Week 15 (29 October - 4 November 2006)
Get a cup of coffee or tea first – this was a very busy week!
The visiting preacher on Sunday, Rev James, was very good. The whole school prayed for the girls involved in the incidents during the last few days. The school grounds were being used for a community meeting so the normal Sunday routine was altered. The Bible Studies when ahead as usual and most of the students from the first week returned.
After a quiet Monday morning I gave the students their English exam results. It was very interesting to see what they found difficult. Punctuation and grammar was generally good but a few words and sentence constructions from Lugbara crept in such as “oftentimes” and “will be having” instead of “has”. The free response section was about what manners they wanted their brothers and sisters to learn from them. They have very high ideals but the one that I found most interesting was about greetings. They all agreed that girls should kneel when speaking to anyone in authority, especially parents. They were amused that my daughter would never, ever kneel for me! We still find it hard when the girls kneel for staff here, including us, but it’s seen as good manners when greeting and it’s not all the time. It’s acceptable to say “How are you?” and shake hands. The girls often curtsey when doing this. The boys hold their right arm with their left – a common greeting to indicate respect, which we use when we remember.
This afternoon we took our neighbour, John, and his wife, Brenda, to a mission at the Christian University Study Centre at Ringli (about 30 mins drive). John was due to speak at 4pm but the proceedings didn’t start until 5pm. While we were waiting we were introduced to the Director of the Uganda Christian University. John’s topic was “Youthful lusts” but most of the audience were under 10 (and some slept) or over 50 (lecturers) but it was an interesting experience. We were able to record John as he asked for some feedback. Brenda works for World Vision and likes “the whites because they’re so direct”! But we were tactful. Still haven’t got the fridge working yet.
Tuesday: As the teacher for S3 Physics is away for a while I’m taking them for a month but had difficulty finding out exactly where they had got to. It’s hard to phrase questions so that you get a meaningful answer rather than several contradictory ones or just blank looks. Perhaps it’s my accent. I discovered that “Not done” means notes copied but not explained by a teacher OR “not done at all at all”. They must be Irish in disguise. Isaac arrived to finish the woodwork but it was a bit depressing when I could have done it better and faster myself if only I had the tools and wood. And energy. Maybe one day! But to cheer us up we discovered that that after a rather tense week of waiting our UK bank has actually transferred some money (ours of course) to our Uganda account.
Very heavy rain woke us up early on Wednesday. But I went back to sleep after Andrea went out to teach at 7.20am. Found out that a new teacher of English starts next week and this will relieve some of the teaching load. Andrea took the staff devotions. She does well at that sort of thing. In the evening we went out for a meal! Yes, socialising! Diguna, a German based mission partner have strong links with AIM from their time in Congo. We stayed with Kurt and Hannah for two nights when we visited Arua in August but they have been away until now. A couple from New Zealand who have recently arrived in Arua were also there and we had a great time catching up – and eating the German recipes! A bit odd though, Germans, New Zealanders and British together in Africa.
Thursday means that it’s my turn to start at 7.30am. Uggh. We went to Ringli at 1.30pm to attend a confirmation service, again with John, and met Ann Houghton there. Our main aim was to meet the Bishop as we hadn’t managed to meet up yet. They served us ‘lunch’ at 3pm as we were regarded as honoured guests along with all the clergy and ended up sitting with the Bishop. He wasn’t expecting lunch either. The service started without us anyway! It was an interesting experience as they combined the confirmation service with an evangelistic service without a break in between. The Bishop preached an excellent sermon and later gave an inspiring talk about the future plans for the area. However, towards the end we were more interested in the fact that the wooden seats seemed to have got much harder and were watching the 6-7 year old fall asleep on a bench and jerk awake every time she lost her balance! It ended at 7.30pm and this time we were ready for the refreshments. Again, we were at the same table as Bishop Joel.
Isaac had another go at finishing the work on Friday. Again, not particularly successful. We missed the School Assembly (with permission is case you’re wondering) so that we could go out for the evening – yes again! I did say it was a busy week. We went to Heritage Gardens with Anne Houghton. This is a local hotel? restaurant? or something of the sort. Anyway, it serves meals and is a place to go for Sunday lunch sometime. We were there at the invitation of Bishop Joel to meet all the other mission partners in Arua. Some we knew already, but it was good to see just how many there are – about 50 people representing about 10 agencies. I was encouraging to hear of the work others are doing and how we are a part of a much bigger picture – all with the support of the Bishop. But it was another late night.
On Saturday we slept in but later visited town again. We visited the bank and even managed to get some cash with our new ATM (cash machine) cards!!! Just as well as we had only 80,000 shillings left (~£25)! We collected the bookcase which is handmade in mahogany to my design. And heavy. Fortunately the car roof managed without any dents. Temperatures now around 32OC but bearable. It was good to be able to re-arrange our books and files in a logical order and not in a series of boxes.
