Belatedly... Uganda 08 diary - Day 7

Well, here we are again. After my 2 weeks in France (which I'll fill you in on later) and the preparations for our new school year which started 3 days ago, it's time I got back to our Uganda blog, so here we go...

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Monday, July 21st saw us have a relaxing morning after a hectic, fun-filled weekend. Time to do some washing, go for some walks around the massive grounds of the school, etc... I was feeling a little better after my problems of the day before, but still very low on energy. Bro. Francis invited me to go for a walk with him around the grounds of the farm attached to the school. It was then that we realised just how big their property really was. We got nowhere near to finding the edge of it after 45mins. But the walk did me a power of good.

Francis was very interested in their tractor and how they used it. He has experience of using one himself from his early years of training to be a Brother, so I asked him to pose on it for a souvenir photo.

Team Win chiling out (with John our driver in the orange top).

A comedy moment shared by Simon ('A' in Film Studies) T. and Sophie.

One of the things we were asked to bring with us when I said in the preparation for the trip that we could bring sports equipment for the two schools where we would be staying was tennis equipment. Bro. Joseph of Kasasa was particularly interested in this as he had experience of coaching tennis in his previous schools, though he didn't have the resources to start something at Kasasa where he had only been teaching for a year. So when we turned up with a dozen new and second-hand racquets + 20 or so tennis balls he was over the moon and quickly set about prepapring a tennis court for use, clearing the grass and weeds, rolling the playing surface and measuring and marking out the lines all himself. He was so chuffed to invite us to his first coaching session.

Bro. Joseph with his first-time tennis students.

Three of the Brothers from the Noviciate community where we stayed including the Novice Master, Bro. Franklin (far left).

That evening, we went back to the orphanage that the group had spent the day working in the day before, to show them a film using one of the sets of digital prjector, dvd player and speakers that we had brought with us. After a few minutes of furrowed brows, stressed looks, electricty cutting out and frantic silent prayers, I managed to get the equipment to work. Sr. Beatrice supplied a wooden board for us to project onto. The film we chose to show the children was "Ice Age" which seemed to go down well judging by their reactions.

They had baked 2 cakes for us to take with us and 2 cakes to cut up and share with the children. They asked us to do the cutting. Here's Nick getting ready to cut after having been sprayed with fake snow to add an extra magical touch!


After the film we stayed and chatted to the children for a while.






Then it was time to go. Sr. Beatrice and the children waved us off. Despite their situation (orphans whose parents had died from AIDS or other diseases, children who'd lost one parent and the other was unable to cope with looking after all their children, victims of abuse, etc...), these children were happy, joyful, outgoing and full of life. Much of this can be put down to the wonderful care and love they get from Sr. Beatrice and the rest of her team of nuns and lay people.