Visiting Nyakatukura Memorial School (NMS)

Upon our arrival at NMS we were given a tremendous welcome.  We met a significant proportion of the school governors, the archdeacon of Ibanda, along with the headmaster (Revd Agasha Muhwezi) and some of the teaching staff.

While we were at NMS we were honoured to live in Revd Agasha’s house on the site of Nyakatukura Memorial Primary School, which neighbours the Senior School.  The house was lovely, but basic.  No running tap water, bucket wash, long drop and only enough electricity from the solar panel to light half a dozen 12-volt light bulbs.  Needless to say, we found it challenging.

Most of our time was spent meeting people and chatting with staff and students.  On the Sunday, I was asked to preach at St Paul’s Church in Ibanda.  Claire and I were both moved by the free worship that the community have in church.  They are not afraid of showing that they love Jesus and want him to have all the praise he deserves.  We were pleased to find a copy of the Bible in Runyankole in a local stationer’s shop; this has become our primary way of learning the local language.  Although English is the primary language in Uganda, and we could get by comfortably without Runyankole, we feel that we could integrate far quicker and more smoothly into the community with some confidence in the language.

Southwest Uganda is a very lush and fertile place; there was no lack of food.  We ate loads of unbelievably delicious fruit.  We ate lots of rice, matoki (mashed and steamed plantain), beans and g-nuts.  Occasionally I was able to enjoy poshu (ugali), beans and dodo (spinach), a childhood favourite.

We were encouraged by just how much we learnt about the area, community and the school during that week spent in Ibanda.

The evening before we left, we met with some key people to discuss how Claire and I might fit into everyday life at NMS and in Ibanda.  It was concluded that we could do some teaching, whilst at the same time running workshops for teachers in the community.  We would also take on some chaplaincy duties at NMS, such as initiating Bible Studies and offering training for staff and students in how to plan and run Bible Studies.

Upon our return to England, we had a meeting with CMS (Church Mission Society) and DCS (Dean Close School).  At this meeting we agreed that we would go to NMS, initially for 12 months with a view to continue beyond, in the capacity as described above.

The next step is All Nations Christian College (Easneye, near Ware, Heartfordshire …30 mins from Stevenage) to attend their ‘En Route’ course in cross cultural mission work.

Visiting Uganda

Claire and I conducted our exploratory trip of Uganda from 13^th-31^st July.  It wasn’t long before God started introducing us to helpful contacts.  On the same flight fro

m Dubai we met a young Canadian couple, who were heading back to Uganda to visit a school that they had spent a year teaching in …very interesting to hear of their experiences and reflections.  Upon our arrival, we spent a few days acclimatising in Kampala at 

Namirembe Guest House; coincidentally a few doors down the corridor from our new Canadian friends!  We all went out for a meal at ‘Garden City’ (the western mall in Kampala) one evening, a

nd while we were there we happened to bump into the headmaster of the school that they had taught in; even they were not expecting that!  The headmaster (Revd Canon Paul Jeffries, also Ca

nadian) is a top man doing a great job.  His experience of the country’s education system and involvement as a westerner will be very useful to us especially as his school is in Bush

enyi, only 1½ hours away (by car) from where we’ll be in Ibanda.  It also turns out that his deputy is the husband of one of the governors at Nyakatukura Memorial School (NMS).

It was not all that difficult adapting to the climate in Kampala …it rained.  We even had a thunderstorm on the Tuesday evening!

Anyway, a particularly fantastic person that we met was Garry Ion.  A man who has lived and worked in Uganda for 14 years; he works with CMS (Church Mission

 Society) in south Sudan, though is based in Kampala.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with Garry both before our visit to NMS and after.  In fact, Garry drove us to NMS on Wednesday 16^th, a 5½ hour trip.

So, on to Ibanda, and NMS…