Days 3 & 4...

McBlogger would like to take this opportunity to apologise to (what appears to be a growing) audience for the failure to post anything yesterday. I could blame lightning strikes on the guesthouse, consumption of the telephone cable by termites, or simply a breakdown of the PC due to one Uganda's more minor earthquakes, but it was actually due to excessive devotion. Sorry, that should perhaps read 'excessively long devotions' after dinner leaving no time to write before collapsing into bed. This is perhaps an apposite point at which the flag some of the gross inequalities foisted upon certain members of the group. Whilst the majority can enjoy relaxing together over a cup of hot chocolate in the evening, 6 male stalwarts have to make their way each evening to a remote guesthouse some distance from the rest of the team. There, they have to squeeze themselves into rooms significantly smaller than those enjoyed elsewhere, use a shower which has yet to deliver warm, let alone hot water, and is prone to stopping completely mid-flow which is more than a mite inconvenient when one's eyes are full of shampoo. But I digress... You doubless want to hear of the team's sterling work, transforming the lives of folk all over Uganda. So:

Monday morning saw the team rising bright and early (actually, this is not strictly true) (actually, this not even remotely true). Despite Garvin's enthusiastic (and somewhat optimistic) plans, the team emerged for breakfast in dribs and drabs. I'm not entirely sure what a drib is exactly, but let's carry on... Suffice to say, we were late leaving the guesthouse for the first day of REAL work. The plan had been to leave early, sneak across Kampala before any of the locals noticed and thereby arrive at our destination on time. The reality was that we got caught in Kampala rush-hour traffic during the Kampala rush-hour - a big mistake. You may have heard that road traffic behaves a bit like a fluid - a fact exploited very effectively by road planners. Well, Kampala is no exception, except that the result is more like flushing a toilet filled with lego bricks - it is extremely colourful, makes a lot of peculiar noises and can give rise to consternation in the mind of the observer. However, after nogotiating several U-bends we arrived, flushed with success at the school we came to support.

'Glory for Education' is the snappy (and typically Ugandan) name of the school. A primary school with about 170 pupils (P1 - P7), it has benefited from considerable support from Fields of Life. Our team has three key roles to fulfil during our time in Uganda:




(i) Building an accommodation block for teachers at the school
(ii) Running kids' clubs, including sports activities
(iii) Medical work giving first aid advice, relationship advice (important in a country devastated by HIV/AIDS) and opthalmic examinations.

As a member of the building group, I will be better placed to give detail on this element of our progress as time passes. After meeting the Principal and Headmistress, each member of the team was asked to sign the school's visitor book. I'm not entirely sure why this done at the start. After all, what can be said at this stage - 'Glad we arrived safely'; 'Nice bit of jungle around here'; 'Why have a school so far from anywhere?'; 'Can you direct me to the nearest pit latrine?'?

To be slightly more serious, we were made most welcome and after general introductions, we split into our groups and started work. As I said, I will be drawing something of a veil over the work of the other teams due to apalling ignorance on my part, typically fuelled by a failure to listen to anything people tell me. The building team (10 of the guys) came fully equipped with enthusaism for the job in hand. Sadly, this level of equipment did not extend to any knowledge or experience of actually building anything (apart, where possible, from tension in a carefully crafted manuscript; something McBlogger knows nothing about). Thankfully, FoL had demonstrated admirable foresight in ensuring a Ugandan builder was on site to meet us and to assit in our labours. Johnston (for that is his name) is a veritable jack of all trades and swiftly sized up our team's capacity for house building. After recovering from this (quite understandable) shock, he showed us how to mix mortar, line up blocks and generally build walls. I have to say that after a slowish start, the team has shown a real aptitude for the work. If I may be permitted the liberty of compressing time, the first two days has seen the erection of 4 courses of concrete block for the staff house - 8 rooms in all, so real progress has been made already. As mentioned previously, Jamie's gloves (and his surprising physical strength) have been a real hit. Special mention should also go to Phil for his mortar mixing capacity and to Jess for her block pointing capability. Others have shown the power of a team working in harmony to achieve a common goal and I'm sure that we will see more of this in the days to come (naming names from time to time).

After a slightly shaky start (largely due to language difficulties), the kids' club has really begun to find its feet. The building team are regularly assailed by the sound of well known choruses wafting up the hillside.

The medical team is dealing with teenagers who are at that awkward stage where it's not cool to respond in class. However, there's a lot of determination to see that some key messages get through and I expect to report real progress here also. Our optometrist, Debbie, began her eye survet work with an examination of the school teachers. The cost of such a test in Uganda would be well beyond the means of these individuals and they were delighted (to say the least) to have these tests carried out. One teacher explained that they suffered from dry gritty eyes. Debbie's many years of experience equipped her to deal with this complex symptom. She explained it was due to the dry gritty atmosphere (orange dust pervades everything) in which everyone in the school was forced to work!

Sadly, the school suffered two deaths yesterday. A P3 child had been bitten by a dog and had died as a result of the infection which set in subsequently. Also, the Aunt of a P7 child died (I don't know the cause yet). This meant a funeral this afternoon (Tuesday), resulting in the cancellation of the planned sports programme. Please pray that the team would be sensitive at this difficult time in the school, whilst recognising these tragedies may perhaps open doors for some to the spirtual reality of eternal life in Christ.

One of our team, Jon, turned 50 yesterday (at least, that's what the cake said), so we all went into the centre of Kampala to 'Fang Fang' for a delicious Chinese meal.

Not a lot more to report tonight as my poor little fingers are red raw from sunning myself all day whilst the team got on with the important work of building. Also, medical research has indicated the potential health benefits resulting from sleeping between days. I'll try and add a little more tomorrow if possible.

Keep watching!

'McBlogger'