Day 2 - Take me to the Church

We awoke to nearby thunder rolling and heavy rains for about 1.5 hours again this morning.  The skies progressively cleared as the day progressed, terminating with a wonderful sunset over the inlet from Lake Victoria.  It's been comfortable shorts & T-shirt weather.

Enjoyed omelets for breakfast then we headed off to BKU for church service.  The church building has been completed since I was last here, so prayers are no longer conducted solely on Victoria's front lawn.  Another change is that the children now take a much greater part in conducting and pacing the entire service.  They alone led prayers, singing, clapping & dancing for over an hour!  Absolutely beautiful & moving.  Video on YouTube  http://youtu.be/hp7rRbcaoKY.  Also  http://youtu.be/u5NmNVj8WBM  Justine sat with Sue for most of the service, and Sarah settled between Jeffrey & me (when she was not leading proceedings up on the stage).  She impressed me with her reading of bible passages and her attempts to explain the lesson behind the story to Jeffrey or me.

Olivia leads prayer

Song fills the air

Victoria says a few words

Following the service, our group returned to Banana Village for a swim.  The pool is clean and the temperature most refreshing.  Walking back to my hut, I met Pauline who introduced me to Silver and his friend, Richard.  Silver lost most of his vision at age 4 as a result of measles.   There was no schooling available to his family for special needs students, and his teacher would cane him for incomplete homework since he couldn't read the blackboard.  Eventually he did get enrolled at one of the few special needs schools and managed, with a great deal of help, to finish high school and graduate from teacher's college.  The only jobs he could get were in distant rural schools with minimal resources.  The village where he taught was attacked by recruits of the LRA and Silver barely escaped with his life, eventually returning to southern Uganda.  He applied for a scholarship through a special needs initiative at the Ford Foundation.  Fourteen of 3000+ applicants were selected, Silver being one of those.

L to R: Leonard, Silver, Pauline & Richard

Silver

Richard

The young man was brought to the USA, trained in using laptops and other devices, and graduated from his year of studies.  He was offered multiple jobs by American special needs schools, but felt strongly about returning to his country to make a difference.  He now is working in a Northern Ugandan region where about 1 million of the residents are blind.  Pauline and Leonard interviewed Silver for their views on Ugandan treatment of women and those with disabilities, as part of their work on the gender violence documentary.

Our group of 4 then walked to BKU with the other visiting doctors.  We were treated to a welcoming ceremony replete with singing and dancing.  Many people expressed thanks to the members of the Lindsay & area community for their generosity.  Victoria described the projects that our fundraising money will help accomplish.  This includes construction materials to complete the big kids dormitory and at least 1 room of the medical clinic expansion.  Money will also be used to purchase paint & supplies for the dorms and medication & other supplies for the clinic.

Gloria & Jovan

A few of us walked to visit Gloria's grave (not the same Gloria obviously - lol!)

busy making use of the washing stands

Alicia & Praise

Jackie, the new BKU administrator checks on Sonyu

Sue gets her baby fix

Victoria welcomes us to BKU

Sandra, Sonyu & Obama

Jeffrey hands out candy treats

At the end of the ceremony a truck arrived laden with cement sacks and other building materials.  Richard, Jeffrey & I went along to oversee & help stack the bags in a storeroom beside the little kids' dorm.

a truckload of supplies purchased with Kawartha Lakes fundraising dollars

I then met with Victoria to sketch out my work schedule for the next week.  Had a spaghetti dinner (quite good), watched a bit of a world cup match, then retired.

Jeffrey and Leonard appear to be falling in love with this place and people.  Susan was already half way there before arriving.  It's wonderful to see the profound effect this little corner of the world has on people.  I'm particularly thrilled to see young folks developing an appreciation and love for the "third world".

gathering after church service

Dan inspects Leonard's wrist watch

Arnold as beautiful as ever

Jeffrey gets some snuggles

the washstands avoid backbreaking bending over a basin on the ground to wash clothing

Moses is a new Bright Kid - developmentally and physically handicapped, he is nonverbal but very friendly and sociable.  His expressions & interest suggest an untapped intellect.