Since David was gone for the morning, I decided to take the kids for a walk to our friends' house. I was thinking, "I will have to make sure everyone behaves and stays close since people drive a bit crazy around here." I also was concerned about getting too far off the road into the tall grass because of snakes.
I did not anticipate the many adventures we would have. At first we as we began I was explaining to the children the importance of staying close to me. Little did I know how crucial that would be. As we began our walk everything was going pretty smoothly. Then Esther took her walking stick making a curvy line in the dirt and said, "Look mom, a snake trail!" Of course when I looked I realized she was just teasing me. We walked along peacefully for a bit just staying on the side of the road to avoid the vehicles. I sometimes get confused about which way to expect the vehicles to be traveling since we usually drive on the left side of the road here. But that does not necessarily mean that the approaching traffic will be on that side since there is much maneuvering in order to avoid potholes, Bodas, animals and pedestrians (in that order.)
I was managing to keep my children safe from traffic when we looked ahead and a herd of cattle were stampeding toward us. I ran the children across the street and off the road as far as I could without falling into the ditch and stood with my arms out to make sure none of my loved ones would end up in front of the stampede. The cattle ran passed us and didn't get all that close, but Zeke was crying saying, "I'm afraid of the running cows." I guess I don't have to worry about him going to Spain to participate in the running of the bulls anytime soon.
Since we had switched to the left side of the road, now traffic was coming up behind us quickly. There were several large dump trucks driving so fast they seemed out of control and stirring up a great deal of dust. We stayed as far off the road as possible covering our faces to avoid breathing in too much dust and diesel exhaust.
I was beginning to wonder why I thought I could take my children on this adventure when we looked in front of us and saw something surprising. It was a huge bat! No, not a baseball bat. A huge flying mammal! At fist I was not sure if it was dead. Then we tapped it with our sticks, and discovered that it was indeed dead. A man who was walking along told us that it had landed on the power lines, hanging upside down and touched the other lines, electrocuting itself. Apparently this is a fairly common occurrence here in Jinja. We decided to see if we could pick it up with our stick. Here is a photo of Ezra with a girl who was walking to her Islamic school holding the bat together. 
Since David was not with us and the bat was able to hang upside down on the stick, we decided to carry it along to show to our friends and to our science teacher dad. It is amazing what a conversation starter carrying a giant bat can be! We made many new friends as we walked.
The children did a wonderful job of walking together and staying out of traffic until we actually met Jennifer on the way to her house. She drove us the rest of the way and even let us bring the bat along. That is a good friend who will pick up you, your four children and a gigantic dead bat on the side of the road. :)
Overall, I would say our walk was a success, but I am pretty exhausted. When David arrived to pick us up, we showed him the bat. Here is a picture of him demonstrating the wingspan of this animal. 
(Any children reading this, please note that you really should never touch a bat. They can carry many diseases. David washed his hands thoroughly immediately following this photo.)
Another disclaimer: For those of you who are freaked out by this very large flying mammal with sharp teeth and claws, these bats are actually fruit eaters. This is not a vampire bat or anything scary like that. The smaller ones around here usually eat bugs. They help keep down the mosquito population. I don't want this photo of a large bat to be an excuse for someone to not visit us here in Africa.
I am thankful for a morning full of adventure, but am ready for a quieter afternoon. But only God knows what today will hold.
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