Sabbatical Days 12-14

Sabbatical Day 12 (5 August)

Bananas are OK. In fact anything you can peel is OK. I promised to let you know about how church went yesterday. The service is timed to start at 11am preceded by a children’s meeting at 10.30. NOT Sunday School as we would know it. Davidson said he would pick me up at 10.50am. Cutting it fine, I thought, as his church is 45 minutes’ walk away. Didn’t need to panic! He arrived shortly after 10.50 and we walked to the main road – just a couple of minutes. There we got a taxi. Rather a minibus that plies one route and stops to pick up and let down on request. We were dropped off 5 or more minutes later at the nearest point on the road to the church and then a 10 minute walk. Now several minutes late we could hear the service from some distance already started (they have a very loud PA system). In fact it turned out to be the children’s meeting which hadn’t ended. I’d wondered about the dress code and was glad I’d packed a couple of ties and worn one as almost all the men wore a tie. The women wore their best and I discovered that the dresses Davidson’s wife and daughters wore to the airport to meet me were some of that best. They wore different clothes from Saturday but it was clear they were still ‘for best’ – after church his wife Precious and the children changed into clothes that were of poorer quality and obviously for everyday.

Back to the service: the man who led at the start is at Bible College and prayed for quite a while very fervently in Luganda with the odd Biblical phrase in English. I got the flavour of enthusiastic Pentecostal style prayer, aided by musical punctuation and the odd scale up or down the keyboard by the musician. After prayer he also led in the singing of a couple of songs, the first in English – Hosanna, hosanna, Lord we lift up your name – although the tune seemed to have gone for a long walk and come back rather changed – not for the better. The second was in Luganda but I recognised the tune of God is so good. There was five minutes of greeting each other, telling each other our names and asking how we are. One girl curtseyed to me. Davidson and a lady led a time of praise with the backing of a choir of 5 ladies. There was plenty of movement. Greenislanders will know that I tend to move about a fair bit when singing, so I enjoyed the freedom of joining in and expressing worship in movement although it probably looks like classic ‘Dad dancing’. Precious told me later that the children thought my dancing was very good and were surprised because most of the white people they have seen at church have not danced or clapped but stood still. So I’m pretty pleased about that.

More than half the congregation were children, reflecting the fact that half the population of Uganda is under 15. In fact I didn’t see anyone I would call ‘old’. Of the adults at least two thirds were women and most of the men were involved in some way in leading the worship.

After the praise time the older children whom I had seen practising on Saturday did their bit. Precious and a young woman led the singing to a backing track while the children sang and danced. 

The younger children were called up to do their bit but didn’t get doing it because the CD player wouldn’t play the backing track. They were disappointed and Davidson was annoyed because that’s the second week it’s happened and no one had fixed it from last week.

I was then invited to tell the story of how I came to faith and my journey since, which I did. A young man called Joseph translated although I think my norn iron accent stumped him a few times. I got some keyboard backing too.

Davidson then preached on Deuteronomy 28 – the blessings of obedience. He called people to obedience or greater obedience reminding them that to sin even in one part is to disobey. I’d expected a more interactive style with Amens and Alleluias from the congregation punctuating things, but there wasn’t any of that. A few times he asked questions and answers came but just from one or two individuals and sometimes those had to be coaxed.

After the sermon Davidson invited anyone to come forward who wanted prayed for, especially in the area of disobedience. 7 women (no men!) came forward and raised their hands above their heads. I was asked to pray for each one, which I did, holding each one by the forearm as I prayed. Davidson held their other forearm. It didn’t get translated so I don’t know how much they understood, but I tried by tone to indicate what I was praying for. A good number of people do speak English and Davidson tells me that when several Ugandan people groups are at the same service, things are done in English or translated into English as, if people have a second language it will more likely be English than a local language.

