The kindgom of far far away...

Well, Kampala cooled down at last and we eventually set off to Sorotti. It's a seven hour bus journey up to Sorotti town and then a further hour and a half on the back of a boda-boda to get to Acumet. I hadn't originally bargained to do that final hour and a half on the back of a bike and so hadn't thought to bring a sun hat with me. I did my best to fashion one out of my bath towel... No one thought this a strange thing to be wearing; someone even commented that I looked 'smart' - but my efforts were to little avail - i still ended up with a head full of dust and a rather rosy face.

Acumet is an incredible place. The area has been witness to years of civil war and tribal conflict and as a result people have left their homes and their land for safety in numbers in an IDP camp. Thanks to an albeit fragile peace process, there have been no confirmed rebel attacks in Uganda since 2006, but this particular area of the north east is still subject to regular tribal clashes. The Karamajong tribe, who are also currently participating in a disarmament process, make regular raids on camps and villages, taking food, property and cattle. I simply cannot imagine how it must be to live your life under constant threat. To know that anything you build up and work for could be lost at any minute. I've reflected on it a lot lately - of course the same is true for all of us - but the imminence of the threat in this particular area must bring a whole new perspective. The fact that NOTHING is certain and that everything is so transitory stares you bare in the face. From a faith perspective St. Teresa's prayer captures the challenge beautifully -

"Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you

Everything passes:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all."

What a monumental challenge! A painfully difficult prayer to have the faith to say in a troubled world. Difficult though it is, i constantly feel the sentiment of it laid bare out here.

Our host in Acumet was an eccentric Ugandan priest. His name is Fr. Wazi-Wazi Gonzaga and he has a massive fluffy moustache. That says pretty much everything you need to know. One evening after dinner he whacked a jug of something out onto the table.

"It's medicine!" he declared,

"Oh! Medicine for what, exactly?" I cautiously enquired.

"It is to help digestion. It is made from fermented passion fruits. In fact, it is recommended to us in the bible by St. Paul in his letter to Timothy" he replied.

I'm yet to find the biblical reference to fermented passion fruits, but I duly took a glass in a good faith! It tasted a bit like port... not sure what it did for my digestion, but it didn't kill and i remain grateful for that.

The people in Acumet have lived incredible, often painful, lives. One of the lads we support told me about his experience of one particular rebel attack on the camp a few years ago. He had been away when the rebels attacked. He came back to his home to find food still cooking on the fire, but no one to be seen for miles. He began to cry, thinking that his mum and brothers and sisters had been killed or abducted. He spent days searching for them, deep in the bush. Eventually he came across someone who directed him to his brother and sister. Despite the danger of travelling anywhere he took his brother on the back of his bike, his sister on the front and cycled the whole way up to Sorotti. If it took me an hour and a half on a motorbike, you can imagine how long it took him with two children on a pedal bike. They stopped and hid along the way, waiting for rebels to pass them before continuing their journey. When he delivered his brother and sister to relative safety in the town, he got back on his bike a cycled right back into the camp to search for his mother, still not knowing whether or not she was alive. After another day, he found her too, hungry and crying deep in the bush. Again, he put his mum on the back of the bike and did the same journey to safety in town. Not content that he had done all he could, he again went back to the camp to look for food for the family. When he arrived, he came across a priest who was driving to the next village. The priest offered to take the lad with him but, for reasons he didn't understand at the time, he didn't want to go. He ran and hid in the toilet, hoping that the priest would leave without him. Sure enough, the priest got bored of waiting and left without him. Hours later, news reached the lad that the vehicle had come under attack and the priest was shot dead. The lad collected together as much food as he could and, for the final time, cycled to safety in Sorotti.

I've known this lad for a while, but had never known this story. And there are countless, countless others with similar tales, often all the more tragic. I'm endlessly blown away by how selfless and determined people can be...and feel unbelievably blessed just to know such incredible individuals.

Unfortunately I had to leave Fr Wazi Wazi behind me and make my way back to Kampala. I'm on my way to Hoima to spend a few weeks there, but am temporarily subject to a doctors order to rest up and swallow lots of pills. The pills are gross and make me burp, but I trust that they'll do the trick. Else I might have to call Fr Wazi Wazi to bring me some more 'medicine'...

The King and I

As part of our begininng of term madness Julius and I are in Kampala en route to Sorotti district. We've paid all the school fees for those studying in higher education in Kampala (quite a frightening sum of money!) and we're just waiting to get up to Acumet in the north east of Uganda to pay some more school fees there. We were supposed to travel today, but some serious riots broke out in Kampala yesterday afternoon and we're a bit marooned!

There has been ongoing tension between the Baganda people (the largest ethnic group in Uganda) and the central government. The King and people of Buganda believe that Kampala should be part of their territory and that they should be the ones collecting revenue from the land in Kampala. The areas surrounding Kampala are all part of the Buganda kingdom, but the government claims Kampala for itself.

The King had made plans to visit an area of his kingdom where there is a bit of unrest - and the government have prevented him from doing so 'for fear that there may be violence'. SOOOO... Baganda people are currently protesting in Kampala and surrounding towns and the army and police have been deployed by the government to beat them down. The whole thing kicked off yesterday afternoon and is likely to continue until Saturday when the King is supposed to travel - but it's possible that it'll go on for longer. The police and army are out in FORCE - tanks and all.

