talking with ARK’s parents before dinner.
We were honoured with a feast and fellowship. We even sang a few hymns together which made it even more special.
We didn’t have a lot of time in Kampala as our primary reason for coming was to meet ARK’s family. However, there were a few fun things during our time there.
ARK’s son brought a card game to play in the car for our trip to the village which the kids enjoyed playing. We also stopped along the way for fresh mangos along the side of the road. Yum!
In Uganda, there isn’t a troll under the bridge but the three Billy goats instead. We also saw lots of furniture shops that setup their furniture outside.
We also got to meet some of the ’98 YA’s family. He works for Watoto which runs orphanages in Uganda and is known for the Watoto Children’s Choir that tours North America to help raise funds for the orphanages (we had actually gone to a concert a number of years ago). He and his family have a very special bond with one of the original Watoto girls who sang in the first choir. She came over to visit one night and really wanted to braid the girls’ hair. She did a great job!
We also met more of his family the next day as our AirBnB was close to the home schooling business that his wife now runs that grew out of COVID. We got to met their other two children that are close to our kids ages, as well as their grand daughter (from the Watoto girl). The grand daughter is almost three and is quite the little chatterbox and curious about everything. It made us laugh because she kept calling the YA “Opa” which raised some eyebrows to us. He just laughed and shrugged and said that he has some Dutch friends and he thought it was a good name.
In many ways the visit was too short, but we are thankful that we had the opportunity to come and pay our respects and meet more beautiful people.