Week 77 (6 – 12 Jan 2008)

Having done most of the packing on Saturday, we were able to go to the United Church service in Winchester on Sunday then on to Libby & Brian for lunch with Mum and Aunt Mary. However, when we returned to Mum’s for the last part of the packing we found that we couldn’t get everything in and the cases were well over our 23kg limit. Then one lock didn’t seem to be holding. Two of Dad’s belts came to the rescue. Libby & Brian took us to the airport and as we had our boarding passes already printed, did not have to join a queue. One of the cases was 34.6kg so I had to remove 600g and put it in hand luggage. The second case was 30kg so we feared that we would have to pay excess. It was only when we arrived that we discovered that we could have had TWO 23kg cases EACH. Pity, as we did leave some toys etc behind – toys for the Uganda children, not me. I made sure I packed my toys! The flight was OK but we didn’t get much sleep.

On Monday morning we arrived at Entebbe about 20 minutes ahead of schedule - 8.10am Uganda time but 5.10am stomach time. We travelled to Matoke Inn with a couple of new short-termers from the US who were even more zonked that us. Jake had crossed 11 time zones in coming from California. We were able to meet some of our friends at the AIM office before going on to Lyn’s new flat. It’s further from Matoke than the last one but in a much better situation and four other flats are occupied by other AIM folk. After unpacking a little we slept and weren’t able to concentrate on much else the rest of the day.

We were still very tired on Tuesday so stayed in and did some preparation for the Conference.

After packing on Wednesday we made our way to Matoke Inn for lunch and met up with many others waiting to go to the conference. Being on the Conference Committee, we were involved in registration and collection of money (James) and music (Andrea). I was chairing and giving the notices for the first session and Andrea led the worship. Steve Wolcott, the Director of the Central Region gave an overview of a few of the AIM (Africa Inland Mission) projects, challenges and opportunities in Southern Sudan, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Rwanda and Uganda. Sometimes it is so easy to focus only on your role that you forget the wider picture and the variety of other situations – and how huge Africa is. And we were only thinking about a small part of it! Steve’s theme was about Monuments to the past and Moving to the future, breaking traditions to accomplish a bigger vision and about rekindling ripples in a large pond.

The conference continued on Thursday, with more talks and conversations. The timetable had fewer organised sessions and completely free time for most the afternoon. This gave time to arrange informal meetings or just to chat without being rushed and seemed to be appreciated. It was also Richard’s 25th birthday and we were able to speak to him in the evening. Earlier in the week his promotion was confirmed and he was given tangible recognition of the extra hours he had worked covering for others. He also went to see the Spice Girls in concert. A good show, if not his choice of music!

On Friday I discovered some new phrases. I think I’m both “climatically challenged” and “linguistically challenged”. I suppose it comes from spending time with the Americans! We had our Unit meetings in the afternoon but we have an identity crisis and are not sure if we are in either the West Nile Unit or the North West Unit. It’s the same group and very diverse, covering Congo and north west Uganda as well as one from north central Uganda. And we all do very different jobs too.

On Saturday the main difference for me was a pleasant swim in the outdoor pool – a great chance to get cool, and the water wasn’t freezing. I sat in the shade to dry off trying to get my head around the idea that this is January and a week ago we were “enjoying” the dull and damp UK winter. I began my job of collating the finances; one of those things that should be relatively easy in theory but gets very difficult in practice when so many people seem to spend money here and there and others pay to different people in different places and in four currencies! Andrea has been leading the worship in the main sessions, integrating the songs and prayers with the theme and reports from the units. She had tried to use well known songs, but it has been surprising how few the American folk know. On the other had, we’ve not known all the songs when an American or Ugandan leads the singing.

Week 76 (30 Dec 2007 - 5 Jan 2008)

On Sunday we gave a brief talk with pictures to our church in Brentwood. It’s always hard to know what to put in and even more difficult to know what to leave out so I think we were a bit longer than intended. My sister, Libby found the notice of an AIM meeting in 1937 illustrated with lantern slides in a book which belonged to my great Aunt. So how much has changed in 70 years? We ran out of time at the end of the service – we can’t speak to all that we would wish. Maybe next time.

