Dinner was on the lawn, with a view of the Nile, if it could have been seen then it would have been fantastic.  The food was plentiful, and enjoyed by all bar one, who unfortunately is not well.  It was a great time for the two teams to catch up on work done, funny stories and build friendships.

Day 5 – Thursday
Again, we split ourselves between the school and NVI.   Yesterday, some of the NVI team had gone into Jinja to paint, bowls, buckets, brushes, rollers to paint the gable wall of the Computer Room, so that the projector could shine onto a decent wall.  The paint we had requested was undercoat and gloss, so we put on the first coat of undercoat. 

On returning to the room this morning, we decided that the undercoat was actually a gloss, so a second was required, and the painting would be done.  The painters – an accountant and a student - could then sit back and watch paint dry – as instructed by our leader - Mike...No really it was interesting, so the painters decided to wander over to the administration block to see if there was anything to be done with the computers. 

The 19 computers which we bought here were working, and their installation almost completed by techies –including the scientist.  Following an African Tea (condensed milk tea)break, training on hardware, and a play on the laptops was due to start for the Lecturers of the Business School. 

Unfortunately, there was a power cut (which lasted about 6 hours).  The Laptops were used on battery pack, but the electric department, then rigged a generator so the administration building could have power, which vastly helped with the training.

Some of the NVI team had been contemplating had to drill into concrete.  This is what the walls and ceiling had been made of.  They were trying to drill holes in the ceiling so the projector could be fixed to it. It had caused much comment, on inadequate tools, materials, and hard walls – comments from the insurance man who is acting as our electrician.  Finally an electric drill was located, and after a replacement plug and cable was fixed to it, then success was had, and the projector is now working.  Also it is not easy to hammer in cable clips with nails designed for wood, especially when the clips are square and the cable is round – which box were the square cable clips in Nigel?  The square cable clips were located, which also made life easier.  The room is now ready for all the computers to be put into place tomorrow.

The group at the school finished off the painting in both rooms, including the floors.  Some of the teachers took the opportunity to lead a class, teach would not be the word in British standards, as things are different here, and being taught here by the Masungo (word for white people) is different, and there are many things the children want to ask.  Lunch was found in Jinja, as we wanted to see what was happening there. 
A start was made on the murals by Jo who is the lawyer, Debbie, Lyndsey and Christine with the children making foot marks on paper to be cut out, that are to go in both the rooms, and will be completed during the next few days, before being given to the school.  The designs have come from ideas given by the Bowden Church School which is linked.

Quote of the day- in the garden of the hotel there is a family of chickens the cock is Hughie and his wife is Edna and they have some chicks, Alex saw the chickens and said “ why are they half chickens!”.

Watch out for news tomorrow of our trip to NVI, where we will be given the Tour, and following Lunch the annual Uganda v England Sports day challenges begin.  Apparently we won last year, surprising really with over 1000 Ugandans to 20 British.

Dinner was at Mary's a great friend of the Uganda Group. The decision was made that we would drive down in the NVI School Bus and Onslowmobile, rather than the hassle of the Borda Borda's. Mary did us proud with a great meal, and even sang us her favourite song "Faithful One" as a thank you to us for supporting her.
The member of our group was really ill today, and gave a large tip (got the wrong size note!) to the maid to clean up.  She made sure he was looked after all day.

Day 6 - Friday. The visit to NVI.

Our poorly banker, is much recovered, although a little delicate, and was able to join us today on our trip to NVI, including giving a 1 hour training session on Powerpoint to the Business Studies teachers!!

Some of the group went early to NVI, to set up things - computers to make sure everything was ready for the visit, and photos of the new intake of students on the Ugandaid support programme - sponsors are still to be found for some of them (www.ugandaid.com).  This time there are 3 girls starting on the Electrical Installation Training Programme.

The rest of the group had an opportunity to relax, or catch up on some sleep.
It was morning coffee break for the students, so on arrival of the whole group, it was time for coffee or tea.

