THURSDAY 15thNovember.
Is anyone reading this?
It has been so frustrating not being able to connect to  the Internet, but now it is 10;30 pm and I am conected.........but it will it disconnect?

Anyway had the most fabulous day starting with fried grasshoppers for breakfast in Fort Portal! Evah herded us all into Doctor Makuru's 4x4 and we set off only to discover E. hadn't got her mobile so turned back  ....and she was sitting on it all the time. We were in a rush to deliver dresses to some "bridesmaids" at the Royal wedding which was due to start at 10am. It was now after 10:30am and we set off again only to find that Collin our nephew and driver had no socks .... and E. was wearing  no ear rings ....so we stopped in town  to buy earrings and socks... Doctor directed C  but E said no so lots of shouting and then we realised we had gone the long way round and no-one had any idea where  we were and the locals were no help.... we were looking for the village home of the Princess's uncle... Eventually at around 11;30 WE FOUND THE PLACE!Evah and I took the dresses round the back of  the house - after thorough security checks and I caught a glimpse of Princess Ruth Komuntale getting  made up...
The sun was really hot  but we found seats in a marquee that were relatively shady and the sun did move round   so that when the ceremonies began  ...... at around 1pm!!!!!!!! ... we were not getting burned.
More tomorrow............

TUESDAY 12th November.
Caught 9am LINK bus to Kampala which left 45 minutes late whilst it filled up. Travelled with Maz from SOFTPOWER and we laughed and chatted all the way to Kampala when we got aout at Bwaise and were met by Godfrey Taxi. No-one in at Kololo but tracked Evah and Dr, Margaret down in beauty salon. I ashed to try to sort out my Internet  at MTN but not a lot of help moneywise  although Internet seems accessible now.....
Spent a couple of relaxing hours  getting feet and hands done ready for The Royal Wedding on Saturday.
Introduction on Thursday so travelling to Fort Portal tomorrow.
Will try to catch up  in the next few days.....

THURSDAY 8th November
The last  2 days have been quiet, but somewhat frustrated by the sporadic Internet which has caused me to lose a lot of my postings .

Monday and Tuesday school was closed apart from the candidates sitting their P.L.E. exam so it was dobly frustrating not to be able to use hat time  on the Internet.I have taken to eating an avocado with bread and butter at lunchtime - they are so huge!

FURZEDOWN'S VISIT TI THE VILLAGE KISUUGA 28.10.12

We all received such a warm welcome that it was humbling. We fully enjoyed the the beautiful singing of the choir accompanied by traditional instruments.

Janine, an American missionary gave a sermon on "LOVE" which was translated into the local language by Rev Moses from another parish who came to add gravitas to the occasion. Our visit was a great occasion for the whole community.

When the service ended  all the gifts which had been given in lieu of cash were auctioned off which caused lots of merriment as we visitors entered into the swing of things:Nick and I helped to push up the price of a bunch of matooke.We all felt uncomfortable when our group was invited to sit and partake of the food I had brought intended for 40. There were more than 90 left behind in the church (it had been raining outside) so we tried to share the food with everyone. It is  a tightrope trying to balance between two cultural divides but we managed to give everyone something to eat - truly a case of The Loaves and fishes..........

Finally we trooped out to visit the site of Rev. Elizabeth's new house. She is building a new one because the old mud hut she is currently residing in with her family of four is full of jiggers and rats and too small.

TUESDAY 6th November.

This is the Reverend Elizabeth welcoming our group of teachers from Furzedown Primary School who spent their Half Term visiting Uganda and Kabalega Primary in particular. Since going to church - be it Anglican, R.C or attending the mosque is such an important part of  life in Uganda - most people have no access to cinema or library - I felt that my colleagues would find a Sunday at Church helpful in understanding the lives of our pupils here.

MONDAY NOVEMBER5th
What a frustrating day!
Have been unable to connect all weekend to The Internet plus electric power has been sporadic so asked Mustapha to take me down to MTN on his motorbike (bodaboda). The guys there told me that my "chip" in my dongle was corrupted and eventually after phoning Kampala they were able to explain that since I had not used my dongle for the 6 months I was back in U.K. it had been deleted and I had to go to Kampala to get my money back........... so we compromised and I spent another sh. 40.000 in order to get it working until I  went to Kampala so that when I go to meet Baz off the plane I can also get the sh. 80.000 back off the "corrupted" i.e. deleted chip then!!!!!!
After waiting for power I now find that the Internet is weak...........
However I have chatted to Lynn and Ronnie of REDEARTH  and popped in to Kabalega school which is closed due to the PLE exams and arranged with Mary Mukonyezi that we will have a training session a week on Wednesday so that Kabalega may try for REDEARTH'S bronze award..........
It has been raining heavily overnight and I have been reading late so I have been having my breakfast later and later. It has been very cold. However I got up at 6:45am yesterday Sunday and met Manager Robert who then drove me to worship at the cathedral. I was made to stand up and hear Rev. Frances Kajura heap praises on my head. Met loads of colleagues and old friends including Michael Kaheru.
The papers are full of princess Ruth Komuntale's forthcoming wedding in Fort Portal. Where is my invitation?!!!!!!!!She is taking over as 'Bateebe" from Princess Elizabeth Bagaya.

The picture was taken during our "teaprty" at Teacher Joseph's house last week.                                      Will be meeting Bishop Elect George Kasangaki on the 18th  so the news that the bishop's robes are on the way is heartening.

THURSDAY 1st November2012
Wonder of wonders! We've had electric power AND the Internet all day!
Spent the morning showing the P7s the magnets I brought and letting them play with them.Great fun.
Was dismayed to find that that Welder Francis had  made two complete metal window frames complete with grilles and shutters. I understood from Monica that he was goinr to simply add vertical bars to the exising metal frames but both he and Mary headteacher assured me that  Monica had  subsequently commissioned him to make these frames to replace the wooden ones on the back walls of he classroom. But who will pay for the wooden ones to be ripped out and the new metal ones to be cemented in?
Still can't get hold of Monica.................

Felt very tired and lazy after lunch - the weather is very hot and thundery.It seems to rain mostly over night

Spent a wonderful evening at Teacher Nebbert's mother in laws place in a village maybe 7 kilometres from Masindi.The road was muddy and full of potholes. We slid a couple of times and encountered cows....

Nebbert's wife died in childbirth and he wanted me to see his surviving baby boy.

The grandmother is a widow and is looking after baby Herbert along with several other grandchildren.
There was  a lovely meal plus coke and lots of praying  and a few tears . Next month Nebbert waants to take me to his wife's grave.