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When I do good, I feel good.

When I do bad, I feel bad.

That’s my religion.

~ Abraham Lincoln

(1809-1865)

Merry Christmas to all from Uganda. Agneta and I took off from Malava via pikis to the main road. We got a matatu that said it was going to Bungoma, but instead it took us to a place in Webuye. We had to take pikis to get back onto the main highway. We received word that Edith Wekesa would not be joining us as planned due to a funeral of a neighbor. We then took a series of matatus, and pikis, and finally reached Malaba boarder point instead of Lwakhakha. At the border, they gave me difficulty and charged me both the usual visa fee, but also delayed us two hours and charged me a lot of Uganda shillings in addition. We finally reached Jire Friends School in Mutoto near Mbale just before dark.

Meanwhile, Margaret Musalia on her own came to visit Uganda YM and was with them during their opening session. Agneta was the main speaker on a theme of being bold and courageous. We were each given their new headscarves. Instead of the Kenya type white head scarf, Uganda women had made a white hat. The women in Uganda are young, and they do not usually wear head scarves, but were willing to wear the new hats. The women from Semuto had uniforms where the blouse was marked “Women of Significance” on their backs.  The women love to sing and dance a lot and were full of joy to be together from all over the country. They translated between Buganda, Bukusu, English, Swahili, and Busamia. I was impressed with the way they knew so many different languages, especially compared to my fellow Americans who rarely speak more than two languages.

Samson and Edith Wekesa came the next day and Edith gave a talk to them the next morning. Then, because Edith was due back in Nairobi the next day and Samson was expected to be in Dar es Salaam the following day, they took off back to Kenya along with Margaret right after Edith gave her talk. Edith and Samson Interpreter Moving borrowed mattresses using a piki! Agneta and I did a lot of counselling, and consulting with the new male Yearly Meeting officials who visited the conference, plus helped many women who came to us one by one wanting advice or prayers on many different issues. We found that in several areas, they have become confused with evangelical Christians that include various cults (involving special altars, veiling of women, false prophesies to scare people etc.) We learned a lot of the strengths and weaknesses of Friends in Uganda, and learned that they, like Tanzania want more clarity about Quakerism and how to teach new members.

Juliet Namono, the one trained woman pastor stayed at the school and was helping individuals all day up to 1am each day. We from Kenya, were hosted at the home of Stephen and Rose Wamboka, the Headteachers of the school. The last day of the conference we had a surprise. The nominating committee came with their report of the new leaders for the women. They chose Juliet, the pastor to be the Presiding Clerk, and Sylvia Wopicho, the hard-working former Clerk was appointed as pastor to her surprise! They plan to hold next year’s conference at the newly built Buwambingwa Friends and then will try to go to Busia Friends the following year, once the newer meetings in Busia have learned more about Friends and have completed a church building.

On the way back, we first visited the Wefafwas (the family that started all Friends in Uganda), and had an evening with the family of Apollo and Sylvia Wopicho. On the way back to Kenya yesterday, God must have been happy with our work, as Apollo gave us a ride across the border at Lwakhakha (no delays crossing the border) and then when we found no regular vehicles going to Chwele, we were offered a chance to sit in the cab of an enormous lorry carrying iron beams to Nairobi. We travelled first class-with wonderful views of the green countryside and Mount Elgon and its foothills. The lorry driver took us all the way to Kibrengu junction.

We had been given a chicken and bags of groundnuts and beans, and Agneta had bought a very large turkey at Bumbo Market. Seeing two old women, one a wazungu(white woman), carrying a chicken and the other, an African with a very large turkey plus other bags, provided entertainment to many who were curious who we were and where we were going. Have you ever tried to ride on a motorcycle carrying a live chicken or large turkey? I carried the smaller chicken, but it was a challenge to hold onto the bike at the same time. Agneta’s grandchildren welcomed us back with great excitement, as the turkey was as big as some of them.

I am now in Kakamega for the day at an internet café, where I am charging up my computer, phones, and camera. Sorry, I will miss the carol singing at my home meeting, but it was much cheaper to delay returning to USA until after the Christmas and New Year's heavy travel times. In my next report, I will share about the ways Christmas and the New Year are celebrated here. Thanks for all your support and prayers.

Please join us for a free Online Practice & Discussion Group sponsored by Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC).  We meet monthly to enrich adult Quaker Religious Education for ourselves and our meetings/churches.

Each month will open with worship and a message from the book Walking in the World as a Friend: Essential Quaker Practices. Then we will hold worship sharing to hear from each person, followed by a discussion on any questions, reflections, or implications for us as Friends and our witness in the world, then close with worship.  We may discuss practices such as journaling, spiritual companions or scripture study.  We may also discuss other faith and practices that help us and our meetings/churches.

We are using Walking in the World as a Friend for reference.  You may purchase the book at CourageousGifts.com.  You can also download the PDF for free, or watch the videos on YouTube by clicking on this link: https://friendspeaceteams.org/eventwalking-in-the-world/

 

As I mentioned at our Meeting for Worship last Sunday, the amount of respiratory illness leading to hospitalization is going up a good bit more.  There is more information from public health and hospitals coming out on Fridays only, so I can't yet report whether the amount of illness is becoming even more worrisome (as it did in January 2023).  It may be time for Friends to mask up in the Meetinghouse for their own protection and to help reduce potential for infecting others.  Significant amounts of possible exposure from visiting family and friends are an issue as well.  Self-testing two or three times 48 hours apart before returning to the Meetinghouse can help us reduce the possibility that we might be the source of asymptomatic transmission to someone who is more vulnerable.

We should also pay attention to social distancing and transmission from our hands of both COVID and other viruses.  We still have an expectation that everyone coming to the Meetinghouse on Sunday will have had full primary COVID immunization.  This clearly reduces risks of transmission.  Booster immunization is clearly beneficial for people but has not had as much demonstrated effect on transmission and has not been part of our policy.