Missing Uganda

by David Taylor

May 04, 2026

It’s May 3rd.

I’m scrolling Facebook.

I see a memory from eight years ago.

It’s me, in Uganda, with my kids.

I’m experiencing life in a completely new way: touring town on a Boda-boda (motorcycle taxi), visiting the villages, meeting children who have never seen a muzungu (white man) before.

I’ve been here once before but everything is new to me.

The orphanage children are fascinated because they want me to slaughter dinner that night.

We went to the market during the day and got live chicken.

I slaughtered, plucked the feathers, and butchered the chicken myself and then cooked it on a charcoal stove.

This is not the same as back home. At all – It’s better.

I’ve never done this before.

My teacher is my wife’s sister-in-law, Mama Zack.

Mama Zack owns a restaurant and is teaching me how to take chicken from farm to table, literally.

Reminiscing all of these feelings and heart-felt memories, my wife interrupts me.

She tells me one of our children wants to speak to me on the phone.

Her name is Caroline. She’s 14 now.

When I visited HOLO eight years ago she was only six!

I remember how small and how shy she was.

I ask her how she is.

Caroline tells me she is not well…

I ask why and she says “because you have not visited this side.”

She means I haven’t come back to Uganda since 2018.

My heart breaks.

I miss my kids.

I tell her we hope to come soon.

Moments after speaking to Caroline, I made a decision: we are going back at the end of this year.

Stay tuned because we are definitely making a trip back to Uganda this year. I’ve never been more certain.