Saturday 20th October - First Day in Irundu

The day started with a 9 a.m. leisurely breakfast. We then went to buy 60 litre bottles of water from the supermarket in Jinja for our stay in Irundu. Many shops and petrol stations in this town are run by Asians who have presumably returned after the exodus forced upon them by Idi Amin.
The journey up to Irundu took 2 1/2 hours although it was a much shorter distance than from Entebbe to Jinja. The road as far as Kamuli was metaled but had lots of potholes. After Kamuli the road was red dirt and, surprisingly, much more comfortable to travel on. Once we passed Kamuli the dwellings became much simpler. A typical house size would be once or twice the size of a garage in the UK. Most have wooden shutters (sometimes pretty makeshift) over the openings in the walls for windows and a dried grass roof.
We arrived in Irundu just after midday and met Father Stephen, George (the seminarian), Charles (Chairman of the PPC), Joseph (Headmaster of the primary school), the Sisters of Grace and Compassion and others. Our group split up and George took Adrian and George F to visit the Vocational School. There they met the Head, some teachers and students. Some of the students are boarders and their accommodation is very simple. There is a small carpentry workshop (hand tools only) and a sewing workshop. The school also teaches agriculture. We learned that 72 out of the 76 students are not actually in the vocational system but in the more academic secondary one. However, there is little chance of their going to university and the job prospects for the vocational students are rather better.
After a nice lunch we chatted with the priests and nuns and met Father Fred who is here from the Diocese to run the annual Family Day Retreat and meeting. This event has a focus on married couples. (I should note in passing that polygamy seems fairly common in this part of Uganda and that only the first wife can receive the sacraments in such a situation - the man and any subsequent wives cannot). Father Stephen took us to meet people at their homes in the afternoon. One family who lived in some humble huts very kindly got out their chairs for us to sit on and everyone was very welcoming and friendly. Few people spoke English, presumably because few had been to school. We also visited a fishing village at Lake Kyoga where the children thought we were very novel and followed us around. They loved looking at themselves on the screen of George's video camera so George was fairly well mobbed! Not much clean water is drunk there, since people prefer the taste of the lake water. We saw some very simple mud dwellings.
When we arrived back in Irundu we attended the service of reconciliation. There was great gusto in the singing. The people here are great.
There is electricity in Father Stephen's house but not in ours. We do though have the luxury of running water and a toilet and shower, far better than most of the villagers have. We have been told lots about the local scene. Mass tomorrow is going to be a big event.