Then came the offering – two ladies stand at the front each with a large basket and you come forward and place your offering in it. Some of them were in envelopes – not our style ordinary ones, most looking like air mail envelopes. Then there were the announcements including that I’ll be preaching next Sunday (pray for that – I intend to preach on John 6). The children are looking forward to that and may bring others, not to hear the preaching, but to see mazungu (the white man) dance! There was a plea to support the building project and sheets of paper were given out showing the cost of nails, bricks, wire, cement etc. I think people are meant to pledge what they will ‘buy’ from this list. The service lasted 2½ hours, although people didn’t look fatigued. Davidson himself thinks that the services and the sermons are too long. I noted that while most of the adults had Bibles only the first 3 or 4 verses from Deuteronomy 28 were read as ‘a Scripture Reading.’

Best (or worst?) bit till last. At the end of the service the Pastor doesn’t go to the door (there is no door!) He sits on a chair near the front and if any members of the congregation want to come forward to greet him they do. A good proportion did. The men shake hands from a standing position (which requires a slight bow) with the seated pastor as do the boys but the women and girls get down on their two knees at the feet of the pastor – right close in - and shake hands with him from that position. As the floor of the church is just red earth this stains their skirts. As a guest I had to sit beside the pastor and got the same treatment. It just seemed so wrong, but not to allow these women to do this would just not have been understood. The chairs were stacked by the women and older children.

After the service I was taken to the Pastor’s home. There are three rooms. Two about 12 feet by 12. One for sleeping in and one for sitting and eating in. The third room is a toilet/shower room 12 feet by 6 (possibly less, I’m being generous.) No kitchen as cooking is done outdoors. You take your shoes off outdoors not for religious reasons but for cleanliness. Precious prepared a chapat – not unlike a crepe but with no filling or sauce. It was washed down with a bottle of fizzy orange (local brand). Davidson and I discussed the conference and other matters and I got to nurse 5 month old Blessing (who is a boy). The stacking plastic chairs and the massive loudspeakers from the church were brought up and placed in the ‘sitting room’ which took up about a quarter of the already limited space. I was glad to see that the chairs were brought in by a man (the already mentioned Joseph as it happens).

This is Davidson and his family at the door of their house (the bit to the left of Davidson is someone else's): Davidson, Blessing, Precious, Joy (a boy), Praise, Mulunji.

 

Later we got a ‘Taxi’ to an internet café near the hotel. 2,000/- for an hour (50p). I was able to Skype Lynda for the first time (good video and audio) and to put a new post on the blog.

Davidson waited for me for this hour. I called back at the hotel to pick up a few small gifts for him and his family and we walked back to his home. On the way I bought a carton of mango juice to share and two bottles of water for me (7,000/- (£1.75)). While waiting for dinner another speaker at the conference a Pastor Dennis called by to check up on the programme. Like Davidson he has been to the UK with Smile, but not to N I.

Dinner was serve-yourself beef stew, Irish (which is what the call potato! – ‘have some Irish’), sweet potato, a fish sauce, matooke -stewed banana (not tasting like our bananas at all, more like parsnip, maybe flavouring was added). Wasn’t sure how I’d do but I managed to clear the plate.

I gave the family their gifts – just small things, a 2014 calendar with pictures of ‘Beautiful Northern Ireland’, a tea towel with a map of the counties of Northern Ireland and pictures of things like the City Hall, Giant’s Causeway and of course Carrickfergus Castle (which Davidson had visited). And some pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners and a ruler for the children, all, apart from the sharpener, with N Ireland motifs on them. They were well received.

I also handed over a letter from some members of the congregation (I won’t mention their names as it would embarrass them) with a card and £70 in it for Davidson’s work. That will go a long way in Uganda and he and his wife were very touched.

I should also say that a member of the congregation gave me a laptop and associated gadgets for the trip. It has proved ideal. Just small enough to fit into my camera bag, good battery life etc. Thanks if you’re reading this!

Taxi back to near the hotel for 9.30. A long day – no time on my own. Took a ‘shower’ and into bed.

