Friday night at NewCourtView Hotel Feb 28

Saturday and I am reunited with my friends,Pat,Anne &Ria.
Ifell heavily Sunday evening and spent the next 20 hours in casualty St The Royal Free hospital. Then there was a problem with my passport which was due to expire in July. I spent Wednesday getting anew one and managed to fly out on Thursday.everyone has been most helpful since I am one armed _ I dislocated my shoulde .
Now we are all safely in Masindi where everyone is giving me a warm welcome .
More news tomorrow!

Thursday 19th February 2015

The congregation at church have been magnificent in donating needles,buttons and thread for the Uniform Repair kit I hope to take to Uganda next week.

With only one week left before I fly, I am also very happy to have received in the Post today a replacementDVD for the Jolly Phonics  kit the teachers of Furzedown Primary donated to Kabalega Primary in Masindi. The DVD was stolen last year and I promised Teacher Felly to get herbs new one. Mr Chris. Jolly has kindly given us the DVzd for free!

My friends Anne, Pat and Ria have now settled down and ceased asking their many questions about what will be a very exciting trip!

WEDNESDAY 30th continued.

They have let Junior out of prison so I broke off to greet him

To contnue: at the Police station we reported the theft as a child was screaming and  voices were shouting and doors clanging. We noticed a woman sitting on a mat at the end of the corridor with a months old baby sleeping beside another to aged maybe  3 and 4. Her   1 year old was the one sceaming with hunger. Her husband had abandoned her and she wanted to return to her mother up in Pader , in the North. Sallie wanted tobring them back to the hotel but Robert persuaded her to send them food instead. We returned to the hotel to await the Police Dog. When he camewith his anler and 2 or 3 other policemen we went to my room and the dog was taken inside after licking me. He boundd off round the back to the staff quarters and stopped outside Junior's room The polce went in and arrested Junior. None of us could believe that Junior was the thief.We knew that his scent was in my room because, as housekeeper he had a key and had brought my laundry back  and put it in the wardrobe that evening. After Junior was arrested, one of the cooks came and told us that about 8pm he had raced out of the kitchen to pick up some samosas as he had run out of them and seen a man atanding smoking near my banda. And when he had returned that man was still there Then, Albina the receptionist came forward and  said that a brown man had booked and paid for the room next to mine but had barely stayed 3 hours around that time, dropping his key back at Reception. Francis the waiter said that he had seen the brown man talking to the other stranger in one of the open bandas.
We went back to the Police station with this new eveidence but they didn't ant us to tell them what to do.
Meanwhile, young Junior spent the night in Masindi Prison. Briefly Junior is a young sensitive graduate who has been sponsored by Astrid and is earning a bit by helping out at the hotel whilst Kaawa the regular Housekeeper is on sickleave.
This morning, we went back to the Police Station both to make  my statement and to get Junior out.
We saw the top men but were told to return in the afternoon.Sallie and Robert went  back - I had "withdrawn my charge" and "forgiven" Junior in the morning.
The poor boy is quite distraught but we have all told him that it was all a mistake.
Meanwhile I have had to apologise to Princess Elizabeth Bagaya with whom I was to have spent this evening but I will go to Kampala at 8am tomorrow in Wamani's taxi and spend the day with her before checking in at Entebbe at 10am.

WEDNESDAY 30th APRIL 2014.

