Long Weekend in Uganda

I’m not looking forward to the redeye tonight out of London’s Heathrow Airport bound for Uganda’s Entebbe Airport or the redeye back to London on Monday, but I am thrilled to be heading back to my adopted home country for a fifteenth time for a long weekend.

While Jessica is loving spending her sophomore year at Pepperdine studying in Florence, Joline, Joshua, Jennifer, and I are equally enjoying our semester in London.  We just returned from a seven-day Mediterranean cruise during the week-long travel break, and we are going to visit Jessica in Italy in a few weeks.  Pepperdine’s study abroad programs are life-changing for all involved, and we are just completing a successful fundraising campaign to preserve the law school’s fall program, at least for the next few years.

This long weekend trip promises to be busy and productive, as the projects we are assisting with are moving forward and picking up speed.  In the wake of our extensive summer project, the Judiciary has formally launched a national plea bargaining initiative that will provide over the next few months long-overdue access to justice for more than one thousand prisoners awaiting trial at prisons all over the country.  Among the 150+ prisoners we assisted over the summer, 40 have now been to court, with the others due in court in the next three weeks.  During this trip, we will be working on nailing down plans for further expansion of plea bargaining, and also discussing a couple other new areas of collaboration between Pepperdine and the Judiciary.  More to come on that front.

The documentary Revolution Pictures filmed this summer about our work is in the final editing stages and we are eager to see the first cut being prepared by director Andy Reale and shot by cinematographer John Pope.  We were quite excited to the see the two-minute “teaser” and look forward to the final cut.  Distribution/exhibition details will be forthcoming early next year.

Henry is thriving in medical school in western Uganda and will be taking an eight-hour bus ride on Saturday morning to meet up with me for a few hours.  We will also be meeting with his aunt, who has been trying to take Henry’s family land away from them since the death of Henry’s father (her brother) earlier this year.  While Henry was in the process of getting the land properly surveyed and titled, she apparently convinced a Ugandan government official to circumvent the entire process and to secretly issue the land title to her.  My hope is to help her understand that this undermining of the rule of law will not be tolerated.  I intend to be polite, but direct.  Incidentally, we are still waiting for a ruling in Henry’s appeal, which I argued more than eighteen months ago . . .

On Sunday, I will perform my first official duty as Godfather of the young son of Justice K, a judge with whom I have become quite close.  Tribal traditions dating back centuries dictate that the Godfather performs the circumcision just before the boy’s first birthday.  I have purchased a special trimming knife and have been practicing the art of taking “a little of the top” using British potatoes.  Wish me luck.

Actually, I am just kidding about the circumcision.  Young Mark will be baptized in the Church of Uganda and I will be announcing his names and presenting him to the priest for the baptism.

In other Ugandan news, there is still no sign of Ebola in East Africa – Uganda is twice as far from Liberia as Malibu is from Dallas – so I’m not feeling any anxiety about this.  Uganda still has not named a Chief Justice, though today’s paper quotes the Minister of Justice as saying that they are in the process of making a selection.  The Acting (interim) Chief Justice just announced yesterday that Uganda will finally do away with antiquated practice inherited from England of judicial wig-wearing in court.

Please pray for safe travel and a productive long weekend.