Up today (Monday) at 7 and over to the main hotel complex for breakfast (in the middle of another downpour – glad I brought the waterproof coat) . The hot milk I put on the cornflakes had an odd taste but used it anyway. Met a Scotsman called, appropriately, ‘Scott’. A precision engineer by profession he had taken up with a Ugandan woman in Scotland and planned to come to Uganda to see her roots. They split up but he came anyway and had fallen for the place. He’s a member of Rotary and is enlisting help from UK Rotary to refurbish a school which is in a very poor state. He’s also a member of the Church of Scotland but I think he’s more Rotary than Kirk. He was glad to meet someone who spoke ‘proper’ English but wasn’t English!

Was met by Davidson at 9am and driven in same car that met me at the airport (I recognised the cracked windscreen and the ‘No arms on board’ sticker on it) but driven this time by Pastor Godfrey. We had to go into Kampala to get the ‘Taxi’ (minibus) to Hoima. Although the Taxi passes through Nansana it leaves Kampala full so doesn’t stop there.

Got off to a bad start. Taxi was about 2/3 full (it seats 14) when a row broke out with the driver of an adjacent Taxi. It got heated but didn’t turn violent. We then all got out of the Taxi we were in and got into the adjacent one. Turned out the second one we got into was supposed to be the next one away but the driver wasn’t there and driver of the first one poached those customers. I could see his point – if you leave your Taxi can you expect to get the trade?

Most of the taxis seem to be driven by Christians (it’s fun getting cut up in traffic by a Taxi that has in large letters on the back windscreen ‘God bless you’.) This driver was Muslim – you could tell by his hat.

Seated at the very back which wasn’t a good idea as when the road to Hoima passes through populated areas there are speed bumps in sets of three and the back seats get the worst of it. It’s a wonder the Taxi isn’t shaken apart, never mind the passengers. The worst bit was the anticipation of the first of each set up bumps as there is a rapid deceleration just before ‘contact’.

New favourite shop sign: The ‘If God is for me who can be against me? Pork Joint’ Leaving Nansana the road is very fast at times, but not dual carriageway and with children, motor bikes, market stalls etc. The driver announces himself with the horn and expects everyone to get out of the way. It did wonders for my prayer life and was scary enough at times. Towards Hoima the ground became more level and I could see plantations stretching into the distance. Even some stereotypical mud huts. After a toilet stop for ‘short-call’ (there is also ‘long-call’ – work it out for yourself!), another for diesel, and some more to let passengers off who weren’t going all the way to Hoima, we arrived 3¼ hours later in James Bond style – shaken but not stirred.

We were met by yet another Pastor and driven a short distance to the accommodation behind ‘Eve’s Restaurant and Takeaway’. It’s better than the hotel and turns out Eve is the daughter of a retired Anglican bishop. There is a proper shower, proper toilet and a chair and desk as well as a lockable wardrobe (no wardrobe in the hotel.) Even a mirror! (The hotel had no mirror in the room, only a communal one in the corridor.) No TV though (not that I watched the one in the hotel.) For the geeks: this area appears to have gone digital. After a meal of rice and ‘cow meat’ and a bottle of Sprite, one of the members of staff brought me a container of hot water saying there would be no hot water in the tap as the sun wasn’t shining and the water is heated by solar power. The sun had come out a bit so I tried the tap and got enough hot water for a shower and WASHING MY HAIR first time since leaving home.

There has been a change in schedule. Instead of me giving the first talk tonight Davidson will speak. A number of those coming won’t arrive until later tonight as the rains mean they have been busy planting crops. A long dry spell has just ended. So, all being well, the first talk will be tomorrow morning 10am – Moses.

