Uganda 08 diary - Day 17: and now, the end is near....

And so to our last full day in Uganda. We decided to wear our multi-coloured Ugandan Martyrs School t-shirts we'd been given the day before so that we could have a Team Win! team photo... and here it is! Bottom left is Bro. Michel Clouet, a French Brother who came over with us and who'd worked in Uganda for a year (he speaks excellent English) when he was a young Brother. By the way, Jack on the back row (aka Jack THE Beanstalk :-) is not standing on a box! The photo was taken back in the Ugandan Brothers' mega-campus at Kisubi, a few miles from where we stayed those last 2 nights.

Notice our carefully arranged pattern of colours... so artistic!!

Bro. Francis with Bro. Joseph Tinkasimire, a Ugandan Brother he knew from international Bro. meetings in the past.

Rollo directing the Team Win! Choral Scholars.

This was taken at breakfast that morning methinks, due to the half asleep expressions... either that or I was telling a particularly boring anecdote (probably both, actually).

Another meal.. this time lunch at the Ugandan Martyrs shrine (Uganda's national shrine) a couple of hours drive from the capital. Driver John, our faithful companion, on the far right.

Taking a walk around to the shrine basilica. Bro. Dominic front left. He was our principal guide for these last 2 days.

A certain similarity between the design of their basilica and our very own "Paddy's Wigwam" in Liverpool (the Metropolitan Cathedral - or Met Pot! which I am very fond of).

See for yourself:



Throughout the trip, a number of us took photos and some took video too (inc. myself). Following on from the model established last year in Togo, where each person was filmed and freeze-framed doing a distinctive action for the video credits sequence, this year I gave the camcorder to members of the group (some of whom study/or studied Film Studies with me) to film these sequences themselves. Now that I am nearing the end of the blog articles on the trip, I will start the daunting task of editing over 5 hours of video down to about 90 mins. for the official tour film.

All of that to introduce the next snap...!! This was taken during the filming of my own credits clip. They wanted me to do an impersonation of Ringo Star signing autographs (hence the shades) and then making a victory gesture to camera... I duly obliged.



Then it was party time (despite a power cut - a not uncommon occurence, like in Togo last year) around a bonfire. Most of the local Brothers (including some elderly ones) came to thanks us for all we had done during our 17 days in their country.

Team members giving us an impromptu YMCA!

Time for thank you speeches. "Don't fall asleep, Francis!" I had to listen to him for many years as my boss/Head Teacher, so now the boot was on the other foot! I would have preferred him doing it. I'm not a natural public speaker, but the time comes when you've just got to "put your hand up", "stand up and be counted", "put your best foot forward" and "step up to the plate" :-) Don't you just love those expressions?

The public speaking prize for the night clearly went to this lovely octogenarian Brother who delighted us with his recitations of Shakespeare sonnets from memory.

Our last night together , so once we were back in our accommodation block we had a little night cap. Those ARE soft drink bottles!!

Francis + I craftily hid our bottles before the photo was taken. But you can probably guess the type of content from the expression on my face.