JUBA AT LAST

So, I guess the title gives it away - I finally made it to Juba after all.  It was just less than two years ago that Ronnie and I started our planning for the posting to Juba, and just over one year ago when we finally reconciled ourselves to the fact that she would be going unaccompanied.  Pretty much ever since then I have been planning ways to get to South Sudan, but nothing about this was easy.  To start with I am not actually allowed to visit my wife in Juba as in its infinite wisdom the FCO will not permit any member of staff to have a visit by a spouse whilst the post remains unaccompanied.  

My very smart, but extremely hard to obtain, visa.

This made even getting a visa tricky as you have to have a letter of invitation from someone in South Sudan to obtain one. Fortunately I remembered that sometime ago, when it was thought that I would be going anyway, someone I knew through the Military Missions International charity, Richard Dean, had asked if I would be prepared to visit a secondary school in Juba.  Richard chairs a team from Salisbury Diocese in UK who sponsor the school and they wanted me to carry out an investigation into how they could start to teach ICT there.  When I emailed Richard and asked if they would still like me to go he was delighted. It was agreed that he would get me a letter of invitation from Juba Diocese and I would sort out travel and  accommodation. Although I couldn't stay with Ronnie, I thought I would at least be able to spend some time with her during the day.  She sorted me some accommodation in the CCC guest house - a children's charity she works with.  
Even so, the mechanics of getting the visa involved several trips to the South Sudanese embassy in Kampala, during school time, and it was only through Ronnie's help whilst she was here for a week, and the forbearance and generosity of my colleagues at school, that I finally managed to get everything in place just before I was due to go.

I think Habs was pleased
to discover the gorilla was
on a different flight from us.

The trip started very early last Saturday morning my flight was due to depart from Entebbe at 0830 and I need to be there 2 hours before.  Given the traffic on the notorious Kampala-Entebbe road I booked Peter the taxi driver to collect Habakkuk and myself at 5am.  Inevitably the road was free of jams and accidents and we arrived at the airport just before 6am!  Still it allowed me to have a coffee and watch some world cup cricket in the departure lounge (that is the last time that particular sporting competition will be mentioned in this blog).  Whilst I was enjoying the rest (and coincidentally meeting one of my students and his parents who were travelling to Cape Town for half-term) Habs was making friends elsewhere!  The flight with Rwandair left on time and less than an hour later I was getting out at a very much more chaotic terminal in Juba than the orderly one I had left in Uganda.  In fact one thing that this whole trip has done for me is made me very much more appreciative of just how relatively well-organised Uganda actually is, and also how friendly and helpful the people are.  Whilst I would not say that the South Sudanese are particularly unfriendly or unhelpful, the fact is that there is a very different atmosphere there which makes you feel much more uncomfortable the whole time.  That is probably inevitable given all that they have put up with for the last 30 plus years, but it is true nonetheless.  Two other things that struck me as I landed in Juba were the difference in temperature - it is several degrees hotter and stickier, and therefore browner - and how low-rise it is.  It has a real frontier town look about it.

After the inevitable delays, including the somewhat random and haphazard Ebola check, I was met outside the terminal building by Ronnie and swept off in her armoured Land Cruiser.  This is a very cumbersome beast that is full of an extraordinary array of communications gear (some of which actually worked she assured me) and includes two buttons that I was dying to press the whole time I was there.  One was entitled 'siren' and the other operated the public address system with which you could communicate with the outside world beyond the bulletproof glass!  Knowing my inclination towards 'naughty' behaviour I was strictly forbidden from touching anything vaguely interesting.  In fact as we rumbled around town and after I had nearly wrenched a shoulder muscle for the umpteenth time trying to close the world's heaviest door, I was really beginning to miss Lucy's powerful, yet responsive touch.  

Ronnie at the controls of her heavyweight 'AV'

The plan for the day all revolved around preparing for a joint house-warming BBQ being hosted that evening by Ronnie and her next door neighbour Rich, the deputy head of mission.  They have both only recently moved from their old accommodation in the UK plot elsewhere in town, to new houses in the compound housing the Canadian and Dutch embassies.  In fact her house is actually owned by the Dutch, which in general makes little difference to anything - although I did scratch my head a little later in the week when I discovered both the microwave and the washing machine issued their instructions in Dutch!  So our first stop was to collect Rich and then head off to what appeared to be about six different markets (including one which was actually just a giant rubbish heap as far as I could see) in search of beer, meat, veg and bread.  I can only imagine that life in Juba is such that shopping is an entertainment in its own right, to be enjoyed and drawn out for as long as possible, as I was fairly convinced that we could have obtained all we required in a single stop - but heh ho, it was a good way to see town, driving backwards and forwards across it in search of the perfect green bean.

