Team work

31/08/2013 - Saturday 

Today there is yet another mystery theme, this time presented by Joe and Hedley, can you guess it?

Twas a fine Saturday morning, the sun shining, the sky was clear, all was well. As we were preparing for a long day ahead of travelling around the daughter churches of Bufumbo, Gill came downstairs to reveal that Mick was showing Signs of illness and he would not be able to make the trip out for the day, meaning we were one Black Hawk Down.

Nevertheless the rest of our Platoon boarded the buses and made way for Buanamoli, the first church to visit on that day. When we arrived at Buanamoli we had a long and challenging walk Up a steep and treacherously slippy hill to the church at the top. Upon reaching the panicle of the hill, we were amazed by Fantastic 4 views that shot away into the horizon. After a quick service, the youngsters yet again took to what field space was available and began to play with the local children, whilst the elders stayed inside for a lengthier discussion with the church committee.

After that we had moved swiftly on to Bumadanda, the second place on our tour. We started off with a quick tour around the local primary and secondary schools, however on the way to the secondary school it seemed as if we had been hit by a Perfect Storm and had to jog to shelter in the main hall of the block. As we sheltered ourselves from the rain, a few of our party relaxed whilst the rest of us played with four children that followed us to the hall. When the rain had cleared we then completed our tour of the secondary school with a visit to the newly acquired science lab.

The team then moved on to the next church in      . After a nervy walk down to the church due to the wet conditions we finial got there. We were greeted by singing and the lovely sound of a guitar. As we entered the church the heavens open, another tropical storm hit us square in the face. After what seemed like 127 Hours the rain had stopped, we started on the service and as we were behind the program and behind on time the service wasn’t altered in anyway. We finished in the church where there was a steep wet muddy slippery hill for us the climb, for another break tea. This is where The Dark Knight emerged to help Mary to climb the hill. Sam offered to carry Mary but, Mary gracefully declined the offer. On the way back to the car James ‘the bear’ Pheysey found a Vantage Point to gaze gloriously across the beautiful landscape.   

We battled back to Bumadanda for the finial service of the day. In the service it was the usual meet and greet then after the introductions the youthful people went outside to entertain the children of Bumadanda. This involved frisbees which are very dangerous in the wrong hands, for example Charlie plucked a frisbee out of the air and launched it on its way down the hill. We watched it getting ever closer to this small child’s head then at the last second the child was distracted and moved out of the way just in time. So don’t give Charlie a frisbee or he will use it as a Lethal Weapon! Also with the last throw of the day Joe threw a frisbee down the hill and with pin point accuracy it went into the toilet at the bottom. We then went for are finial break tea of the day, which involved more tea and food, before we headed Homeward Bound to the hotel. It seemed as though at the end of the day we had travelled more than 300 miles.

Back with the hotel crew, Mick showed True Grit and determination to leave the hotel and Walk the Line of Mbale with Gill. Before leaving the hotel however Mick still had a camera battery which need retrieving from charging, so he asked the lovely hotel owner, Lydia, if she could go and pick it up for him, at which point she took off like a Free Willy to collect it, stating she would only be an hours, though she ended up taking about 3 hours. So Mick and Gill decided to go for their walk. Upon their travels they met Bishop Daniel from the local area, who asked them if they would like to visit the cathedral, an invitation they gladly accepted. At the cathedral they discovered much about the church in Uganda and how the Muslims have mischievous ways of infiltrating the community, for example in Mbale alone there are already 50 mosques and that they plan on eventually having one every square mile. Bishop Daniel then explained to the couple how corrupt the government is and how they aim to keep the poor, poor and the rich, rich with rigged elections. To round off their day, Mick and Gill saw the start of a wedding and found out through Bishop Daniel that a man with many cows would be expected to give 10-15 cows for a hand in marriage, which would leave Hedley with 585 cows remaining, not bad eh?!!!!

Champagne moments of the day included:

• Gill and Mick dancing with Bishop Daniel outside the cathedral
• Pete being astonished by the number of children in one primary class at Bubadanda (220!!!!)
• Mary enjoying Moses the drivers’ distinctive laugh

Joe & Hedley