Wednesday 24th October

The heavy mist in the valley lifted early, revealing the beatutiful vista once more. My pleasure at having a mirror to shave in was tempered by the lack of hot water in the tap, but still the lodge's simplicity was at a level of quality which Irundu is unable to afford.
After breakfast we took a guided walk around several of the local waterfalls. A little after the halfway point, when we were quite high up, the heavens opened. This is the rainy season and rain simply pours from the sky in absolute torrents. We were completely soaked, but the views, waterfalls, caves and plants (including wild daturas with their large trumpets in bloom) made it well worthwhile. After showering and changing, we were joined for lunch at the Lodge by Fr Larry Ssendegeya from St Teresa of Avila parish at Kabwangasi near Mbale. His parish is in Tororo diocese, the Eastern neighbour of the diocese of Jinja to which Irundu belongs. He has been helped in church-building projects by other English parishes from the A&B diocese. He is supportive of 'inculturation' (the integration of traditional values with Christianity and the insertion of Christianity into traditional cultures). He gave us a copy of his diploma thesis on 'Pastoral involvement of the laity in Budaka Deanery', which contains interesting and relevant information about social and religious trends in the area.
Fr Larry drove me to his parish on the old road (we had yesterday come up the new one). It was a quagmire pitted with large holes and his four wheel drive skidded constantly as we pitched and yawed our way downhill.. There was a large market running in the village of Kamus and twice we had to wait while lorries laden with fruit, crops and people were dug out from the mud.
Fr Larry's parish, church, two schools and presbytery are all physically superior to those in Irundu. He has a wealthier and less remote group of parishioners, although their livelihood is still mainly agricultural, and access to mains electricity. Still , he is cooking on a barbecue while he saves for kitchen appliances and he is unable to pay adequate salaries in his secondary school. He has ambitions for a school library and IT centre. Irundu would be envious of the facilities he already has, but even so things are simple and his parishioners have a hard life.