Week 11 (1 - 7 October 2006)

October already! The weather here is a bit autumnal and daylight disappears around 7pm. We managed to get to the Sunday service at 8.10am but it had already started. Must try harder. A visiting pastor, Rev Canon Isaac, was officiating. He comes once a month to lead the communion service. This was followed by our (second) breakfast with Isaac and the staff. Tried again with the kerosene fridge but I don’t think it works on Sundays. I think I’ll try reading the instructions. We went to the SU (Scripture Union) meeting but waited for 30 mins before the 45 mins of singing started.

On Monday morning, with the help of our neighbour, we interviewed a lady, Mary, who had worked for several white people to see if she could help us with our collection of water, washing clothes and general cleaning. We agreed that she would do three mornings a week – and started immediately! We could see the difference in an hour because she works so hard. Later we went to see what happens during the evening ‘prep’ from 8-10pm and worked for a while in the staffroom. Some interesting wildlife is attracted to the lights in the staff room and every minute or so one or more of the insects is swatted. It will take a while to get used to sharing a table with a group of ants even though they probably work harder!

I (James) taught three classes on Tuesday with signs that the students are starting to ‘test’ us – but very mildly compared with the UK classes. Much of my time is spent preparing lessons as the science notes need to be fairly thorough and handwritten. The students don’t have text books.

On Wednesday Ken and Anne (from Matoke Inn) arrived with Lyn Cooke (from Brentwood) and our vehicle. At last. It was great to see them again and catch up. We took Ken & Anne to a hotel in Arua but Lyn has the privilege of being our first guest and to experience our en-suite facilities. They brought the radio phone which allows us to connect to the internet and e-mail. A relief after a month of being disconnected.

Thursday was busy! We took Ken, Anne and Lyn to the airfield so see them off and then went into town to do some shopping. With the car we can now get some of the larger items we have been waiting for. Over the last two weeks we have been in contact with customs at Entebbe. Our three boxes took about three days to get to Uganda from the UK but trying to sort out the paperwork here is more difficult. It has taken five phone calls to convince a number of different people at Entebbe that we will not be collecting the parcels in person as we had arranged for them to be sent up to Arua. Eventually I managed to fax our visa and work permit details after four further phone calls to check the number as it wasn’t working. On the last one I was given a different number because there was no power in the building! Three calls and 30 minutes would have been saved if this had been realised sooner but TIA (This Is Africa!). The rest of the day involved trying to catch up with e-mails

Friday was another day of teaching sprinkled with marking. We got to the assembly at 3.59pm only to discover that it had already started. But this doesn’t happen in Africa! Starting a meeting early!!!! What next?

Drove to Kuluva Hospital on Saturday (with 4 passengers who appeared at the last minute) directly from the school. This tested by driving as I’m still getting used to the vehicle, the roads and other travellers – mainly cyclists and pedestrians. The route was the most difficult yet and in some parts was hard to see how to get over the ruts as they were so large. I had to engage the 4-wheel drive at one point because the road was so steep and uneven. I won’t be doing that journey too often. We collected a fellow AIM missionary, Anne Houghton, from Ringili and took her to town. We managed to get some lino for our lounge floor but before I could catch the shopkeeper he had FOLDED it – to make it easier to carry and get in the car. It didn’t occur to us that he wouldn’t roll it and I couldn’t make him understand that I didn’t want it folded. But he assured us muzungus that it would be OK. It wasn’t but the fold marks may come out in time. We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with Anne at her home in Ringli.