Then for the official tour of NVI. We saw the Plumbing & Sheet Metal Dept, Electrical Installation Dept, Nursery Training, Catering & Hotel Management (where we saw them preparing our lunch, the smells promised a good feed), Textiles, Hairdressing (Lindsay sat for a while to have a some braids put in, but they were taken out again), Motor Vehicles (which was sponsored by Ugandaid), Bricklaying & Concrete Practice, Carpentry Dept, and finally the Business School (bookkeeping, secretarial and IT).

There is also a boarding school for boys and girls (on the opposite sides of the campus!).  In the business school, new computer lab, we had the official acceptance of the new laptops donated by Intel.  The Head of AEE (African Evangelical Enterprise), who run NVI and other Institutes and projects, accepted the gift, and thanked the team for their work to get the facility ready.
By the time we had been around the site, it was time for lunch.
A couple of the departments, not only train, but have a section where they produce items (Plumbing & Sheet Metal, Carpentry and Construction - there is actually a construction co) for Commercial Trade, the profits go back into the NVI to help pay for some students to attend.  The work is undertaken by Final Year students or Graduates.

Lunch was a formal affair in the Board Room, where we were well fed, and waitered on by the students.

Following lunch several of the team had the opportunity to meet up with students they sponsor and pass on gifts.

The 2.30 start for sports was about 3.45! We headed down to the newly half cut and painted pitch for Football and Netball (Volley ball was cancelled as we ran out of time). Various members of the team put on the strip provided (50/50 male female) against official Ugandaid Football Team (made up of people who are on the sponsorship program).  We were concerned when they were doing proper warm up stuff.  There was a great crowd to watch.  At NVI there is an Australian teaching English, so we co-opted him onto our team (thanks Andrew).

Unbeknown to us, we had some key footballers on our side, go Nigel, Rosie and Little Mike!  Nigel's pass to Rosie was our first goal, and the 2nd half he scored our second.  But the "Man of the Match" award Must go to Little Mike.  The final score was 2-0 to us - we didn't have 45 mins per half!  The Ugandans were great players, but they didn't get managed to get past our goalie (Steve - what size is the goal supposed to be????)

After a quick break, it was time for Netball.  Our Aussie friend, who had appeared slightly reluctant at first was very much in the spirit of it all, and was a key player in Netball....
They is much talk of how we had won at Netball last year, with height being an advantage for some of our men!! So we tried that tactic again...Paul was goal shooter, and Little Mike Goal Attack.  MUCH hilarity was had by all for their Mr Bean antics in shooting at the hoop, and missing (several times) before the ball was out or gained by our opponents, as well as many distraction tactics for their defence.  How they managed not to score a goal, was not sure.  A quick change of positions, and Andrew (our Aussie) moved from Centre to Goal Attack and scored our first point just before half time.
The Ugandan team had scored 2.  In the second half they were quick to score their next 2 points. There was great team work, with Jo & Lyndsey (our pros), and Mike, Rosie and Andrew.  Andrew managed to score 2 more points before the end.  The Final score was 4-3 to the Ugandans, on aggregate we won 5-4
Man of the Match is shared between Little Mike & Andrew.  But the Mr Bean award definately goes to Paul & Little Mike.
We had a quick visit to St Moses to buy jewellry (watch out for presents) and a quick tour of the Orphanage where Jenny works.
Now time for dinner.

Quote of the day came just as we were about to play our Netball Match (for football we had red tops, the ugandans were in purple). "How can we know who is on which team if we are both in red?"

Sorry for the delay with these entries but the computer system has been down.

On Friday evening we dined in typical English tradition, on a fish and chip supper! The difference being that it was served on the lawn on a beautiful balmy evening, rather than eaten on one's knee in front of the telly as may be the case at home! It has to be said that it gave Harry Ramsdens a run for their money. After dinner, The group spent time  planning our contribution to the service at NVI on Sunday. All shall be revealed in a couple of days time! [Mike & Liz's nephew joined us today for a break from his work in a hospital in Uganda].

