8. Uganda - Friday 9th October

There was thunder, lightning and torrential rain during the night at about 2 a.m. It was deafening! And even more deafening for the pupils who have a corrugated tin roof. What did the Ugandans do? They ran outside, filled buckets with water and washed their clothes in the middle of the night! Deborah explained to me later that they prefer to wash their clothes in rainwater because it is much softer than the water from the bore well.

Today is Ugandan Independence Day so no school. In the morning before it got too hot, Deborah and her team showed us how to hand wash all of our clothes outside using a series of basins, lots of suds and cold water. Afterwards we left the washing out to dry on all the branches and bushes in the vicinity. Later I found a tiny pale green frog on one of my socks where it was drying. It looked very cute but I was told that it is poisonous - but only to goats if they eat them!

Next we went to design inspirational quotations to paint on the walls of the secondary school main hall. There was much laughter but we came up with a good set of quotations and started pencilling them onto the walls. It was so hot - I know I am using that word a lot but the sweat was actually dripping off our noses. The pupils did a fantastic job, planning and measuring carefully first. Not being artistic I contented myself with advising on whether letters were straight, or sitting on the benches to counterbalance the weight of the pupils who were standing up high to do the designs and generally giving encouragement. By lunch time we were more or less melting and a couple of pupils were feeling a bit unwell due to the heat, so we had an extended lunch break and some of the pupils had a sleep. We went back to the hall at 5 and it was distinctly cooler outside by then, with a rather pleasant breeze. Inside the hall it was still very hot though - I think the tin roofs seem to hold the heat. 

After dinner Gabriel came to talk to us and sang with us - then he mentioned that there is a Church night service on a Friday night starting at ten, and asked if we wanted to go. So we trooped off in the dark to the Church and got a warm welcome. There was singing and dancing, accompanied by the beat of a large drum. Then there was praying, and the congregation was asked if they wanted to give testimonials. Clearly we visitors were being invited to speak, so George and I both got up, I just said that I was thankful for being in Uganda. Gabriel preached a sermon based on Jeremiah about God being a potter and us being the clay. We left just after midnight but Gabriel told us that it goes on until 3 a.m.