Sunday - Church, a visit with a Watoto family & some cultural entertainment

We travelled the familiar route to KPC West for church. At this time, it had just started using it's new premises for services, an open air brick hall with roof and floor but no real walls, just columns to hold up the roof. The worship was more lively than at KPC Central and I was dancing away, loving every minute of it. Unlike Central, West only have one service on a Sunday so we had a chance to stay around after the service for a while and talk to some of the members of the congregation.

Lunch was at Bbira Village & Ope, Martin, Gretl & I went to house 43 whilst Chas, Peter & Janet had lunch in the house of Chas's sponsored child. Our house mother, Frieda, made us a wonderful meal of matooke, beef & rice, potatoes, yams, peas, spinach & fried banana. There were a mixture of children in the house, boys and girls of various ages. Usually I find it quite difficult to converse with children but it was easier with help from other members of my team.




After we'd eaten, I went outside with a couple of the girls and younger boys and was showing them a dance I learnt in high school. They were very eager to learn the routine and we had a great time dancing together. Once girl, Kristine, was very keen and she seemed to take quite a shine to me. We went out the back of the house and she was showing us dances she knew and was having a great time performing alongside Frieda's biological daughter, Grace. All too soon it was time to go and Kristine walked me to the bus with her arm wrapped around my waist, sad to see me go - it was really touching.



Before we left, we went and saw Fred's house and met his mother and some of his brothers. One of them is also at University studying social work and social sciences - their mother must be so proud! Even though she didn't give birth to them, she still raised them to be the men they are.

We'd barely arrived back at the guesthouse and had a rest before we had to go out again. Although I didn't feel like going out, I am glad I went even if I was exhausted. There had been an Australian team at the guesthouse the week before us who had been to an African cultural show during their stay which they'd recommended, so we decided to put it on our agenda too. It was amazing! There were all sorts of different dances and types of music from various tribes throughout Uganda. The musicians were fantastic on their drums, wooden zylophones and harp like instruments and the women certainly knew how to "shake their booty"!



The costumes were designed with great feather bustles and the speed these women were shaking their hips for so long was astounding. The power went out twice whilst we were there but the host had such a powerful voice, he managed to entertain us even in the dark.



















During the course of the evening, the men displayed their acrobatic abilities balancing each other and in the last act, the women were balancing up to 8 clay pots on their heads whilst walking about the stage. Very talented people indeed. It was a very late night in the end - we didn't get to our beds until 11pm and considering the early start the next day, I wish we'd made it back earlier...