Day 7 -  Saturday

As the weekend has arrived, all of the group had a hard earned rest today from the project work. Well that is if you can call crashing into grade 5 rapids a rest!  Yes, about half of the group decided to take on the infamous rafting at Bugali Falls (after much enthusiastic encouragement from Tony!). The intrepid rafters started the day at Nile Explorers backpackers with a hearty breakfast of chapatis, bananas and boiled eggs, having first fought through a throng of backpackers who had descended on the breakfast buffet with lightening speed. Mike Clarke surprised everyone by opting for factor 25 sunscreen rather than his usual factor 50 - unusual choice for the one day that we were most at risk of burning! The girls all fought to be on Tony's crew given that he seemed almost as knowledgable about the waters as the instructor. We split into two groups; Tony, Jo, Mike, Rosie and Alex were joined by a Brit working on Somalian environmental projects at the embassy in Narobi who was in Jinja on a conference (phew!). For all her interesting background it was agreed by all that she was a bit of a slacker when it came  to paddling - which she was soon pulled up on by the rest of Tony's crew! Fi, Ian and Nigel were on the other raft with three girls who were working together over here, all from different countries. They christened their crew the Half Chickens as at least half of the crew were scared to death! The day started relatively tamely and all were getting into the swing of riding the rapids until Tony's crew (instructed by a Scot called Davey) got to 50/50 - which gets its name from the odds of being flipped out of the raft. All of the crew went under and swallowed what felt like copious amounts of the Nile! Tony's crew were buzzing from escaping being flipped on the  next big rapid - Silverback, but Nigel's were not so lucky and unfortunately two were injured.  A very brave Fiona ended up with a bandaged foot and Nigel's knee got battered by the mighty Silverback. The climax of the day was The Bad Place and 5 of the team bravely (insanely?!) decided to go for it! The Bad Place is a grade 5 rapid and despite assurances from instructor Dave about being taken down the edge, all of the remaining crew ended up being thrown out and riding the rapids in their lifejackets. It was quite something to watch and you'll be pleased to know that all survived! Lots of respect goes to the fearless ones who took on the Bad Place; Tony, Nigel, Rosie and Mike!  It was definately a once in a lifetime experience (not to be repeated!)

Many of those who didn't go rafting went to the Macedonia project, which has been set up by Pastor Alfred to help the children in the slum area of Soweto through education and support. Alfred met the group at the hotel and escorted us to his house, which was just a shell but he explained in detail his plans for the place. Whilst there, the group listened to the brass band playing out of tune across the road which was quite amusing. From there the group went to a centre called the Macedonia Child Project and there were children waiting there who recognised Christine immediately and shouted her name! After being shown round the centre, the group was then treated to songs from the choir, who were amazingly good. After the singing, Pastor Alfred asked the children if they recognised anyone there and one of the children shouted out "Teacher Lyndsey!" They remembered her from earlier in the week when she had taught some lessons at Walukuba school (where they are pupils)! The group were then given a tour through Soweto, followed by the children. Each member of the group had at least 5 children on each hand or stroking them. The slums had to be seen to be believed; the poverty and the living conditions were overwhelming. But despite the squalor, there were bright moments.  Lyndsay was asked "How is Mrs Street?" (Debbie) when walking through Soweto by children who go to Walukuba school. They remembered who she was from the poetry lesson she had given at the school, and they even remembered the name of the poem.

After the visit to Soweto, the group split off to do their own thing. Some chilled by the pool, but it was yet more activity for Lyndsay, Jen and Debbie who went horseriding. Debbie cantored off with the experience riders. Lyndsay -  a complete novice, was trotting along nicely by the end of the day and described her horse as being a bit like her - it had a healthy appetite and took regular snack breaks! The scenary and Nile views were breathtaking and the horseriders were greeted by children from all the  villages they journeyed through ("How are you"!)  It  was a fantastic experience by all accounts.

The whole group were reunited at the end of the day to hear the rafters tales / horror stories! After all that activity there will no doubt be a few sore arms / legs / backs tomorrow!             

