Bridges and Prayers

After the trials and tribulations of the past few weeks, it has never quite seemed inevitable that we would reach Nyakatukura Memorial Secondary school but as I sit typing today's blog, we are all sat within the school grounds, having been welcomed like long lost friends and after 7 years, I suppose that is exactly what we are.

We woke at a ridiculous 5am to have a quick breakfast before loading up our other old friend Rosa (our faithful bus/truck that has been put through some real tests over the past few days with the condition of the Ugandan roads after a recent unexpected out of season rainy spell).
Then started the long slog down to South West Uganda. Moses battled the early morning traffic expertly and the blur of xeroxed shop after the same old shop along the road again blurred past and within 2 hours Rosa Parked at the equator line.

We all hopped out, marvelled at how the water swirls down the drain in a different direction on the North of the line than the South. There are men at the line with their little colourful sinks ready to show you how this genuinely happens within just a 10 metre gap either side of the equator line itself (obviously there is no real line but one has been handily painted for us).
We had more group photos as well as some sillier ones 'look I have got one buttock in the Northern hemisphere and one in the South' was the kind of comment that the boys were making after their 2 hours of Rosa confinement.
After a quick toilet stop, we were on our way again. As we drove, the shops and houses became increasingly intermittent and the natural greenery of Uganda takes over. It is hard to explain just how green this country is. The trees, the grasses, the bushes, the banana plantations, the huge forests. All broken up by giant Pepsi adverts painted perfectly onto the sides of the little dukuu stores.

As people become more rare and cows more frequent, we suddenly made a stop for lunch.
After traffic had tested our patience over the last fews days, today it was service time. We had called ahead to order but obviously they were not willing to even think about starting to cook until we had returned into the car park. The hour long wait was however well worth it as the beef, chicken, boiled vegetables and rice served with the largest slices of avocado I had ever seen was the best meal that I have yet had in Uganda.
We were waved off by the friendly serving staff and we then began our final leg of the journey; turning off the main tourist trail between Kampala and the gorilla treks to the south and off towards Ibanda.
This time, cows become just as frequent but the number of people also increases and when you thought that people in Kampala were friendly, these people take the friendliness up to an 11. Although we were now no longer 'friend' or 'sister' - now we have become Mazungu and Mazunga. We are the white people that rarely venture to these parts and rather than being hated, we are treated like celebrities.
Alastair, Charlie and Jess became used to waving at every person who spotted us and gasped at the Rosa full of Mazungus driving past them. They may have Marcus Rashford on the side of their buildings, they may have Messi advertising every single fizzy drink imaginable but a real white person is a rare thing indeed.

We then entered the area of North West Ankola,with the matching magnificent Ankole cows now dominating the sides of the roads.

After a sudden right turn, we then saw Nyakatukura Memorial School in the distance, surrounded by the stunning hillsides that dominate the landscape of the school. We could already here the screams of excitement from the school children in anticipation of the gates slow unlocking and opening. We were waved in by the armed guards and as Rosa was too big to turn into the headmasters house, we had the embarrassment of driving past the waving group once and then turning around the roundabout at the end of the lane to then wave yet again. It looked like we were really milking our entry.

As we stepped off the bus, a line of VIPs welcomed us as we were each introduced to the chair of governors, the head, the head of the ROC charity and the head of the PTA.
We then sat down for a second lunch of matoke, crispy thin potatoes, rice, the biggest avocado ever known to mankind, chicken stew and some millet. The texture of the millet tested the pupils and Mr Pitt was on hand to be 'the bin' and make sure that each plate was finished so that we did not look rude.
We were then ready for Caleb the headmaster to introduce us to the school. We went down the main drive for a third time to find all 500 pupils of the school sat cross legged on the field waiting for us to arrive. Caleb said a prayer and welcomed us and he was followed by a really funny talk by Canon George Willey, the chair of governors and Dean of Ibanda Cathedral.
Canon George talked about the embrassment of his first name as he said it sounded like an old person's name and so he used his surname instead until he was informed that in England the word 'Willey' has different connotations. I must admit I was then rather surprised to see a Ugandan vicar shouting and pointing 'cover your willy, cover your willy'.

