TWENTYFOURTH INSTALMENT 2016

TWENTYFOURTH  INSTALMENT 2016

TUESDAY March 22nd 2016
It is almost noon on Tuesday (Ugàndan time) and I have been travelling since 6pm last night! I sat around most of yesterday,  packing and receiving visitors! First Dorothy Mugenyi brought her youngest, Brenda  to say hello and she told me all about her first semester at Makerere  Business School then Annette arrived oh and the ayah had brought Margaret's newest grandchild Yonah over earlier to spend the day with his Jaja (grandmother).so we old ladies sat and gossiped and shared s beef stew with sweet potatoes and matooke and ground nut sauce prepared by Margaret's houseboy John-paul.
Godfrey Taxi had come to collect me and take me to the airport and Dorothy and Annette decided to accompany me for the ride.we only left 10 minutes behind schedule but the "jams " were awful.Like I said, we left at 18:10 hours and reached Entebbe airport at 21:00 hours. Unfortunately we had to go through Kampala and it just gets gridlocked at that time of day! And Godfrey assured me that there would still have been .traffic jams if we'd left later.
It was a bit boring sitting around until 22:30 to check in but once I got through all the checks I had a tasty meal around 2 am in the air!!!!!
It was a bit long at  Addis Ababa where I changed planes but I found a lounger to  rest on and  continued with my "Cuckoos Calling" book.
The plane for London Heathrow took off at 9:45 hours and the time is passing nicely with breakfast and now lunch 12:00 hours still on Ugàndan time. Should touch down at 14:35 hrs U.K. time, 17:35 Ugàndan so it is a lo ng haul!
Taught  a group of Six Mothers union ladies how to sew knickers and they will take that skill into The villages.
Bought the M.U. an electric sewing machine to use with the small group of vulnerable girls they are working with.
Have left A box of sewing equipment (scissors, needles,thread , elastic,pins, measuring tape and tailors chalk) each for Kabalega Primary and St. Matthew,'s M.U.
With the financial help of my friend Pat have enabled  two very poor boys to get to Secondary School by buying their  "requirements,"
After discussion and consultation  have set young Alfred Twape off on a practical course by paying for him to attend the CEDO Vocational college to learn carpentry.
Started a discussion about the merits of Family Planning with Mama Joyce's village women's group and have given their teacher some basic material about reproduction & gynealogical matters.
Hopefully have enthused and enabled the teachers from The Masindi Centre for the Handicapped to become even better teachers through the practical workshop held on Thursday 17th March
Conducted an enjoyable and educational  - both for teachers and pupils ,- Trip to Murchison Falls National Park.
However when I look back  I had set off a number of initiatives and accomplished quite a lot
Started the girls sewing in P5 class and Millie Head teacher has promised to see they finish the knickers.This spills over into the curriculum which lacks practical skills such as sewing etc.
 gynealogical matters

TWENTY THIRD INSTALMENT 2 016

TWENTY THIRD INSTALMENT 2 016
MONDAY 21st March 2016
Woke up with the sun at 7 PM staying at Margaret Tinkasimire's place in Kisoto/Kisaase a subrb of Kampala. Am now sitting on her verandah with a CUP of tea, in the cool.
Stayed in the house last evening and let her go to supervise her bar, alone.Dorothy Mugenyi came to join me and we sat chatting companionly although it was desperately hot.Daren't open any windows because of mosquitoes!
Sunday morning we managed to get to church just after 11am but the Palm Sunday service did not start until 11:35am! The church we attended was a newly built Roman Catholic one (Margaret is a Roman Catholic)
There was s really huge crowd of people all waiting outside for the service to begin, all carrying a palm branch. We bought one too.
The service was mainly in Luganda,the language of the people around Kampala but Margaret had brought her E English prayer book so I could kind of follow and read the long Palm Sunday Reading! The choircwas wonderful and was classically trained although the hymns were accompanied by drumming and African percussion.
After the service we checked on the bar and then dashed to meet Margaret's daughter,son in law grandson(aged 3) and Margaret's sister and daughter at a big restaurant. The lunch was in honour of Margaret's sister who was celebrating her 60th birthday. It was a buffet, which allowed you to eat a plateful followed by fruit and a tiny square of cake, all for sh.300.000(£8 approx). The air conditioning was a joy!!!!!! Still no rain.
After lunch we drove home, had a cold shower and fell asleep reading the first Cormoran Strike book!



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TWENTY SECOND INSTALMENT 2016

TWENTY SECOND INSTALMENT 2016
SUNDAY March 20th
Reached Kampala safely with Godfrey taxi driving beautifully.Only saw  two accidents on the very fast paved road ,this time. The buses drive at an appallingly fast rate and cows wander into the road and motorcyclist s overtake on the inside........ That was yesterday.We'd had a delayed start with Godfrey taxi looking at Sallie''s ancient pickup before we left Masindi!
Found my friend at her bar.I did not teach Margaret Tinka when I taught at Kyebambe Girls Secondary in Fort Portal, in the Sixties but she is a friend of two of my former pupils. She has a beautiful house here in Sota and a tiny ,dark bar in Bukoto,both districts being suburbs of Kampala. Her two daughters sent to university (one to Cambridge) but both are now married with children good jobs and well placed husband's.Margaret is worried about what to do in the next few years as she gets older. She keeps the bar on because she does not want to sit alone in her lovely house.And I know of at least 4 other educated, widowed ladies in the same position. Intelligent, retired and bored. Another social change Uganda will have to address along with many others.
I have no Internet here, but one of the young volunteers, back in Masindi , showed me how to use "KEEP" and I am writing this on KEEP whilst Margaret gets ready for church. After church we are meeting one of her daughter's and we are taking another relative out for lunch. Maybe I will get the Internet there and will be able to post this!