Phone

I plan to go across the country to Kampala in a week.  I was calling a medical center to try and schedule a preventative care checkup.  Unfortunately, I was unable to make the appointment.  Not because the schedule was full, because the phone service is not the best in Uganda.  I have had trouble understanding people calling me in the past.  This time they were having trouble understanding me.  Through trial and error (and through talking with others) I have learned it has to do with how busy the tower is.  The capacity of the system has not been increased (in most areas); however, the population has grown significantly.  I will have to call again, and pay for airtime again, and pray that I can make a good connection this time.

Computer Skills

The Birijaku class has been progressing much slower than the Mugujai class(es).  However, I have a great deal more confidence in their ability to use the skills they have learned.  This week the last of the students that attend regularly completed the course.  There have been others interested in starting computer skills as soon as someone finished and there is room; however, I am delaying starting the next class.  A friend who built and operates the school near my house wants to add computer skills.  I do not want to compete.  His plan will allow some of the new graduates to earn a little money as computer skills teachers and will make the program available more than once a week.  I am going to delay and let him start the next class.  I am excited to see the program being picked up by the community and I plan to support his efforts, helping as a teacher until he gets his computer teachers established.

PMT

For the second week in a row the prison ministry team has been blessed with new members.  This time the new member was brought by one of our new female members.  She had to return to school (secondary school) but took her lunch time to come and show her friend where we meet and to introduce him.  They were early; however, that was when she could bring him. 

Those who visited last week also came back.  They all indicate that they intend to come regularly and one of them volunteered to be part of the team visiting the prison already.

Computer Skills

When I arrived in Mugujai, I discovered one of my students had arrived ahead of me this time.  The previous class made a habit of this, but this is unusual for the current class.  He wanted to get a couple hours of class time before he had to return to Busia (the next town to the east, approximately 4 Km away). 

The class is making progress; however, the desire to take it slow and make sure they know the skills has worn off.  It seems the memory of the story (told by their fellow class member) about the accountant who ran from a good job because he had been promoted to an office that used computers and he did not know how to use a computer has been forgotten.  Even if they are rushing through the material again, they do seem to be understanding it.

Haircut

I finally stopped in town for a haircut.  I am a week overdue, but I did not want to get the haircut until I had recovered from the sunburn of the previous week’s program.  I asked the boda driver to leave me in town as we returned from prison ministry at Lobule prison.  What I did not know was the national power (Wenreco) had failed.  I do not know if it is because of faulty equipment or insufficient power (rolling power cuts), or an accident, or …  I do know that power failures are common in Uganda.  They are more common in rural areas (that have power) than urban areas, but they occur frequently in both.  The barber told me the power was out and his solar power system was too low to allow him to give me a haircut.  Please come back tomorrow.  That is just the way life is sometimes.

Scripture Union FAMSS

The Scripture Union club for Francis Ayume Memorial Secondary School (FAMSS) included the time on their invitation.  This is unusual.  I appreciated it.  The invitation said they would start at 9:30 a.m. promptly.  I knew they would start late; however, I mis-guessed how late. 

I planned to leave my house at 9:30, knowing that the school is 6 kilometers away and it would take a boda (not foot travel) to arrive at a reasonable time.  The prison ministry team members met me at my house, and we left at 10:00.  We ended up helping someone on the way, so we did not reach the school until just before 11:00 a.m.  We were the first guests to sign the visitor’s book.  No, the program had not started yet.  It did start around 11:15 a.m.

Mail

Uganda does not have home delivery of the official mail.  Mail that travels via the official postal system travels to the post office in the main town (municipality) of the district.  There it is sorted.  Either it is forwarded on (for example mail being sent out of Uganda) or it is delivered to a post office box.

Most letters and invitations to meetings are sent via an informal system.  They are given to someone who knows the recipient or who is going to the town where the recipient is located.  Then they look for someone who knows the recipient and give them the letter to deliver.  There is no cost for this method of sending mail; however, there is no knowing how long it will take for it to be delivered either.  I have received invitations for an official function the day before the event, only to discover the sender thought I had received it a week earlier.

Bible Study

The local church I attend in Uganda is starting a bible study.  I was asked to lead it.  I went to the church just after 3:30 p.m. on Thursday knowing that it is cultural for people to come late.  I did not find anyone at first.  Then three people came from under a tree at the far side of the compound.  They said through a translator that they came at 2:00.  I explained that the announcement was for 3:30 to 5:30. 

They did not want to start now that I had arrived because several others had already left.  We agreed to start next week.  Later, after I and the three I met had left, the person who was supposed to translate for me arrived.  Also, several people from the local choir arrived, so he used the copy of the materials I had given him to present session 1.

I will submit an announcement for Sunday to correct the start time.  Hopefully, we can all come together and study the bible as one group.

KASUF

I received a SMS message during the middle of my Birijaku computer skills class.  The Koboko Area Scripture Union Fellowship (KASUF) was meeting, could I come and attend.  My thoughts were, ‘why did you fail to tell me about the meeting when I attended the Scripture Union service at Koboko Public Secondary School four days ago?’  My response was, ‘no, I am teaching computer skills right now and I have students here.’

I find the general meetings are rarely announced ahead of time.  As a result, they have an attendance problem.  They say it is the same people who always show up.  They do not say they do not provide information to the rest of us until the meeting is happening.  Prior planning is not a common skill in rural Uganda.

T-shirt

The prison ministry team is talking about a team t-shirt (so we can look uniform when ministering in the prison).  We already have one; however, many members report that theirs have faded when they washed them (mine has not faded yet).  They want to buy new shirts, so they look good.  We have agreed to change the color (from black) to something that does not make fading so obvious.  We selected light gray.  A new team member also sells shirts as part of his business.  He suggested a higher quality shirt which the team accepted.  Next week we will talk about how to manage the cost so team members can afford to buy more than one (bulk order).  No rush in Africa.