The
weather has been unusually mild. We are supposed to be in the middle of the dry
season but the nights are still cold enough that a blanket is sometimes needed.
Some say that it is the result of global climate change though I suspect myself
that it is just the weather clearing its throat in preparation for a real
scorcher. The computer room now has a ceiling, which makes it much cooler.
Before it was in place we often had temperatures over 40° C in there. It was
hard to get any work done. Luckily we live in Luweero. Had we been in Kampala we
might have been arrested for being idle as this recent newspaper cutting from
the national newspaper shows.
On
a brighter note, a friend of mine got a new heifer. Her previous cow Treasure
died in September. When I was home in Ireland later that month, some people from
my church offered to help. They raised some money and when I came back to
Luweero we were able to start a new project that would help a number of local
ladies. In my new role as ‘Women Heifer Co-ordinator’ I would then act as an
intermediary between the group and the supporters back in Ireland. The way the
project works is that the group begins by purchasing a heifer that is in calf.
If the calf is a female then when it is a year old it is passed on to the next
lady in the group. When that calf grows and has another calf it is passed on to
the next member and so on. (For full
details click here to download the constitution of the project)
Last
week Stella (our first heifer pictured above right) arrived like a queen in her
own private vehicle and after a ribbon across the threshold of her new home was
cut, she was led inside. We had a very nice dinner afterwards which included a
lovely beef stew. To the left you can see a photo of the group that attended
this function. We were very amused to notice that the pattern on the traditional
‘gomas’ dress of Sarah (second from the left in the back row) was made up
lots of Fred Flintstones. (See picture to the right)