6th

This weekend had been great. Well not that great in the sense that we
didn't manage to visit Entebbe, but spiritually I guess it was a rich
experience. It made me re-think many issues and got back close to God.

On Thursday, went to the Kasubi Tombs (yes, finally, after the spate
of poor weather and so on) and learnt a lot about the history of
Uganda. Apparently, Uganda has many tribes or kingdom, and the biggest
one is that of Buganda Kingdom. They have approx 8million out of the
28 million pple they have in total. I forgot how many tribes in total
they have but I believe it is like 50 plus? So yes, the Kasubi Tombs
is where they bury 4 of their Buganda kings. There are other tombs
elsewhere of those other kingdoms. Yes, the smaller tribes have
chieftains. But I guess finally the Buganda kings are the overall in
charge. So Uganda come from "buganda". Basically it works like this,
every new king will choose to build his palace on top of a hill. (for
easy defence and so on) and there will be a fireplace within that
palace, which just keeps on burning. It will only be put off when the
current king passes away. Then when the next king succeeds the throne,
the fire will be burnt again. Now for this tomb, it was the palace of
1 king. Then when he died, it was converted into a tomb. And 3 of his
other descendants chose to be buried in the same place.

And kings cannot be described to be dead. They have "disappeared". So
the tomb aka the previous palace has one huge African type house (yes
those with grass etc) where the king stays and every day 2 of his 84
wives will go in and serve him. So when he dies, half of it is sealed.
They dig deep down into the soil till certain depth then dig at right
angles forwards into the forest. Then they will place the coffin
there. So basically, the king has disappeared into the forest. So that
half of the house is sealed. And yes there are 4 kings there in total…
almost all are in succession. They can be requested to be buried there
or elsewhere or in their palace.

Other then the central house, there are smaller houses in the
peripheries, where all the 84 wives of the first king stayed. So when
he died, all the wives still have to stay in that house until they
die. Then after they die, the family of these wives have to select
another woman from that family, who will then take turns with the
other 84 families… So every month there will be 2 women from these
families staying in the central house to keep the place tidy. Etc.
Yes. They stay there. Then the next month another 2 families. And this
tradition is passed on for generations. Cos they consider it an honour
to be part of that "royal family". Of course, those kings after that
king have only one wife, so yes, they have only added a few women
family to that list. The current king is staying somewhere far from
it.

On Friday, we wanted to search for the crafts place where we were told
traditional crafts sold cheaply. But when we went there we did not
find the place. Ha so we went back home, put down our stuff and then
went to the film festival, called Amakula Kampala. We took a taxi to
the national theatre. Now you must understand the term 'taxi' in
Uganda means 'bus' in our context. It is a mini bus (actually like
those vans) which carries 14 passengers, where there will be a driver
and person who opens the door from the company. He is the one who
opens the door and collects the fare and shouts where the taxi goes eg
"Kampala Road, Jinja Road" So basically to take a taxi, you go to the
stop or "park" and start telling people the road you want to go, or
you listen to the shoutings. Er no bus guide or labels. Just ASK. Ha
so it was quite a fun experience for us. We were directed to the right
bus stop and managed to get on the 'taxi'. How do you alight? Just
shout "parking" when you think it is near where you want. They will
stop at the nearest stop. And the door opener collects the fare. Yes,
he can actually remember when one boards and alights. So yes, the fare
varies. To town it takes about 50 cents per person so it is rather ok
for us. This was the first time we took a 'taxi"

Another mode of public transport we tried was the "boda boda" which is
essentially a motorcycle. So only one passenger per boda boda. So it
is more expensive then the taxi. Of course, it can be dangerous. But
yes, we felt that if we never tried it we cannot say we have lived in
Uganda before. Ha so yes, we took it last week. It was pretty smooth.

Back to the Amakula Kampala film festival. We went at the right time,
for they were showing some short films by Ugandan directors. Erhm,
budding young directors. And yes, I do agree that for some of them,
the Singapore slapstick "Gui Ya Gui Ya" (Men in White) was better in
many areas. Ha. That is the standard. However the last one was good,
there was meaning and it advocated against child abuse. It was
touching and saved us from the agony of watching yet another (dots)
short film. Yups, then there was a small play cum dance thing put up
in traditional language, which of course we couldn't understand but it
was talking about the tribe's reaction to a couple having a pair of
twins. It was quite entertaining, all the dancing.

