This morning I only expected to meet 5 children. It had been my intention to continue with my assessments for those children I had not met as yet. I guess I should have not been surprised that as soon as the gates were opened, in poured 20 children. They were all eager to come to school with the Muzungu. They walked in, and, without any instruction, just sat down quietly looking at me with those wide, beautifully expectant eyes. I was able to introduce them to the 2 Ugandan, fully qualified teachers I had just hired - Lillian and Rona. They will be the constants in the educational lives of these children, introducing our Canadian and 2 American volunteer teachers who will be arriving in teams, monthly, until September. Since our teaching material was not ready as yet, I decided to teach the children some English songs, introducing some new English vocabulary. Searching back into my limited musical repertoire, I introduced the song 'Where is Thumbkin'. They adored it........ often forgetting the names I had given to each of the fingers, but plodding along joyfully nonetheless. Then they sang for me 'Baby Jesus' to the tune of ' Frere Jacques'. Imagine how impressed they were when I sang it in Polish and then in French. I also taught them my famous rain dance - to keep away the rain - 'Ooo Ah, Eee Ya, Funta Zee Ah'! Oh, and by the way Romy & David 'Ging Gang Gooli' are real African words in the Swahili language. When introducing these songs it was easy to spot those children who are really 'sharp, especially the little girl Fiona.What I did remember to do was keep that promise to myself about food. I went to a local market and brought them all juice and biscuits. All waited patiently until every child had received their juice and biscuits before even attempting to open their containers and begin eating. The look on their faces was worth every penny of the cost of those snacks (see first photo)!
In the evening I was invited to a traditional Ugandan wedding hosted by Awel one of the founders of GFIC,- Global Forum For International Co-operation - and what a spectacle it was! A traditional Ugandan wedding is more of a......play. The compound was well decorated, 3 tents set up and white material covered chairs for the 300 or so guests. Special couches are rented for the honoured guests and V.I.P.'s. The bride's guests sit on one side, the groom's on another and all the others in a separate area. Then the 'play' begins. The emcee announces that there are some visitors at the gate looking for some rest and welcome. They are invited in. In fact these are the groom and his closest relatives. They are brought to a special area and chat with the bride's immediate family for awhile. It is then revealed that they have heard there is a potential bride in the area. The bride's side says there are none. But after some insistence they agree to bring out some of their women. They are all dressed in traditional costumes. The groom examines the group but finds none to his liking. There must be more.....so he implores them to bring out others. The same thing happens again and then for a 3rd time. The 3rd group appears and sure enough he find his bride among the group. While the invited guests wait, and enjoy the spectacle, the 2 families haggle and agree on the price for the bride - 3 cows! Then the entertainment begins. Tribal dancers in costumes dance to the beat of the African drummers (top right photo). This was truly something to enjoy!!
On Saturday I attended the religious (Muslim) part of the wedding in Uganda's oldest Mosque, followed by the reception in a downtown hotel.
It was a beautiful affair. However, after being in Namuwongo it was difficult to see all that food on the buffet. Such are life's ironies..........