Since writing the above things have changed again. After a rest we walked about a mile to the church where the conference will take place. Hoima didn’t feel as ‘open’ to me and Davidson advised me not to carry my camera visibly. One request to photograph women selling milled rice and groundnuts was rejected – the people in Nansana were only too happy to be photographed. There is a standard greeting in Uganda ‘How are you’ to which the standard reply is ‘I am fine’. I’ve got used to this in meeting people and it comes automatically now. For the last half mile or so we walked through a ‘gauntlet’ of small children who have been learning English, saw a white face and wanted to try their English out. So, a hundred ‘How are you?s’ and my reply ‘I am fine’ later we arrived at the church. Since then the greeting has been extended. After the How are you? I’m fine, and then repeating the exchange the other way round, I’m asked ‘How is the UK’. What a question! How do you answer that in a sentence? And are you meant just to say ‘UK is fine’ or give a socio-political analysis of the nation? My retaliation is ‘How is Uganda?’ On the way to the church Davidson bought a sugar cane (about 4’ long and costing pennies) and he gave it to the pastor’s wife who prepared some for me to try. You chew it, but don’t swallow the solids, just the juice, then spit out the pulp into a dish. As you might imagine it’s very sweet but different from the taste of refined sugar.

Like Davidson, the pastor here is building a new church, but it’s further on and has walls and a roof. It’s part of a group of ‘Full Gospel’ churches started by Canadians some decades ago. This pastor, Pastor Harrington if I got it right, is responsible for two local regions and pastors 5 congregations himself. Some members were worshipping in the church and they were Amen and Alleluia people with arms raised and everything. He introduced me and if the Messiah gets as enthusiastic greeting when he comes he will be pleased! I’ve never received a welcome like it in my life. There have been posters up with my face on them, so now they wanted not just to see the face but hear the voice. I was very enthusiastically received, gave a word of encouragement from Scripture and prayed for them. 

The change of programme was that Davidson was supposed to address the pastors coming to the conference but few have arrived yet (still planting crops), so he just said a couple of sentences to the people. I was pleased in that while I hadn’t spoken long I had said a lot more and from Scripture. I was afraid I might not have said enough to satisfy what was expected. The folk were encouraged to tell their friends about mazungu who has come so far to bring an important message and encourage them to come. Hope they’re not disappointed. The pastors/ministers are now supposed to be arriving tomorrow and I am on at 10am. Hmmm. We’ll see: I sense a change of plan coming on.

Davidson and I walked back to our accommodation and then when down the road a short distance to a hotel. Had a couple of Zamosas each and chai (tea to you!) Another thunderstorm came on, heaviest so far. It dried up enough to allow us to get back to Eve’s dry and has just come on with a vengeance as I write.

Shortly after 9. Time for an energy bar I brought with me from home and bed.

Jim

Sabbatical Day 13 (6 August)

The thunderstorm during the night was quite vicious and knocked off the power over a wide area around midnight. I didn’t notice and half-woke to the sound of a cock crowing, then some women talking animatedly and finally a lorry driving through with horn going full blast. Davidson knocked my door just after 7 to tell me the power was off and a container of hot water would come to the door in 10 minutes for me to use for washing. I think the animated women had been discussing what to do without power. The hot water was duly delivered and I washed standing in the plastic basin (similar to the one at the hotel). Shortly after dressing the power came back on. Breakfast in Eve’s was a chapat and chai supplemented by an energy bar. While I had breakfast I saw a man crawling along the pavement. His legs were painfully thin and one foot looked deformed. He was begging. He sat by the door of a parked car and sure enough when the owner came he gave him something. He then crawled off, but was back later on in the day.

Change of plan (I knew it!). Pastor Dennis cannot come because of a family problem. Davidson always refers to ‘a problem’ but never tells you want it is! He was to speak on the Tuesday afternoon. It’s OK though as I had been a bit miffed: I’d been asked to prepare 5 talks and had, but the first change of plan was that I would only give four (all that hard work). But with Pastor Dennis not coming I would need to give the five after all. I think Davidson is a bit cheesed off, though, with others letting him down. Turns out there are two other conferences in the same area at the same time which will reduce the attendance at each.

We were picked up at 10 by a car to be taken to the church for the first proper session. Glad we’re not walking. The main road in Hoima isn’t so bad but about half way you turn off into a side road which is just red clay. It was so wet overnight that they clay had turned to mud. The car was bad enough, slewing over the mud, but if we had been walking we would have been ‘clabber to the knee’.

