In Kampala

Aunt Susan, my cooking teacher, got married on the 13th of Dec. Her introduction was on the 12th. It was good to see what a true introduction is like since we were with the groom’s family last time and had a shortened introduction since we got there so late. Abby and I were in one of the groups that got to go out and welcome the visitors. We had to get into our Gomesi. The changing area with an open room with no windows to close and no door since the house was being built. We got changed out in the open with different people walking by so that was interesting. Different groups of women go out and kneel to welcome the groom’s family. The aunt of the bride then goes and finds the groom within the visitors and place a hat on him so everyone knows that he is the groom. Then the sister of the groom goes and finds the bride and gives her a basket of flowers so everyone knows that she is the bride. The groom’s family then needs to bring in the dowry and they explain what they brought for the bride’s family. After much talking and the cutting of the cake, the groom’s family is feed. We got there at 1 PM but the introduction did not begin until around 5 PM. We left around 10:30 PM and they were just beginning the dancing. They requested that I dance before we left so I danced a couple of dances and they were so excited to see it, but it’s really hard to dance in a Gomesi.
On Sat., the wedding was supposed to begin at midday but it did not begin until 3 PM. I’m glad because it gave me some time to spend with some of my friends who were in the wedding or who had come for the wedding. The reception was about a 30 min. drive from where the wedding occurred. Osborn had promised all of the children still at the school that they could go to the reception so we had 34 people in a van that is supposed to only carry 14 people. Most of us had a child on our lap, but it was good to see that they got to enjoy the day too since Aunt Susan was almost like a mother to many of these children. The reception was only in Luganda so Abby and I were lost most of the time. We got to the reception around 7 PM and left around 10 PM.
I was able to travel back to Kampala with Osborn when he left on Sunday. It has been nice being back in Kampala and spending time with many of my friends. I have also had some days just to relax. I have read 3 books already and I’m working on another one. It is good to sleep in and not have to worry about teaching some. It is a good way for me to recover and continue getting stronger from being sick. I get to begin my first full year in about three weeks.
One of my friends invited me to a Christmas Cantata that his church is putting on. It was very nice to go because it is helping me think that Christmas is only about 3 days away although I still am having a hard time believing that it is December. I am making program (plans) with some of my friends for the holiday season. They have been good about helping me feel at home, but it still is strange to be away from my family for the first time in my 27 yrs for Christmas.

Term is over!

We began exams on Thursday, 20th Nov., but they were the minor subjects like Religious Education and Agriculture. We continued with one exam a day the following week and I got to monitor on Mon., P5 Social Studies; Tues., P6 English; Wed., P4 Mathematics; Thurs., P1 Luganda. On Thursday only Nursery-P2 took their exams because the middle and upper primary pupils were preparing for Open Day. P3-P6 finished their exams with Science on Mon., 1st Dec.
Open Day was a great success! The pupils had a lot of fun and many of the parents came to watch their children. We began the day with a couple of football matches which of course began almost 1 ½ hours after they were supposed to. After the matches, the rain decide to come. I looked over and one of our tents had lost four of its legs so it was going to blow away. I called Abby and we went running over to try and hold it down until we could get the legs back on. We then started pushing the rain off the sides when it would build up. I was soaked from head to foot and my nice new shirt was dirty and it was only about 12:30 PM. The rain let up in time for us to serve lunch to the visitors. The pupils’ lunch was not ready so we did athletics to fill the time. Since I am the secretary I had to be there to record all of the scores. We had some of the secondary teachers as the judges, which was really good since the teachers were intense about their house winning. After the American visitors had eaten, we had the Top graduation which was really cute seeing children about 5 yrs old with graduation gowns on. We finally feed the pupils around 3:30 PM. We ended the day with songs and dances which were really interesting and also had an outside judge as we did not know how to judge it. The Apostles ended up winning and they were so excited since they were not sure they would win. Everyone was excited with the day and was happy to have such a great day. To the left is the Apostles' teachers and a few of their pupils with their cake and goat.
That evening I did not feel well, which is to be expected when I did not have time to eat or drink throughout the day. I drank a lot of water that night and ate a little but was so tired I went to bed soon after. The next day I was so out of it that I slept all day with only waking up to use the toilet and drink water. The visitors left and told me to take care of myself. I began to feel better one day and the next I would feel really bad again. Finally on Wed., 3rd Dec. they took me to Masaka town to go to the clinic. I was admitted and placed on 3 drips with extreme malaria and a bacteria infection too. I was given tablets (medicine) and sent home on Thursday. I am recovered now and I thank all of you for your prayers for me.
Since I was sick all the last week, I missed compiling the marks and deciding who would go to the new class and who we would hold back. I found out that 63 of my 94 pupils were promoted. I am curious to who those pupils are but I will find out in time. I asked certain pupils, who came to my room to see me, how they did and all of them passed which makes me feel good.
Currently there are only about 10 children at the school, but these are children who have no place to go. They are very helpful and did a good job taking care of me while I was sick. I am figuring out what I will take with me to Kampala early next week for a month of holiday. I am looking forward to spending some time in Kampala and going to Kenya over holiday. It is hard for me to think that it is December as it is the same weather today as when I came here almost six months ago. I guess that is part of life on the equator but it is different than what I grew up so I have to keep remembering that it’s December. I pray that things are well with all of you! God’s blessing and hopefully I will be able to write me often over the holiday, not that much will probably happen.