Thembo is taking over

Ok! We have been waiting for this moment when we go against the usual routine of sharing the moments in Norsk (or Thembo (our contact person) took the opportunity and wrote the blog post for us).

We were very certain that Hanna and Benedicte were traveling from Kampala to Kabale a place they hadn´t gotten even though the entire team of Act Nowers in Uganda had already been there. The excitement was high back here with us mimicking the famous dance moves to the famous Benedicte! Finally the post bus got them to the Swiss Alps of Uganda after the 8 hours ride. Without anything under expectations we were all soon laughing and bubbling our minds out, dinner wasn´t far away and it surely became Norwegian Taco and Juice, great as usual. Benedicte was up and early with us to join the other students during the physical education running from 6 am- 7 am. We took them to the office and attended devotion during where we unveiled our guest to the entire office. Then we went right on with Hanna and Benedicte to take the students in first year through their computing lessons. After which we took the girls to Drucilla school where they got to meet all the students and actually get to see what is done there. It was very interesting and the girls all got to mix up and interact.

Earlier on that afternoon we went to Kabale town and showed them around going places like the market where we bought a lot of fruits. We also did the long awaited thing, went and bought fabrics that would be used to make skirts for the girls since this they had been denied this back in Mbale after their market unfortunately burnt down twice. After getting the fabrics we took them to the tailor for measurements. Funny thing is that basing on our own experiences we advised Hanna and Benedicte to breathe in and hold their breathes since the clothes normally came back when they were slightly bigger than the measured! However we couldn't miss out on always having the black sheep in this instance, and it was Benedicte who seems to have breathed in rather deeper and the final product was a very tight skirt. This had to be re adjusted, but still was quite tight which lead to baptizing it as her "motivation skirt".

On friday, it being our study day, we did not have to get up early to go to office. Instead we stayed at home and waited for Gerald and Tembo to pick us up at 11 am to got the field, but it being the trend of African time we ended up being picked up at 1.30 pm. So we headed out to Kaharo to visit a group which was to under go training in microfinance. The training went on successfully and we summed it up with the rukiga dance from the ladies in the group. This time Benedicte couldn't ignore her happy feet as she found herself joining in the dance.

Foto: Hanna Charlotte Hanager

The drive to town was smooth and when we come home we found Håkon and Eivind who had traveled all the way from Lira. A lot of catch up that night as we watched an episode of The Pacific in which all the girls slept off! The next day saw as going to lake Bunyonyi where we took a boat ride to Bushara Island and had lunch there not forgetting the much fun that came a long. Unfortunately given the long bus rides that were looming right a head of theses lovely visitors, they decide that they had to travel back to Kampala that night so that they would connect to Mbale and Lira the next day.

Foto: Hanna Charlotte Hanager

Being hosts to lovely people had not ended yet since we got Ruben Tislevold and Magnus Sether (a good friend of Synne) traveling all the way from Kenya to Kabale to visit us. They have been working with a bible study project in Kenya for two months. Since it was a non stop journey, they were on ground the soils of Kabale at 6 am monday morning. There was not much for them to do in bed since we saw them joining us at office at about 10 am. Shortly after we took them to the school. After having a meal with them we joined the entire staff and the students at the play ground to take part in volleyball and football, which was great.

The next day surely saw us take them to our paradise Lake Bunyonyi and of course the Islands. We actually thought out loud to ourselves that at this rate we should own our own boat to cater for the tourist! The skies blessed the day by opening and the rains pouring right as we planed to get on to the boat to get back ashore. Ruben and his sick thoughts of licking Synne's feet and Ruben with his unforgettable indian accent were having the their last hours in Kabale that evening and night in Kabale eating skoleboller! Finally they had to bid us farewell on Wednesday morning. Ticking as the second hand is on a clock is how much of brief these times have been, but for the record they have been great!!

The theme in Kabale is the rhyming master - too bad my rhyming is a complete disaster

- Thembolini