Reunions and Introductions

Sunday mornings in Kampala bustle with activity, though little of it takes place on the roads.  Uganda is a predominantly Christian nation – roughly 80 percent Christian, 10 percent Muslim, and a smattering of other religions – and the vast majority of Ugandans attend church.  Because there are so many church goers, churches are ubiquitous.  And because there are so many churches, there is bound to be one within walking distance.  Consequently, most Ugandans walk to church, which leaves the roads wide open – a welcome relief from the grinding gridlock (here simply referred to as “jam”) typically encountered in and around Kampala.

This allowed for a smooth and uneventful 45-minute drive to pick up Henry from his Catholic school.  I arrived a little before 9:00 as the students were finishing their morning Mass.  This allowed me to reunite with the Head Teacher at Henry’s school – a fairly young and very capable leader.  He signed Henry’s permission slip to leave campus and we chatted for a few minutes about my work in Uganda.

Henry’s final exams for the third and final term of the year begin next week.  Unlike at most other secondary schools in Uganda, Henry’s final exams make up his entire grade for the term.  There are no mid-terms, homework assignments, class participations points, or anything of that nature — just the four exams (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Math).  In each class, Henry will be assigned a grade between 0 and 5.  In order to advance from Senior Five to Senior Six, after which he intends to apply to medical school, Henry needs to score a cumulative total of 12 points this term.  He is working hard, and praying harder.  He would be grateful for any additional prayers offered on his behalf.  I had seriously considered bringing him to Jinja with me for the day, but thought better of it.  As a consequence of his upcoming exams, we needed to limit the time away from his studies.

Instead we went to breakfast in the mall area.  Café Javas is a favorite among the ex-patriot community and serves American-ish food.  Henry enjoyed his first-ever breakfast burrito and marveled at the flat tortilla, which resembles the chapattis his mother daily prepares and sells in huge quantities in order to make ends meet for Henry’s family. The day before, Henry had proudly shown me his brand-new passport and some photographs taken of him at a school party.  The passport will allow Henry to leave Uganda for the very first time in conjunction with a trip he and some other students are taking to South Africa in early December.  Not only will this trip be fun and educational, but it will begin the process of establishing a pattern of leaving the country and returning, which (I am told) is a critical component of a Visa application to enter the United States.  We are hoping for that opportunity a year or two down the road.  I really liked a few of the pictures of Henry from the school party, so we found a Kodak photo shop in the mall (things are definitely westernizing here) and made digital copies of the photos.  Like American senior pictures, this one makes Henry look older than he really is:

Henry at School

And here is a photo I took of him on our excursion:

Henry During our Field Trip away from School

While we waited for the photo shop to finish its work, we bought some supplies and food items for Henry to take back with him to school.  David Nary met us in the parking lot around noon, and we headed back to drop off Henry.  After hugs and goodbyes, David and I set off to Jinja to meet up with my friend Katie and her girls.

Many of those reading this will recall a few of my prior posts about Katie, but for the new readers, Katie is an amazing young woman (she turns 24 this week) who moved to Uganda just out of high school and has established a wonderful ministry called Amazima, through which Katie feeds, educates, and empowers hundreds and hundreds of the poorest of the poor.  Her book is called Kisses from Katie and has been a regular on the New York Times Bestseller List since its release over a year ago.  It has now been translated into four other languages.  During our time in Uganda, our family got to know (and love) Katie’s family, about which you can read more in her book, or on her blog.

Before I left home, Joline had the great idea of getting autographs from Katie and each of her girls on a copy of her book.  I suspect I am the only one who now has such a signed copy.  And no, it is not for sale.  It is for us.  We had a wonderful visit with Katie and her family, and went to pool with them for their Sunday afternoon swim.  Each visit with her inspires me more to look for ways to surrender my faith to God’s leading in my life.

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Monday was a whirlwind of reunions and introductions.  The main goal of my trip was to connect David with as many players as possible in the juvenile justice project on which I had worked when I was here.  We made a big dent in this mission on Monday.  We met with members of the Criminal Division of the High Court, the Chief Justice, the Principal Judge, and officials at the Ministry of Gender.  The meetings all went well, and we are cautiously optimistic that the baton is successfully being passed to David in the eyes of the Uganda officials, such that the next iterations of J-FASTER can begin in short order.

Along the way, I made a side trip to the Court of Appeals to catch with Alex, a Court Registrar I first met when he visited the United States with a delegation from the Ugandan judiciary in May of 2010.  Alex has been instrumental in so many ways and a blessing to so many families in ways that I will never be able to fully discuss.  Until very recently, Alex worked for the Court of Appeals (he is now in the Land Division).  From his perch there, Alex was able to keep me updated as to the status of the scheduling of my oral argument in Henry’s case.  Due to petitions following the February 2011 elections, which are constitutionally mandated to take precedence over all other court work, the appellate hearing has been delayed on numerous occasions.  The original oral argument date of March of 2011 has been pushed back more times I can count.  Last month, I had been given a glimmer of hope that the argument would likely happen in November of this year, though I was careful to manage my expectations.  I learned Monday that I was right to do so – early next year is what I am now being told.  Thanks to Alex, I now have a friend in the new point person for the scheduling process.

The long day ended with a delightful dinner with Alex, his wife, and the just-retired Deputy Chief Justice (DCJ) of Uganda at a lodge perched high on one of Kampala’s seven hills.  I renewed my love affair with Ugandan meat, and renewed my deep friendship and admiration for her Lordship (as they say here).  The DCJ is such a wise and lovely lady and I am blessed to know her.

Tuesday will be another long day of reunions and introductions, culminating a dinner with Bob Goff, judges, and friends.