Jacob's Reunion

Here is the letter from Levin in Kampala:
Hello everybody,
Well, there has been a whirlwind of emotions and events during Jacob's family reunion here in Kampala.
08/13
We arrive and pass customs easily around 10 pm after our incredibly long and exhausting journey from Seatac-Chicago-Brussels-Kigali-Kampala. Jacob and I are in different seats on last leg of journey and he tells me how a C.E.O. of a NGO in Rwanda hears his story, and offers Jacob a job, which he refuses without a second thought. Next, we find our chauffeur, Stephen, sent by Brent and Irene Potts to pick us up and take us back to their house in Mengo district. Brent, a contact Kevin found before we left, is a Canadian who is head of the American Refugee committee in Uganda, where he lives with his Rwandan wife Irene, their three children, as well as his two daughter in laws. They graciously offer us their house, and help us to understand the layout of Kampala, as well as loan us a cell phone. We stay up late talking to Brent, and he tells me that 'Jacob is very unique and brave for coming back to find his family' and that he doesn't know many that have done so.
The next morning, we are awoke by all three of the Pott's children, Issac, Aaron, and Adrian, who are more than curious about us and all the goods that we have brought in our bags. After a deep fried pancake breakfast with the family, Jacob and I head into town to meet with the Rev. Mark, another Kevin contact, who is a Universal Unitarian that has offered to help us find a home for Jacob's family to stay in. We arrive at Uganda's favorite fast food joint 'Steers', where a man greets us and introduces us as Alan who has arrived on the Rev.'s behalf. Rev. Mark then calls us and tells us that he is in an important meeting, and that he has found a place in Masaka, two hours outside of Kampala. In the meantime, Jacob is becoming very anxious because he cannot get in contact with his Brother in Law Alor, knowing that there are some of his family living in Kampala, but he is unable to reach them. He begins asking random people on the street if they are Sudanese or if they know any of his family members, but most people react to Jacob as if he is some lost stranger from a far away place.
Alan, takes us to a local restaurant where we have our first taste of Matoke, a cooked banana smear on a plate that you add sauce and meat, along with yams and something resembling collard. I enjoy it heartily, being a late lunch at 3 pm, but Jacob is too preoccupied to eat, taking two measly bites. When they pull his plate away, he whips out a candy bar and says that he needs some fuel to run on.
We then head to a Internet place where we both sit down for a session, but once again, Jacob is too agitated and wanders off. I finish a very quick catch-up with home before I began searching for him up and down the street. Minutes later, he returns saying that he found some Sudanese who have heard of his in laws, but not anything else. Still Jacob seems slightly relieved to have at least caught a little info.
Later that evening, Jacob miraculously is able to reach his Brother in law on his cell, who arranges to have another brother in law, Kom, pick us up at Potts's house.
The next day, an elated Jacob and I meet with Kom Majok Nyok, and are driven by his family's west Ugandan chauffeur Dous in their family's car to Alor's compound. Alor Majok Kom Nyol is Jacob's brother in laws brother who is a captain in the Ugandan army and is currently in a military training camp. We arrive at his compound and are greeted warmly by all the members of Alor's family, including his two wives and there 8 children. Jacob is especially happy to meet his nephew Nyol, who is the child that Jacob's support group helped to send to Kampala from a refugee camp in the north. He tell me that he is responsible for Nyol, as if he is his own son, until Alor's brother, Mangok Kom Nyol, married to Jacob's sister Achol, gives him a dowry. His nephew's parents are still in Sudan, but Nyol is 12 and is currently doing very well in his studies at school. We also meet Marino Ajang Akwei a distant relative who is passing by to see his daughter who also lives at the compound on his way back to Jouba. His wife was murdered in the war. He tells me how the Dinka do not like war, but they have only been doing it for their survival. He says that after 22 yrs. of war, that they are tired and only seek peace, as well as succession from the Northern part of Sudan. He seems to have experienced lot of loss and sorrow in his life as well as spending 7 years in prison, only to rejoin the Sudanese People's Liberation Army again right after he was released. He says now that it is going to be up to the next generation of Dinka to reestablish their place in Sudan.
When we arrive home, Jacob gets word from his sister that they are going to arrive in Kampala sometime the following night, and Jacob cannot stop talking about how happy he is to have such a great support network of people back home.
The next day, we meet Rev. Mark in town and tell him how we decided against staying in his home in faraway Masaka. He then gives us back half of what he was wired (he could only take out max of $200 per day) and we make arrangements to meet up with him later. In the meantime, Jacob has run out of his can of chewing tobacco that he brought with him from the states, and with the help of Dous, we locate some huge tobacco leaves at the market that Jacob tears of pieces and tries to make a wad in his mouth. Jacob is less than satisfied, so Dous asks around for a proper can of chew, and a man climbs into the car next to Jacob to show us a specialty store. The place turns out to be an Indian import store, and Jacob walks out of the place with four strongly perfumed smelling bags of tobac that are covered with Hindi writing. As if to make up for lost time, Jacob tucks an incredibly large amount of it in his lip, and is promptly sick several minutes later. We stop the car, as he heaves his lunch out onto the ditch at the side of the road. Kom then informs me that Jacob is in bad shape for visiting with his family, and he drops us off at the Potts's house telling us that he'll fetch us in the morning. We enter the house, and I meet Irene's brother who is checking out Issac's homework. In the meantime, Jacob hurls once more and then goes into bed, and I stay talking with the family before I retire. At about 2 am, Jacob wakes me up and tells me that he can't find his camera or his wallet. Fortunately I told Jacob to leave his travel documents and travel pic ID in his money belt in his suitcase, so I'm not totally panicking, but as you can imagine, Jacob is less than concerned, almost as if it doesn't really matter. I pester him to call his in laws, but their phones are turned off and/or they don't answer so late in the night. Jacob assures me that the lost items are in the car with the family and nothing possibly could have happened to them. I fall asleep uneasily.
The next day, Jacob gets a call that his mother, two brothers, two sisters and their three children have been picked up at the buss station and are waiting for us at Alor's compound. Not thinking, I put my pack in the trunk of the car with all of the gifts, and manage to just barely dig out my camera as Jacob's two sister's walk out of the compound to greet him. His mother then steps out is overwhelmed to see him, collapsing in his arms as tears roll down her cheeks. I am introduced to everybody and we give out gifts, until I remember to ask Kom if he had found Jacob's belongings in his car. He says no, and we I try and pull Jacob away from his reunion to make the call back to Kevin in the US to cancel his credit cards. Jacob, is totally unconcerned about this, but I somehow talk him into making a one last ditch effort to return to the Potts's compound to search to see if maybe the Potts's kids moved his items when they may entered our room. We find nothing, and we discouragingly go to look for some beds and bedding to go into the rental house for Jacob's family that Irene has found for us across the street. We go to a carpenter district where a man is driving the last few nails on a coffin and says that it is meant for me. Ha ha. Next, we enter a space that is filled with woodworkers and beautiful hard wood bed frames. When I find out that these bed frames are around $100, and ask Jacob if they may just be able to take a mat on the floor, Jacob reminds me that this is a very important thing for his family to have nice beds, especially his ailing mother, and that they will disassemble them to take back with them when the leave. I can't really argue about it, and Jacob's in law Kom begins bargaining in earnest. Finally, we are headed back to the rental with a whole slew of workers to deliver the beds while a house cleaner cleans up the piles of cement dust everywhere. Everybody comments how the compound is nice, is in a good location, and is good value at $200. In the meantime, I make a call to the embassy, but it is closed for the evening.
We return to Alor's compound again where we have a huge meal with the family, and I try to have a conversation with Kevin over a phone, but can only hear a whisper of his voice. We make an appointment to touch bases later at the Potts's compound, and I go outside for a talk with Jacob's mother and sister. They tell me about some of their financial difficulties. Jacob's mother has several teeth that are rotten, some internal pain in her stomach, as well as a swollen knee. I tell her that we can make an appointment in the upcoming days. Also, they tell me about his mother really needs to have a house, and that is Jacob's next big mission.
Today is the following day, and I have sent Jacob accompanied by Dous and his two brother's to file a report with the local police and then go to the US embassy to report his theft and try to avoid any complications if somebody tries to do something with his Washington State Driver's license. In the meantime, I go to a bank to withdrawal more money, and to send of this report. The next plan is to purchase some mosquito nets, sheets and covers for bed, and some cookware,plates, utensils for the kitchen. I need to meet Jacob soon so I'll write some more later.
Jacob and I send everybody much love and our best wishes
Levin

