FRIDAY 18th APRIL

I set a few things in motion yesterday, what with cataloguing the  books that Joseph finally brought to me on Wednesday morning ( I am so disappointed in Joseph - after telling me lots of different stories , I finally cut him short and said that he had used the money I had sent  to buy the sets of text books, to pay his university fees and he had said yes that was the truth and he  was sorry .He had spent Tuesday travelling to Kampala to buy the books he should have bought earlier in the year. He had brought them to me early on Wednesday morning but there were only 30  Maths for P7 and only 30 English for P6 . He says he will buy the missing 40 when his salary comes in but that will not be enough............. meanwhile I am letting him stew.............)
So let us move on to happier things.Today Ruth who has been volunteering at The Centre for the Handicapped, came with me to visit Harriet who has returned to her home in Rumpungu now that The Centre has closed for Easter. It is a good opportunity for Ruth to see what real rural life is all about. I especially wanted to see the well that Harriet's family rely, on for her village is a collection of mud and thatched huts seemingly owned by  her aunts and uncles. No piped water or electricity. Her parents and eldest brother and sister can't read or write. Her whole family were pleased to see us and delighted with the soap and sugar and biscuits we took. Harriet herself was thrilled with the 2 little dresses I'd brought from London and her parents liked the jeans I'd bought  in Masindi  to protect her knees when she crawls about. She has no wheelchair and I'm not sure how practical one would be  in her home........
Charles, Harriet's father then took us on a tour of his fields and he is growing maize and green beans to sell  as well as potatoes and cowpeas and cassava to eat. He has quite a few banana trees and a  boar. I shall get him one of the female piglets from Janine's sow once she has farrowed. We reached the well and I was pleased to see that it is now working . The local families clubbed together to pay an engineer to fix it.
By then thunder was in the air and a tropical storm was approaching so Wamani, our driver rushed us away in his car. Ruth had never eaten  sweet potatoes so Wamani took us to Kolpings on the outskirts of Masindi for lunch. As we were eating the storm caught up with us and it was a whopper! We were trapped inside for nearly 2 hours as  the heavens just opened and water cascaded everywhere. We were on tarmac by now so when it ceased a bit we dashed into the car and  Wamani drove us safely back to Courtview and the warmth of an afternoon nap!