The first of many stalls which were rejected

Ronnie and Rich begin the shopping quest.  That is Rich in the striped
shirt - I know he looks like a teenager back on holiday from boarding
school, but I was assured that he really is the deputy head of mission.

Good - but not good enough apparently

Ah, at last an item of veg is deemed to
have passed the test and money changes hands -
a whole South Sudanese pound I think (about 20p)

Pleasing to see that the butchery in Juba is keeping its
meat fresh - just need to work on the spelling now

The chicken on this stall was definitely fresh
- but didn't seem too keen to come to the BBQ!

Oops, it is Tuesday and I have just remembered that I started this blog at the weekend but for got to finish it!  I am desperately busy right now so I think the thing to do is publish where I have got to and put out Part II next weekend. See you again soon ...

LEVI ON LEAVE

Finally a badger (the silent and repressed majority in the Westerman household) has been given the keyboard for a Uganda blog.  I’m normally resident on the desk of the British Defence Attaché in Juba but this week I’ve been enjoying some R&R in Kampala.  The change of scene has been most refreshing but I haven’t just had my paws up all week – I’ve been taking advantage of the freedom of movement that is denied me in Juba and enjoying spending time with some of Ian’s friends too.  I managed to get a few photos along the way although sadly Ronnie wasn’t switched on enough to think of taking pictures everywhere I went – simply not blog savvy.  

After another busy week in Juba we left Amule in the office and packed our bags to catch the evening Rwandair flight to Entebbe – it was absolutely packed as there are many Ugandans and other internationals and even some South Sudanese who weekly commute on this 50 minute flight.  The views over the city and the Nile make Juba look more orderly than it is at ground level!

Ian’s focus has been on the school inspection and he had to work particularly hard at the beginning of the week.  All seemed to go well and in the end he was a little disappointed to only get visited for 10 minutes or so by the visiting team.  But you hear about his exploits every fortnight, instead here’s what I've been up to (note change of sweater when I arrived in Kampala – the sand coloured one is uniform):

Ronnie has enjoyed the quality of the Bible teaching and the fervour of the corporate worship at All Saints Kampala – they took me along this week but I didn't hear much as I was stuffed in Ian’s bag for most of the time.   It seems to be a place that inspires and equips people to live authentic Christian lives despite hard circumstances.  There is a striking acknowledgement of God’s consistent goodness and provision that we seem to have forgotten in our self-sufficient western setting.

In Juba Ronnie and I aren't allowed to go on foot for more than 600m from our compounds.  So this week we went for a couple of little jogs which was great (although neither of us did very well as we haven’t been for a run for so long).  It’s about 8-10 degrees Celsius cooler here in Kampala but we still got pretty warm!  Just a short distance from Ian’s apartment, the views over Murchison Bay are lovely.  Ronnie also enjoyed joining Ian for the GEMS staff badminton club one evening but I didn't join in as they didn't have a racquet my size.

We dropped Ian off at school each day (at 0710) and then ran a few errands – topping up the internet, changing money, shopping for exciting ingredients that you can’t get in Juba, taking Ian to the South Sudanese Embassy to apply for a visa (more on that next blog (all being well)),  and doing some cooking.  It was good to be able to keep in touch with what’s going on in South Sudan with a bit of gentle work and I helped Ronnie with a couple of reports that were due this week.  We also enjoyed catching up on some reading, doing some mental reasoning (thanks E&S) and watching England get thrashed at cricket (okay so that last bit was less enjoyable but at least we won’t have our hopes up for the World Cup).

Ian’s colleagues were very welcoming and sociable (in my experience primary school teachers are usually pretty badger friendly) and it was fun to join them for on Ian’s birthday after work and for a quiz night.  We also enjoyed having a mini supper party with some other friends (goat stew followed by lemon tart).

