Quickbooks, Field Trips and Delicious Barbecued Pork

Am now in Kampala, back at the Hotel Bougainviller until I fly back to the UK on Friday.  It’s been a long day - we left Kitgum at 7am to drive to Pader which is around 1 to 1.5 hours away.  The roads are better than from Gulu but still very challenging in parts and there were a couple of occasions when I thought we would get stuck.  We arrived at the airfield - literally in the middle of the bush.  A number of the team had travelled with me because they wanted to see me off.

It was a nice send off at the Project yesterday - we had some barbecued pork (actually quite nice) and salad, a few drinks and everyone made a speech to say what they thought of me (!) - I then gave a speech on how much I had enjoyed the experience and working with them all and how sad I was to be leaving.   I hate good byes especially when I was leaving feeling that the work there had only just begun.  But I think I have made some useful contributions in terms of strengthening their systems, developing new templates for reporting and providing training for Robert on both Quickbooks and also more general areas to enhance his knowledge and skills.   In the afternoon, me, Chris and Robert met so that I could give a verbal summary of my key findings, the development work achieved and what further work there was still be done.

In the morning yesterday, I went on another field trip - to Namokura which was around an hour's drive heading towards the mountains.  It is a beautiful area. Namokura is the main town for that particular district.  They were holding a child protection committee meeting there made up of various people from a range of disciplines.  On the way to Namokura, we stopped at the village where Chris's family is from (the Programme Manager).  They are in Kitgum now after the rebels torched the village in 2002.  People are now beginning to return there and rebuild the village and he hopes to move his family back there next year. 

On Sunday, I went to the orphanage run by Lois, a New Zealand lady.  Lois is a remarkable woman - she has been in Uganda for 12 years and was in southern Sudan before that. The stories she told are too numerous to mention but she started the orphanage 7 years ago - it was built by funds from American donors, specifically as one large dormitory which could be secured and keep the children safe - rather than the traditional thatched huts which people live in which would have left the children dispersed and much more vulnerable to rebel attacks.  There are around 12 local women who work there to help with the care for the children.  Lois has just two rooms - her bedroom and a kitchen and these are very modest indeed.  I asked Lois how she keeps going and she said it was her faith in God.  Amazing and I felt so humble.