Opening the floodgates

In a non-Easter thought, I fear I opened floodgates this week.  One of the lecture blocks cracked, so they shifted classes to my building, which has made the noise a bit much, and I have elected to work from home.

I'm receiving submissions from theology students for the centenary magazine, so a couple have brought them to me here.  I've assumed that everyone knew where I lived:  either that's not true, or the students are really good at deception!

So, since this has been Holy Week (read: Long but Good Week), I decided to sleep in today.  I woke a little before 8 (slothful!), and was enjoying the morning bliss in bed when I thought I heard a tap at the door, but the fan was on.  So I did nothing; I was being slothful.  Then the tapping came again.  I decided to ignore it.

Then someone said hello, so I got up.  Can you imagine:  one of the masters of theology in health care students wanted me to read her assignment before she turned it in.  She was a bit aghast that I wasn't up-and-at-em, but whatevs.  

I told her that I had to write a sermon for Monday (true!), and that I couldn't read her assignment.  I'm still a bit shocked at her chutzpah.  And frightened at the precedent that reading that assignment would have set.

Maundy Thursday: I am humbled

It is always interesting to see the various ways that Christians celebrate, be it the liturgy, or holy days.  For us at UCU, we have what I call Ashless Wednesday.  In general in Uganda, big baptism days are Innocents' Day (December 26), and Easter Monday.  Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays here, which I seem to remember being the case in the US when I was in elementary school.

All through Holy Week, we have had morning services and meditations for the University, and Maundy Thursday evening we had a more traditional (to me) service with Eucharist and foot washing.  

The chaplaincy had solicited help from the students who are clergy to facilitate the foot washing, which was wise.  Honestly, I don't recall whether we had these services when I was a student, or whether I just opted not to partake; I think it has a lot to do with the proximity of Easter to exams, which this year is one week apart.

We had about 10 people serving on Maundy Thursday (8 of whom were there to wash feet), and the chaplain announced that we would only be washing the feet of the first three or four people who came forward.  At first, I found this odd, but realized she was thinking practically:  we were kneeling, and my quads and hamstrings are still a tad sore.

For UCU, attendance at this service was fairly scarce:  it was mostly the theologians who attended.  I was somewhat surprised:  usually all you have to do is announce a service and people come.  For us washing, it was good news.  

We had had quite a heavy rain in the morning, and I had joked to one of the students that we would *need* to wash our feet that evening.  And so it was.  The chaplain announced the time for washing feet, we removed our stoles (because the floor in Nkoyoyo is dirty), and carried a small kneeler to a chair to await the people.  

I think I washed four or five people's feet; I don't remember.  One was a student whom I had struggled with when I was a student, and struggled with as the chapel tutor on duty.  But God is gracious, and gave me a real joy to be able to wash her feet.  

I was pondering that as she put on her shoes to go, and looked up to see who was next, and it was another theology student who lives here in the Honours College.  I indicated that he should sit, and he sort of shook his head, and said, "Oh Reverend, I am humbled."

No, my friend, it is me who is humbled.  I've participated in foot washings for years, and am grateful for the experience of knowing the joy and humility that comes with both giving and receiving in that service.  For me, it has always been more humbling to have my feet washed than to wash; for me, to wash is joy.

And since this is Africa, there was a photographer.  Well, one official photographer, and another.  So imagine a line of eight chairs, basins, and priests kneeling, then imagine a photographer craning around the second station to get a close-up of the action.  Then imagine someone very close to the last station with a Flip video camera, also leaning in for close ups.  Kinda removes some of the solemnity, doesn't it?

We had a Good Friday service in the morning, and in the afternoon was Easter carols.  I have no idea what Easter carols are, and while it seems out of place for me, that's apparently how we roll here.  Mary Jane Dennison, another SAMS missionary and head of the Sunday School for UCU, led the children in a Stations of the Cross, which is so very cool. I hope it becomes a tradition.

As I type this it's the afternoon before the resurrection:  soon we will be able to say, "Alleluia!  The Lord is risen indeed!"

Repeat after me

[name], Nkumbatiza mu linya lya kitaffe, N'omwana, N'omwoyo, omutukuvu.  Amiina.

