Monday 29th September

Late September and early October went with a blur.  Kathryn and I were preparing to leave Uganda for a few months so we were busy.  So I have tried to just highlight important/interesting events that I remembered, a lot happened but not all is interesting.

First up on Monday 29th September Pamellah, one of the matrons, took up the challenge to make cakes while Kathryn is away and today was her first attempt.  Everyone was keen on watching how she went:

She did a good job, or at least Blessed, whose birthday it was, thought so:

Friday 26th September 2008

Today we went to a give away. Here when someone gets married they also have a give away, where the bride’s parents give her away to the groom’s family, or something like that. We usually decline such invitations as they are usually people we do not know and they tend to go for a VERY long time. This one however was for one of our matrons’ daughter so it was great to go and be a part of it. I was actually very surprised of how quickly it went and how nice it was. It was located up in the hills beside the lake, very beautiful. The only problem was that at a give away the bride has to look sad because she is leaving the parents, then at the wedding she looks happy. And unfortunately the bride was doing a fabulous job of looking sad.

The Bride:

The Groom (on the right hand side of the photo):

The Bride’s Mother:

The Guests:

The uninvited guests:

Week lost

Sorry all readers, Kathryn and I have been flat out preparing for our departure from Uganda to go back to Australia for time with family and friends.  This on its own made us very busy, hence no posts for a long time.  On top of that I lost the book that I was using as a diary that I was going to use to write posts when I got a chance.  So I have lost a week from the previous post.  I know that we were busy with all sorts of things like packing, sorting out people to relieve us, working on chicken coops, looking at prospective children etc.

Looking at my photos also revealed that in that week we also had a birthday celebration for Janette:

Friday 19th September 2008

Today I headed to Akanyijuka land with Edward and some others to work on the chicken coop, it ended up being a good day and we now have one of the coops pretty much completed.  Here is Edward pretending to do a little work:

And here is a photo of the real workers, note the sneaky white one playing in the mud to make it look like he worked hard:

Wednesday 17th & Thursday 18th September 2008

Wednesday we borrowed Edward’s ute and headed down to Akanyijuka land with a stack of tree stumps to use as poles for completing the first of two chicken coops we are trying to finish before Kathryn and I leave.  The layer chickens down there are doing well also.

Thursday, however, was not so enjoyable.  It was dentist time again.  I had an appointment for myself so I took the chance to take those from Akanyijuka who also needed to go.  Getting my temporary filling removed and a permanent one was ok, though the dentist is never enjoyable.  It was poor Catherine Mbabazi though that did not have fun.  She went in with Pamellah and all was going fine, but Pamellah had to go into the other room to get things done herself.  I did not see this as I was outside on the phone, when the dentist came out and said that I had better come in and help.  I knew then that poor Catherine was not having fun.  Just like last week she was very distressed and was not in pain but more overwhelmed by the whole experience.  It was hard when she kept wanting to get up out of the chair to get to me, but I had to coax her back for more treatment.  A filling at the back and one primary tooth removal and it was all over.  At least this time she did not take so long to recover.

Tuesday 16th September 2008

The day started not so well for me.  I had the joy of heading down to Akanyijuka to cut off a lock that someone had lost the keys to.  Cutting a lock with a hack saw is not usually too daunting a task, but when you can only use one arm squeezed through a small hole, reaching down about one foot and only being able to use the blade by itself; it becomes a bit more tedious.  After about one hour I started to wonder why we ever put two locks on the door, and if we had decided to only put one on, maybe, just maybe I would not be there bending over at a funny angle being the spectacle of all the people that were walking past watching.  Finally after about 1 1/2 hours the lock was cut and we were in.  Needless to say we now have a much better key handling system than prior to this incident.

In the afternoon it was a much more pleasant trip to Akanyijuka as we headed down for another birthday; today it was Dorothy’s turn:

In the evening VCCS had a board meeting and Edward said at the last minute that I could come if I wanted.  It was not until about 3/4s the way through the meeting, when two impromptu questions were posed to me unawares, that I knew why I had been invited.  I think I handled it ok though.

Monday 15th September 2008

Today Pastor Edward was coming back from Kampala with Chickens and feeds on the bus, if one thought a bus trip in Uganda was unenjoyable you would be right, but with 408 chickens and almost 300kgs of feeds it is even less enjoyable – thanks for the huge effort Pastor.  While he was away I went with Patrick, a volunteer with VCCS, to look into some children’s situations to see if any would fit into the last two positions we have. 

About 9pm Pastor Edward made it to Kabale, so we had a late night settling the new residents into their temporary make-shift coop in the garage.  Here is the little ladies nice and cosy, enjoying life in Kabale, even if it is only for another couple of months! 

Sunday 14th September 2008

LUNCH WITH THE PRESIDENT!!

We headed up to the White Horse Inn after church to see if we could chance a look at the President since he is in Kabale at present and has been for the last few days.  We managed to get through security checks and make it in to have lunch.  Though unfortunately for us he had already eaten lunch and was not back until dinner time, so rather than sit around and look like turkeys we had lunch and then went back home.  At least we saw his helicopter as it flew by our house everyday while he was here.

Saturday 13th September 2008

Today was a shopping day for groceries and stuff with Pamellah.  Then in the afternoon Pastor Edward and I made arrangements for the arrival of our next batch of Broiler Chickens, we ordered 400.  Last time we only had 200, so this time we have our work cut out for us.  We are also getting the ingredients for the feeds separately from Kampala to help reduce costs, and to make sure that the chickens get the best feed possible.

Friday 12th September 2008

Today was Joyce’s birthday, so of course, we had to head down for a cake and song: