My First Few Days in Uganda

The flight to Entebbe was uneventful and my ride into town was waiting for me which was a relief. After speaking to Miriam about her graduation ceremony the next day, I basically got to the guesthouse and flopped into bed.

I was up again at 6am and had a bit of breakfast at 7am. Miriam, her father, Tom and her mum, Margaret, arrived at 7.30 and off we went to Nsambya Nursing College. Each graduand was given 2 tickets for guests, but Miriam obviously wanted three - so a local Catholic priest from the same tribe as Tom provided me with a Special Visitor invitation - so problem solved! The only problem was that I had to sit in the Special Visitors tent, not with Miriam's parents - once again I felt pretty exposed, being the only muzungu (white man) among about 400 people.

The graduands entered at about 9.30 - see a short video. Some time after they held a mass with great pomp and ceremony and with about 10 priests! This was followed by 5 or so speeches and some entertainment which included some traditional dancing - this all took us to about 2pm at which time the graduands actually graduated and took their professional oath. The end of proceedings occurred about 3pm whereupon we were all fed and watered.

After the ceremony, I was to host an early dinner at Piato Restaurant. I thought we were arriving a bit late, but in true Ugandan form, we were the first ones there - others arrived from 15 to 90 minutes later! Anyway, we all had a good time and he food was great.

By the time I got back to the guesthouse, I was exhausted.

The next day (Saturday) I had some mundane stuff to do so I went to the bank, then to a supermarket and then to an Orange store to buy a internet dongle and some airtime. Wakisa were holding a luncheon for Miriam at about 1pm, including all the girls currently at the centre. Interestingly, Vivian had an English lady called Anne staying with her from Belgium and she was good friends with Hugh & Barbara Cox, formerly from St Pauls, Castle Hill!

Miriam gave a very encouraging speech to the girls, letting them know that making a mistake doesn't mean the end of the world and that God is a forgiving God, not a punishing one. I spent lots of time playing soccer with Miriam's son, Shadrack and Dorcas's son Ezra. The last to arrive was one of Miriam's friends from her time at Wakisa, Goretti and her daughter, Anita. They arrived at about 4pm, just as a storm hit.

Today (Sunday) I slept in and then had a Skype call with Margaret, Kathryn & Maurice. Everything at home was OK and we just chatted about what had been happening on the two sides of the world. I was also supposed to chat with Penny, Scott & Riley but I couldn't make contact.

Later I walked into town to attend a service at Watoto Church - I got the times wrong and so ended up sitting in the overflow area. As I came out, the skies opened up and I experienced a torrential downpour with the gutters flowing very fast and almost overflowing - not to worry, I just waited with everyone else and then got a boda home.