Dodie October 25 visit report #1

The first few days.

The flight was good, although absolutely packed from Bujumbera (Burundi) to Entebbe, with so many cabin bags they asked me to put my rucksack on the floor. We were delayed leaving Brussels, so we were late arriving eventually in Entebbe. I was near the front, so got through passport control fairly quickly. I collected luggage ok and Joseph drove me to Banana Village (an eco hotel).

Thursday into Kampala, absolutely appalling traffic; it took forever to get to the bank to change the money (£4,000). I forget how different our expectations are. The manager gave me a rate of 4602, I asked for 4700 and we ended up agreeing on 4680 =£1. This was good news.

Then we drove out to Mityana, to the Enro (hotel) where we dumped our stuff and then headed into town to buy the water, and items of food parcels for those we are meeting: sugar, rice, matches, oil, soap and salt. We also visited Grace Musaasizi who lost her husband, John earlier this year. I had known John since 1986. She is ok, her son James who lives in Cologne had been to visit recently so that was a big help.

Supper and bed! There are ten Koreans staying at the hotel and they are involved in a government project helping district councils with IT. They are here for a couple of months and have taken over the dining room, often cooking their own food and seeming pretty busy.

Friday, out to visit a lay reader but first to have lunch with the recently retired principal of Mityana secondary school, Sammy. He is such a wise man, and he has the most impressive garden. It seems he planned retirement right from when he first started teaching and he bought land out in a village and has extended it until he retired at 60 last year. He gave us lunch and then we headed off to find our first lay reader, Gordon of the 2025 cohort.

He lives with his wife and four children of their own and three others – from his brother who died a few years ago. He left school after S 3 (about 16 years old) and is a farmer. His wife was absolutely gorgeous, and she helps with the gardening. He was such a good man, and hard working and is enjoying the course. He is the year group spokesman, and he was so grateful for the sponsorship. Their house is very, very simple and with seven children it’s not easy. His sketch of where his house was proved to be very inadequate and so we had a great deal of trouble finding it. 4kms off the main road, down a grass track!

As we drove from one place to another, we saw some crested cranes eating in a swampy area. Not one or two but over a hundred! Never seen it before.

Saturday, we left at 9 am this morning, it took two hours to get to a tiny, tiny village and visit a lay reader called Hilary. She comes from a tribe that comes mainly from western Uganda. They are the Ankole people and they raise cattle. So, we were invited to have hot milk or black tea (which I had) and Fred drank a full mug of hot milk. Hilary’s father had died a couple of years ago and her mother is struggling. But one brother went with a UN army taskforce to work in Somalia and the pay there is very good, so he was able to help them build their house.

I am always astounded at what happens in some countries. The UN has a set structure of pay for soldiers as well as receiving payment for joining in the UN operations, yet still the Ugandan government holds back some of the soldiers’ pay. Heaven knows where it goes.

The churches here have very little income. Hilary’s daughter-church has a congregation of about 30. The priest only comes and brings communion every two or three months, so she runs the church. The average offertory is about 40,000 UGS (£8.80).
• The Diocese takes 30%
• The Archdeacon 5%
• The Priest 25%
• The church retains the rest 40%
Of that 40% the lay reader can be given anything from 20% – 75%. Hilary gets 20%. That comes to about £1.76. How on earth does she cope? Getting to the church using a motorbike (driven by someone else) costs £1 there and £1 back! So she is out of pocket before she starts!

But they don’t complain, I’m the one who gets irritated… The final part of the day was going further west to meet a lay reader called Michael. He is also training as a lay reader and doesn’t get anything at all from his church. He can’t even afford some more clothes so I will be definitely helping him out. His mother (no dad) lives too far away to help in any real way. And most movingly of all was when we left, they gave us pineapples, oranges, a watermelon and some apples – they had to buy. UGH! So humbling.

Sunday we were back at Kitonzi with a lay reader from 24/25 group called George and one from the 25/26 group called Allen (a girl!) We went to the church near the road and there was only a small congregation. But what was amazing is that George had invited young people to read and be involved. It was fantastic. They sang some songs in the middle, dancing and singing their hearts out. It was so lovely.

We went to meet Allen’s family – tiny, tiny house, only one acre of garden and her parents, one sister and four brothers all live there. They came up from SW Uganda about 20 years ago. They were so thrilled to have us for lunch – her mum kept saying Muzungu (white person) is at my house. She was so proud. And then they gave us bananas, pineapples and a cockerel as a gift.

We had a small gift of soap (actually it’s a big bar) but it was so, so humbling receiving the lunch and then farewell gifts. But everyone left happy. The rest of the afternoon was taken up visiting six homes where the families are very poor. We give them some soap, salt, rice, sugar, matches and cooking oil. The recipients are chosen by the priest or lay readers and they are struggling so much. Often with very little land to grow food and children left with them to look after from other family members. The six chosen for us this weekend were just the families we wanted to reach.

On the way home, guess what! There was a small section of forest and there on the side of the road was a chimp. It was fantastic. A young man came up to us while we were taking photos and he sort of looks after them – he says there are 8 – 10 in a family group. One has been moved to Entebbe Zoo as it became very aggressive. He stood there quite close to make sure people didn’t feed the chimp. It was a lovely surprise and a great ending of a very full weekend.