This, probably mylast before I fly back to U.K. is being written on a borrowed computer and comes with a health warning.
MY   BELOVED NEW LAPTOP WAS STOLEN LAST NIGHT WHILST I WAS AT DINNER.
I had been having a most succesfull day, visiting Shining House, Roger Turner's orphanage  and then going up to Kabalega Primary  with Rogers to install th  compuer and link up the printer and also to take possession of the two cupboards and pay the carpenter ( his wife of 20 yrs died last year in childbirthalthough the child - their seventh lived. His mother now keeps house for him).Milly the new Head at Kabalega couldn't get the electricity switched on so we abandoned  that   idea. Rogers will goback once school reopens May 19th. Came home to te hotel all hot and sweaty and indulged in a cold Bell beer. Chatted to Sallie and Robert and about 7pm as it was getting dark popped round tomy room, dumpd my handbag and picked up the outfit  the tailor made  for my grear niece, to show
 Sallie.My laptop was in its usual place.
We chatted to Florence the CID officer and   ordered dinner. At 9pm Rober moved into the Bar to watch the News but since it was the local one I said goodnight and went to my banda. As I neared my room I noticed that the lights were on and the curtains open.I unlocked the door and went to the desk to  write  thid Blog ..............to find no computer! I then looked across the room to where my hndbag was on the floor near the bdside table. Since I had been to the ATM  to get funds for my journey home via Kampala I opened it and looked inside my wallet -all the cash left from paying the carpenter had gone!
I rushed back to get Robert the Hotel Manager and we both went and searched my room . Nothing. We then caught Sallie as she was about to go home with Wamani Taxi and he drove us to the Police station

MONDAY 27th APRIL 2014.

Had a very successful day today.
Although I  turned over and went back to sleep around 6:30am when it was dark, raining and no power, I did manage to get showered and dressed for breakfast  for 9am when Sallie joined me. Was unable to find out  about the land leasing deal but I enjoyed my breakfast of  lightly boiled eggs arriving at the same time as the toast so I could eat them  warm together. Well done waiter Francis!
I wandered into town and went straight to Aunt Joy's in order to order the dress for Felicity but they were closed. So I went back to Peace for Piece and tailor Olive said yes she could oblige. I chose a  small African print and drew a picture of what I wanted and gave her the measurements, kindly sent by grandfather Robert. At 4:30 pm Olive phoned me to say the  outfit was ready! How about that for service!
Arriving back at the hotel I was all hot and sweaty so ordered a cool glass of pineapple juice and bought another Lindsey Davis detective story on my Kindle. Tried to phone Mary Mukonyazi whose scissors I had kept for the last 2 years She then called me ( had been  weeding in her shamba) and arranged for Wamani to drive me over to Katasenywa to see her . Went over to my  banda once the maid had finishedtidying it and sent off a couple of emails and then realised I was running late for my trip to visit Mary Mukonyezi in her village  20 miles away.
Wamani waited whilst I finished my lunch of salad and then drove carefully along the very rutted Hoima road. At Bulima we asked for directions to her brother, Archdeacon Jonathan's place and there she was all smiles and pleased to see me.  I was introduced to Jonathan's daughter and grandchildren etc etc and shown her own house next door. Wamani and I were both given fried chicken and a bottle of soda. Such hospitality! About 4:15pm we said farewell and rushed back to Masindi both to pick up
Felicity's outfit- I got Olive to quickly stitch a bag to match - and to meet  waitress Big Sylvia who wanted me to meet her youngest daughter named after my mother, Daisy. I had last seen Daisy as a  4 day old newborn! She is now 3 years old! Sylvia wasn't at the hotel when I got back so I joined Sue in a cup of tea before going for a shower, When I came out I found Sylvia and the  children in one banda and Bishop George and Joyce in another. Sallie and Sue helped me entertain  both groups of guests and Sylvia explained the eldest child was not hers but her best friend's  who had died. I took photos of Sylvia and the children in their best dresses  and thanked her for her gift of a pineapple.
Finally I had a lovely calm Dinner with Bishop George a nd Joyce plus Sallie and Sue. We all chose the baked  fillet of Nile Perch  with mushroom sauce. Wamani had stopped the car on the way to the village so that I could buy the mushrooms from two ragged little boys  along the road, incidentally near  the Bishop's home  also in Katasenywa (t he place of no firewood).
Tomorrow I will meet with Joseph Isingoma...............

THE THIRD POST on Sunday 27th April.