Things were already in full swing when we arrived. Fervent – almost wild – prayer was being offered. I’m wondering whether there is speaking in tongues. I wouldn’t know whether it was tongues or a local language. There are odd bursts of English too. I must ask Davidson. There was some singing well led by two ladies, and then also well led by Davidson, some preliminaries and welcomes (again enthusiastic) and then over to me. Cue wild applause (yes, really, just like Greenisland every Sunday(!)).

Now... don't laugh at this....

 

There was very attentive listening, and writing of notes. The translator coped well, although now and again I think he must have been adding things in when a 6 word sentence became a long paragraph. The conference is on Biblical Leadership and I spoke on Moses for an hour and a half (including translation). It went down well. Many thank-yous and compliments with some remarks from various pastors which showed they had been listening and taken some points to heart. Davidson was then invited to speak and did so on John 21 for over an hour as well. He spoke on being faithful leaders and that we can’t be faithful leaders without love for Jesus. I was encouraged by his speaking against those who preach a prosperity gospel – give to the pastor and God will bless you. He also spoke strongly against pastors who won’t pray for you unless you give them money, including those who have different kinds of blessing they will give depending on how much money you give them. The fact that he denounced it, though, indicates that it does happen. There were comments then on what he said, and more prayer and praise. 

There then began a long list of people involved in the organisation of things. By now it was 2.15 – yes, they had been going since 10 without a comfort break, coffee stop or anything. Over 4 hours! We went for lunch to the hotel near our accommodation and then we were back at the church at 3.30. Still singing and praying, I just hoped they also had had a break while we were away (I now suspect they didn’t – see tomorrow’s post)

Back to me again. This time Nehemiah. Spoke for 2 hours!!!!!! Watch out Greenisland! 

Again many complements and thank-yous. Again various pastors re-capped some of my points. Some more singing and dancing and then a close. In reflecting on Davidson’s sermon on Sunday past and his talk today I notice few references to Scripture. Scripture is a starting point but then there are commands and exhortations and so on which while fine, aren’t related back into Scripture – the flower but not the root if you like. I deliberately quoted extensively from Scripture to show where the points I was making came from. I think a lot more than they are used to. I hope I didn’t lose them by overdoing it, but if some can see the value that will be good.

After yesterday’s initiation into Sugar Cane a further initiation, this time into Jackfruit.

 Tastes not unlike pineapple and has the texture of soft pasta. The advice was to drink lots of dry tea afterwards to aid digestion. What’s dry tea? Tea without milk. (Which by the way is half the price of white tea – tea with milk). Folk are quite surprised I don’t take sugar – most Ugandans seem to.

By the way, the attendance was interesting. When we began the day there were about 30 people. But as the day went on more and more people arrived and there were probably 150 by the end. Maybe 50/50 men/women. One pastor attended one of the other local conferences in the morning and ours in the afternoon. He’ll do the same tomorrow. We left at 6.30pm to return to the accommodation. Tried to ring home but a recorded African voice tells me the call can’t be connected. Will try again later. No hot water as the sun hasn’t shone all day.

Three talks tomorrow so looking over them before evening meal with some dry tea!

Jim

Sabbatical Day 14 (7 August)

Lynda got through to me on the phone last night and we had a half hour chat. No thunderstorms and woke to see some blue sky for the first time for a good while. The air was pleasantly cool – I’d guess 16 or 17 degrees. Davidson said it was cold! No hot water again. Lack of sunshine yesterday meant none had built up and Davidson hadn’t asked for any to be prepared (it was done yesterday on an open fire).

Breakfast was an omelette – (very good) and chai.

We were picked up at 9.20 and when we arrived at the church they were already started. So, prayer, praise, dancing, welcomes, introductions, announcements, and other preliminaries (seems interminable: what gets me is someone gets up and says ‘Now, we shall not waste any more time’ and then proceeds to speak at length or repeat something that has already been said. You just have to accept, though, that’s that’s the culture. Then it’s me. Paul this time. 1½ hours. What I’m noticing is that where the translators struggle the most is in reading Scripture. This surprises me. If I’m just reading a verse or two without me getting people to turn to the reference they just translate me on the fly and don’t have much of a problem with that. However, if I give the reference and read a longer passage, when they then try to read it out of their own Bible in their own language they keep getting stuck (several pastors in turn have taken it in turns to translate). There is clearly a literacy problem – and these pastors would be the more experienced ones. Maybe that is why there isn’t much extended reading of Scripture, even though they all have Bibles.