Sunday - Day 8 

The day started with a church crawl. Just like a pub crawl but with churches and without beer! We started at NVI service at about 9.30 a.m. We were treated to singing from the Uga choir who also had some fabulous dance moves that would put us all to shame! The church at NVI is a very large hall and is attended mainly by the students at NVI. There must have been over 500 students there. We were given special seats right at the front of the service.

Benon, (the Director at NVI for those who don't know) introduced us to the students and thanked Ugandaid and the group for its work at NVI, which was met with much applause. It was all very moving. After introducing us, a number of the group took over the church service. Much credit goes to Debbie who orchestrated our contribution but special mentions should also go to Ian as the master of ceremonies / preacher (Praise the Lord!), to Steve, Phil and Nigel as very convincing storks and to Liz, Alex and Rosie for having the guts to get up in front of all those people to give testimonies about being here. We were all made to get up on the stage to sing to the congregation (to the non ABC members slight embarassment as they didn't know the words!). We stayed for about 1 and a half hours out of a total length of ceremony of around 4 hours! After that, we had the opportunity to go to either the JCC ceremony (Jinja Christian Centre) or to Nile Baptist Church to experience a real live African service. At both services we were asked to come up on the stage for each of us say a few words about ourselves. There was a translater there at each service and our words. We all said how much we loved the weather, the country and the hospitality of the Ugandans which went down very well. Mike also joked to the congregation that Alex was single which was met with much excitement! The highlight at both services was the singing and dancing, accompaniment by African beats.

In the afternoon we went to the Kingfisher resort and had a much needed chill out. We ate, swam, drank and generally slobbed around. Benon and his family joined the group. It felt very strange to be surrounded by a bunch of Myzungus (white people) after being the only white people around for most of the time. The Kingfisher resort is a hotel set on beautiful Lake Victoria with lush gardens and individual huts with straw roofs as the accomodation. Bit of  contrast to say the least to many of the places we had been to!  We got a boat back to our hotel across Lake Victoria and we saw some fantastic birdlife - kingfishers, storks, cormorants etc. We  visited the source of the Nile, which is a spring in the middle of Lake Victoria also saw a huge lizard (spotted by eagle eye Alex) on one of the islands. Alas there were no monkey sightings though despite our efforts scouring the banks for a glimpse of them! On the way back we had a hairy incident with the military because they thought someone in the boat had been taking pictures of the old railway bridge. In Uganda it is an offence to take pictures of this bridge and the military patrol it continually for security purposes. We were held up at gun point by soldiers who blocked our path as we came off the boat. They checked the camera of each member of the group (a few members surruptiously removed a couple of their photos before this happened!). Even after checking the cameras they were not happy but eventually, and before it got too dark, Mike sweettalked the guards into letting us go (either that or they got bored after realising that we probably were not willing to pay a bribe!).  We were all very relieved to make it back in one piece to our hotel rooms!

As we had had a huge lunch at Kingfisher, dinner was biscuits and fruit. Alex, after partaking in several orange custard creams confirmed to the rest of the group that it was fine to do so as they counted as one of her five a day! 

Day 9 - Hello! With an increasing amount of unsettled tummies, which are getting better, Team 2009 ventured out to Nsenge, a small rural village with links to NVI. Our two ancient and decrepit vehicles went “off piste” over potholes aplenty and hazardous footpaths before arriving (tummies not impressed nor improved)
On arrival we were met by a big group of local women whooping, singing, dancing and shrieking as a welcome to us. There were three proposed projects, the first was to construct a pig pen, hopefully to house a friendlier pig than the one that bit jenny!! The second was to build the base and housing for a long drop. The final project was to attempt to secure a clean water source from a spring which around 400 villagers depend on. The different ground levels make this one particularly challenging.
Thankfully we had the help of many NVI construction students and the engineering prowess of Mr Wright.
The whole team worked together to move bricks to the latrine via a musical brick line…We aren’t sure how Abba and Queen were received by locals but it kept spirits high.
But then, tummies began to refuse co operation and we lost three of our number, thankfully a villager took pity and donated some mats for the invalids to lie on.
We then broke into groups to help the NVI students on each project. At the pig pen the men argued about how best to tackle the situation whilst the women ventured out into the bush to chop trees with machetes. More brick moving and cement carrying was required for the latrine whilst developments at the water hole were moving slower than some of the tummies on the mats.
 Lunch brought some revival yet a number had to politely decline the whopping bowl of cassava and beans, supplemented with out own crisps, tinned mackerel, fruit and biscuits. 
Lindsey and Nigel then taught some of the team to make tippy taps (cans suspended on a tree branch with a twig peddle on the floor to enable hand washing without out any contact with the water can) and fly traps made from used water bottles. The plan is to teach the villagers to make these tomorrow.
That wrapped up the day and we picked up Liz and Mike Partridge from NVI where they had been helping with timetabling and computing. After much needed showers we went out to a lovely restaurant called ‘Two Friends’. Those with participating tummies enjoyed a delightful Indian feast. Tea and coffee on the lawn was followed by much appreciated sleep.
 
