Ready for the off?

 It has been our last week in Kisoro, and a last chance to experience the way of live here for 3 months.

People are very relaxed. We cant think of many places in England where you can be walking through town for Sunday lunch when you meet a young woman in curlers – reminds us of Ena Sharples in Coronation Street about 50 years ago – but she didn't look so good.

Very few people have cars and cant afford taxis, so a popular way to move about is to hire a boda-boda – a motor-cycle taxi. And here seems no limit to the number of passengers you can squeeze on board. It is common to see 3 adults with a baby, such as on the way back from church. We think the law requires crash helmets, but...............

Of course, there was still plenty of room for more, as it is common to see a young child sat in front of the driver on the petrol tank – so he at least has the handle bars to hold onto,

Unfortunately we understand there are a lot of injuries on boda-bodas. You know why when you see the state of most of the roads!!!!

As matter of policy we have never hired a boda- boda!!!!!

Wednesday we had our last lunch or the year at the Coffee Pot cafe. We were able to say goodbye to Doris who returns to Canada after working for over 30 years in Africa (see blog of 14 October) and a farewell to Val from Germany who owns the cafe and has lived in Uganda a long time since she married a Ugandan.

And then its time to pack up!!! We fly today and arrive at Heathrow tomorrow for our month UK Christmas Tour.

Bon Voyage

Closing down - growing up

 With less than a week to go before our return to the UK, we need to 'close down' a few matters.

Malcolm has spent most of the week at Potters Village Home for Vulnerable children. He has been helping to 'close down' the accounts for the past few years, and to carry out an audit (actually an 'Independent Examination') of the Financial Statements.

The Village project began in 2005/6. In the past 6 years a significant cluster of buildings has been built with finances raised mainly by a UK Trust created for the purpose. The Village cares for more than 30 children under 2 years old , with a further 60 supported in the community. Many of the children would not have survived without the Village as most of their mothers had died giving birth.

One such baby is Doree (not Doreen!!!), who we mentioned in our blog of 1st July. Sadly both her mother and twin sister died at the birth and with no other female in the family able to care for her she was immediately brought into the Village. She is now almost 4 months old and doing very well, and is being sponsored by our son and daughter in law so he future is bright. Hopefully she will return to her family to be cared for when she is about 2 years old

The latest project is to build a new Babies Unit so that their current 'home' can revert to its original purpose of a Medical centre to care for premature babies and sick children. The structure of the new unit is close to completion with interior plumbing and fitting out in progress.

Another youngster you is growing up is the guard dog, Otis. He is only a few months old – he will welcome you during the daytime, but at night, if anyone comes into the Village site, he will do his job and start barking.

To findout more about Potters Village go to:
http://www.pottersvillage.org.uk/

And what now - time to start packing up

No. This is Not a war-zone!!!!

A friend of ours, Doris has worked in Africa as a language teacher for over 30 years. However, when she left the previous two countries she worked in, Ivory Coast and Liberia, each time she had to do so in a bit of a hurry as war had broken out, and she needed to abandon all her possessions. This time she (and we) hopes to be more lucky!!!

She is now retiring and returning to her native Canada next month. However, last weekend was the last occasion when many of us will be around to say farewell, so we had a little get together in the Coffee Pot Cafe. It was a 'Bring your Own and Share' (and help yourself!!!!!) food event!!!!!

Coincidentally, and keeping to the military theme,  Sunday was the 49th anniversary celebration for the Independence of Uganda. We went to enjoy a celebratory parade at the local sports ground, attended by thousands of residents .

In addition to soldiers and police, most of the schools joined in.

There were  displays put on by local dance groups.

We are beginning to think about packing up to return to England in two weeks time for our Christmas break. And who knows, we might return next year, when the 50th Independence Anniversary should be even more spectacular and celebrated!!!!

Time for a Ball?

Last weekend the students at the Diocese Vocational Training Centre arranged their conference at the Cathedral. It was themed 'Come let us reason together' based on a verse from Isaiah chapter 1,

As is usual with such events in Africa the opening, though planned for 8.30 am, took place just before 11. Because the Bishop had a prior commitment. (See note at bottom) he asked Irene to open the conference.

The conference went very well.

Lunch was served late in the afternoon. The Centre's kitchen is in one of the out- buildings. All the cooking is done using firewood or charcoal and can be a bit of a smokey experience.

When ready the food was served in one of the classrooms.

One of the activities enjoyed by the students is volley ball.

Many children here enjoy football but cant afford to buy a ball. Most seem to make their own footballs from string and plastic bags. In case this is of interest to anyone else the following is a item from last weeks newspapers explaining how to make a ball. You may struggle to find banana fibre in England, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note about weddings

One of the problems here is that there is a culture that when you get married you have to:

- pay a large sum of money to the brides family to compensate them for their daughter

- put on an expensive 'Going Away' party just before the wedding at the brides house, inviting lots of friends

 -arrange a lavish reception and invite 100's of people to the wedding

The costs of these matters is just too much for poor peasants and they usually get themselves into serious debt. To avoid this many don't actually get married despite this being contrary to their religious beliefs. In order to try and address this the Bishop, when preaching at a remote village church in Mwumba some weeks ago, challenged the congregation by saying he would return to marry anyone without charge. 9 couples took up the offer, including one couple who decided to do so at the start of the wedding service. The Bishop's wife took with them two wedding cakes for the congregation to enjoy