Shopping and Such

We finally had that easy day!

It started with breakfast. The buffet was back! And there was another table of people eating! Things were as they’d been. The potato on bread thing was particularly good.

Vincent picked us up at 9:00. We went to the church where a van full of kids were waiting on shoes. I talked with several of the kids. Viola (Bob Cr’s child) was there. She is doing so well! Her smile is only growing more winning as she grows older. The scars on her neck and face from when she was raped before age 10 look so much better now. Winnie (David and Chris’ child) is almost as tall as I am (David, I think she has you beat now), and she’s gorgeous. But my conversation of the morning was with Iasa (Bob’s Ca’s child). “Elder Jim I am trying to decide between becoming a doctor, an accountant, or an engineer. Which do you recommend?”

I talked to him about each choice, the good and the bad, how school would work, what subjects were important. “But Elder Jim, which would you recommend?”

“That depends on which one you like,” I said.

“But I want to know which one you think is best in Uganda.”

“Okay,” I said. “There are many, many children who want to be doctors. There are also a lot that want to be accountants. I hear of few that want to be engineers. I would think that with all the work that needs to be done here and all the building that is coming, becoming an engineer would be a very good thing.”

“But Elder Jim, I have studied about the health needs of the country. Isn’t a doctor best?”

“Doctors are very important, but so are engineers,” I said. “Do you have the math skills that it takes to be an engineer?”

“Oh, yes,” he said. “I am very very good at mathematics.”

“Well, then, you have my advice.”

“But Elder Jim, I understand that some men train to be engineers then cannot get jobs because they are not of the right tribe to work in the big companies. Do you think that should make me be a doctor?”

My patience ended. “Look, you asked me for my advice and I gave it. You can take it or not take it, but I don’t want to argue about it.” I shook his hand and walked away.

“But Elder Jim, Elder Jim . . .” I kept on walking.
The Saturday program was also going on for the kids. Mabel asked me to come in and tell them goodbye. There was a good crowd, though certainly not as many as the week before. I spoke briefly, then we got in the van with all the kids and rode to Joseph’s house to get shoes.

We had a chance to talk with the kids a little more while they sorted shoes. Tenwya (Jack’s university student) came for shoes. He looks great and he said he was really enjoying the studies.

Everyone climbed back into the van and we drove back toward the church. We let everyone out at a spot below the church, then headed downtown. Joseph had found a wonderful coffee shop for us, and I ordered a lot of coffee! The place was full of customers. I asked if I could sample the coffee and the woman waiting on us brought me a couple of beans to chew. It tasted like excellent coffee, though we never did succeed in tasting any that was brewed! We had to wait for a clerk to scoop up 14 bags of coffee, then weigh each bag on an old fashioned scale.

We drove on to Garden City and I went wild in the bookstore. I needed a new book, and I found several African memoirs that I don’t think are available outside Africa. I’d made the mistake a few years ago of passing on a book and thinking I could get it when I got home. I couldn’t, so I got a whole library of memoirs!

We shopped for a computer bag for the guys, and Vincent wanted to buy the first one he saw. I wouldn’t buy it, so we kept looking. The whole gang, except Dan, met at the Food Court. I love this place, even though I did get rotten chicken here once. The food stands are unique: Persian, Lebanese, Southern Indian, Tandoor, Cuban, and Chinese. The dishes are good, the prices under $8 per person, and it is a lot of fun to watch the Ugandans trying new food. I ordered fish with dill sauce from the Persian folks and Lisa ordered a Cuban sandwich. I looked at her menu and found Serviche. The guys had been asking about sushi, so I got them an order of Serviche and they loved it! Of course I didn’t tell them what it was until they had sampled it!

All the food was good and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

We went to Uchumi, the department store, and bought a variety of American style foods for Jody. And we found a good computer bag for the guys. I had to exchange money when it was all done, but we are almost finished buying!

The guys had it in their heads that the Chaplain of the Church of Uganda would see me on Saturday, but we couldn’t even get him on the phone. So I asked if we could take Lisa to the shrines of the Uganda martyrs. We started from town out Jinja Road. There was commotion up ahead, a lot of people, a truck off the road, and suddenly, there was an explosion in a ditch to our left. People came running away from the flash and Vincent tried to get as far from it as he could. There was a power pole down, and we finally understood that it was the transformer that exploded, not some terrorist action.
As we came forward, we saw that a huge truck was in the ditch. There was a group of people working over a bloody lady at the side of the road. I saw metal flash in a pile of garbage beside us. It was a boda boda smashed absolutely flat, and what was left of the driver was smeared beside it. Apparently the woman was the passenger. She had been thrown clear of the truck, but it wasn’t clear how badly she was hurt.

We were badly shaken by the body in the street and no one said much all the way out to the shrine. We went to the Catholic shrine first, a 1,000 seat round cathedral built on the site where a king of Buganda (Uganda’s largest tribe) had killed 12 Catholic priests and worshippers in the 1880’s. I went to this site last year, and we had the same guide. He showed us around the church, then sent us down to a lake which is the center of the commemoration of the massacre each June. I could hardly believe this was the same place I had seen a year ago! There were reeds growing out into the water and the flowers around the floating altar were all dead. The place was decorated for a wedding to occur later that day or else I am afraid I would have been really disappointed!

We drove down the dirt road to the Anglican shrine. Here, 13 Anglicans were massacred on the same day. There is no huge cathedral here, just a simple church which was being painted inside during our visit so we didn’t get to see much. There is a large park on the side of a modest hill dedicated to the martyrs. There is a round building at the base of the hill. It has brick sides up waste high and a thatched roof. Inside is a statue showing how all 13 Anglicans had been stacked and burned! It is very disconcerting to realize that the thing you are looking at and trying to figure out is, in fact, a human torso!

Up the hill is the tree where the martyrs were first tortured. And a replica of the executioner’s house, a moderate woven thatch structure with an incredibly low entrance hall, stands at the top of the hill. We looked for a moment, then went back to the van.

Vincent dropped everyone off at the church. He drove Lisa and me to the hotel where we rested for a minute. Then it was back to church. The women had asked Lisa to speak and the men asked me. We were to talk about money and budgeting. We decided to start in gender segregated groups, then to combine for the budget stuff. The session lasted more than 3 hours, all of it with me talking. At the end, Joseph asked if everyone would come back on Monday. That means I did the Christmas message 4 times, this one once, one tomorrow morning, and two on Monday!

I was exhausted when we finished! Vincent drove us back to the hotel. He said it was too late to eat, so we went to our room and snacked on junk food!

Random Thoughts

One day this week, there was an article about a group coming to downtown for the two year dance. Apparently, it gets its name because they start the party in 2007 and finish in 2008. There is a major reggae group coming. The paper said it this way, “Usually, Uganda only invites foreign music artists who are well passed their sell by dates!”

For Your Dining Pleasure
Last week, we were eating in the main restaurant. We ordered a soda each, and when the waitress brought Lisa’s, she became very flustered. Finally, she grabbed a spoon off Lisa’s placemat and stuck it in the soda she had just poured. She fished out a small black bug and dumped it on the floor. “Sorry, Madam,” was all she ever said! And Lisa drank it!!