Day 10 - Sup! Day started as usual with us running down to prayter time and consequently breakfast in our pyjamas. With a few tummies improved we once more embarked on the perilious journey to the village. Our team split up with some teaching the local women about tippy taps and fly traps and others back to assist the project work.
After waiting half an hour for our stray translator we began the demonstrations. The local women got stuck in and everyone enjoyed cutting, tieing, painting and hanging. Some of us got distracted playing bubbles and balloons with the little ones but the goal was achieved with everyone knowing how to make them both!
At the latrine the concrete plinth was laid and the pig pen began to take shape. Meanwhile at the water project great progress was made, a dam was built with pipes and the pool was filled with rocks to act as a filter, a slightly crazy Ugandan man attempted to buy off both Debbie and Alex with cows and goats but then resorted to shouting at Rosie and Paul for being Muzungos – drama indeed!
At lunchtime those who wanted to escape cassava and beans made abreak for it and wernt back to the hotel to work on the murel for Walakuba school. At NVI some of the team were involved in the filming of new students for sponsorship while Liz and Mike soldiered on with timetabling. Those at the village were treated to a cassava, beans, cabbage, posho and sweet potato.
For dinner we went to the Arise Africa charity guesthouse and enjoyed fish and chips. It was an emotional evening for some members of the team with close ties to the charity. On return many laughs were shared at the expense of the white water rafters as the video was aired!!

Day 10 - (eve)
After everyone had returned,cleaned up,snoozed etc, we walked to the Arise Africa building where we were warmly greeted by the staff and welcomed by Godfrey and Sam before a lovely fish and chip meal.  Afterwards all went to the hotel garden for hot drinks and catch up time before bed.

