Safari 1: ‘Tukutendereza Yesu’

Back safely Saturday night from our week’s tour of the SW and W of Uganda. It had its moments – not least both highs and lows of travelling with a ‘Be a Blessing Co’ car and driver/s! Planning to post a series of short blogs as we can – this week is our last week and lots of goodbyes to say and loose ends to tie up.



Picture is of Bwama Island on Lake Bunyoni (‘lake of birds’) in the Alpine-like scenery but un-Alpine-like weather of Kigezi – the south-westerly part of Uganda bordering Rwanda and the ‘DRC’ (Demoncratic Republic of Congo). Tranquil Bunyoni is only a few miles from the Rwandan border and the principal town of the region – Kabale – lies across a steep pass to its north.

We spent a couple of nights at a newish backpackers’ resort on Itambira island, paddling out in a dugout, and then spending the time swimming in the bilharzia- and crocodile-free waters, writing journals, and reading. It was especially moving for me to be in the midst of a classic memoir of the East African Revival, 'Quest for the Highest' by Dr Joe Church.

Kabale was as far as I understand the centre for CMS’s Ruanda Mission - in the late 1920s and 1930s establishing mission stations (comprising hospitals and churches) in what was then very remote country with almost no roads and ‘big game’ not restricted by development to reserves as it is today. They carried rifles alongside their Bibles and medicine chests! (Bwama Island was for forty years a leprosarium run by the mission.)

And then in the thirties and forties Christians in Ruanda and SW Uganda saw the outbreak of dramatic revival, an outburst of spiritual energy bringing many to living faith and reviving churches eventually across the whole East African region and beyond. So it was humbling and moving to read last week near its epicentre, from the pen of one of its great leaders, a Cambridge/CICCU doctor, of the revival’s emphases and energy: its stress on the Cross and the Bible, on ‘broken-ness’, public repentance and mutual forgiveness among Christians as the foundation for fellowship and mission, of lives deeply surrendered to Jesus, of the ways in which some in the churches found it too spontaneous, ‘excessive’ and threatening, but also of the spiritual unity between African and European Christians which it generated and which was such a testimony to the world in the middle of the last century.

The revival has left a noticeable lasting legacy for good in the Church of Uganda, not least in a tradition of encouraging naturally and without any embarrassment deep personal commitment to the person of Jesus. One of the songs still regularly sung here is ‘Tukutendereza Yesu’ (‘We Praise You Jesus’) – originally derived from the hymnbook of the Keswick Convention, one of the spiritual ‘headwaters’ for the Revival:

We praise you Jesus,
Jesus lamb of God,
Your blood cleanses me,
I praise you, Saviour.

Tukutendereza Yesu
Yesu Omwana gw’endiga
Omusaigwo gunaziza
Nkwebaza, Omulokozi

BUILD . . . & shake

Most Church of Uganda churches are rural and share their ordained minister with up to 24 other churches. Often he or she has no transport beyond a bicycle. So active lay leadership is a necessity: lay readers and other leaders lead most services and pastoral work. Though they normally have the advantage of being local people, many have not proceeded beyond primary education and few beyond secondary; not many have had the time or opportunity for thorough preparation for ministry.

So it’s not surprising that the Church of Uganda has had to address the issue of training. Last Friday I spent the morning hearing from some leaders of a pioneering new approach to this challenge: BUILD – Biblical Understanding for In-Service Leadership Development.
Here’s a picture of three of them outside the church’s guest-house at Namirembe, overlooking central Kampala: from left to right, Job Wakiwayi (Archdeacon in Mbale diocese and eastern region BUILD representative), Stephen Kewaza (Provincial BUILD Officer) and Henry Majwala (central region representative, part-time tutor at Namagongo Martyrs Seminary, and assistant vicar at Mukono cathedral).


