Uganda 08 Diary - Day 3

Day 3 began at Mt. St. Teresa sorting out our trip finances with Bro. Vincent (in his office below), da Big Boss of the Ugandan Brothers.

He had arranged for us to spend the next week of our trip at St. Charles Lwanga Secondary School (over 200 pupils, all boarders) in Kasasa, a few hours drive to the west of Kisubi. Bro. Dominic was to accompany us and help us settle in. We made the journey in 2 vehicles: a minibus belonging to the Mt. St. Teresa Brothers and a Toyota Hiace hired and paid for a certain Geoffrey Kazinda. Now, hereby hangs a tale (or is that 'tail'?)...

A couple of months prior to departure, I received an e-mail from one of our 3 Assistant General Brothers based in Rome, the Ugandan Bro. Gerard Byaruhanga, putting me in contact with his former classmate, Mr. Kazinda. The latter works for the World Bank and is currently involved in managing a funding programme for the Ugandan Government in its efforts to deal with situations raised by the war in the north of the country (far from where we were). He wanted his son, Allan, to come to England for a couple of weeks at some point to broaden his horizons. In the end it wasn't possible for Allan to come over here before our own trip to Uganda, so in the meantime he met up with us for a few days in Kasasa and then also in Kisubi at the end of the trip.

As a way of thanking me for helping to arrange Allan's future trip to England, his father provided us with this Hiace and its driver, a remarkable man named John who soon was taken to the hearts of the Team Win! members by his constant cheerfulness, helpfulness and willingness to join in any of the activities that we oursleves got involved in. An all-round top guy.

Preparing to leave Kisubi for Kasasa, Francis ready for action!

The view out of the windscreen of John's Hiace on our way to Kasasa. We had some days of rather heavy rain.

A common sight: bananas (savoury ones for making matoke) transported in large quantities on a bicycle.

A lorry shed its load and blocked the road for a while.

Each vehicle made a stop at the Equator for souvenir snaps.

On arrival at Kasasa, Kathryn enjoying a joke.

The welcome from Bro. Franklin (Novice Master - we were to end up staying in the rooms of the Noviciate). Notice the handshake: this here is stage 2 of the 3-part Ugandan handshake that we received evrywhere. The 1st + 3rd parts consist of a handshake, the one for the 3rd part being barely more than a touching of hands.

On our way to supper.

Observing the little lizards who spend most of their time it seems hanging upside down.