Day 11 - Everyone travelled to Masase Primary school which is situated high on a hill with 360 degree view of the area including Lake Victoria.  When we arrived we were directed to the staff room where we waited for the Headteacher Charles.  Some of the team met old friends and the first timers were introduced to some of the staff.  As break approached most of us were anxious to get out into the playground and meet the kids and we were not disappointed by their response.  When they saw us, some were curious while others were very happy to see us especially when the balloons and bubbles came out!!  Very bravely, Tony, Lindsay and Steve blew up balloons and bubbles and were immediately lost in a sea of blue and yellow uniforms and the only escape was to pass the balloons and bubbles on to someone else to who felt intrepid enough to withstand the onslaught!
It was great to see so many kids at school and there were 923 present today.
Masase school has a great outreach programme to the street children and to encourage them to come to school the staff provide a meal of porridge each day and hope they will come back again - from what we heard their attendance is sporadic but the staff continue to encourage them. We were given a tour round some classes where we were greeted in each one with a song and dance.  The classes all vary in size, the smallest one today being around 30 and the largest was 110 with an age range from 13-17..  We also saw the meal for the street children being prepared in a huge cooking pot over and open fire under a mango tree!  There is a newly built kitchen that hasn't been used in the year since it's been built due to the fact that it hasn't had the bureaurocratic seal of approval yet!
We were all led down the hill by Rosemary the Deputy Head to the village where 4,000 people have set up home in mud huts, old shacks and some brick buildings and have built a community on the side of the hill.There were lots of children, many of which were school age but obviously not attending school due to being needed in the village.  On the way through we came to a mud hut with several of the village men sitting around the perimeter enjoying a 'pre lunch aperatif' which consisted of a shared bucket of the local home brewed hooch made with fermented maize. Each of the men were drinking it through individual plastic tubes.  Paul managed to get himself an invitation to join them which he did but declined the offer of the booze!
We gathered lots of the village children on the way through the village and Liz was offered some of them to take home to Manchester!  She declined much to Mike's relief!!  We left with lots of waves and goodbyes and returned to Jinja to prepare for the highlight of our trip - The sleepover in the village!!
We arrived at Balugu village and were greeted with songs and dances from the village ladies all looking lovely in their colourful attire.  We were told the programme of events which started with a nice cup of tea! Debbie looking every inch the English lady with her china cup!  We were then showed to our accommodation, the young ladies shared a brick built house as did the more mature ladies with the exception of Jen cos she's still a spring chicken!
The guys shared 2 typical mud huts with a straw roof.  The houses had been cleared for us so were empty with no electricity or running water!  This was going to be an interesting sleep over!  We collected mattresses from the van and went to prepare our rooms with mosquito nets and bedding.  Then the party started!  We all gathered together with the villagers and listened to a series of speeches by local dignatories and then we shared supper of beans and posho.  The following entertainement was very exciting with everyone given the opportunity to join in.  The villagers sang and danced for us and we returned the compliment by singing a few well known songs and did quite well!!  As for the dancing.....well shall we say that Nige, Phil and Paul did a very manly version of the local stomping dance where a lot of jumping was required and I have to say they did very well. The highlight of the evening came when the headman of the village plucked Debbie from the audience where they both strutted their stuff and made 'Strictly' look like amateurs!  The evening continued with more songs and dances around the open fire and we all grew tired so headed off to bed at around10.30pm.

Day 12 - It was quite an experience sleeping or not sleeping in the village.  Most had experiences to share concerning the latrines, people snoring, talking in their sleep and various nasty habits which I won't go into now!!  The villagers get up as the sun rises and we could hear all the morning noises including a very angry, loud chicken who was very upset at not being able to come into the house while we were there, she had been turfed out the night before and was not happy about it.  I have to say that Christine was pleased as she didn't fancy sharing a room with an old mother hen!  We also heard an extremely loud and somewhat distressed call of a cow an when we went out we found that she had just given birth to a calf in the garden - we didn't expect that but then we hadn't expected anything we had been party to since our arrival and eveything had been amazing!
We said our goodbyes and left for Jinja which turned out to be less than straight forward as one of the vans broke down.  Thank goodness for our lovely menfolk who saved the day!
A few of the group went up to Walakumba school to present a mural of the world surrounded the motto for P1 and a rainbow murale into the nursery, with many teaching aid posters that were donated by members of the group and others while others went off to visit an old friend and his family at his home.

Our evening was a celebration, thank you and a farewell.  We had a buffet on the garden and invited old friends and new from NVI, JCC (Jinga Christian Centre), Nile Baptist Church, Walukuba School, Arise Africa, Act4Africa, William with his wife and the miracle baby they have adopted called Philip (Phil D was in tears at the honour of his name being passed on), and of course not forgetting our lovely friend Jenny, who has helped, guided and been a support with us for our time here (who has joined us on many of our exploits!)

It was a time to reminisce and to say thank you, and also to look at the future - some plans where hatched for the next year....

And then it was time for bed (or for packing)

Day 13 - Leaving day for a large portion of the Manchester crew...
It was decided by some of the leaders that we would not start with our morning prayers but with the "why not" comments, a group gathered to reflect and pray for safe journeys, and for those staying on for further work in Jinja.

The bus arrived on time, and the bags were loaded.  There was definately more space to sit in due to less bags, and less people.  Departure time of 11 was met (surprisingly!!!) and they were waved off by those still here.

