More about Easter

After the visit to the women's prison, we came back to hang out and get ready for the rest of the Holy Cross folks from the area to arrive. They have a pretty significant presence in East Africa--sisters, brothers and priests, both East African, mostly Ugandan, and as well as few Americans.

We were having turkey for our main Easter meal, one of the many they raise at the novitiate. I took a picture of it while it was still blissfully ignorant of its fate as our main attraction for dinner.

I was drafted to make the dressing. Since there wasn't any celery--in fact I haven't seen any since I've been in the country--I put in more onion. They had the usual spices, so I added what seemed helpful. Even if it is our family tradition, I did not put in raisins. Oh well.

Joe Wysocki, a Holy Cross volunteer, had a couple of mixes that his mom had sent so he made a chocolate cake and brownies. Bry'Chell had her eye on the brownies from the moment they came out of the oven. She not only had more than her share for supper, she also had them for breakfast the next morning. Only in a house of men would somebody put out brownies for breakfast.

While the turkey was roasting, we took the rowboat out on the lake. Although I'd been swimming in the lake, I had not seen how far it went around. Lake Saaka is bigger than it looks from the Holy Cross place, it goes around the hill and extends for quite a ways. I couldn't find it on our map at home, but that doesn't mean much. Maps are pretty unreliable here.

The Holy Cross folks started arriving while we were out on the lake. Once again it was an experience of the world being very small. Three American sisters were among the group. One, Mary Ann, went to St. Leo's in Chicago and was taught by Sisters of Providence from 1st through 4th grades. Another, Lilian, is from Ventura, California and actually worked at Camp Teresita Pine for a few weeks in the summer of '79.

The Ugandan sisters also have a few connections I wouldn't have guessed. One, Daisy, stays at the Grail, where I stay on Thursday nights. I'm sure I've seen her, but I get in late and pretty much crash and then leave early the next morning, so I don't see too many folks. If I did see her, I probably assumed she belonged to the Grail community.

Another sister gave me a lead for a brownie recipe using cocoa. I haven't made brownies here because I can't find baking chocolate. If I can make brownies with cocoa I will because Bry'Chell really likes them.

There were probably thirty of us gathered. It was a great group and a wonderful meal.

In Uganda Easter Monday is a holiday--what a civilized way to plan the Easter holiday. We left for Kampala after breakfast and a stop by the women's prison to pick up some more baskets. Again, the women were glad to see us. It still gets me that the vast majority of them have not even been to trial, even after a year or two.

I drove a good part of the return trip. It's just over 300 km (187 miles). I drove about 170 km. David let me drive on the part of the road that was good. I do miss driving, although driving on the rutted dirt roads around Nkozi isn't that much fun. Driving on the left side isn't that big of a deal any more.

We had lunch at a local restaurant with Claude, another Holy Cross priest who teaches at UMU and Lacey, a Notre Dame staff person doing development work through UMU. The restaurant was the one by the hotel where we stayed our first night in Uganda. After lunch we had a driver take us back to Nkozi where we had supper and I finished braiding Bry'Chell's hair. It made for a long day.