BUILD has evolved out of Jem Hovil’s work here over the last seven years – he is now consultant to the programme and helps developing materials and training the trainers (picture of Jem taken at the Hairy Lemon).
The programme aims to gather trainees – mostly lay leaders including readers – in local centres for short spells of training. BUILD aims to have ten modules, each taking 30 hours to complete over a manageable timespan. It focuses on bible study (exegesis) and teaching skills, with an emphasis on practical application and ministry skills that are relevant and necessary for the Ugandan church and social context.

BUILD’s overall aim is to serve the Church of Uganda so that both church and nation are transformed by relevant, faithful understanding of Christian truth. Jem’s research and contribution to the thinking behind this model of training and its applicability in Uganda is documented in his inter-disciplinary 2005 Stellenbosch DTh thesis – ‘Transforming Theological Education in the Church of the Province of Uganda (Anglican)’ – which it has been fascinating for me to read.

Henry Majwala told me that the standards of preaching, discipleship and church attendance has dramatically improved in many places where leaders have been through the BUILD programme. Already, there are BUILD co-ordinators in 22 of the province’s 32 dioceses. Partnerships are being sought to resource BUILD programmes from both within and without Uganda – there’s been a real recognition that locally delivered, affordable training is the only way to improve and maintain ministry standards here, but getting the programme launched and keeping it accessible requires partnership.

The Church of Uganda has a long association with CMS – it was CMS missionaries who pioneered the evangelisation of Uganda in the late nineteenth century, and then supported the rapid indigenisation of mission and ministry here. There’s a recent description of BUILD on the CMS website, at: http://webarchive.cms-uk.org/news/2007/building-the-church-of-uganda-25052007.htm

Friday night brought another ‘first’ for the Ackroyd’s in Uganda. At around 8.45pm in the evening, as JoJo and I were engrossed in watching an episode of ‘24’ on DVD during a violent thunderstorm, we felt a noticeable earth tremor. Not very common in Uganda – though the west and east arms of the Rift Valley flank the nation. Epicentre of this one was just over the border in the DRCongo, to the west of Lake Albert. No damage or alarm in Mukono, or even moving furniture, but quite a surprise! More details: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2007dqbc.php

Boy meets Girl - Ugandan style

A quick post to show something of yesterday's trip to Tororo - near the Kenyan border - for the formal 'Introduction' (sort of engagement ceremony) of Beatrice Langariti's sister Rose to her fiancé Thomas at her father's home. The roads were poor so it was a long journey there and back - broken by an early breakfast and late supper in Jinja. We travelled most of the way in convoy with Vincent and Beatrice Langariti, and changed into our wedding clothes (JoJo in a borrowed sari-type garment, Peter in a cotton Ugandan 'kanzu') in the backroom of a restaurant in Tororo.

The 'Introduction' was over two hours late starting and is a lengthy ceremony full of ironic humour, involving the pretence that the groom's family has come in search of the girl who has stolen their heart. People dress formally and (in the case of the women) very colourfully. The bride-to-be spends most of the ceremony (4 hours long) out of sight, emerging first (after a long 'search' through her relatives young and old) to be identified, later to walk through a ceremonial arch with her intended, and then to exchange rings and receive gifts. (Pic is of Rose on the right with Beatrice in the family home).



We were the only 'mzungus' (white people) present and were given seats of honour among the bride's family, next to her proud father.

More details later - it was quite a day - not least as we were presented by Rose's father with an unexpected and generous gift - seen in the picture with Vincent!

Having survived the bumpy journey back to Mukono, our gift has found a home behind our house in a makeshift pen constructed from two soccer goals . . . temporarily!

Wootton Lower & Holywell Middle Schools feed hundreds

This is Lucy Alastair and Tom handing over to the manager of the Mulago Child Project a donation of $350 from money collected by their fellow pupils at Wootton Lower School and Holywell (CofE) Middle School.