Monday was a sad day. Not just the end of 2007. But Laura set off for Exmouth and an hour later Richard left for Manchester. We’re not sure when we will see them again. I think that’s the hardest part of what we’re doing. I hate goodbyes. So perhaps it was right that we didn’t “celebrate” in a big party in the evening. We spent a relatively quiet time with Steve and Gill. For Christmas, Steve bought Gill a game. Not just any game but “Wii” (pronounced “we” or “wee”). Basically it’s an interactive computer game suite and to play the “sports” like tennis you have to actually swing the controller just like a racquet. The bowling even “copied” the errors we have on an actual bowling alley. It was such good fun that although we stopped to watch the London firework display, we then forgot time and finished our tennis tournament around 2.30am! Buy that stage, Andrea was Wii-zeeing with the effort!

On New Year’s Day we set off again for Selsdon to see the rest of the Elcome family as we didn’t really have time to chat at the wedding. Days like this always seem to end too quickly. We’ve known Hannah and Abbi since they were born and can’t believe they are in the final year at Manchester University and doing A-levels. Pity we didn’t have time to have a pizza and watch a film with them – one of our most enjoyable recreational activities before we left for a hotter climate. And the Christmas eve knickerbocker glories are missed by everyone!

And just in case you think we were going to have a rest, Ian (Andrea’s brother) and Pat spent Wednesday with us in Romford. We had another Christmas lunch – not that we’re complaining! It was great to see them again too.

For a change we visited the dentist on Thursday morning. Our previous appointment was cancelled but that didn’t stop me getting treatment. Our dentist is from South Africa and understood our problems in finding suitable dental care in Uganda. We then visited our house in Geary Drive for the first time since July 2006. Our tenant is also from South Africa although we haven’t met her yet. The house looks much better that when we were living there and we have agreed to let to her for a further year. It was a bit sad seeing our comfortable furniture and familiar fittings – but not as hard as I expected. We stopped briefly with two groups of neighbours before heading off to get our hair cut. And a “booster lesson”. We cut each other’s hair in Uganda – and Paula is suitably impressed while having no worries about putting her out of business! And we still weren’t finished. We have been in contact with Sawyers Hall College so called in briefly. We knew all but one of the senior team and it was great to see how things are improving.

We should have been resting on Friday. Instead, we were packing again – both to return things to the storage and the cases. We left after lunch but stopped at Starbucks Lakeside for coffee and to meet Gareth. We both worked with him at Sawyers and last saw him about 2 years ago in Chafford Hundred school. He taught Andrea many things about managing student behaviour and in a way, we wanted to say thank you.

And now our last full day in the UK for a while. On Saturday morning Mum and I went to the crematorium to see the stone and plaque for Dad’s memorial. It is very fitting and in the summer the roses around it will look wonderful. We sorted our some of his clothes later and then started the “big pack”. Why can we not take all we wish to? Why are the cases either too small or too heavy? How do you decide what is essential and important? We have some things, especially for children, that we can’t get in Arua – so do we leave them out instead of some of our clothes or, worse, books? At least we started early and have an evening to reflect. At lunch time we got a message that our neighbour at Ushindi, Lillian, had just given birth to a second son - after about 16 hours in labour. We’re off to Libby and Brian’s now to have our last “play” on broadband internet, upload the blog and of course to spend some quality time with them too! We also managed to check in for our flight and print our Boarding Passes - in the comfort of someone elses' home! This technology is a bit mind blowing.

Week 75 (23 - 29 Dec 2007)

This was a fairly busy “holiday” week with Christmas, a birthday and a wedding. Parts of it were fairly leisurely – such as the coffee with Libby and Brian in Winchester Cathedral coffee shop followed by a stroll through the shops while listening to the Winchester Youth Band playing in the precinct on Monday. Laura set of for Christmas in Manchester and despite the warnings of heavy traffic made the journey in a mere 4 hours.

We attended the United Church service on Christmas morning before having lunch with Libby and Brian. It was a quiet and pleasant day. Laura cooked lunch for Richard – duck and turkey! How the other half live! She modestly described her efforts as superb. Richard confirmed that it was “very tasty”. We’ve booked Laura to cook for us all next year.

