DAY TO DAY LIFE

Now the last blog entry had a picture of me and was written by Ronnie, so this time I thought it was only right that as I was writing it it Ronnie should star as the opening photo.  This is actually a picture of her at the British Embassy Juba's Remembrance service which she organised last week.  


Obviously I wasn't there, but I gather it was well attended and the Archbishop of Juba was present.  

That is all I am allowed to  publish for security reasons, but for those of you who want to know more then you will have to follow UK Embassy South Sudan on Twitter where I gather all can be revealed.  If I am sounding a little less than than fully enthusiastic about the Foreign Office security system and their set up then that is only because they have decided that it is too much of a security risk to allow me to stay in the Embassy compound over Christmas whilst Ronnie is on duty - apparently the risk (to them presumably) is acceptable if I stay in a hotel down town, but not in the compound itself.  I make no further comment, other than to say that they are professionals in this business and must clearly know what they are talking about - whatever you or I might think.  So now I am looking for worthwhile things to occupy my me over the Christmas period whilst in Kampala on my own.  Not surprisingly, I have a sneaky suspicion that  something will turn up!

I am sorry that it has been a couple of weeks since the last blog, but life has been exceptionally busy and I suspect that my posts may become fortnightly now by default.  Most of the the last two weeks have been wrapped up in teaching, planning, marking and report writing.  However, on Friday we had a staff training day which meant that I was able to get away on time and attend a 4pm service at the Cathedral for the 25th wedding anniversary of the Reverends Diana and Solomon Nkesiga.  She is the 'vicar' of All Saints' Cathedral which, as far as I can see, is like the Dean in UK. By an extraordinary coincidence both Diana and Solomon were great friends of two very special people who were members of our homegroup in Stafford and I have been trying to catch up with them ever since I arrived.  The problem with All Saints is that it is so big that there is never any opportunity to meet with fellow worshippers after the service, let alone the clergy.  So I thought that I would attend the service in the hope of getting to speak to Diana properly.  In the end I still only managed a brief talk as they were like a wedding couple in the middle of their marriage and everyone wanted to speak with them.  However, I did get to meet a lot more of my fellow parishioners and to make a few more friends in the church.  Below are a few photos from the event.

As with everything at All Saints there was a queue. There had been several weddings taking place during the day and this one was still in progress when I arrived.










The ceremony was conducted by retired Bishop Eliaphaaz Maari, who as an ordinary vicar, had married them 25 years before.

Afterwards there was a 'cocktail' which seems to be Uganda speak for a party - only this time with tea and soda, not gin and vodka!

So, all in all, a great time, only marred from my perspective by spending nearly an hour stuck in traffic in central Kampala trying to get home.  For me, the highlight of the evening was getting to know the bass player in the band well enough to lend him a white shirt for a formal function on Sunday.  Now I feel I am really part of the church!

If you want to get a real feel for the ceremony, click on the picture below and see the happy couple leaving the Cathedral: