Only Time Will Tell

As promised, when Monday afternoon rolled around, the whole of Rwentutu’s student body was told to head home. Much to my confusion, however, the headmaster repeatedly used the phrase “half term” during his announcement to the school, identifying the time away as more of a vacation than as an urgent attempt to keep the school in service.

Nevertheless, the students moved home and we were left to enjoy two days (mostly) free from lesson planning.

On our first day of break, we traveled to Enoch’s town called Bwera. We’d been through the area once before on our visit to the Congo boarder, but it was nice to return with a bona fide Bwera resident.

Enoch showed us the hospital and the view from its backyard revealing his birthplace in the nearby mountains. 

He took us to the market where we saw everything from fish guts to fabrics. 

He even took us to a local pub for a Congolese brew.

That same day, I had promised to visit the home of a P5 friend of mine from Rwentutu, so it was exceedingly convenient to find that my friend’s father is a longtime friend of Enoch’s, not to mention a very important councilman in the Bwera region. Once we connected the dots (after seeing her father’s face on a giant banner in town), we ventured to their home. 

Deborah was ecstatic to see us.

We talked a while, looked at some family photos, and then decided to check out the family-owned resort on the banks of the lake.

The scene was breathtaking.

'We grudgingly parted way around sundown but not before we were gifted with a plethora of avocado, a beautiful basket, and a new chicken!

Meet Frank.

(whose slaughter is scheduled for early next week)

The next day—being Uganda’s Independence Day—had some high expectations to live up to from us 4^th of July, firework-loving Americans.

Our first stop of the day was to Nyakasanga Playground, where we listened to a few speeches and saw a performance or two by some local school children.

Unfortunately, Uganda is in the midst of its second rainy season of the year, which means that no outdoor event is guaranteed. Once the rain came, we made our exit.

With little else to do we decided to visit the secondary school of our neighbor, Juliet, where we’d heard there would be a talent show of sorts.

It was definitely more than we bargained for.

 Aside from whatever that was, the talent show consisted of…

miming, dancing, 

banana peeling,

and an eating contest.

Definitely the scariest act of the show was the laughing competition. I wish that I had the words to describe it but the uniqueness of its terror is incomparable, so I’ll leave it to your imagination.

The holiday ended casually with some small preparations for the following day’s lessons and conversations about the students’ uncertain return.

Our predictions were fairly accurate. The following day, my class consisted on a mere 12 students (right around average for the school that day). I did what I could to teach but was inescapably bothered by the high number of absences.

Only time will tell whether the students will return, or if Rwentutu will remain at half-staff for the remainder of the term. Cross your fingers for the former, or I foresee a large number of home visits in my near future.