Namirembe musings

January 21
Kampala is surrounded by 7 hills. Apparently there is a different church/faith on each hill. We’re on the Anglican hill. There’s music wafting from somewhere further down. The Christianity we’ve met with so far is more of the evangelical kind. Or maybe it’s just more outwardly Christian. Earlier when we were taking a little walk around the church area there was beautiful traditional music come from a building, with drumming too. Later when we walked by they were obviously having some sort of Sunday afternoon bible class. We were able to walk around the church for a little bit. We wanted to take some pictures. It’s the biggest cathedral in Uganda and where the bishop and other head honchos belong. We saw some traditional drums in the back storage area. I was sad that they didn’t get played during the church service.

The birds are huge here with very long beaks mostly. One bird we’re guessing is a vulture. But that’s the thing, we’re guessing. We see all these beautiful floral and fauna and have no idea what they are. We discovered an avocado tree. One of the fruits had fallen off and we opened it. It was a smaller very green avocado.

We haven’t seen much of the city. We haven’t left the comfort of our hill. It sounds bustling, even on a Sunday. We’re spending the day mostly sitting in the shade, talking, taking in. Tomorrow the work starts. Tomorrow we’re heading to Masooli. Tomorrow we meet the first people we’ll be working with. Tomorrow we settle in there. What will it be like? I think the day after we meet with the young students and their tutor. That’s my particular group of interest. What will I do with them? I need to start getting my mind in gear and coming up with some possibilities, ideas. Suzanne sent along a binder that her class put together with Canada information, pictures and letters that the students in her class wrote. I look forward to using that and hopefully being able to work with the students to prepare a project to send back.

We hear songs that we know in their piped-in music. Yesterday it was “Lord I lift your name on high” today it’s “Shout to the Lord” and “Winter Wonderland”. That really made us laugh. It’s definitely not a Winter Wonderland here. It’s 6:20pm and the sun is still shining. It feels more like late afternoon. It’s quite hot. I don’t know how many degrees but it’s really only comfortable in the shade and we’re thankful there’s a breeze.