Saying Goodbye/Welaba

The first section of my Uganda adventure has come to a close. Friends from Trafalgar Presbyterian Church are heading home tomorrow morning. I’m hanging out with them in Kampala today. We did some last minute shopping. Steve’s bringing a bunch of things home for me in his big backpack. And now we’re just hanging out at the guest house. Tomorrow morning Mr Lubega comes to pick us up, we head to the airport, say good-bye there and I return to Masooli with Mr Lubega. He’s talked to some schools in the village and I’m welcome to work there. I might be starting on Thursday. I thought that when I get back from the airport I would go over to the centre and help Halima set the library back up. They’d taken all the books out and built a whole bedroom area for us. We’re leaving just in time for school to start again. They’re school year started on Monday.

Saying goodbye was difficult even though I’m not even leaving yet. The Local Committee cooked up a storm for us last night. And we had a wonderful feast in the study hall of the learning centre. We had the turkey and the chicken that Mr. Sekkebembe slaughtered for us. Anne had named the turkey Paul. Poor Paul. But he tasted good, barbecued on a little charcoal stove and then roasted in banana leaves for several hours. The Committee were so wonderful. They made a little presentation to us and Millie, the chairperson, refused to say goodbye. And they gave us beautiful presents. Mr Sekkebembe gave us women extra gifts, a banana fibre purse and a necklace that his wife makes. He’s so cute. He’s an older gentleman, big, strong and burly and he loves us to bits. He gave us the biggest bear hug all three at the same time. He and Kristine love praying together. They clasp hands and Kristine, a Christian prays in English and Mr Sekkebembe, a Muslim, prays in Luganda. It’s very beautiful. We ended with another rendition of the Masooli-Kitetikka song. It was much fun with the men on one side and the women on the other almost doing a call and answer type thing, especially in the “Are we there yet?” refrain.

This morning was difficult too, leaving our new community at the Centre. Barbara, who lives there all the time, was sad. It’ll be much quieter around there for her. Millie came again to see us one more time. She said she still wasn’t going to say goodbye. We were staying with them in all the gifts and memories and friendships that we built. It really proves my point again that it takes two weeks to form a community.