Western Uganda

We have just returned from western Uganda - a town called Kamwenge. The area is very green and beautiful and the sunsets as you might imagine for Africa. The bad news is that the outward journey took 7 hours much of it on unmade roads with huge ruts! However we had the excitement of crossing the equator en route. There were 8 of us in the team and we set off at about 9.30 am and bought lunch from vendors who wait around the major petrol stations. Lunch was a quarter of freshly cooked chicken on a kebab stick plus g nuts and a banana. There are no places to sit at these stops, it is fast food on the go!.
We arrived at late afternoon and were offered a hot drink of sweet lemon grass water to which most people added coffee but it was great on its own!
After this we were treated to a trip down to lake George -a huge lake where the local people were collecting their water in their jerry cans. Unfortunately cows use the same area for defaecating so perhaps not as clean as one would hope. Local fishing boats arrived and we bought a fish (we attached it to the front of the vehicle to transport it back to the house).
The hospitality was wonderful and there was food in abundance on our return - matoke, rice beans, meat, fish, cassava, bananas etc. Local people had contributed in abundance. The house where we stayed was very exceptional having a large number of rooms as most only have one or two! We were allocated rooms and the two couples each had their own room with a rush mat and a largish single bed (very cosy). Most rooms do not have doors only a partial curtain but there is always a front door.The house also has an internal bathroom (almost unheard of) although no running water. Water was provided in jerry cans for washing and to flush the western style toilet (another exception as most households share external drop toilets). For those who wanted to shower, hot water was provided together with a large bowl in which to stand. I believe that cooking and water were heated outside on charcoal burners.  It did mean that the bathroom was rather a wet place especially as more than 10 of us were using it. The pastor had a number of children but they did not join us at all and we only saw them peeping from behind the curtains.The house also had electricity which was an added bonus but is very costly so has to be used sparingly. During the night a phone rang (mobile as no one in Uganda has a land line. It was a call from the neighbour of one of our party. It would appear that groups set  their own 'neighbourhood watch' system whereby if there is an intruder all the neighbours contact one another, grab a suitable implement and deal with the intruder themselves. No details required!
Day 2 began with a breakfast of avacados, chapatis, bananas and lemon grass tea. Then off to the local village school where we did  fun factory style activities with the younger children in the school - four classes with 240 pupils and 4 teachers - yes around 60 pupils per class with one teacher for each!!! There are 500 pupils in the school and 200 of them are boarders with 16 teachers.Then assembly where various classes performed songs of welcome and we spoke briefly before doing an 'open the book' session about the storm on the lake and the children enjoyed wearing the costumes and acting. Children in the villages are not always grouped according to age but more about years of education so P7 (our year 7) has children aged 11 to 16 as the school arrived relatively recently and many children therefore joined late! Teachers are not at all well paid and many give up  after a few years but those at this school seemed very committed. Meanwhile David started seeing patients - the queue was enormous as consultations and medication usually require payment and these were a free gift from wellspring! Translators were provided by the community as most people do not speak English except in the case of teachers as education is always in English.
Then back to the house for a generous lunch. In the afternoon I offered a workshop for teachers and gave them some phonic materials funded by your generosity and made by us! They were very excited and we has a good couple of hours work. Meanwhile a makeshift cinema was created in the church with a big sheet hung from the rafters. I helped with dispensing medication. As David and I are 'mizungas', we are considered to be celebrities. People in this areas rarely see white people and everyone wanted to meet us and be treated by David! The children are shy and want to shake hands but many need to pluck up courage! Seeing us makes tiny children cry!!  We were able to make a quick visit to the house of the pastor's brother who has a smallholding. He grows banana, coffee, mango and sugar cane and gave us some canes to take - a machete is often carried by farmers. He also has some cows.
Back to the house for an afternoon 'snack of tea, g nuts and bananas then back to the hall for setting up the film. Another big meal then the film 'Jesus of Nazareth'. By now it was cold but people arrived in large numbers, many sitting on the floor on sacking. The film was in Luganda so had to be translated, via microphone, into the local language. Every miracle was met with a cheer!
Saturday morning was very wet so everything started late as people are reluctant to set off in the rain. Eventually the 'surgery' recommenced and another teacher workshop. This time it included the making of pom poms which created much amusement and excitement. After another large lunch the surgery recommenced and I resumed dispensing till after 6 when it was getting dark. One of the teachers brought me a fresh egg as a gift and I was really appreciative as eggs are a bit of a luxury.  David had seen over 70 patients and constance had seen even more! Entertainment was provided on the screen but the attempts to show another film in the late evening were unsuccessful as the technology ie the disc, was faulty.
All these events took place in the church. Churches are used although incomplete. This one has rough walls and a roof but the doors and windows are not yet funded nor is any flooring. There were three side rooms, one of which could be locked and the bats were happy in the rafters (no belfry!). Little by little it will be completed but it seems the case with all buildings - they are used as soon as the walls and a makeshift roof is in place.
On Sunday morning the church gradually filled up as the service continued. The music and singing were absolutely wonderful. Testimonies were offered and one of David's 'patients' stood up to say that she was rather perturbed at being prescribed only one medication as the Ugandan way is to be prescribed several each time. She had the problem for several months without cure but she took the single tablet that night and already the symptoms had been vastly reduced 'praise God'  mizungo magic. David preached on miracles to great applause Teachers wanted more input so I did a makeshift session under a tree.
After lunch we took a new route back which involved 4 hours of driving along what we would deem somewhat uneven unmade roads, made worse by the heavy rain. Ruts (and I mean really deep ruts) makes driving really difficult and hazardous.
We passed a large refugee camp of refugees from DRC who had been there for up to 2 years and are still coming! Some are in tents but many have created the usual 'wattle and daub' houses. The only difference is that the roofs (usually made in uganda of expensive corrugated iron ) were made of unicef provided plastic sheets held down by wood any old jerry cans. The return journey took 8 hours - this time Sam had driven all the way. It was nice to return to the 'luxuries' of our house at wellspring.!!