Back Home

My last two days in Kampala (Sunday and Monday) were a blur as the teams wrapped up the case briefing for the 161 prisoners they assisted.  The Pepperdine students serving as interns in Uganda still had one week left in town, so they would be putting the final touches on the briefs before heading home.

Terrorism alerts issued by the United States Embassy in early May had focused on houses of worship.  Consequently, Pepperdine insisted that our students be instructed not to attend church while serving their internships.  The irony of a Christian university forbidding its students from attending church was lost on no one.  I hadn’t yet decided whether I would personally feel bound by this restriction, but it didn’t matter because the film crew had decided to delay interviewing me for the documentary until Sunday – their last day in Uganda.

So Sunday was my day in front of the camera.  More specifically, it was my day to the side of the camera.  Like they did with Henry, they filmed me at about a 45-degree angle.  I think they got my good side, though my kids insist that I don’t really have a good side.

Over the course of about three hours, we covered the entire landscape of Pepperdine’s relationship with the judiciary, my relationship with Henry, and the ongoing projects on which I am working.  It got emotional at times, but I held it together more than I expected.  At one point, the director wanted to go over a subject area again, so he apologetically asked me to wipe the tears off my cheeks “for continuity sake” – things I never would have thought about had I not seen a movie made up-close-and-personal.

Speaking of which, I learned some new terminology during the process.  For example, when they start rolling the cameras, they say “we are speeding.”  The hour or so around sunset is called “blue hour” or “magic hour” when the light is at its best.  And when they film each character looking off in the distance or looking at the camera, they call this “the hero shot” or “the vignette.”  Henry’s “hero shot” was him sitting in a chair by a window.

Henry’s Hero Shot

Chief Justice Odoki’s was standing in his full court regalia against a wall of windows overlooking Kampala.

CJ’s Vignette

For my “vignette,” they decided to go with me doing a cartwheel in the hotel’s sixth floor lobby.  My elementary-school gymnastics training is a gift that just keeps on giving . . .  Thankfully, I have no still photos of this – just have to wait for the movie.

Our Ugandan logistical coordinator, Andrew, and I accompanied the film crew to the airport on Sunday afternoon to ensure they got through customs without the major troubles they encountered on the way in.  Things were much easier on the way out, though their flight was cancelled, so it took a couple hours to get them sorted on a later flight on a different airline.  Nothing is easy in Uganda.

That evening, those who went on the safari returned with smiles, photos, and hunger.  So while the students went back to their apartments, the Goodmans, Detweilers, and I dined at my favorite restaurant in town – the Emin Pasha.  I’m not sure I have had a better steak anywhere in the world.

As I looked ahead at the tasks and meetings remaining before I headed home, I figured out I could get them all done on Monday, so I called Delta to see if I could move my flight up one day and surprise my family.  It turned out that there was room on the earlier flight and the change fee roughly equaled the cost of staying one more day in Kampala, so I booked the earlier flight.

Monday was blur of meetings.  Farewell to the Detweilers (staying a few more days in Jinja), breakfast meeting with a good Welsh friend who is doing important work ensuring inter-country adoption in Uganda complies with ethical standards, planning meeting with Andrew about the path forward for plea bargaining in Uganda, farewell to Goodmans who were flying out in the early afternoon via Dubai, meetings with High Court Justices in the Family Division (about expanding our Nootbaar Fellows Program this fall to have the first-ever mediator in the country for family cases), in the Anti-Corruption Division (about the impact of plea bargaining on that court), and in the Criminal Division (about upcoming juvenile and adult plea bargaining sessions).

I also had a chance to spend an hour with Justice K’s family and to renew my relationship with my God Son, Mark Kiryabwire.

With Kirabo and Mark Kiryabwire

And on my way to the airport, I stopped at a restaurant to meet Susan Vincent for a goodbye and a delivery of the gift I ordered two weeks earlier for Herb Nootbaar, the 105 year-old benefactor of the Nootbaar Institute under which Pepperdine’s Global Justice Program operates.

Gift for Herb Nootbaar

The three-leg flight home went according to plan, and my sister provided a huge assist in helping surprise my family as she drove me home from the airport.

I very much appreciate the prayers and encouragement along the way.  I will be providing periodic updates about how the cases we assisted with play out, and about how the documentary production schedule unfolds.

Additionally, please be praying for favor with Henry’s medical school applications.  He should begin hearing back as early as next week, but no later than the end of the month.  Also, the land registration process has begun in earnest as he tries to protect his family’s property from the attempted seizure by opportunistic relatives.