The project supports over one hundred 5-18 year olds from homes in a slum area of Kampala, Uganda's capital. It is run by FOCUS Uganda, the umbrella organisation for university Christian Unions here, which St Mary's Wootton helps to support. (Beatrice Langariti, the wife of FOCUS's general secretary Vincent, lived and worked in Wootton as parish assistant at St Mary's around seven years ago; and Vincent spoke at a Wootton Lower assembly when he was in the UK last year).

There are two main elements of the project's work with Mulago's needy children. First, it contributes to the cost of school fees (state schooling is not free in Uganda) for families which would otherwise be unable to send or keep children in primary and secondary education. Second, it gathers these children every Saturday for a programme of teaching and games, in which they are taught life skills, English, health care (personal hygiene, healthy living, basic medical expertise, diet, etc), vocational skills which can help them to earn a living, and biblical studies. They also eat: a nourishing mug of sweet maize-meal ('posho') porridge half-way through the morning, and a substantial lunch - for many of the children, probably the best meal of the week. (Most families of children on the project would be able to afford only one meal a day, eaten in the evening - ie the children go to school hungry every morning).

In addition to the full-time manager, Audrey, and her assistant, Nelson (pictured with a couple of the children), the project is staffed mainly by Christian student volunteers drawn from Kampala's universities.


Last Saturday, we spent the day at the project, visiting the classes, drinking the porridge (popular with Peter and Tom, mainly!), and meeting the children. It was especially interesting to meet five 'graduates' from the project, 18-21 years of age, who are now in higher education but still living in Mulago. They told us that without the project's help they could not have continued at school, their lives would have been completely different, and their futures bleak.

The project receives no public funds and is supported by churches and some foreign donors, including sponsors of individual children (it costs £150 to sponsor a child for a year, enabling him/her to stay at school and attend the project). The gift which Lucy Alastair and Tom handed over will go towards the weekly Saturday lunch - in fact it will feed the whole project (over 100 children plus their helpers) every Saturday for nearly nine months!





Thank you Wootton Lower and Holywell Schools!

The Hairy Lemon

What a great name for a place ‘The Hairy Lemon’. This was our half-term destination last Thursday organised by our friends the Hovils: Alastair’s delight only narrowly outweighing his fury at such a short break - TWO DAYS!!!

This was the stuff of children’s fiction, a tiny island in the middle of the Nile, accessible only by native canoe. On arrival, the 4x4s were parked by a thatched gazebo, aka the canoe terminus, and a metal wheel rim hanging there was struck to summons the ferry. Sure enough as if by magic a slim yellow long canoe slithered into sight through the tall reeds and accommodated 10, plus luggage and pilot. Despite a brief grounding we arrived dry at the tiny beach to be greeted by the Hairy Lemon Aussie staff. The smallest children, of whom Charlie H aged 2 was the youngest, had been given adult life jackets as a vague token to H & S; needless to say these did not reappear on the return journey - inevitably rather a rocky one.

What is on offer at such a place you may ask? Swimming pool, games room, sauna, white-water rafting (this stretch of river boasts some of the best in the world), boat hire? None of the above. It is simply an island with ‘bandas’, pitches for tents, basic facilities and full board in terms of food etc. We spent our 2 night trip doing absolutely nothing...if you discount the hours of swimming in the fast flowing channel amidst the many fish and lilac or crimson dragon flies. From one little beach the sandy river bed with a combination of fast flowing water leading to shallows created endless fun, jumping into the surge and being carried willy nilly until unceremoniously grounded on the sandy shallow stretch. Delightfully safe for all and for the athletic workout types like Jem, a perfect water version of a treadmill in the gym. He could be seen first thing in the morning doing front crawl doggedly with no visible progress but much exercise – and all provided by mother nature herself. The other activities included hours of damming form the other small beach with its rocky shallows, playing volleyball over the net in the sandy shallows and sand castle building. Jem, an enthusiastic fly fisherman, persuaded the staff to lend him a rod and showed Alastair the delights of catching tilapia and yellow fish – a mutually satisfactory arrangement as both feel keenly the lack of interest in their own families whether children or in Alastair’s case father. As ever we were amazed at our children’s ability to blend in with other families and occupy themselves with very little.