On Boxing Day some of the Merriman (Brian’s family) came from Surrey. The two Mums set the world to rights while the younger generation went for a gentle walk. Although two of this generation are retired, two work part time and two are partly retired and working in Uganda! The youngest of the group is in his final year at University. So young! Laura managed to return from Manchester in time to meet them.

Thursday (27th) would be a good day to avoid the shops. Except that Laura doesn’t get much chance to shop. So our brief visit to town lasted around 4 hours – what “fun”! Having said that, there were some big reductions and we all bought some clothes. Not easy to find light t-shirts and trousers in the middle of winter!

Friday (28th) was my (James’) Mums birthday and brother John & Amanda joined us at Libby’s for lunch before we set off for Romford. Richard arrived from Manchester by train before us and it was good to be able to catch up a little.

Saturday was the wedding day. We have all known Rebecca since she was about two so we set off around the M25 again for Selsdon with a brief stop at Maplin, Lakeside for some electrical bits and pieces. Another playgroup friend, David, conducted the marriage ceremony and Richard and Laura met up with another brother an sister they hadn’t seen for a long time. It was a great, if tiring day and as far as we know, there were no hitches.

Week 74 (16 - 22 Dec 2007)

It felt very cold as we drove to Brentwood on Sunday morning but it was more than made up for the very warm welcome we received. The new colour scheme is very welcoming and a little brighter though that could also be due to the extra Christmas lights. As usual, we were talking so much that we were last to leave! Although we wanted to join in the carol singing in Clements Park we decided that we didn’t have the right clothes to protect us from the cold wind but did return for the evening service.

Andrea still had some Christmas shopping to do – just a few things – so on Monday she spent from 10am to 5pm in Romford. Shopping in Arua doesn’t take so long! I went to our storage, mainly to find more of Richard’s belongings. It took nearly 2 hours to remove and check through the boxes at the front before I discovered his books and CDs. I also found an old Ireland rugby shirt with long sleeves that I can wear in the cold weather. At around 3.30pm I loaded the trolley of things to take out – after more than 5 hours of sorting and searching. I arrived at the car only to discover that a Corsa is smaller than a Vectra. I only just got everything in – mainly because I was too tired to return anything to the store. But then it all had to be unloaded again at Andrea’s Mum’s house. Richard has too many books and books are heavy. As I had missed my lunch I was “forced” to eat chicken soup, pate and cheese with Branston pickle at 4.30pm. We haven’t tasted Branston for ages. Strangely, I didn’t have any problem eating tea at 7pm either.

On Tuesday we visited Dennis and Doris for coffee – Dennis has just come out of hospital. Then we went to lunch with Peter Thomas, the minister of our church, to catch up with things since he visited us at Ushindi. We chatted well into the afternoon.

We set off for Winchester again on Wednesday afternoon and managed to get most of Richard’s books into the small car. Before we got to the motorway the dreaded orange light came on so we diverted to Magnus, the Vauxhall dealer. They found a fault within and hour and although it would be expensive to repair, the car would get us to Winchester. By now it was getting dark and near the rush hour but there were no delays and we arrived with Mum at 6pm.

On Thursday afternoon we decamped to Libby’s house to use the internet. In the evening, Brian arranged for us to meet John and Poppy who were Brian and Libby’s first home group leaders when they arrived in Winchester about 20 years ago. John and Poppy now work in Yei, Southern Sudan and will be visiting Arua in March! It’s a small world and we spent a couple of hours sharing our experiences. They arrived in Yei at about the same time we got to Arua last year.

Coming up to Christmas, food shopping continues to be a major activity – so on Friday morning we joined the throngs at Tescos. Or more accurately, Andrea did while I read a book in the café. We got back in time for lunch. I escaped to feed Libby’s cats (and check the e-mails) while she and Brian visited their grandchildren.

According to my diary, Saturday was the shortest day. But the clocks still ran for 24 hours like every other day. The morning seemed to be very long because we were waiting to hear when Laura was leaving Exmouth to join us. I think the clocks in Devon must have been running faster because she missed the morning completely and left at 12.30pm! I went shopping (again) to give me something to do. It was great to see her when she did arrive and we spent a long time catching up. This part of the day was definitely too short!