The visiting preacher on Sunday, Rev James, was very good. The whole school prayed for the girls involved in the incidents during the last few days. The school grounds were being used for a community meeting so the normal Sunday routine was altered. The Bible Studies when ahead as usual and most of the students from the first week returned.
After a quiet Monday morning I gave the students their English exam results. It was very interesting to see what they found difficult. Punctuation and grammar was generally good but a few words and sentence constructions from Lugbara crept in such as “oftentimes” and “will be having” instead of “has”. The free response section was about what manners they wanted their brothers and sisters to learn from them. They have very high ideals but the one that I found most interesting was about greetings. They all agreed that girls should kneel when speaking to anyone in authority, especially parents. They were amused that my daughter would never, ever kneel for me! We still find it hard when the girls kneel for staff here, including us, but it’s seen as good manners when greeting and it’s not all the time. It’s acceptable to say “How are you?” and shake hands. The girls often curtsey when doing this. The boys hold their right arm with their left – a common greeting to indicate respect, which we use when we remember.
This afternoon we took our neighbour, John, and his wife, Brenda, to a mission at the Christian University Study Centre at Ringli (about 30 mins drive). John was due to speak at 4pm but the proceedings didn’t start until 5pm. While we were waiting we were introduced to the Director of the Uganda Christian University. John’s topic was “Youthful lusts” but most of the audience were under 10 (and some slept) or over 50 (lecturers) but it was an interesting experience. We were able to record John as he asked for some feedback. Brenda works for World Vision and likes “the whites because they’re so direct”! But we were tactful. Still haven’t got the fridge working yet.
Tuesday: As the teacher for S3 Physics is away for a while I’m taking them for a month but had difficulty finding out exactly where they had got to. It’s hard to phrase questions so that you get a meaningful answer rather than several contradictory ones or just blank looks. Perhaps it’s my accent. I discovered that “Not done” means notes copied but not explained by a teacher OR “not done at all at all”. They must be Irish in disguise. Isaac arrived to finish the woodwork but it was a bit depressing when I could have done it better and faster myself if only I had the tools and wood. And energy. Maybe one day! But to cheer us up we discovered that that after a rather tense week of waiting our UK bank has actually transferred some money (ours of course) to our Uganda account.
Very heavy rain woke us up early on Wednesday. But I went back to sleep after Andrea went out to teach at 7.20am. Found out that a new teacher of English starts next week and this will relieve some of the teaching load. Andrea took the staff devotions. She does well at that sort of thing. In the evening we went out for a meal! Yes, socialising! Diguna, a German based mission partner have strong links with AIM from their time in Congo. We stayed with Kurt and Hannah for two nights when we visited Arua in August but they have been away until now. A couple from New Zealand who have recently arrived in Arua were also there and we had a great time catching up – and eating the German recipes! A bit odd though, Germans, New Zealanders and British together in Africa.
Thursday means that it’s my turn to start at 7.30am. Uggh. We went to Ringli at 1.30pm to attend a confirmation service, again with John, and met Ann Houghton there. Our main aim was to meet the Bishop as we hadn’t managed to meet up yet. They served us ‘lunch’ at 3pm as we were regarded as honoured guests along with all the clergy and ended up sitting with the Bishop. He wasn’t expecting lunch either. The service started without us anyway! It was an interesting experience as they combined the confirmation service with an evangelistic service without a break in between. The Bishop preached an excellent sermon and later gave an inspiring talk about the future plans for the area. However, towards the end we were more interested in the fact that the wooden seats seemed to have got much harder and were watching the 6-7 year old fall asleep on a bench and jerk awake every time she lost her balance! It ended at 7.30pm and this time we were ready for the refreshments. Again, we were at the same table as Bishop Joel.
Isaac had another go at finishing the work on Friday. Again, not particularly successful. We missed the School Assembly (with permission is case you’re wondering) so that we could go out for the evening – yes again! I did say it was a busy week. We went to Heritage Gardens with Anne Houghton. This is a local hotel? restaurant? or something of the sort. Anyway, it serves meals and is a place to go for Sunday lunch sometime. We were there at the invitation of Bishop Joel to meet all the other mission partners in Arua. Some we knew already, but it was good to see just how many there are – about 50 people representing about 10 agencies. I was encouraging to hear of the work others are doing and how we are a part of a much bigger picture – all with the support of the Bishop. But it was another late night.
On Saturday we slept in but later visited town again. We visited the bank and even managed to get some cash with our new ATM (cash machine) cards!!! Just as well as we had only 80,000 shillings left (~£25)! We collected the bookcase which is handmade in mahogany to my design. And heavy. Fortunately the car roof managed without any dents. Temperatures now around 32OC but bearable. It was good to be able to re-arrange our books and files in a logical order and not in a series of boxes.
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