Up next was Mr Pitt who spoke to the gathered 500. An easy start was just to repeat the cover your willy joke and a bit if spontaneous ad libbing drew a comparison between the half destroyed Bridge that we passed on the way and the connection between our two schools. The bridge we passed had one lane wiped out by the recent rains and we were OK to drive through as Rosa is mighty but is also small and agile.
The links between our schools has also been battered by metaphorical storms but has still been passable. The last 2 trips had been cancelled and this one obviously came close but we found a way.
After the impromptu speech, each of our pupils then introduced themselves one by one with the challenge that the NMSS pupils had to remember all their names. They giggled when they heard Lydia's name as there must be a pupil at school with that name and they seemed to love the names Tom and Jamie with Niamh being mistranslated as 'leaf'. They all spoke brilliantly despite the obvious nerves of speaking in front of over 509 strangers.
We then went back to the heads house for afternoon tea, before then meeting the pupils again at fellowship. Afternoon tea consists of tea, biscuits, fruit, boiled eggs and roasted ground nuts.
Mrs Pitt and I obviously knew what fellowship was but for the others, the treat was about to begin.
As we walked into the main hall, there were about 20 people in the hall singing and dancing with a  accompanying keyboard player at the side.
Our intrepid explorers than dismissed all of their inhibitions and they all went to the front and joined in. I could not believe how quickly they got themselves up to the front of the hall and with Niamh initially leading the way, they just got stuck in. Fenella and Geneveive may be dancers but the others didnt care if they were brilliant or dreadful and they were just there to join in and have fun.
The hall slowly filled until the DC 11 were now being accompanied by 500 NMSS pupils all singing and dancing along. Songs of joy and Jesus, with dance moves that make Congo look a little bit stale in comparison. Afterwards, Charlie Currie said that it was harder than a rugby training session.
After just over half an hour, the vicar of the school got on the stage and asked our pupils to perform. I looked at Mrs Pitt and worried that they were not prepared for anything but all they wanted was for me to Google the words to 'In christ alone' and Jamie asked me to check the key the song was in.
After a quick nod to the keyboard player, Alastair started us off with the song itself. Now this may not have been the greatest rendition of In Christ Alone ever sung but we were so proud of the pupils and Mrs Beecham filled up the storage on her phone filming them all sing.

When we thought they were about to get off the stage, Jamie announced a second song and Lydia began singing 'My God is a great big God' with all the accompanying actions. During the song, Katie seemed to build up her own little fan club of girls at the end of the stage and the traditional Britiah nervousness of teenage pupils had been eroded away and the divide between the two schools had totally vanished.

After the songs, the school joined in prayer and then the microphone was handed to Jamie for a finishing prayer. I have no idea if Jamie has ever been asked to do this before but his prayer was exquisite.
During our long journey today, the world Cup game was adopted. Where somehow the hedgehog won the world Cup of animals, salt and vinegar pringles won the world cup of crisps and Dairy Milk won the world cup of chocolate bars. One of the world cups was best British band and Take That got suprisingly far, somehow knocking out the Beatles along the way. Tonight, as our very own perfomers went to leave the stage, they were reminiscent of Take That in their prime. Just like Gary, Mark, Robbie and the other two, our singers were swamped by hundreds of pupils all wanting to chat, hug and touch their hair. Girls grabbed the hands of our pupils and even the boys walked away hand in hand with a new friends.
Before heading to bed, we had an evening meal back at Caleb the headmasters house and a little more matoke, potatoes, rice and fruit was served to us. The food is amazing although the amount and regularity is like the vicar of Dibbley having multiple Christmas dinners all on the same day.
After a 5am start, a huuuuuge drive through the equator and down into Ibanda, we have then met hundreds of people, sung and danced our hearts out and this is all in just one evening. As we settle down to bed, we genuinely cannot wait for tomorrow, but we may need to hold off a little on the food consumption!