I would have gladly joined the GEMS staff for their delayed staff Christmas do which was seeing a performance of Hamlet by the Globe Theatre Company.  Sadly they didn't include me on that but Ronnie was allowed to go.  I understand that it was a somewhat chaotic but very enjoyable performance outside Uganda’s National Theatre.  The Company is trying to perform their (thankfully pared down) production of Hamlet in every nation of the world over 2 years (see http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/hamlet/about-the-project ).  I probably won’t get to see it as the tour dates for South Sudan have yet to be announced…  Apparently the project ‘was created with the aim of performing Hamlet to as many people as possible, in as diverse a range of places as possible. The central principle of the tour is that Shakespeare can entertain and speak to anyone, no matter where they are on earth; and that no country or people are not better off for the lively presence of Hamlet.’  The large audience in Kampala was about 95% expat so I'm not sure that the aim was achieved in this case but it was a good night out!

Food has dominated I&R’s week (as it often does) and they enjoyed a birthday curry, a birthday Italian and a birthday brunch out.  Ronnie and I also had to keep our energy levels up with breakfast out one morning.  

On our journeys about town it was good to see that Chad has entered into the entrepreneurial spirit of East Africa.  We knew that the reports of him settling down to bucolic life in Staffordshire were far fetched.

So I’m ready to change my sweater and engage with the challenges of Juba once again – lots of prayers required for that country please where lack of political compromise continues to make the lives of many thousands of people dangerous and miserable.  Low oil prices also mean that the economy is in very serious trouble which is only making life worse for ordinary people.  High level peace talks start again on 19^th February but it’s at the community level too that peace talks are required and a great deal more mutual trust and understanding.  At least it doesn’t rain so much in Juba (I thought that this was one of Uganda’s dry seasons).

SUNDAY AT ASCK

Habakkuk and I have really had to put our thinking caps on for this week's blog. Although it is a long weekend here in Uganda as Monday is Liberation Day (which is different from Independence Day - it is tricky when you have had a series of oppressors to know which ones to celebrate being released from I guess).  Anyway, as I was saying, the trouble is that as a consequence I have left a heap of things to do, thinking that 'I'll do that over the long weekend'.  Sadly, I am now stuck here in front of the computer with four days worth of work to cram into three.  It doesn't help that we have our Ofsted equivalent the week after next (I have decided that it doesn't make it any easier knowing that much in advance) and I have a pile of stuff to do with possible activities post-Uganda (more of that to come another time).  Then Habs remembered that back in September when we blogged about 'Three cathedrals and a Kabaka's Tomb' we said:

"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!  "

So this seems to be an appropriate time to share a bit of Ugandan church history with you.  To lighten it up I asked the Cathedral authorities if they would mind if I filmed a service from the audio-visual hub that is established on the balcony, and since there is so much video and audio stuff going on no one seemed to object to a couple more pieces of kit.  Having said that it was all a bit crowded, especially when the bass player from the music group broke a string and seemed to need half a dozen of his mates to help him re-string it - on the balcony for some reason.  At one point there were more people up there than we used to have in the congregation at the garrison church in Bulford. But I digress.  The bottom line is that I will try to explain some of this slightly bizarre, but very Anglican, event that resulted in Kampala having two cathedrals and will intersperse it with pictures of last week's service, which happened to be one of our monthly communion services.

This is the view from from the balcony.  You are looking at the front right-hand part of the main cathedral - it's all I could squeeze in.
Behind is a tent with about another 150 people in and to the left another tent with about 100 or so.

All Saints' Cathedral Kampala celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012.  It traces its roots back to a chapel that was established by the Rev. Frederick John Hazeldine in a hospital on Nakasero Hill for the expatriate community.  For many years that is what it remained - quite small and exclusively ex-pat.   In 1938 the congregation purchased a tennis court on Lugard Road (the site of the present cathedral) and built a newer, much bigger building here.  It was consecrated by the then Bishop of Uganda, the Rt Rev Cyril Edgar Stuart, in 1940.  As the centennial memoir puts it, one type of service was replaced by another!  Are you keeping up so far?  Time for some more photos of ASCK (All Saints Cathedral Kampala) today I think (well last Sunday in fact).

