Making My Way to Africa

Accompanying me on my flight to Amsterdam, in the left aisle seat, was a gentleman named Alistair. He had been in New York to see the Mets play and is on his way back home to Scotland. The flight from Scotland to Amsterdam, then to the the USA was a total of 10 hours of flying for him. Interestingly enough the flight back from USA to Amsterdam, then to Scotland is a total of 8 hours of flying. This is due to the North Atlantic Drift. The North Atlantic Drift is a widespread and variable wind-driven surface movement of warm water that covers a large part of the eastern sub-polar North Atlantic and then flows into the Nordic Seas. Conversing further with Alistair I learned he is from a Northern part of Scotland that speaks a Celtic language called Gaelic. A very uncommon language that most Scotia's do not understand and was brought over to Scotland by Irish invaders in about the 5th century. Gaelic replaced an older Brythonic Celtic language. By the 15th century the Scottish branch differed so significantly enough that they were able to create as enforce their own language.

A four hour layover can create many opportunities to meet new people. During my layover I met a very nice young lady named Jacquelyn Pavilon. She was headed to Rwanda to meet up with a friend of hers that was running a marathon there, and also do some serious backpacking. She told me stories of her and her friend going on a 4 day backpacking trip to Switzerland and about her organization called Invisible Conflicts. The Invisible Conflicts organization is dedicated to helping rebuild communities that were destroyed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Since the Invisible Conflicts values education above all they created the Dawn Madiki Partnership, a program stationed in Gulu that raises money to educate, clothe, provide healthcare, and give individual attention to the children and their needs.

Ingram Kampe and I, after our landing in Entebbe

I also met a gentleman name Ingram Kampe who currently lives in Canada. He was born in Uganda and was headed to Entebbe on holiday and to visit his relatives. I asked Ingram how his previous flight from Canada to Amsterdam was and he said it was not very enjoyable. On the flight there was a Chinese man who went into the plane's restroom and decided to smoke a cigarette. The smoke alarms went off and reeked havoc throughout the plane. He told me how frenetically the flight attendants were running up and down the aisle to see what was going on. After finding the man they were able to silence the alarms and return the plane to order.

When we landed in Rwanda there were people who got off and those who got on. Sitting in the row in front of me was Ingram and siting next to him on his left was an Indian man. The flight was about 8-9 hours long. This man said nothing to entire time to Ingram, except when we landed in Rwanda he said, "excuse me I am going to the washroom." We were stationed in Rwanda for about 50 minutes waiting for everyone to get on so we can take off. When it was time to take off I invited Ingram to sit with me, because the seat next to me was empty and I enjoyed his company. But this Indian man was no where to be found. His passport and all his travel documents were sitting out on his plane seat. As we were about to take off I noticed that the guy hadn't returned. I asked Ingram where he went, and that he should tell the flight attendants this. So he did, the flight attendants became very worried but more suspicious than worried. The plane was about to take off, but we told them just in time and than went back to the airport because they are not allowed to fly with unaccompanied luggage. The Captain called this man over the intercom multiple times, no response. Than the Captain came on the intercom and explained the situation to the rest of the passengers, they began to worry. Most people seemed to be under the impression that this man was a terrorist. The entire plane was searched by security back at the airport and we waited there. About 20minutes later they found the man. He was seated in a different seat toward the front of the plane. They asked him about his suspicious behavior and he replied, “I don't know.” Many of the passengers wanted the flight attendants to throw him and all this luggage off the plane. But they didn’t. Had we been on a American plane that man would have been kicked off and placed on the “No Fly List.” The plane took off and the whole time I was holding my breath hoping nothing would happen. We arrived in Entebbe 30 minutes later. Once there we had to get our visa's for Entebbe. I am very glad i met and befriended Ingram, without whom I would have been lost when it came to filling out the paper work for my transit in Entebbe. After filling out the paper work Ingram and I went to retrieve our luggage and the Bishop was there to greet me.