We're staying in a hostel right outside of town and there's no sign of anything up this end - the protests are focused in the town centre and then out towards the area where the king wants to go (which, luckily for me, is in the oposite direction to where I am!) I'm porning information from the American Peace Corps security officer who is here caring for his flocks and we're in touch with people in town who are giving us updates - so we're just gonna have to stay put here until it all dies down! Frustrating to say the least, but am grateful to be in a safe place - a safe place that serves burger and chips.

Using the time to catch up on some rest and find out what has been happening in the rest of the world for the last couple of months. Have also been down to the shops and bought some useful gadgets to help me through the troubles - a particular favourite is a bright orange plastic key ring/comb/bottle opener emblazoned with an elongated picture of David Beckham.

Right, i'd best go and entertain Julius - he's feeling particularly miffed and has so far refused to get out of bed!

(Interestingly, the BBC seem to think that it is all over already!)http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8250357.stm

I have come here to dance, and I shall dance!

We're back to school in Uganda this week and its go, go, go! The beginning of term is always by far the busiest time for KISS. The largest percentage of our expenditure goes on school fees and requirements - children have to come to school with all sorts of bits and pieces - exercise books of various shapes and sizes, pens, pencils, toilet rolls, brooms, reams of paper, uniforms; and in the case of the many who we have in boarding school they also need casual uniforms, bed sheets, mattresses, Vaseline, belts, pocket money, basins, soap - the list goes on. All of our children go to various local schools and institutions in Kasambya, Hoima, Kampala and Sorotti - we deal with over 30 separate institutions, all of which have different requirements and all of which require school fees to be paid in person. Our team do a lot of travelling and a lot of shopping during this time and the needs always seem endless - but somehow, thanks to a lot of hard work in both England and Uganda, 150 happy children and young people always make it back to school... and its great to see it!

I'll be sorry to see the end of the holidays - I enjoy having an excess of kids around! We've had a good few weeks in Kasambya and we ended on a real high this weekend with the kids preparing the music and readings for the main Mass on Sunday. I felt ridiculously proud of them - they really lit the place up. We had a hundred strong choir which sounded AWESOME and a host of young dancers who brought the Gospel and offertory forward in a VERY joyful and prayerful way. There was one kid who was not a particularly gifted dancer, to say the least... but when she saw one of the leaders looking at her in rehearsal she declared, "I see you looking at me, but i shall not give up my place... I have come here to dance, and I shall dance!" I just thought that was the most brilliant attitude!

We got the very sad news yesterday of the death of one of our community. Rose was supported by KISS a number of years ago and we supported her to train as a hairdresser. She had been running a successful business here in Kasambya and was an incredibly popular member of the local community. She had not been sick, but died very suddenly yesterday morning while getting her children ready for school. Needless to say its really shaken the community and everyone feels particularly desperate for her three young children, who have clearly not yet grasped what has happened. We have had the burial here today, and the family home is typically very busy after a death - family and friends will spend the next few nights sleeping outside the house, mourning together, before returning to their homes. When the house quietens down, I imagine the kids will begin to get more of a sense of what all this means - please keep them in your prayers.

Otherwise, life goes on as it inevitably must. I'm feeling much more settled lately; having my own room has really helped that along. Talking of which, the door problem is worsening - it has progressed from a showering of concrete dust to a cascade of small rocks which greets anyone who dares enter. Rocks. Not cool. I told someone today and they advised me to "brush" my door. I'm not sure what that might do, but i'm willing to try anything. Can't help but feel that it might create excess mess, but i'll give it a go. I'm still waiting on the arrival of electricity to my room. I have all the wiring in place now (behind the door, obviously) and we're just waiting for a wire to arrive in Mubende (the nearest big town) and for the wire to then somehow find its way here and up the pole and into my room - could be a long wait, but i remain optimistic! On the plus side I have found some gas at last which means that I am now able to cook and heat water for bathing. MASSIVE bonus. I've been relying on the good will of people around me for food - and it has resulted in a LOT of rice, potato and spaghetti (typically all at once on the same plate) and there's only so much more that I can take. I breathed a very temporary sigh of relief the other day when my neighbour offered me some cassava in what looked like a very appetising sauce - but upon tasting it i found it to be a dried fish and peanut sauce - not wishing to sound ungrateful but....

I'm likely to be doing a fair bit of travelling over the next couple of weeks. Want to head up to Sorotti (its faaaaaaaar) to see the girls who we are supporting there and will then be heading to Hoima to spend a good few weeks there. I have recently found myself feeling actual guilt about the fact that I can't be in three places at once, which i realise is not particularly healthy - so this is my attempt to combat it!

In other news I now have my own Internet access through a USB modem wotsit and am enjoying the light relief that access to the internet brings. I spent a particularly special half hour yesterday reading about Terry Wogan. But don't tell anybody.

I've just realised that I've put a picture at the top of this and it has become completely irrelevant as i've forgotten to mention the thing that it was actually of - but enjoy it anyway! Over and out.