Comings and Goings

Coming
For some months the Vocational Training Centre has been waiting for the arrival of new computers donated from England – and this week 10 brand new PC’s arrived, along with a network and printer / scanner

 Going

It’s the end of term. The Vocational Training students went home this week, so last Sunday was a special thanksgiving service at the cathedral. Afterwards there was a celebration meal and dance.





Coming

It happened also to be a Harvest Festival. Here most people are peasant farmers, or have a plot of land so most of the gifts brought are produce they have grown.

Going.

We spent the week at Kisiizi Hospital, about 100 miles from Kisoro, where Malcolm was helping the Treasurer draft last year’s financial statements.



Coming

Irene’s excitement was for the first time to witness (as a spectator rather than a participator) the natural birth of a baby. This was one of the items on her ‘must do before I die’ list. The boy was born 8 weeks premature, weighed 2.1 kg, and had blue eyes – which changed to brown within a couple of hours – all black Africans have brown eyes.



Coming and Going

The other excitement the same day was the arrival of a helicopter to transport a patient (an army Colonel) who was going to a hospital in Kampala. Malcolm wasn’t too bothered when he heard the helicopter approach, but then he heard car horns and people running excitedly towards the landing site (the local primary school). It has been 12 years since a helicopter last came to Kisiizi, and some people had driven miles to see this one.



Not Going, yet – the earth mover that broke down outside the Cathedral last week is still there. It has left the 10 litres of oil that leaked out when it moved 20 yards!!! - that's only 8,800 litres per mile!!!!

This week's proverb from the BBC websie is from Uganda:

“Where there are no fools, there will be no wise men”

More Fun and Games

Last week we mentioned that the electricity poles in Kisoro are being replaced. This, and the almost daily power cuts continue. However, Potter’s Village Home for Vulnerable Children are making good use of the old ones.


Are they:

- cutting them to length for caber tossing at the local equivalent of the Highland Games?, or

- making shorter batons for the African relay team? , or

- cutting them for fence posts?


Not to be outdone the students and teachers (in blue tee shirts) of the Vocational Training Centre were relaxing during one of the power cuts with a friendly game of volley ball.

It was good news for the VTC this week. We have been expecting new computers ever since we arrived 2 years ago, and this week most of them were delivered. We can’t wait to get them out of their boxes – for education purposes, of course, not computer games!!!!




For the last 6 months a road building earth mover has been stranded. It had been borrowed in January to help dig the grave of the former Bishop. However it broke down and has been left outside the VTC building ever since.


This week a team of mechanics turned up and reinstalled the engine, repaired the tyres and got the machine going after several days work. They even managed to move it about 50 yards, where is broke down again across the cathedral road. See you again in 6 months time????





This week’s proverb isn’t from the BBC Africa web site, but is very meaningful for us:

“If you think you are too small to make a difference then you haven’t spent a night with a mosquito”

All the Fun of the Fair

A fair came to Kisoro this week – a most unusual sight.

Like most English fairs this had fun rides and stalls

Unlike most English fairs this one was difficult to enter, there being a fence all the way round. So we didn’t bother. We are not sure if you had to pay to enter, or be invited. Not many other people seem to bother, either



It has been a week of daily power cuts. The electricity company is replacing many of their poles, and this means the power to the whole of Kisoro is cut off most days, and even some nights, so the workmen can re-wire the poles. We have been told this could take most of July. Unlike England there is only one power line to the town which means when any maintenance work has to be done the whole town goes into the dark. Still, electricity is cheap here at just 20p per unit.



When Malcolm went to pay the Electric bill at the company shop on friday, he had to wait outside for an hour. Opposite was a typical carpenter’s shop, where chairs were being made



We are settled into Jenny’s house. As well as the pigs we mentioned last week there are 3 other animals – 2 dogs and a cat.



The house overlooks one of the primary schools. On occasions, when it is sunny, classes are held outside – which is not surprising when you see how many children have to fit in a classroom.



This week’s proverb from the BBC Africa web site is “A good palm-wine bar doesn't need a signpost”

Neighbours. Everybody needs good neighbours

We had a lovely surprise on Saturday when we went to Potter’s Village Home for Vulnerable Children. The senior staff gathered for coffee and cake to welcome us back.

Irene met for the first time our new next door neighbour. Habert and Immaculate had their first child born on 1st June. Her name is Joy.

As we are staying in Jenny Green’s house whilst she is on leave in England we have new neighbours. Jenny is breeding pigs which seem to think that whenever we go near they are going to get fed.

Jenny’s house is on a hill overlooking Kisoro.

Nearby are some typical family homes. Simple dwellings, usually without mains electricity but sometime benefiting from mains water.

This week's proverb from the BBC Africa web site is from Sierra Leone:

“Friendship is like a book - it takes years to write and minutes to burn”