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

The Royal wedding and the African brides

What a beautiful sight

Uganda was a British protectorate from 1894 to 1962.  Queen Elizabeth last visited Uganda in
2007.  On 29 April 2011, the world witnessed the

The newly wed royals

spectacular wedding of Prince William, an heir to the British throne. I watched the wedding on BBC news in my Mac and I took the picture here from my computer monitor.  But

No balcony kiss to watch

Here comes the bride

and the noisemakers

I was able to watch an equally spectacular wedding at the Holy Rosary parish. The church offered a mass wedding to celebrate 100 years of faith in Gulu.  There were around 12

Fr Gino, Italian

couples who exchanged I dos under the sweltering midday sun.  It was very colorful and festive.  When it was the

Ready for the march

Sword formation

Fr Domingos, Portuguese

couples' turn to approach the officiating priest, their village mates will surround them and sound those bird calls. There was not much ground for a bridal march, but the last couple was pretty lucky because there was more space now between them and the priest.  It was either pure luck or some strings were pulled because the bridegroom was a military official, so he and his bride  had all the works.... bridal march, and a band to accompany the march.  There was even a sword formation.  The Comboni missionaries seemed very happy at the turn-out.  Fr. Domingos delivered the homily in Acholi language. He did not grope for words yet it lasted for 30 minutes.  After 4 hours in the sun, I was sun stroked and dehydrated.

I was not, of course, invited to any of the receptions.  But I cannot express enough the joy of witnessing how locals celebrate a grand occasion. 

The drummer girl