This is the main man in the audio-visual eyrie.
As you can see the cathedral is not short of equipment.
He controls the video camera relaying the service to the tents,
and also the worship software for the lyrics etc.
However, the sound man has his own desk.

We aren't short of equipment -
but the organisation is a nightmare!

And as for the wiring ... it makes me shudder!

It can get very crowded up there at times!
You can see the sound desk to the left.

I'm not sure what software they use ... it's been a while
since Ronnie and I used Easyworship at Eastbury!

Okay, back to church history.  After independence in 1961 the Province of the Church of Uganda and Rwanda-Urundi was established and slowly but surely All Saints gained more of an African congregation. In 1966 the British Archbishop was replaced by the first Ugandan Archbishop, Erica Sabati. Obviously a positive step forward, however, this also led to problems, mainly based on tribal differences.  The capital of Uganda, Kampala, is in the kingdom of Buganda and the Muganda people from this area pretty much have always had the ascendancy (that's not a typo, the kingdom of Buganda has Muganda living there - and they speak Luganda!). However, Sabati was not a Muganda and this did not go down well.  In fact he was denied access to his own cathedral, St Paul's, at Namirembe, just across the city from All Saints.  This dispute went on for several years, during which time Idi Amin threw out the incumbent President and took over power in Uganda. In 1971, as one of his first acts in power, he summoned the clergy and told them it must be sorted out.  The result was the creation of a new diocese of Kampala, with All Saints being made a cathedral to serve it.  So now we end up with the Archbishop having two cathedrals. He is the Bishop of Kampala Diocese and his Diocesan Cathedral is All Saints’ Cathedral, Nakasero. He also has a Provincial Cathedral, which is St. Paul’s Cathedral, Namirembe. St. Paul’s Cathedral is also the Diocesan Cathedral for Namirembe Diocese, which has its own Bishop.  Simple see!  Sadly the relationship between the church and Idi Amin went downhill after this, and Sabati's successor, Janani Luwum was murdered by Amin in 1977 - but that is another, very tragic, story.

Below is a brief video of a short part of the worship that our music group, the Anglican Flames, led during last week's 9:30 service.  It is fairly tame compared to usual (today's was wild, with lots of African dancing) but it gives you an idea.  If it doesn't run on your computer then I'm sorry - some just don't seem to like it I'm afraid :-(

The Anglican Flames in action

They take turns to lead the worship
- and they are all brilliant at it!

A smallish music group - usually two keyboards,
a bass player and a drummer.
Occasionally we have others join (like our trumpeter).

The worshippers are very committed.

We are rarely static during the songs.
The rhythm just takes over, you know!

Even the clergy get excited - sometimes!

There are usually five or six clergy involved,
depending on whether or not the Archbishop or assistant
Bishop are present.  Here the service leader blesses the collection.

Our preacher last week was a Bishop from Nigeria.
I have been here long enough now so that I complained
that couldn't understand his strong Nigerian accent.
I must be a true Ugandan!

Rev Diana, our feisty Vicar, leads the blessing
of the birthday and anniversary celebrants.

We are a very patriotic church (truly).

The inevitable crush at the end as everyone shuffles to get out to make way for the 11:30 service.

So, to end I thought I would give you glimpse of what I could see outside the cathedral, through the window of my lofty perch on the balcony last Sunday.

On the one side the ubiquitous
(and I have to say, ugly) Marabou Storks

On the other the new Cathedral begins to emerge ...

On Friday Ronnie will be down for a week so the next blog will have her hand upon it - and perhaps a little more of what is happening up North in Juba.  Also I am planning to visit Juba over half term to do some work with a school there so I will try bring some photos back too (as long as I am not arrested in the process).

BACK DOWN TO EARTH

So, after the trip of a lifetime (I seriously think that it was - I can't imagine that we will ever have such an amazing holiday again) it is back down to earth with a bump for this blog.  The opening photo is me with one of the security guards at school.  I have a very good rapport with them as I am the only member of staff who really appreciates what they do, and religiously signs in and out etc.  They know my military background and I get a smart(ish) salute when I drive out at the end of the day!  In fact we are very lucky because most of the security companies over here are rubbish - they pay next to nothing and certainly don't waste their money on training.  G4S do at least provide a good service.

