Easter

Well, we had a nice Easter at Canada House in Mbarara. Ugandans definitely celebrate Easter – they do church-related and family things – but I don’t think they hide chocolates. The Ugandan staff had the holiday off, so Bern, Nancy, David and I had a nice relaxing weekend. David hid some chocolates for us to find, which was fun, and we played lots of Monopoly and Wizard. Nancy is also trying to teach me Hearts, but I have to say, I’m quite dreadful at it… Still, all in all, not a bad Easter.

Besides Easter, I’ve been helping Nancy out with her scholarship stuff, as usual. We went to check out a welding school in Mbarara that one of her students will be attending, and another day, we went out into the rural areas to buy a plot of land for a family. That was quite fun. It seemed like the whole village had come to witness the proceedings, all of them gathered in clusters on the field we wanted to buy. It rained a lot that day, and the Ugandans thought I was crazy for liking the rain. But my favourite activity this week was teaching the kids at Nyakyera Primary school how to play baseball with donated sports equipment. I was quite impressed with how well the kids threw and caught the ball for their first time. There weren’t many strikeouts either. After taking lots of pictures of the kids, Nancy insisted that the teachers should have a go, and so the head teacher (the principal) and all the others joined in. Then we presented prizes to the winning team – different coloured baseball caps from Canada. It was a good last day at camp. Oh – and I learned something interesting about Ugandan women – they never discuss pregnancies – it’s like a taboo. There is one very pregnant and very lovely lady at camp, and no one ever talks about the baby that’s on the way. They think it brings bad luck.

We left camp early this morning, and it has been a crazy day of packing cases and totes for the trip home to Canada. We’re taking the long drive to Kampala tomorrow, and I’ll probably visit the craft markets there. After that, we’re meeting Melanie and Michelle, both back from their holidays (Matt is going to be delayed, so I won’t see him before I leave, unfortunately. His mother came to visit him, and they’re exploring Tanzania together, I think). Bern, Nancy and I will be flying out on the 15^th and, if we make our connection in London (it’s very tight, we’ll have to run), we’ll technically be back in Canada late that day because of the time difference – weird.

            So, that’s about it, I’m afraid. I only have a few days left in Uganda. It’s been a good trip, and I’ve learned a lot about International Development – things I wouldn’t have understood without actually being out here – the corruption, the customs, the community-minded-ness, the way Ugandans think (although I’m sure I’ve only just scratched the surface of this). Our team has been awesome and, having heard about ACTS’ work growing up, it’s been nice to actually be a part of it for a short while. 

Anyway, I’m not sure if I’ll get in another blog entry, so if this is the last one, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you back in Canada.