Week 7 (cont) 6th – 9th Sept

After leaving Matoke Inn at 5.15am on Wednesday for the airport we landed in Arua at 9.30am. However, our second suitcase did not arrive until 10.15am! It came on the next plane rather than having sprouted it’s own wings. Eagle Air is a “Christian” airline which I think means that it is operated by Christians and the two planes we have seen so far have GNF and JNF as part of their identification numbers. This means “God Never Fails” and “Jesus Never Fails”. So, knowing this we weren’t worried about the second case, not after 10.15 that is!

We drove to our host home with John Onduma through the ‘housing estate’ fairly near the airfield. It’s a bit like Zana village where Lyn Cooke lives near Kampala only with more potholes and homes. It was a bit stressful for us but both John and his wife were very kind and welcoming and they recognised that we needed to rest in the afternoon. They are very keen to teach us Lugbara but it’s difficult to remember everything and get used to the surroundings. In the late afternoon John walked with us through Arua to the church where there was a youth service. The walk took about 35 mins and we returned at rush hour, just as it was getting dark. There are relatively few cars in the town but this is more than made up for by the number of cyclists. But even these were greatly outnumbered by the hoards of pedestrians. We wondered where they all came from!

Although John’s house is comfortable it will take us a while to get used to only solar power, the pit latrines (but with seats) and the shower facilities (bowl and cup). The food is typical Ugandan with some extras for us, but definitely not western. On Thursday morning John Aduka, the Deputy Principal from Ushindi Secondary School, cycled the 14km from the school to meet us and show us around the town. This was very helpful – or will be when we begin to recognise places and names. He gave us a ‘lesson review’ as he drew a map for us at the end of the visit. We learnt where all the people had come from. Off the main street, which is busy, there are several markets which are packed and are a maze of alleys. It will take a while before we will be able to find our own way out, let alone around to specific stalls. Arua is more like Romford in size than Brentwood yet looks more like Brentwood High St in size. (Irish readers should understand what I mean.)

In the afternoon, we managed to walk into town on our own and found a few places we recognised again before walking home again. It doesn’t seem like much of an achievement – but look back to our first experiences of Kampala or ask those who have had similar experiences to explain.

We had a quieter day on Friday, but it was also getting very hot. Eventually we needed to go for a walk so returned to town again and explored a little further than previously which increased our confidence. We were able to watch TV in the evening – mainly world news.

We visited Ushindi on Saturday afternoon to see how the work on the house is progressing. Next Wed looks like the earliest completion date.