My Time in Uganda Comes to an End

Wednesday 23 – more little jobs completed at Wakisa and another chat with Vivian on sponsorship issues. I also had access to their internet and so was able to catch up on all my emails using a relatively fast internet. I had found out where the doctor's new office was and arrived in plenty of time – it turns out that the pharmacist gave me the wrong medication – no wonder my toe felt as if it were getting worse, as it probably was! He gave me the correct medication which I took straight away. About 3 pm, we went into town to collect a dress that Linda was having made – what a surprise, it was still being sewed when we arrived. I waited a while and then had to go and meet Miriam – she was going to show me the best place to buy a bus ticket to Lira and that was the GaaGaa Bus Terminal. After a coffee, we shot back to the guesthouse because Craig (see previous post) had invited us to a dinner he and his son, Joshua, were putting on for the teachers of his school project on the outskirts of Kampala. It was a lovely celebration including some wonderful singing – Linda & I sat with Pastors George & Rose who head up the project as well as Rose's sister Evelyn & her husband Stephen.

Thursday 24 – I caught up with my kids this morning on Facetime and it was just great to hear what's going on at home and have a chat. I then caught a boda to Kajjanankumbi to visit Winsy. Winsy was at Wakisa during my first visit to Uganda in 2007 and later she was sponsored to school but didn't work out. She is now living with her father, sister, her aged grandfather who has been brought from the village, her daughter Madrine and her sister's kids. Winsy was working at a supermarket but unfortunately the business failed and so she's out of a job. Madrine goes to the local Catholic school and just loves studying. Back at the guesthouse, Jane dropped in around lunchtime. She was at Wakisa when I was there in 2010 and during some computer lessons I was running, showed some real potential. She was still there when I left to come home and we lost contact. Then in 2013, I was at a market in Kampala when I heard a small voice “Uncle Greg! Uncle Greg!” - it was a chance encounter with her again and she explained that she had been exiled with her politician father in Kenya for 3 years but had now been sponsored by a Canadian lady to complete her high school studies. So she is sitting her final exams in November and hopes to get a scholarship to go on to university. She needs very high marks to achieve this and if she does, will be the first Wakisa girl to do so. Linda and I took her to 1000 Cups for a light lunch and a drink and then Miriam dropped in on her way t work to give me some shoes she had bought for her father. I was then off to the bus terminal for my trip to Lira in the north. 40 km out, there was a large bang and we had a flat tyre! The spare didn't look very good at all and so ensued a heated argument between some of the passengers and the bus crew which was interrupted by an absolute downpour which sent the passengers under cover. In the meantime, the crew changed the tyre and, still in the middle of the downpour, the driver revved the engine to indicate that we should get on the bus – needless to say that everyone was soaked in doing so but that is bus travel in Uganda. We arrived in Lira at 10.30 pm, the trip taking 2 hours longer than normal.

During the trip I sat next to Ben, a Ugandan man, and had a good discussion on being “Born again of the Spirit”.

Friday 25 – no power this morning, so another cold shower. I met with Morris, the founder of Atin Africa (Child of Africa) at about 9.30 am. We chatted for about an hour and then went off to meet Daniel, a deaf mute boy of 15 that I have been sponsoring for the last year and a half. He attends a special school and I was most impressed with the hearts of the Deputy Headmaster and his class teacher – they seemed so caring and patient. Daniel is super shy and he hasn't been signing for that long, both of which made communication a little difficult. Both his parents are hopeless alcoholics so being boarded at school is definitely the best option for him. He seemed a lovely boy and had such an infectious smile!

A had a great time chatting with Morris but time was moving on – I caught a boda into town and bought two types of beans as a gift to Miriam's family. This wouldn't normally be an appropriate gift but they had lost their recent bean crop to unseasonally hot weather a few months back. Tom, her dad, was at a meeting, so I got to have a lovely chat to her mum, Margaret, for 30 minutes – Margaret has suffered from a painful problem with her legs for 24 years and has had 13 operations but still remains cheerful and trusting in God. I also got to greet Lawrence, Martin, Eric & Molly, Miriam's siblings, Shadrack her son, as well as her two widowed neighbours. Tom arrived back and we shared a wonderful late lunch of northern Ugandan food, including millet porsho, pea sauce, rice, chicken and shea butter. 

Tom is very active in the local church and is the choir master, so around 4 pm, we went to the church for choir practice – they just have wonderful voices and Shadrack spent the time taking around 100 photos with my camera! Tom has a motorcycle, so after choir practice he took me into town to buy my return bus ticket and drop me to my hotel. The power was back on but my water still wasn't hot – not sure why.

Saturday 26 – on the return trip I got off at Bombo, about 20 km from Kampala and was collected by Mike Tyrell, an Australian pastor who has been living in Uganda for the last 15 years. He has a 22 acre property about 10 km into the bush and when he's not trying to make some money from the farm, he uses his passion for ministry to provide rural pastors with some Bible teaching, especially in the areas of the power of the Holy Spirit and healing. We spent the afternoon chatting as we wandered around the property and Mike explained all the issues he was dealing with with the neighbours – and wow, there were many.

Sunday 27 – Craig was originally going to Watoto church with Florence but was not able to make it. I felt the disappointment in her voice and so decided to take Craig's place. And I'm glad I did – the guy who lead the worship had an incredible voice and the message on “Grace & the Law” was really well done and I learnt a lot. Florence went back to work and I went to meet Miriam & Linda at the the St Francis Makerere church. We caught a taxi and then walked a way to Miriam's home – it was lovely and cool inside and she had made it very homely – we also enjoyed a cool, freshly squeezed, orange/tangelo juice!

We went back to Vivian's house as we were invited to lunch but Vivian was preaching in three services that morning and so couldn't get back till around 3 pm. So we had a lovely lunch served by Sylvia (Vivian's housegirl) and Joyce (one of the Wakisa girls). Mala dropped in as we were finishing so that was good and then later, we met Helen, a young woman from the UK who was staying in one of Vivian's spare rooms – she had been in Uganda since early 2014 and was very interesting – she also conducts an exercise class for the Wakisa girls every Monday afternoon.

When we got back to the guesthouse, we sat down to chat with Craig and along came two Aussies from Springwood, not very far away from where I work! He was a dentist and they had previously been CMS missionaries in the Congo. Now in their late 60's, they felt called to do another 4 years in the same work. The six of us went off to a plush shopping plaza for dinner, had a wow of a time telling all manner of stories and ended up back at the guesthouse about 11 pm.

Monday 28 – I wasn't sure what I'd be doing today, but as it was Craig's & Joshua's last day in Uganda, Craig wanted to come down and see Wakisa. He just loved it and thought it was a great ministry. Just as we were going down to the agricultural plot, Vivian arrived and they were able to meet ever so briefly. When Henry arrived with the vehicle, we went of to but some paint to complete the new gift shop – the entire exercise took 3 hours! I then got stuck into finishing off some odd jobs around the place, only to find that I needed to buy some plumbing items and also get a quote on Linda's phone – she had dropped it earlier in the day and had smashed the screen. I collected Linda’s phone about 7 pm and was supposed to meet a Canadian lady involved in Atin Africa (the organisation who supports Daniel) but she didn't show which was a shame – not to worry.

Tuesday 29 – today was school visiting day! Henry and I left at about 9 am and headed to Buloba Primary where we saw Hamidah who I think was in Primary 6 and is sponsored by Greg & Anne Roby, some friends of mine. She was a lovely girl who wasn't too shy and had a warm personality.

We then moved to Buloba Senior School where we saw Sarah & Annabel. Sarah was one of the girls who I met in 2010 and is sponsored by a lady in the UK. All the school was in the middle of mid-term exams and so the girls had to leave after about 30 minutes.

To my surprise, we then had to go and buy some banana seedings – apparently Vivian needed them to plant at her village property. First we went to the office and laboratory site to pay for them and the to the nursery site. It took about an hour to get and load the 150 plants into the back of car so I spent the time asking the foreman about 100 questions – I learned a lot about propagating and growing bananas!

We then dropped in on Dorcas at Kings College Budo, one of the best high schools in Uganda.

I had hoped to get back by lunchtime but no, it was 2.30 pm, and all I had time to do was to tidy up the shed, fit the last 3 self-closing taps and check the gutters for leaks, thanks to a sudden downpour at about 3 pm. It turned out that the gutters were fine but, now that water was being collected from 2 sides from the roof rather than 1, the volume of water collected was too much for the 4” filter – I left instructions for Henry to change to a different filter system, one that would not get blocked by leaves being washed down from the roof and gutters.

Dinner at the guesthouse with Linda and Miriam (and Henry dropped in to say goodbye and we invited him to stay for dinner) and that was my time in Kampala over!