Our first night went very well. The no mosquito net policy slightly alarming, we followed instructions to spray the bandas and light coils in the early evening and awoke to no bites. One of the few insects to intrude was a large hairy tarantula type spider that was lurking around our suitcase. The children were electrified and caught the poor beast with a view to making it their pet along with a large millipede that had the misfortune to be spotted. Sadly I managed to spill the contents of the small bucket so that our friends scuttled off into the undergrowth – all legs in tact. We have photos.

Being a tiny island the staff live off site and are ferried across each day complete with life jackets as none can swim. The food involves no choice as with activities. How wonderful to just eat what is laid out for you – and all locally grown or reared. The owners have gone to great lengths to train staff to cook appropriate simple and delicious food. The bread was always chapattis but made along Indian lines, ie, thin and not greasy. They had even managed to provide a pretty good imitation of baked beans. Tom boasted 5 helpings of beans on chapattis not that you would know it from his scrawny frame. Being a Waldron the discovery of quantities of mussel type molluscs was both delightful and depressing as no one seemed to have any knowledge of their potential for the pot...moule mariniere a la Hairy Lemon was not to be.

All in all, Arthur Ramsome would be proud. On leaving HL, we headed for Jinja and the compulsory white-water rafting. The shorter family trip suited our purse though the lack of higher grade rapids did cause some dilemma. In an inflatable on the Nile propelled by experienced Ugandan muscle power, we navigated grade 1 and 2 rapids interspersed with the children diving off the boat for a swim. In the end the initially cloudy day became rather hot and the parents threw caution to the wind and dived in fully clothed unscathed but for the loss of an earring (JoJo’s . . . ). Sensing the enthusiasm of the Ackroyds our guide very kindly took us down a grade 3, ignoring Tom’s fake hysteria, which rather completed the day. Or nearly, as the perfect ending was Tilapia and chips with the inevitable top-up sauce (luminous red) at the source of the Nile in Jinja. We overlooked the fact that this supposedly charming interesting restaurant was like something out of a deserted western set, made of wood and not a soul in sight – customer or staff. I can’t imagine it will survive much longer. The guide book had recommended ‘interesting food’, not born out by the menu which boiled down to goat with chips or coleslaw; chicken or tilapia likewise. Gordan Ramsay eat your heart out.

Diary of a Day

Coping with equanimity with what the day brings is, I am learning, key to staying sane and (reasonably) focussed. Today was not untypical.

