30/08/2013 - Friday
Imagine the noise of a tipper lorry unloading tonnes of tin-tacs on to
corrugated sheets and you will be hearing the sound of tropical monsoon rain on
the church in which we were listening to formal presentations from our Bufumbo
friends. Communication was impossible. Most of the local people from Bufumbo
had seen it all before. Some slept until the deluge had ended. Some stared at
the mud floor as if waiting for something which might emerge as a consequence
of this torrential downpower. Those from the UK took delight in the ferocity of
the wind which bent the banana trees over and made the noblest and tallest
trees bow to the power of the wind.
The planned games with the children had to be abandoned but even throwing a
few tennis balls high into the air provided fun for the children who leapt and
shrieked running through the fresh deep puddles to catch the balls.
Food threatened the day.We all knew that breakfast at the hotel would be
followed by four separate official site visits to churches in the Parish. We
knew that each host would have prepared generously for our arrival. No excuse
would be accepted for failure to show due respect to our kind hosts. Irish
potatoes, makote, cabbage, liver, meat, chicken, rice, fruit and tea
appeared with amazing consistency at each place we visited. And of course the
iconic Bufumbo bananas, so sweet that they were hard to avoid.The unvaried menu
meant that we knew what was coming but had no chance of using different food to stimulate our sated appetites.
One member of the party defied the usual bio=chemistry which ensures that
appetite wanes with increasing food consumption. The rest of us ate frugally
and tactically to make it to the finishing line but after five meals most
declined an evening meal! The final meal held the usual Bufumbo surprise, New
food arrived unexpectedly. Crisp, sweet fried bread, white fluffy bread,
paw-paw and a small gobstopper size berry ,,,,,which was sour enough to tempt
two of the party to have a macho berry-eating competition, We await the morning
to see what effect this will have had on their digestive systems!!!
Tomorrow we have four more visits……..
Walking from one of the churches to another up a winding grassy path
between the banana trees the procession was colourful and biblical in its
pilgrimage trek. We passed mango trees, coffee trees, avocados,and paw-paw
until we arrived,
We visited several houses which are so different from those in Thornbury,
Mud floors and walls, bricks made from local soil, kitchens fuelled by wood and
charcoal filling the air with unhealthy fumes and coating the walls with
nicotine-like substances. Goats shared the kitchen as their sleeping
quarters.No running water – no wardrobes, no electricity and only a hole in the
ground for a toilet. Only geckos in the toilet provided a distraction for the
nervous user.
The storm meant that our programme ran so late that our drive back took us
from twilight to dusk to darkness. Our downward path was countered by the
home-going Bufumbo residents leaving Mbale and the fields where they had been
working. They returned on foot, in taxis and on motorbike.The sunset was
beautiful. Huge cumulus clouds touched with pink then fiery red.
Champagne moments included;
- The usual reaction when Hedley says he has 600 cows!(most people in Bufumbo have one or two)
- Blowing bubbles and children watching just one bubble rising up-a moment of awe and wonder!
- Some children stroking Andrew’s arm-for AGES black people do not have body hair so they are fascinated by it.
Gill & Mike