Jacob & Levin are in Kampala!

Here is the first letter from Levin regarding their trip to Africa:

Well the Potts are a godsend. Great folks and their house is a wonderful place to chill out from the typical bustle of an African city. Rev. Mark was busy and couldn't meet us this morning, but he sent a relative on his behalf and we spoke with him on the phone. Apparantly he has foud a house that is in an outlying town that is about a two hour drive outside of Kampala. This means that we probably won't be able to commute to/from the Potts as originally planned so we may stay out at that place, we'll see how it goes. Jacob has been preoccupied with trying to reach his mother on the phone to get an arrival time (or at least a ballpark figure) nailed down so we can all meet with Rev. Mark and make the trek out of town to the place he found. Also, Jacob is looking for his cousin here, for whom he has no contact info, so he is randomly asking people on the streets if they are from Sudan, or if they know his cousin Alor. Many of them look at him as if he were some kind of country bumpkin, and nothing has turned up. Really, I think we just need to get some sleep, Jacob was up at 5 am after we turned in after midmight last night. Needless to say, we're both pretty lagged. But life is good, and I think that the meeting with Jacob's family is going to be pretty darn interesting, to say the least. I'll keep trying to calm Jacob down, and if I'm lucky, we'll be heading back to the Pott's place soon for a little R&R.
I hope that all is well on the Rock\
Lev