Despite the title this has actually been a really great week back.  I think I have enjoyed my teaching more this week than I have done for a very long time - and certainly more than any time since moving to Uganda. What has changed? Well my attitude as much as anything else I think.  I have had a real rejuvenation of my joy of teaching and an uplift in my approach to life over the Christmas break and I am determined to enjoy the rest of my time here to the maximum - especially as it is looking more and more likely that I will return to UK in the summer when Ronnie finishes in Juba.

One thing in particular that has changed my whole outlook was a very short book I read called The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, and I feel compelled to share a brief quote with you all:

If you're Christian then I would strongly recommend that you read it as it gives a new perspective on what you already believe.  If you're not a Christian then I strongly recommend that you read it - it might well change your life (and more importantly your afterlife!).

My photo-theme for today is quite simple - I thought I would share with you my journey into Kampala and back, via church and my classroom where I had to pick some things up before coming home.  It shows how things have changed in my classroom since the start of term back in September (I blogged about that at the time so you can go back and compare if you like).

This is the ACP!

At present at church we have four services on a Sunday and each one overflows the main cathedral into a couple of tents outside.  When the ACP (the All Saints' Cathedral Plan) is funded, then the idea is that we can all worship together.

Communion taking place for the 7:30 service in
one of the tents.

I usually arrive by 9am for the 9:30 service so that I can join the scrum for a place in the main cathedral.  One advantage means that you get to see the end of the previous one taking place outside - twice the worship for your money!

Getting out of one of the overflow car parks

I have described the less than gracious tussle to get into the cathedral at the start of the service before.  However, it is nothing compared to trying to get a couple of hundred cars out of various nooks and crannies around the building where we have to park.  Wacky races comes to mind!

So, out of the city and finally on my way to GEMS
Cambridge International School Kampala

The journey from church to school takes about 10 to 15 minutes on Sunday morning, about an hour most other times, and anything from a couple of hours plus on a Friday afternoon!  Kampala traffic is something that everyone in UK should experience once in their life - then they might appreciate what 'real' traffic is like!

Being the Principal and CEO is no doubt a daunting task -
but you do get a large tax-free salary
and very smart house (for free)!

The main entrance to the school - a very smart area in which to greet prospective parents.

This is one of a number of murals in the entrance.

The school is very modernistic in design, which is not to everyone's tastes I admit.  However, it very much fits in with the Ugandan view that modern, bright (perhaps almost garish) is good.  I have to admit that it is growing on me.

I certainly I do love the murals and I am considering asking for one as a leaving present!

Year 5 had 'migration' as their first theme this year.

One of the first boards displaying children's work to greet you as you go down the corridors is this one that my class put together last term.  We had been looking at migration and, as well as studying their own family histories and making a class book about them, we looked at Indian partition as an example of mass migration.  I was very pleased with the standard of work they produced for the display.





Okay, I think I will let the photos do the talking as we enter my classroom a term after I took over what was, almost literally, an empty shell:

The children chose the 5 things that were most important to them
(in order) and I produced this display outside the classroom using 'Wordle'.

Display boards, IWB clock, benches - I could go on!

On the left, the children's expectations for themselves - on the right their expectations of me!

Obviously badgers abound.

As part of our study into weather and climate we were lucky enough to be able to take a trip to the
Entebbe Airport Meteorological Centre.  Having spent a couple of hours there being shown all
of the instruments and how they used them to forecast the weather, this is
the report that one of my children produced.  Honestly, we did go to a weather station, really we did!

So, to close, life is pretty good here in Kampala, although I am getting quite busy as I have picked up a couple of additional duties at school, plus we have an inspection imminent and I am wrapped up in a heap of work related to what I might end up doing next year - possibly!

From what I gather from our daily FaceTime sessions and WhatsApp chats, it is more or the same situation for Ronnie in Juba.  Hopefully she will get a long weekend down here sometime in the next month or so, and I am planning to be in Juba over half-term.  Obviously not visiting my wife as that would be breaking FCO rules, but who knows, I might happen to bump into her whilst I am there!

One final photo to end with.  We have seen just about everything on the back of the minibus taxis and motorbike boda bodas whilst we have been travelling around, and that includes livestock.  However, as I was leaving school this morning I saw a first - two goats actually waiting at the taxi stand to be picked up.  I hope they had the correct fare.