[name], I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Stephen assures me that I'll have this conquered by the last (20th) child I baptize on Monday, though I'd rather have it down for the first one!  He's allowing me to bless the water in English, for which I'm grateful.

Not "wildly liturgical." Ha!

Before I left the US, I told one of the priests at my church that my ministry here wouldn't be "wildly liturgical," since I'm not posted to a parish.  I assumed that I'd preach occasionally at the cathedral, and less than that in our chapel.  I completely didn't think about serving with the UCU chaplaincy.

Well.  For someone who thought that she'd never wear her "specialty" stoles in Uganda (Advent, Lent, Holy Week, Easter), I'm certainly seeing that to *not* be the case.  This month, I've led a Lenten devotion service, [surprise] preached at UCU, [scheduled] preached at the cathedral, and was just asked to preach on Palm Sunday and Maunday Thursday at UCU.  Time to break out the stoles!

Easter Monday

Several weeks ago, Stephen, one of the students, asked me to officiate at the baptism at the church where he does his placement work; I was honored.  

As time has gone on, I've learned that Easter Monday is one of the big days for baptism, as is Innocents' Day (or Boxing Day, or December 26).

Today, the dean commented that all the staff are engaged on Easter Monday.  I asked why churches look for other clergy to officiate the Easter Monday services.  I should have been able to guess the answer:  the clergy are tired after Holy Week and Easter (where there are more (and longer!)) services than what we have in the US.  She also added that the congregation is tired of their priest too, and that the change is good.  :)

Also today, Stephen told me that there would be around 20 children to be baptized, and that the service would be in Luganda.  I will be preaching, in English obviously (and I assume he will be translating), but I will do the baptism itself in Luganda.  I told him that he needs to give me notes so I can be practicing.

Naturally, there will be a lunch after, and then he will take me to the kabakas' (kings) tombs, which are in the neighborhood.  They were burned a couple years ago when I was a student, but the palace is still there.

All this to say that what I thought would be a quiet Easter Monday is no more, but it's good.  Though I had hoped to foist the sermon onto Stephen, as he has been preparing the children and their parents for baptism, but the visitor always gets first dibs.  So I better get cracking:  they're expecting at least 30 minutes from me.

Interview time!

'Tis the time of the year for prospective students to get all gussied up, grab their original documents (transcripts, birth/baptism/marriage certificates), and come to Mukono to be interviewed.  The dean had told me to clear my calendar for 14 March, and so when someone came to my office yesterday for the interviews, I told him they were the next day.  He asked if I was sure.  While that's a typical African response (one that I've adopted; it's a rather handy way to point out that you think someone is wrong), I thought it was funny that he thought *I* was wrong about the date.

When I submitted my application to UCU in January 2009, clearly, they weren't going to ask me to come back for interviews.  So the dean interviewed me in her office.  We had tea, and that's about it.  I was prepared for a full-on interrogation, and we had a pleasant chat over tea.  She did laugh when she saw that I had written "North Kigezi" for my diocese, but since we were canonically resident there at the time, it was true.  I asked her what was funny about an application that was largely biographical data, and she just said, "it must be difficult for you."

All that is to set the stage for the fact that I had no idea how to conduct an interview.  I'm guessing that there were about 100 applications, and we were divided into four groups of three lecturers.  We were given scoring sheets, in which we rated students on things like ministry skills and overall impression.  Our scores were then averaged for a final score for the team.

We quickly settled into a rhythm of asking the applicants for their testimony and the ministries they are involved in, and then any other questions we wanted to flow from there.  It was fairly fascinating; we could be as easy or as tough and probing as we wished.  My group was fairly easy, with two exceptions.  I think we saw about 28 people - my introvert was fairly well done.

One thing I noticed was that quite a few of the applicants had rather low scores on their national exam (which must be taken in order to graduate from secondary school).  One gentleman who had come to UCU for either a diploma (which is akin to our associate's degree) or a bachelors and is now coming for either a bachelors or masters (see 28 people above) did quite well at UCU, which I wouldn't have expected given his national exam scores.  When I asked Professor Byaruhanga about it, he explained that the national exams are rather unfair to those who live upcountry, as the education there is generally inferior to the one received in or near Kampala.  Once they get here, and receive proper training, they (can) thrive.

I believe that we were interviewing for intake for the school, but also for the scholarship program:  there is a wonderful program with Uganda Partners (I believe) that pays tuition for theology students, and the diocese pays for room and board.  It's a fabulous program, as the majority of these students wouldn't be able to pay tuition on their own.

So really, no pressure involved with today's work.  We're just selecting the next crop of leaders for the Church of Uganda.  Just another Thursday.

Exam question review - yay!

Yesterday we began an exercise we performed last semester, and I had completely forgotten about it:  reviewing examination questions from the regional colleges/study centers.  At first, I found this a bit alarming, since we don't know what the lecturers are teaching, though I think that the rationale is that they are using our syllabi, and it is incumbent upon us to maintain the integrity of the examinations, as they are conducted under the auspices of UCU.

I can't argue with that, though several times we did return to the "what is the lecturer teaching?" question.  Obviously, we're concerned with the diploma and certificate programs in theology, child development, and guidance and counselling.  The dean tried to pass out exams as per our areas of expertise, and we critiqued the questions.  Some of it is correcting typos/auto-correct errors, some of it is bad grammar, and some of it is poorly phrased questions.  

It's a bit interesting that we only do this for the study centers - I wonder if our own exam questions are reviewed by anyone?  I now I had questions about some of the items that were put before us on an exam!

But yesterday, as with last semester, it fell upon me to make the corrections.  I had *completely* forgotten about that part of the exercise.  It's a little stressful:  the dean has to go to the Academics office with my flash drive to get the soft copy of the exams.  I put them on my computer, and type away.  Some centers are more systematic about how they file things:  a smaller one just has one document for all the exams; another has files for program, degree, semester, course.  Oy vey.

And sometimes we merge them:  if two study centers are offering courses on African Church History, we will merge the questions so that they are offering the same exam.  I still have questions as to why we do that, but for now, I just need to be sure that everyone has the right exams.

A ruckus

This morning there was a terrible ruckus outside. I thought someone was trying to break in. But no. It was just a bunch of monkeys cavorting about on the roof and water tower.

On a lighter note...

In a lighter incident, I went to the supermarket this morning, and haggled with the boda driver for about a minute about the price back up to campus (I'm lazy. I don't enjoy climbing Cathedral Rise, which has GOT to be a 30 degree incline).

So, I finally won that discussion, and as we were puttering past the diocesan offices across from the cathedral, the Vicar happened to come out, and told me I was preaching on Sunday. It's a good thing I already knew! I confirmed, and asked him to keep praying for me.

When the boda driver dropped me off about 50 yards later, I wished him a good day in Luganda (siiba bulungi, pronounced see-ba boo-loon-gee), and he smiled and said, "kale, maama" (kah-lee, or OK); maama is probably because he inferred that I'm clergy or some bigwig to be preaching in the cathedral.

Three minutes prior, we were haggling over 500 shillings, or about 20 cents, and now I'm a maama. This is Uganda.

Update on students

The student whose legs were broken has been discharged from the hospital, and is recovering at home, praise God. Please continue to pray for her healing.

Please also pray for the students as they grieve the colleagues they lost. Apparently, one of the girls who saw the one student drown is still fairly traumatized, for obvious reasons.

I know the obvious question is, "well, if he was with a group, why didn't anyone rescue him?" And while they were at the pool at a hotel about a mile from campus, few Africans know how to swim. Going to the beach at Lake Victoria is one thing, as the deep part is in the middle. Going to a pool is usually fine too, as long as one doesn't go in the deep end. I don't think the exact details of what happened have been made public, and while there was no lifeguard, I doubt anyone else could have helped him.

More sad news

We had more sad news this weekend: two more students have died. One was murdered, and one drowned. Another was in an accident, and is in the hospital, both legs broken.

Please pray as The Lord leads. All three of these students are from the law faculty.

Call follow-up

That amazing relief when you find out you're not preaching Sunday, but NEXT Sunday!

The topic is "escaping traps of disobedience through repentance." I am SO glad to have more than one day to prep for that-God is good! But please pray for me as I write this sermon.

Surprise call

Just got a call from the Provost of the cathedral, and he asked if I knew that I was preaching Sunday. Well, no, I didn't. Now I'm just waiting to hear what the lessons are.

I guess two days' notice are better than one. :)