My Christmas gift to you

 

One of the best things that happened to me in my solitary life as a volunteer in rural Uganda was to have read for the first time the Holy Bible.  The constant admonition of  Fr.

Bible bought in Rome

Domingos Oliveira, a Comboni missionary, to his parishioners to bring the Bible to mass sank into my consciousness.  I had one of our Bibles in Manila brought to Uganda, but I could not bring it to church as it is bulky.  The Bible is the super greatest book that I have ever read.  Now I know after whom my friends Solomon, David, Emmanuel, Ruth, Naomi, Judith, Esther, among others,

The Exodus

were named after.  I am in complete awe of how the original writers kept track of the genealogy, the specifications of the temple construction, and the repetitive detailed description of the sacrificial offerings, and many more,  when there was no word processor to aid them then.  I love the Proverbs, and the

Dome of the Rock

Ecclesiastes.  They contain teachings on an individual's choices - to be arrogant or humble, wise or fool, happy or miserable, loquacious or guarded, careless or discerning, industrious or lazy.... and many more.  The value formation, good manners and right conduct that we learned in school have their beginnings in this book written perhaps 3,000 years ago.  I will forever cherish our family's

Old Jerusalem

holiday in the Sinai Peninsula, Bethlehem and Jerusalem because I had walked in the paths of Moses, Jesus, and some biblical angels and saints.  Time is my God-given wealth and I am glad to have used a part of it to read the great teachings.  I will continue to read a line or two each day.

Merry Christmas and a joyful New Year

Council meetings

Clerk to Council, Deputy Speaker, Speaker

Back in my country, I have not attended any town hall meeting even in our hometown when Charlie was mayor.  In Gulu, I attend district council meetings, as a spectator, because it is part of my learning experience.

He confiscates phones

The Speaker and Clerk to Council wear gowns like those worn at the British Parliament (minus the wig).  They make a ceremonial entrance, preceded by the officer of the hall sounding the bell and the people stand in attention - no different from a Catholic priest entering the altar with his acolytes to start the mass.  People entering and leaving the hall have to bow courteously.  Parliamentary procedures practiced elsewhere in the world are observed and newly-elected politicians attend workshops to familiarize themselves with the rules.  During acclamation, the council members stomp their feet producing a sound like a hundred racing horses.

Council members of the Finance Committee

Any verbal (and even written) statement is always punctuated with, Mr. Speaker, Sir.  The councilors have a bit of a problem when the Deputy Speaker, who is female, presides.  She is most often addressed as Madame Speaker, Sir.  Old habits die hard. 

In every town there is.........

He studies the movements first

I read a book sometime back that in every town there is always an idiot - a mentally handicapped or deranged person.  Gulu does not have only one but several.  I understand that because of the war and the life in the displacement camps, there are many who are suffering from mental illness and there are no hospitals here where they can be confined. Most often, I would notice such persons in public gatherings where they would join performers.  They just do their own act and are tolerated since they are harmless.  Another person who attends Sunday mass gets to deliver his invocation in the dialect following the official invocation.  I never suspected that he was mentally ill because the whole congregation solemnly responds to each of his statements. Then I understood why he was not using the podium or given the microphone - he is just being tolerated because he is harmless.

Now he got it

Most of us may have seen one like them, and when they are gone, they are sorely missed.
[I masked their faces in all pictures to protect their identities.]

They have become part of society.

Mother and child

Cooking chipati for a living

One thing that saddens me in my daily life here is the sight of so many child-mothers - girls barely reaching the age of puberty (ages 12 to 15) back-carrying their infants.  Sundays in church is a place where I see too many of them. Reports say

The care

that child-mothers is an off-shoot of poverty - not only in terms of material things but also of educational deprivation.  I learned that girls are easily enticed to have sexual relationship because they are promised financial support, something that they could not get from their family.

The pride

Most of these child-mothers are not formally married because to get married, the groom has to pay a dowry in cash and in kind to the bride's family.  And that could run into millions of shillings.

The joy

But whatever the circumstances are, the joy, pride, and care that a mother bestows a child are universal.

Children should not forget their mothers' birth-pangs.

Volunteers at work

That's me explaining SWOT analysis

Volunteers are told that we will probably come across many Africans during our volunteer time who are as skilled as we

Pius and his chicks

are, but may not have been exposed to the latest techniques for getting the job at hand done. 