6.30am Wake; make breakfast while JoJo gets the boys up; eat breakfast and assmeble school bags.
7.20am (Peter and Tom) 7.25am (Alastair) walk up the hill and down, past the red-tailed monkeys, to the Button's house for school run. It's our turn to drive (in the Button's Land Cruiser).
7.55am At left turn to avoid worst of traffic and circuit round SW Kampala, feel the power steering give way; driving - including avoiding pot-holes, boda-boda motorcycle taxis, etc - v heavy work for the rest of the day
8.25am Arrive at Ambrosoli School ten minutes late on account of appallingly heavy traffic. Consequential exhaust fume overload leaves both boys feeling sick (though Tom blames it on the shorts he has decided are too tight for him . . . ); I leave them with bottles of water, soothing words and understanding teachers - and am relieved to receive no calls on the mobile thereafter.
8.50am Arrive at Lugogo Mall shopping centre and collapse into upmarket coffee shop for Eggs Benedict and a mocha. Stay there holed up in a corner with my laptop, NIV and Greek NT working through the letter to the Romans, noting the Apostle's usage of 'in Christ' language and parallels. Write an entry for my INSEAD class 20th anniversary yearbook.
11am Espresso; then walk to the South African chainstore GAME to purchase huge canisters of bottled water for our dispenser, and lightbulbs; then to supermarket Shoprite for bread (none except sweet bread available here), bin bags and other essentials we have yet to track down for home.
11.30am Commence horrendous two mile journey to a Forex office in the centre of Kampala to change Travellers Cheques. Main artery through the city closed creating gridlock in the heat of the day. Finally park at 12.10pm, bathed in perspiration, purchase strip of parking tickets (1000 Uganda Shillings - c 33p - for five), and change money. Walk back to car and handover two tickets to roadside parking attendant in orange tabard.
12.30pm Uganda Wildlife Authority office on north of city, between Br High Commission and National Museum, to pay for a night of tented accommodation at Lake Mburo on out trip to the SW at the end of June. Short wait and hand-written receipt - everything is receipted here, normally by hand and in triplicate - USh 80000 for two tents - c£23.
12.50pm Find supermarket which has suitable bread!
1pm Drive to FOCUS Uganda site in Mulago - surprise visit to Beatrice and Vincent Langariti. Great time with them both discussing our forthcoming trip to Tororo (E Uganda) for Beatrice's sister's 'Introduction' (formal engagement), future visits from Wootton to FOCUS, possible links Beds schools - Mulago Child Project, etc etc. Time flies and after a delicious sweet bread and egg sandwich (!) I say good bye at 2.30pm. They are coming to see us in Mukono on Friday.
3pm Pick up Alastair and Tom, & Abigail and Alex Button from Ambrosoli, ply them with biscuits (successfully) and water (less successfully) and drive back to Mukono.
3.40pm Arrive back. Phew! Report steering problems to Rosie Button! Local mechanic quickly confirms a belt has parted - fortunately no further damage. Phew!
4pm Locate flash drive and walk down to General Studies office - crowded with students - to print off tomorrow morning's lecture (Matthew - prepared last night) on the sole printer there.
4.30pm Tea at home with JoJo, Lucy (who really has been poorly, with a sickness bug and fever all day - our maid Alice told JoJo it was bound to be malaria . . . Lucy seems better now and was well enough to eat supper. . . a maid at the Guest House told me a cold sore on my lip - now vanished - was certainly malaria . . . ), and the boys; then (checking e-mails and the test score on BBC Sport website - 7 Windies 2nd inningds wickets down) in the study preparing a powerpoint for the lecture.
6.30pm Supper - wonderful Indian meal prepared by JoJo (Alice has been ironing all day)
7.30pm Read one of 'Nelson Mandela's Favourite African Folktales' to the children at bedtime. Check test score - we won by an innings and 283 runs!
8pm Collapsed on the sofa with coffee and (for Peter) Ouma's Buttermilk Rusks to watch the gripping last three episodes of BBC's Bleak House - borrowed DVD and borrowed laptop. There is little good TV here so people tend to have good DVD and video collections!
10am Tea and bed after one of those days where fitting in what brought us here - spiritual and ministerial reflection, a spot of research, aspiration to find unhurried time for Bible study and prayer, has all taken second place to other issues! I am on site tomorrow (Tues) and after the morning lecture hope to find a bit of space . . .

Save the Mothers House

Here's a picture of the house which is home for the next six weeks.

It takes it name from the new Masters programme which Jean Chamberlain/Froese (currently back in Canada), has pioneered here at UCU, in partnership with Interserve. The multi-disciplinary degree is part-time and modular, in Public Health, with the specific aim of improving maternal health across the developing world - where thousands of women every week die from preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth. The qualification is designed for lawyers, government officials, health care workers, educators, and other interested parties with the ability to influence policy and practice. www.savethemothers.org and www.ucu.ac.ug for more information.

The house stands high above and to one side of the UCU campus, with a breathtaking view over Mukono to the green hills and tea-estates to the north-east. Proximity to Mukono town, on the other hand, means we are prone to all the sounds of the town - including late night parties on Saturday and the daily morning (5am) call to prayer from the mosque. On the other hand, we are close to the surrounding woodland and so have blue and red-tailed monkeys crossing the lawn morning and evening to leap around the trees!