Last minute shopping is not something i am comfortable doing because i love to prepare myself way ahead of time yet here i was with my climbing support system at 11pm on sunday 12th July in wandegeya looking for diamox( the altitude sickness drug)and any other items we could have forgotten to pack. I was dropped home at about 11:40pm and all my luggage was put in the car except for a small bag that i hadnt packed yet.

I am not usually the kind of gal to lose sleep over a journey but this particular adventure got me up and restless the night leading to 13th July 2015. I woke up several times and checked the time hoping i had not overslept and been left behind, looked through the checklist that my climbing friend Twonjex had shared just to be sure i had not forgotten anything, checked if i had packed all the right medicines, prayed and went back to bed…but like that nervous child with a school trip the next day, i cdnt sleep much. Was up at 5am on the 13th, did my morning devotion, packed my small bag with the remaining items, as most of my luggage had been taken to the departing location the day before , bade my friend priscilla goodbye and grabbed a bike to the agreed location for departure. While on the bike i listened to “nnungamya by Brian Lubega” and half the time i kept thinking, go before me Lord, go before us !!

I was the first one to arrive but i found someone else’s luggage on the verander so i was even more convinced that this was going down and since i had seen the bags in a picture  the day before, i knew it was Joy’s luggage . I sat there wondering if i had underpacked because this luggage seemed much but i told myself, i had all that i needed. The rest of the team arrived, we shared a few light moments and took a few pictures while our luggage was being loaded on the car deck and we were good to go but still my mind lingered, either i had underpacked , or the rest of the team had overpacked…because everyone else’ bags seemed heavily pregnant but well, we would find out along the way..for some reason or other,i wasnt ready to get anxious over luggage.

Hellena, one of our friends who had come to send us off prayed for and with us,and off we went to Endiro to grab some coffee before offically heading out. While here we met afew friends who celebrated our courage to scale this mountain . We then started our journey and along the way sang a birthday song for Jackie’s sister who she had called and put on loudspeaker.

The anxiety then began! And for the first time in all my 27 years i started feeling car sick(worst feeling ever), i was super excited and yet super freaked out. I started imagining failing to make it through day 1and the ‘sick feeling’ just couldnt let me be so i chewed some gum, opened the car windows…took off my sweater ….eeeeehhhhh! Jeeezzzzz i was as if dying but all this helped and in no time, i was feeling better.I told myself all the tyre pulling and long walks and namboole stairs had not been in vain…i would get to the top somehow. As i recovered from the shock of being car sick…..small beautiful notebooks were being passed around in the car from Jackie and everyone was making noise at this point, screaming awwwww thank you aunty O….i grabbed mine and because i am too dark skinned no one could see my cheeks turn pink from being overjoyed…i made sure i emphasized that mine was the cutest ;););) . It read,”with God all things are possible” timely message ….oh you have no idea how much i needed that very word at that very moment. It was really sweet of Jackie to have been this thoughtful because earlier in the day i had read the blog she had dedicated to us her climbing party and mehnnn…..the journey to this day had not been a joke. To the notebook was attached a pen that read,” rejoice in the lord always ” and i just sat there rejoicing for the gift of friendship and a great climbing team.

Some of My friends had been arrested over the  weekend so  i was on the phone almost the entire journey, trying to find out whether court had granted them bail then we were in fortportal in no time. We went to Jackie’s mother-in- love’s home and had the best juice and great food. We rested and hit the road to kasese. Afew jokes were thrown in here and there but as we drew closer to the RMS shelter where we were to spend the night, you could tell people were in thought …probably everyone wondering what the climb would be like, i was just thinking…”hmmmmnnn …kale u came all this way to suffer”
It was really cold when we arrived,  we  got rooms and took some tea, after dinner @Jackie decided to “mime ” for us….the theme song was “i will get there!”

Joy, Jackie and Misha ,danced to some of our cheza class moves and made noise alittle..and BT sat there interviewing me on activism. We later went to our rooms agreeing to meet at 8am for breakfast. Since it was super cold, i spent almost an hour in the bathroom just enjoying the warm water ….said my prayers while enjoying the warm water and just dushed to bed thereafter. I kept thinking about the morrow and dozed off……….