I tried some Luganda which went down well:

Olyotya How are you? – pronounced Ol – yot-ia

(The reply to this is Njendi – I am fine. The first N is almost silent)

Mukama aku-we omukisa – God bless you.

Something else struck me as I sat listening at one point. During the day the numbers grew to about 200. But I could only see two people wearing glasses. It can’t be that the rest have no sight problems, so actually being able to see to read must be an issue for many. A couple more observations. One man was there in a grey suit, grey shirt and clerical collar. He looked totally out of place. He was invited to speak but his manner turned out to be just the same as the others. I wondered if he was Anglican but they called him Pastor whereas there was reference to those resent as pastors and ministers. There were some people present at the conference who looked ‘old’ One lady in particular looked about 120! She was invited to sing, did well, and received rapturous applause.

Another observation. The incongruities of an unfinished building of bare brick and tin roof and no electricity, and a keyboard, sound system, wireless microphones and loudspeakers that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Waterfront Hall; the toilet which was a concrete slab with a hole in it, and a wooden surround the size of an old telephone box and people nipping out of the meeting from time to time to answer their mobile phones. Even the poorest seem to have mobiles, but I haven’t seen a smartphone yet. Walking down the street you find every 5^th or 6^th shop is selling sim cards or will do a money transfer for you (Africa has skipped over cheques and cards and transfers money by mobile) and beside them there will be a woman making mats to sell. We went into a time of what I would call Deliverance Ministry – although they called it prophesy.

Davidson singled out some people, 3 women and a man, and they came up to the front. He prayed for them and in the case of at least two, commanded ‘Come out, come out, I command you in the name of Jesus come out.’ The people concerned, particularly the women began to cry out and to shake violently. He then called another pastor up to continue the commanding while he moved on to another person. He invited me but I declined. I thought at one point that one of the women was going to fall backwards but she didn’t. The cynic might say that the floor was too dirty for that, but I don’t know.

Rather different from our occasional Prayers for Healing at Greenisland on a Sunday night! What was happening was not any different from what might happen at home in some Pentecostal circles, although the layer of African culture on top adds another dimension. Some people would be frightened or confused or even condemnatory of what was happening – I was just curious. I want to ask Davidson what exactly was happening. Was he commanding illness or sickness or even a particular type of sin in that person’s life to leave (the man who came up seemed to be repentant of something) or was he explicitly casting out demons? He went on to ask us all to think of where we have pain in our body. Chest, stomach, head. He then prayed for everyone and pronounced that we were all healed. I’ve problems with that! At the same time, if the alternative for people who can’t afford a doctor is the witchdoctor……

Oh, and yes, there was speaking in tongues, although I think the ‘unrecognisable sound’ type rather than the ‘foreign language which you don’t know’ type. There was no ‘interpretation of tongues.’

At about 1.30 there was reference to lunch and I got my hopes up. Should have known better.

After more praise and prayer (all of which is standing up) and a performance by a couple of male dancers/singers it was back to me. You may have noticed no lunch yet. Nothing since breakfast except water. Spoke on Jesus this time – Leadership shown in Jesus as Shepherd, Farmer, Disciple. 1½ hours again. If you’re coming to this blog for the first time and think 1½ hous is excessive, I should let you know that Davidson had originally asked for 1¾ hours each time

More re-caps, thanks praise, prayer, ‘Let us not waste time’s. Numbers have begun to thin out again.

