THREE CATHEDRALS AND A KABAKA'S TOMB

Levi visiting with Ronnie

First things first, thank you to all of you who have been praying for my back.  After a couple of days of being bent double and in some degree of pain, I woke up on Wednesday and found myself much improved.  It is still a bit sore, but I am much better and able to operate normally again.  A big thank you too, to those of you who have taken time from your busy schedules to send me such fantastic emails; I am only sorry that, for now at least, a brief acknowledgement and an exhortation to 'read the blog' is probably the best you will get back from me.  I do promise to respond properly to all of you at least sometime during this term!

This weekend has been tremendous fun.  I had a parents' evening on Friday night, which was more about sharing my philosophy of teaching with them, rather than discussing individual children.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself and had a variety of very important members of Kampala society leaping around doing badger maths and helping to build (and knock down) three-legged stools.  Then, just after I arrived home at about 8-30pm Ronnie's taxi dropped her off having collected her from Entebbe airport.   If all goes well it will collect her again on Monday morning (at 5-30am!) to take her back to catch her flight to Juba.  In the gap in between we have had a great time together exploring Kampala, and attending worship at my new church, All Saints' Cathedral. 

The 9:30 service at All Saints' this morning was as vibrant as ever, combining as it does a traditional form of liturgy with really upbeat music and prayer sessions.  It lasts for two hours, but feels like half that - unlike some services I have attended in UK which last less than an hour but seem like they're much longer!  Despite their slightly over-the-top, flamboyant robes our worship group 'The Anglican Flames' are amazing, and every time they lead us in worship I feel uplifted.  Couple that with some really focused, Bible-based teaching and the services are impressive.  The only down side is that the church is raising funds to re-order the Cathedral at the moment - something that seems to happen wherever we go! - and today's feedback on the project went on too long!

Me outside All Saints' 

Ronnie browsing a book stall before the service

The title of this week's blog is derived from the fact that we also had an afternoon trip after church visiting various Kampala sights, including St Paul's Anglican Cathedral, Namirembe and the Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral in Rubaga. 

Moses leading worship

You may ask why there are two Anglican cathedrals in Kampala, and perhaps I will share the story with you another time.  However, for now just accept that there are and that the reason is not one which bathes the Anglican church in any great light!  

This doesn't give a true picture of the size of the cathedral.
There are about 300 people inside and another 100+ outside at the 9:30 service!

Bishop Hannington's grave at Namirembe Cathedral. 
He was the first Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, 
but was tragically speared to death by the locals 
within a week or so of arriving in the country.  
He is much revered by the Church of Uganda.

Our fleeting visit to the Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral

Ronnie in her latest fashion accessory

We also visited the World Heritage Site of the Kasubi Tombs, where a number of past Kabakas or 'kings' of Buganda are buried.  Sadly this took place in one of the regular heavy downpours that we get at this time of year, but it didn't dampen our enthusiasm too much.  The best bit (for me) was when Ronnie was asked to don a wrap-around skirt for the tour, presumably as a mark of respect (no one actually explained why!).  There was some terrific art work for sale, and although we didn't buy anything this time I think we definitely will return and do so in the future.

Levi making the most of his weekend away from Juba and 
enjoying a view of Kampala from Namirembe Cathedral

Generally speaking traffic in Kampala on a Sunday is quite bearable (compared to the rest of the week when it is definitely intolerable).  However, what we hadn't appreciated was that the central taxi park area is a nightmare at any time and we found ourselves caught in the middle of a total jam of literally hundreds of minibus taxis.  The photo does not really show a true picture of the chaos, but it gives a vague idea I guess.

Downtown Kampala just before the traffic came to a standstill

We got back home about 4pm to discover the power had been off all day and the washing was still sat in the washing machine doing nothing.  Unfortunately this is becoming a regular feature on a Sunday and we were just becoming resigned to an evening in the dark (and no blogging) when the power came back on.  

So the weekend is nearly over and Ronnie will fly back to Juba tomorrow morning to what looks like an even more depressing political and military situation there.  Do please pray that, despite the gloomy outlook, something can happen that brings a peaceful outcome and not a further increase in the violence that we have seen recently.  School life is a mixed bag.  I love my class and am warming to them more and more as I get to know them. On the other hand the lack of proper procedures and management direction is getting all the teaching staff down.  Again, prayer please that this improves soon.