The plan was to head to Entebbe, to enjoy the facilities of a good hotel - pool with 3 diving boards, a place to relax - with a final barbecue before heading to the airport about 8pm local time for their flight home (see seperate post for the flight details into Manchester)

Nigel was off at NVI helping out some more with computers and the business centre.  Rosie and Alex decided they would be chilling out and wait for Grace, who arrived safely at midday.  Dave, Jacq and Fiona headed into town (not on borda borda but under their own steam) with Jenny to have lunch & Coffee (indulge is good), some shopping (Jenny is a good personal shopper giving guidance on the best places and also a great bargainer to bring prices down) and then for a final coffee.  Jenny had to head back to work, and the others strolled back.

At 4 o'clock we had a storm, but only a short shower, which cleared the air and the temperature dropped slightly.
We will continue this journal for a little while longer as this trip has not quite ended yet...

We all gathered for dinner and walked to 2Friends, to enjoy a lovely relaxing meal.  The 2Friends Fish special is to be recommended (2 fish in a tomato sauce).  All decided that it was a great evening, but bed was calling, especially Grace who had not slept much the night of travel, although the temperature is different to home!!!

Day 14
Breakfast was a little later than previous, but all very relaxed. 
Nigel had arranged to meet up with Sam (an NVI worker) to visit his Church, and they went off to a village to do some evangelistic work.   Nigel's return was delayed, when they returned to the car, the key would not work in any of the locks.  it had been tampered with. Fortunately Sam had left a window slightly open, so with the help of some wire, they managed to open the window.
The Japanese Voluntary Organistion were holding a Health Festival at the Crested Crane Hotel near to us.  The St Moses Children's Care Home (the orphanage where Jenny works) had been invited for the children to do a couple of songs and dance.  They were due on at 2.30, so the gang gathered and went to see all that was happening.  There had not been much advertising, but the highlight of the event was the St Moses' children.
All previous participants on "the stage" had been met with polite clapping. The children walked on, stood proudly on stage and sang their St Moses song, followed by a 2nd song, which the crowd cheered and clapped along to.  Some of them went up and gve money to the children - this is an appreciation that they really enjoy the performance.  Then it was time for the dance - the boys were wearing the trousers we had brought out and tribal bells strapped to their legs.  Well once the drums started, that was it, the audience were enraptured...the boys with their many tribal moves, and the girls did well in their dancing.  Their was one little lad who was amazing, and was much appreciated by the crowd.
The compere at the end spoke with Jenny, saying that the children should be doing paid performances they were that good!!
The children agreed that all the money should be pooled, and not be used to buy meat for them to have a special meal together, but that they should all get an even share of the money (600 shillings each which is more than they could have expected)
Last shopping was done by the Trowbridge crew.  We decided to have our Final Evening meal at Flavors in Jinja, (Nige, Dave, Jacq, Fiona, Rosie, Alex, Grace and Jenny).  We sat outside in the garden, and we enjoyed a fantastic meal.  We were joined by Andrew the Aussie, and a couple of others.
Following a walk home, the "youngsters" met up with a girl (friend connection of Rosie) at 2Friends, where they saw the end of the England defeat at Rugby (well done Ireland).  New friendships established, and agreement to visit their new friend at the orphanage she works in.

Day 15 - Sunday
Once morning a late(ish) breakfast at 8.30, the girls came down in their pyjama's just to keep up with the morning prayers tradition...
The bags were all packed for the Trowbridge crew, even an empty suitcase!
Then we were collected at 10.15 by Benon (director of NVI) to go to his church (St Andrews), where we had an Anglican service with 2 baptisms.  We were kept cool, by huge fans.
Our final meal was at 2Friends, with Benon, Audrey (his wife) and Jenny (it would not be complete without Jenny).
The clouds were hanging around for ages, but as the time came to leave we had a couple of showers.  Jinja saying goodbye to Nige, Jacq and Dave (although Jacq was still saying she wanted to stay...)
Once they had left, those of us remaining had a chill out afternoon.