Janine is still sick - I think she overdid it last Saturday when we went to Mirya Kalwa and Bweyale before she was fully recovered from flu...........Anyway  I  tore myself away from  attempting to chat with three deaf and dumb young men. It seems that Sue had met one of these  in Masindi and brought him back to the hotel for me to  say whether or not he was the guy I had met working as an Instructor  of carpentry at The School for the Handicapped.  He is not that guy. Sue had hoped that her protegee had got a job at The School for the Handicapped because he is lonely in Bweyale where no-one knows how to sign. He lost his hearing as a child when he caught meningitis. He was so delighted to meet up with Isaac who Sallie feeds and his friend. They were all three beaming as they communicated by sign language.
I tore myself away when the samosas Janine had fancied were ready and I asked Moses Taxi  to drag himself away from the Chelsea v Liverpool match  to take me to Janine's. She is actually a bit better and had showered and dressed, We sat in her Living Room drinking tea and eating  biscuits (and samosas in her case!) and watching, through the fly screen, 3 or 4 vervet monkeys chasing each other and coming up quite close to her front door. I love them but they are a terrible pest for Janine as they eat her mangoes and maize and  steal her chicks. The monkeys have been driven near Janine and The Cathedral by the draining of the swamp between the Cathedral and Sallie's hotel  plus more people have cultivated land up from the swamp and chase the monkeys away. I don't think they are endangered yet but it is a big tussle between people and animals...............
To go back to Friday, when I woke up in Kampala, I had a lovely day! Dorothy Mugenyi had  met me at The Bus Park in Kampala, when I arrived at around 4pm on Thursday and we jumped in a Special Hire Taxi which took us to the computer shop "New Feathers" to buy the printer I had promised Kabalega  Primary School. We carried on to Doctor Margaret's and after Dinner of matooke and chicken stew we chatted quite late until young Doreen arrived home from work around 10pm. Dorothy had invited me to her middle son's Graduation at Nakawa Vocational School the next day Friday, so I was quite tired when I got up at 8am ready to accompany Dorothy to Nakawa. We travelled by "matatu" minibus taxi- squeezing in and paying sh .100 each or about 30 pence!The Graduation consisted of many long speeches , ones by The Japanese Ambassador and the new Minister for Education included but  we were all given a bottle of water and later a bottle of soda plus a bun!There was a interval of traditional dancing but it was cut short by an imminent thunder storm. Dorothy's son, Bruno had graduated in electrical engineering. The college offers courses in such practical  skills as plumbing, welding, carpentry and brick laying , all vital in a developing country such as Uganda. Bruno looked very handsome in his cap and gown and we had both professional and amateur photos taken! We then jumped into another matatu and rushed to a restaurant in Centenary Park where I treated us all to lunch! Bruno had to report back to work so Dorothy and I walked back through the park to Kololo and Doctor's place where I promptly fell asleep ( they teased me that the beer I have been drinking - Nile Special  - is too strong and I should revert to Bell or Tusker
 which have a lower alcohol content!!!!!) I woke up in time for a little dinner of rice and beef  and more gossip with Doctor Margaret and her friend Jean,  retired Resident District Commissioner. I should add that Doctor Margaret' own children are married ( one son was killed during the Idi Amin years whilst a schoolboy)but she continues to look after several nephews and nieces such as Doreen.

SECOND BLOG of SUNDAY 27th APRIL

There is so much to tell, I don't know where to begin!
This morning I went to church at The Cathedral, getting a lift with Robert Manager. We got into conversation with Sue so arrived a bit late and had to squeeze in behind a pillar on the back row.
We found The Mothers' Union in full spate celebrating Lady Day.....................
All the Mothers' union members were dressed in either white satin gomasi or  sukas made of a pretty blue and white pattern featuring the  blue MU logo. There were many prayers led by various ladies and the choir sang and a few members performed a play in Runyoro which I could neither understand or see being so far back! Robert later explained that it had been performed earlier at the Runyoro service and that they repeated it for us and that it was about out a wealthy man who broke up his home life by showering money and gifts on a young girl, not his wife. There was a male guest of honour who mentioned how his parents had stayed together and how his Mum had ameliorated his Dad's harshness when he flunked his "A" levels and due to her intervention he went on to get a degree at Makerere University. Bishop George honoured us with his presence and we ended with an auction - a homemade ball  made of knitted banana fibre raised a lot of money as The Chief of Police and a top Headmaster bid against each other!