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.