First Full Day at RG

 On Tuesday morning, we got up and had breakfast and coffee with the McCalls (the directors). Tim McCall took us on a full tour of RG. It's a huge plot of hundreds of acres of lush land stretching right along the Nile. Tim told us soooo many stories, including ones about how RG was founded, where they lived, and how the war affected everything that was going on. Tim's shortened story of the beginnings of RG is on their website: https://restorationgateway.org/. I may make another post full of Tim's stories some time later because I have so much written in my notes. 

We toured one of the orphan homes, which consists of a girls bedroom for four, a boys bedroom for four, a room for the "mama", two bathrooms, and a kitchen, although the mamas prefer to cook outside. The government comes for yearly check-ins, and they've mentioned before that the kids' rooms could house way more than just four kids. Tim says that for health reasons, it's best to keep space for the kids. We met Opeo Lawrence, who is the head of security at RG. He was really nice! Ugandans usually say their last name first when introducing themself with their full name. While there are government soldiers that guard the front gates, RG also has internal security like Lawrence, called the askaris, who have homes around the boundaries of RG (shown below). They walk around even at night. Since Ugandan civilians cannot carry guns, the askaris carry a spear or bow or not at all. A geographical measure of security is the fact that RG is kind of on a peninsula with the Nile on the east, a tributary on the west, and the land connecting in the north where the main gate lies. 

For the longest time, Tim and Janice lived in a 20 foot container (below) because they didn't feel like they needed anything more. Finally, after many years, some of the Ugandans basically required that Tim build a house for his wife.

Below is a eucalyptus tree that Tim planted because Janice liked the smell of them 😊.

RG is very self sufficient--not in all aspects, but in many--and this is not excluding the making of the orphan homes and buildings. They make their own bricks!

Dad and Will especially were eager to see the different machinery and vehicles. Tim was telling us that he loves driving around the big machines because nobody bothers him. He also said that the Caterpillar (below) really does a number on the termite mounds 😂.

Will also got to check out and work on the BUVs at RG and meet the mechanic!

At RG, they grow beans, corn, casava, potatoes and peanuts, and they have over 30 beehives for honey. They also have tons of chickens and goats.  Almost everyone who works here is a local Ugandan, although many international mission teams have come for weeks and sometimes months to volunteer. Tim said that the vision is for RG to be fully owned and operated by Ugandans some day. "The Ugandans know how both people and business work around here", he told us. 

I went on a little road trip with Gift to get gas, and then Will, dad, and I just hung out for the rest of the night. It was nice to relax a little bit. We talked to Experito more that night about the war and got to witness what a strong Christian he is! We headed to bed pretty early because we had to be up at 4:15am the next morning for another safari!