MUSIC

Sunday afternoon we went to a music festival / celebration.  It was held in a large community church and George, Jolly's husband was the guest of honour.  We were seated right in the front with a table in front of us.  There were soft drinks in glass bottles on the table which is the favourite drink to serve when you have a special occasion, and half way through we were served a light meal of spicy beef and chipatis.

As the evening began, three young men took turns singing a few songs.  Then a 50 voice choir sang several great songs with beautiful choreography.  They were celebrating 18 years of singing together as a choir and it was a great evening.

Word in Action Gospel Singers

Today I visited another community called Kyanja (pronounced Chan-ja) Community Centre where Action For Children has an Early Childhood Development Centre. It is run by the local community with support from Action For Children.  There are gardens to train parents, a large play area outside for the children and the buildings.  Once a month there is an HIV Aids clinic at the centre where people can be tested.

Children playing with the toys that are hand made.
Letters are cut from coloured foam, and dolls are made of banana leaves.

One of the buildings on this property is the original "container" which Jolly used to start Action For Children in 1995.  This container is now used for a young man who makes honey and some other preserves.   Another part of this Centre is a vocational school with classes in hair dressing, sewing and jewelry making, all supported by Action For Children.  I was told that all the students who graduate from this program are able to find work and support themselves.

The lady in green makes this beautiful beaded jewelry and teaches students.
I purchased several pieces of her designs to bring back to Victoria,
and she was grateful for the support.

Hairdressing student doing braids on a model.  I discovered that African women use oil
 in their hair and on their scalp. And I saw one of their secrets to beautiful hair
 - Olive Oil in a spray can especially for hairdressing.

This sewing student is making a traditional dress.  Two of the students displayed
a number of dresses they have been learning how to make.

Driving around Kampala you see such interesting sights that I certainly don't see in Victoria.

This is a car wash.  There is a very large rain barrel on the left in black to store water
 and a lot of yellow gerri cans filled with water.
 I could see the person washing cars had pressure to use a spray nozzle.
These car washes are quite common.

Here are some different sayings that I have had to get used to:

"Extend here" - move over here
"Now now" - right now as opposed to now which could mean any time
"Shifting" - moving your house or office to a new location
"We move" - Let's go now
"Talking wall" - posters on a wall
"Meat party" - eating a lot of meat.  We might call this a bbq but people here don't eat a lot of meat.