Saturday, December 9, 2006 Saturday School

I slept very little. There was something going on in the hall until well past two. Then the local dogs decided to fight below our window. Then I was awake and nothing to be done about it, so I woke Michael up at 6:00 and we were ready to go down by 6:30.

In the stairway, we found that the third floor was really a construction area. In uniquely Ugandan fashion, they were well into putting a new floor atop the other two. We didn’t go up, because there was a balcony at the second landing that looked directly into Lake Victoria. The sun was well up, but the light was still soft and the shimmering lake stretched out like an ocean.

I went back in to get Jon and Jim, then we all stood on the deck and admired the view. We went down for breakfast and found some bread and some pretty terrible looking slimy poached eggs. They were lukewarm at best. There was link sausage, but I passed on it. There was plenty of bread and marmalade, and there was pineapple, watermelon, and two kinds of bananas. I wasn’t very hungry and my egg took care of the rest of my appetite.

Everyone else ate well, then we went down to the lake. The morning sun revealed that the wall around the parking area had a mural on one end. It showed a very odd looking black woman in a bikini beside a black cow with its ears standing on end. The cow looked terrified because a crocodile was chewing off one of its feet. There was blood and everything, quite an inducement to swim in the famous lake!

The scenery looked oddly familiar and Michael confirmed that the botanical garden was right next door. The lakeshore ran unbroken in both directions. Two women stood in calf deep water washing out plastic bags that Michael said were used to transport fish. Two men were casting off in tiny fishing boats.

We only stayed a few minutes because we had children to see! So we went back inside, I paid the bill, and we hurried up to get our bags. We quickly loaded and Jon climbed into the front seat.

The road from Entebbe looked no different as we hurried toward the city in very light traffic. But everything changed at the Kampala city limit sign. There is construction EVERYWHERE. Kampala is hosting the Commonwealth meetings this summer, and every available inch seems to be going toward new hotels. There was very little traffic on the early morning streets, but Jon still had a few close calls as boda boda drivers cut in and out on Vincent.

From the street, the church is unchanged. The new corrugated metal wall which faces the street reflected the morning sun at all passers by who cared to look. But the side courtyard where children always milled about and all the cooking was done was completely filled up with a new structure. The workmanship on the structure was terrible. There were already long cracks in the homemade brick walls. The structure made it difficult to get out of the back door of the church. Kiwatule desperately needs a new meeting place.

The turnout was light – fewer than 100 kids. We learned that Monique’s program had recruited every possible kid in the neighborhood to come to her Saturday program since Terri was there. But even though our numbers were off, we saw many of our regular kids. And how they’ve grown in a year!! There were also a lot of new children and a few hoping to be sponsored.

They asked me to say a few words to the kids and to introduce our group. When I introduced Jon, our translator had absolutely no idea what to do with his last name. He tried several iterations, but was coming no closer, so he dubbed him Pastor Jonnie, and that has remained Jon’s name for all the Africans.

Vicki sang a solo and Vincent’s kids sang and danced as a group. But most of the morning was spent enjoying the kids. John Bosco came in and he was so excited he could hardly control himself. When I met him last year, his father had just died. John had one year to go in school, and no possible way to finish. He didn’t even have a place to live. He has now graduated from high school, and he did very well. He goes around to all the area churches telling everyone that he is an example of a miracle. Someone in America that he doesn’t even know sent the money to let him finish school! He’d like to go to university next year. We’re looking for a sponsor.

Late in the morning, I missed Jim. One of the kids was showing him around the property, which takes about 30 seconds. But Jim found he had a crowd, so he drew a face on his hand and had a “puppet” show for the amazed crew.

The kids had porridge and bread for lunch, and we soon realized we were getting hungry, so we climbed in the van and drove through town to Garden City to exchange money, then on to our new home. It is in a part of Kampala that I have never visited, near the university. We turned into a paved road lined with furniture “factories” on both sides of the road that was almost too narrow for two-way traffic. Then Vincent suddenly turned into a very narrow driveway and through a gate. The drive sloped sharply upward through a small garden to a flat, one-level brick structure. The reception area was quite nice with chairs and couches before a dark wood registration desk. We quickly checked in, then had to carry all our bags (with the help of our team and one poor luggage guy) on up the hill to a two-story brick structure which housed our rooms. We were shown to the second floor down a long well-kept hall to our rooms. We were on the back of the building rather than the front where balconies looked out over the city. The hotel man said he would move Jon and Jim tomorrow to the front.

We were next door to each other. The rooms had finished brick floors and white plaster walls. There was a small closet and two small beds with mosquito nets. There was a fan and a TV, but not AC. I had two chairs in my room as well as a desk, and TONS of floor space! The spotless bathroom had tile floors and tile up about 5 feet of the wall which was plastered to the ceiling. One end had a commode, the other a shower fixture and a drain in the floor. There was no curtain or any break between the shower and the rest of the room!

We all walked down to the dining room which was behind the registration area. They had a Ugandan buffet: matoke, rice, potatoes, goat stew, and chicken with fruit for desert. I ate very lightly – my taste for matoke has not returned at all! The others ate well!

So very many things to discuss! Jon and Jim went up to the room to rest. I stayed down with the committee to work out schedules and van repairs and new policies. It was great to be with them again. The discussions went quite well and several plans were set in place, then they left me after three hours and I went back to my room.

I was working at unpacking when I heard someone from next door becoming very sick in their bath room. A few minutes later, it happened again, and then twice more over the next few hours. I finished unpacking then went next door around 6:00. Jon was lying in bed. He was terribly pale and under a blanket although it was 80+ in the room. He said he was okay, so Jim and I walked down to dinner.

We expected the same buffet, but found a menu instead. And was it ever a surprise! There were three spaghetti dishes, fish, chicken, and even vegetable curry, which I got and found it very good. Jim enjoyed his spaghetti, too.

Back in Jon’s room, he had been sick twice more. He was terribly weak, and I saw no possible way for him to preach on Sunday. The charger for my phone was missing from the pack that I had left in Uganda (it was locked, but the combination somehow had two of the three numbers showing!). I also didn’t have Joseph’s phone number, so I went to the desk to call Lisa in Chattanooga. She didn’t have his number because she was at a luncheon, but she reminded me where I had it. I told the desk clerk about and he told me to get my phone because he had such a charger. He said it would take until 11:00 p.m. for it to charge, but I could come back for it then (two hours later). When I went back, he gave me the phone and it was 75% charged!

It was more than 80 in my room when I got back and the power was out. I went to bed and fell instantly asleep. I woke up twice to the sound of dogs barking VERY aggressively very nearby. In fact, I checked my mosquito net to make sure it was sealed tight in case I needed protection in the night!

We had always stayed either up on Namerembe Hill or in one of the large hotels. This was a guest house down in the midst of Kampala.