4pm: Lunch! The VIPs (yeah, me too) retired to the pastor’s house. Not much bigger than Davidson’s. 7 men and 1 woman (the woman is the wife of the Pastor who is superintendent of the region.) The local pastor’s wife comes on her knees with a basin and jug of water. The idea is you put your hands, palms up, in the basin to catch the water she pours into them, and wash your hands sliding the fingers of one hand through the fingers of the other. You do this 2 or 3 times. Problem: is the water free of infection. I should really go on to wash my hands with anti-bacterial gel but that could be an insult so I don’t. I think the health advice in the Travel Guide regarding food, while sensible, is impossible to adhere to in practice.

Dinner was a self-serve rice, beans, millet (another new thing for me), roast chicken, cabbage (sliced cole-slaw style). The rice and beans were excellent and I helped myself to some more. I was offered a bottle of ‘Mountain Dew’ to drink. Knowing what that might refer at home I queried it, but it turned out to be a local version of Sprite or 7Up. Bottle had no list of ingredients, no best-before. We finished with Jackfruit.

5pm and time to close the conference. You may have noticed that there has been a change of plan (yes, I know, hard to believe). There isn’t time for me to give the 3^rd talk of the day. I thought all along there wouldn’t be and I’m not disappointed – the legs are beginning to feel it, voice not too bad). Davidson asked if I would speak for 20 minutes. I declined. 3hours is enough for one day. He didn’t seem to put out, so I think he was being polite in asking. 4 local ladies in good dresses sang and danced, there was more summing up, prayer and praise, an offering, a blessing from me, then the Thankyous. I was given a framed piece of worked leather in the shape of Uganda bearing the words ‘Greetings from Uganda’ with apologies they could not afford to pay for my flights (wasn’t expecting any financial gift anyway and the PCI Ministerial Development Scheme will pick up most of the cost of the Sabbatical as it is)

My ‘webale nyu’ (‘Thankyou’ went down well.) Davidson was given a ‘fee’ which I though was appropriate. Even though things aren’t that expensive here – a taxi from Kampala to Hoima taking over 3 hours is only 14,000/-, £3.50 – for him the expenses will have been challenging.

Away at 5.30 as scheduled (!!!!) back to Eves to collect suitcase and for ‘short-call’. On the way to and from from the church we passed the car wash each time. The car wash is the river! You drive your car into the river, they wash it and you drive away again. From the same river people were filling buckets of water and taking them away. Also spotted a petrol tanker. Large red letters on the back: DANGER. Then under that in smaller letters 'The Lord is my Shepherd - Ps 23.1'

Driven round to taxi departure point in Hoima.

More taxi trouble. We got into the Taxi and as Davidson went to pay there was obviously an issue. The discussion was in Luganda so I asked Davidson what the problem was. The ‘driver’ was asking for a further payment for my suitcase and Davidson was refusing (there had been no charge on the way to Hoima). I had visions of my suitcase being left behind and I couldn’t tell from where I was if it was on board or not. We pulled away and turned the corner and stopped. The ‘driver’ got out and the real driver got in. The first man must have just been some kind of assistant and was trying it on.

My perch in the taxi this time was not at the back but the front, right behind the driver. This made it much smoother but there was a disadvantage: there was no room in front for your feet. You had to pull them in under the seat and there was nowhere for them to move for the 3 hours it took to get to Nansana. And with 7kg of bag sitting on my knees, my legs were mighty sore by the time we got there.

It was strange travelling at this time. We left Hoima at 6pm and it became night at about 7. There were no street lights, even in the populated areas. Shops and houses would have everything from oil lamps through solar-powered lights all the way to garish coloured bulbs, and the light coming from them silhouetted the people in front of them. At one settlement someone asked to stop to buy something and about 12 people surrounded the taxi at one selling fruit, meat and all kinds of other things, even sliding back the windows of the taxi to show us their wares in the dark.

Got off the Taxi at 9pm exactly and walked the short distance to the Ivory Hotel. Back in Room 16. Noticed a ‘Smile International’ sticker on the rubbish bin outside my room, Clive Doubleday has left his mark!

Energy bar and water. Found a way to support the shower head even though the fixture is broken. Bed.

Jim