Two weeks left in Mbale is all that I have. Seems like still such a long time but I know it’s going to shoot by so trying to savour every moment. Thankfully work is so near to being finished that I’ll be able to relax and just have fun. The adult literacy curriculum has been completed except for a few resources, branding and then printing. Can’t believe how close I am to holding it in my hand and passing it to other people to use. Really has been a mammoth task and one I’m not sure I would have taken on if I’d known how much work it would be! So the highlights of the past couple of weeks…
Visitors came to visit Beersheba including our new COuntry Director and my old youth work tutor, Jeremy. They were really impressed with Beersheba and what we were up to which is nice when you’re coming to the end of a placement. It was also great being able to listen to the wisdom of Jeremy when I asked multiple questions about theology and UK church life.
I spent yesterday afternoon at the home of my friends Dennis and Nicole. Dennis is our Adult Literacy teacher and he’s been married for 4 months. Their home is a 1 room place in Musoto that they separate by a curtain into sleeping area and living room. In standard Ugandan fashion there was lots of food and laughter while watching the tv! Very strange watching English news, realise how out of touch I am with the rest of the world. After we had eaten Dennis started saying the sweetest things about how I had helped him develop. He called me his mentor and said that my time in Africa was well spent and absolutely not a waste. His teaching abilities have improved beyond recognition but I’m not sure I can take the credit! His wife is expecting already which is exciting and it’s nice to see how happy they are as a couple. I also realise that when Dennis thanked Nicole for cooking it was the first time I had ever seen a man thank his wife for doing something. I’d been told men don’t thank their wives as it may make them lazy but instead it seems that it actually helps their relationship – shocking!
The past few weeks have also been taken up with trying to finish the banda at Beersheba. Somehow nothing here is straight forward but there are now doors and windows are apparently on the way. The floor and veranda are not quite in place yet which is a shame as the team from my old church in the UK arrive in about an hour and are expecting to begin painting on Tuesday! Sure it will all work out somehow although I’m not sure how!
The last couple of weeks have been really busy but as I sit here to write about them I can’t seem to remember any of what went on! Perhaps all I did was write lesson plans and health proposals. It is nice to have a few hours to myself before 12 Mzungus turn up in Mbale to work at Beerhsbea. One of them works for Oasis in Kampala and she’s doing my debrief which makes me wonder if I should be thinking anything deep as the UK also want to chat to me to check my brain isn’t on the point of explosion. I think I’m doing ok although I do have a moment of frantic sobbing every so often just to release pent up emotions that I have not realised are building. I think the next couple of weeks are going to be so hectic that I’m not really going to have time to think about the enormity of moving continent but very much hoping I don’t completely crash when I get back to the UK. Everyone keeps telling me to relax my last few weeks and enjoy it but I think I’m going to be too busy!!! It will be nice having Orpington folk here though and as my mentor pointed out if there are people who have seen everything then they can help to process when I’m back home. I seem to have been the most visited Mzungu ever at Beersheba with parents twice, best friend and old youth group I feel quite popular!
Right, my next set of visitors must be nearly upon me so I ought to go and think about putting on the kettle and maybe finding a jumper as it’s about to rain and so it’s cold and under 30 degrees! Perhaps this is part of my reintroduction to the UK…