Sandra in action

An important job in Africa is often that of the teacher rather than the do-er.  If we can teach 20 engineers a new technique for building safer bridges, we will have really made a difference - compare this to just building a bridge and not sharing our knowledge.  Pius works

Out of the poultry

at the Northern Uganda Youth Development Center.  It is a vocational school that trains the youth some skills such as carpentry, tailoring, catering, brick-making, metal fabrication, farming.

Martin, the one-legged volunteer

Hopefully, the youth will pick-up the skills and consequently engage in sustainable livelihood activities.

Vols at the Comboni Vocational School

VSO brings people together to share skills, creativity and learning to build a fairer world.

Simple pleasures

Susan at her new location.  We share a room.

As a volunteer who is not to impose on the locals, I learned of many ways to get my burning ideas across.  For example, I kept on harping how the new offices will be spacious and orderly, how desks will be free of clutter, and so

My new desk

on.  They probably believed me so they let me supervise the lay-out for the Finance

Alley of old office

Department - desks here, visitors chairs there, copier

Our new room, right

here, filing cabinets over there, computers and printers here and there.  The prize I got was one of the brand new desks and ergonomic chairs.  I showed them that I protect my desk from scratches and smudges and clear the top at the end of each day.  The power of example seems to be working and we get occasional

Look us up, Room No. 3

compliments on how our room should be the model for everyone. What I liked most during our transfer from the old offices was when the secretaries asked me if they can continue to put tablecloths on their old desks.

How it used to be

I just jokingly said that those tablecloths are for tables in restaurants.  And voila, the covers disappeared and the staff are now confident that exposed wooden desks can be beautiful.

Oh such simple pleasures.

Under the trees

I think that I shall never see, a poem lovely as a tree

Uganda's trees are beautiful and most are perfectly upright. 

A tree whose hungry mouth 

The branches grow evenly and seem to rejoice in the abundant sunshine. 

is pressed against the earth's

People would normally converge under the trees

sweet flowing breast

to seek refuge from 

A tree that may in Summer

wear a nest ..... in her hair

the harsh heat.
But the trees in Gulu are being endangered because of the onslaught of illegal cutters who burn the trees for commercial charcoal business.  And the majority of charcoal buyers are not the rural folks but the city dwellers.  Such is the reality in this part of the world where power supply is highly unreliable, cooking gas is deemed harmful, impractical or unaffordable,

A tree that looks at God all day

and purchasing power is being eroded by inflation. A year ago, inflation rate was at 6%; now it is 29%.

Only God can make a tree

by Joyce Kilmer

Been there, done that

Marker of the new Administration block

I seemed more eager than my colleagues in looking forward to the inauguration of the new Administration Block.  Perhaps it is because having previously held offices in intelligent and modern buildings then uprooted to

Eve of the inauguration

facilities that have seen better times, then going back to a comfort zone promises a great relief.  It's a bit philosophical.  If you don't know what to expect then you just watch things as they happen, calmly.  But that bliss of ignorance will not be for

Prisoners lend hands

long.  Once people get to know what's out there, they start thinking of what better things they deserve or what and where they want to be.... and perhaps do something about it.

At last, it's showtime

That's  when things get stirred, nerves get frayed, colleagues become competitors, time becomes a non-renewable possession, greetings become curt.

We just watch calmly

      There's always a price to pay for 
                         progress.

Gulu is changing

Bank of Uganda (Gulu Branch)

Not that I have anything to do with it, but there are many visible infrastructure improvements that can be seen in Gulu over the past year.

Office construction

When I first arrived, I saw a new 3-storey

Office completed

building in its finishing stage.  Little did I know that it was to be our new office.

Right across is a branch of the Bank of Uganda (the central bank).  Hmm, sometimes I imagine seeing my former colleagues going to work in that tightly guarded fortress.

Serendipity

The old market was also demolished to give way to a more modern structure.

Old market deserted

Market demolished

But to my mind, another community life-changing development is this town clock.  This was installed last 9 October 2011 coinciding with the 49th anniversary of Uganda's independence.

It is solar-powered

In a place where almost nothing starts on time, this will perhaps mark the dawning of a new day in Gulu.