SATURDAY. Did nothing much. Had intended to go down to Entebbe. But
due to some unforeseen circumstances, it didn't materialize. So we
stayed at home, and I prepared my SERMON. YES. SERMON. The story went
like this. I contacted the Cornerstone pastor for a place of worship
in Uganda, so he forwarded my mail to his contact in Uganda. But the
pastor was preaching in the villages so we communicated by email and
he forwarded to one of his staff. (who was really friendly btw. We
were really touched) Who contacted me and offered to pick me up from
our workplace on Sunday. But she asked if we could share our
experiences. So I said sure. But then after I realized that this
sharing was more like a sermon. (she didn't tell us…) it was one hour
long. So ya, we freaked out, cos we've never preached before. So yups,
we decided each take half an hour. So yes, we prepared the sermon

SUNDAY. Yes. We went to the Cornerstone Community Church in Uganda.
My, it was really nice. And to our surprise and relief, we were only
preaching to the youth service! Ha but all these made me reflect upon
my whole trip and realized all my prayers were answered and it was
God's hand in all of these. So yes, I teared during the adult service
as I worshipped (it always happens, but this time all the things that
happened really flashed past my mind and I realized how great God IS!)

It was by divine intervention that I met this Professor from Mulago
Hospital at the Wonca conference. I did not realize it at that time. I
noticed she was African, learnt that she was from Uganda, then took
her namecard, cos I thought having another contact will be good for
the 4 others going to Kisiizi hospital in Kabale. I already had a
place in Kenya at that time. So I took her contact and passed it to my
friends.

Then just before exams, the bad news came. Kenya was too tumultuous
for us to go. There was political instability, killings everywhere,
especially in the town that I was supposed to go. Everyone else
freaked out, but I thought this was one challenge God posed. I didn't
fret, instead was rather calm and prayed. I knew I was going to
Africa, so I knew that if I stayed close to God, everything would turn
out fine. (this happened once before the time when NUS suddenly did
not allow us to go Africa in general. Of course we fret, even cried,
but we prayed and miraculously one wk after the whole incident, the
decision was reverted. And yes, the people who took the initiative to
petition was me and JL. We felt it was something we had to do. But it
was not our petition but rather our prayers that was answered.) So
having the previous experience, we knew God was in control so we
didn't fret.

Yet, the time passed and still the situation did not change. This was
in the midst of all the patho exams. After the exams, we knew we could
not wait any longer. One month before our electives, my friend NY
passed the namecard back to us, saying why don't you try this. So yes,
we tried. The application was really smooth until we couldn't believe
it. Then we wanted to buy the air tickets to fly with the other 4.
Yet, the airline said there was no more places. Then we called again
another day. We could fly again, with the rest of the group, on the
same day, with the same plane. The rest, as you know, I am in Uganda
now.

Prayers were answered. And I guess He really wanted to bring us here.
These few weeks I had initially felt empty, as I am still considering
whether to be a mission doctor and wanted to make use of this elective
experience to decide. Yet, i did not go to any mission hospital at
all.

During the past 3 wks in neurology, it dawned upon me that as long as
we keep God in our hearts, the ministry will come along smoothly. We
do not have to burden ourselves with whether we are doing enough for
God. I had expected to do something for the Lord for this trip, to
share to others about Him, yet I found myself largely not doing so,
save for the few patients I prayed at the bedside for during
Neurology. The ultimate was this "preaching" incident. It made me
realized, God is training me up in some way. (ha this was more felt by
JL, for she was really surprised that it was youth service, for she is
serving in youth svc in her church) This is just the beginning and
there is more to come. I asked God to reveal to me His purpose for me,
whether I am doing too little and this incident came up. Yes, I still
do not know the exact plans He has, but I guess, preaching, sharing
and probably missions will be the way to go for me in future.

Don't know what else to do, except keeping close to Him. I know He has
plans for me. I need not worry or burden myself. (ha yes, this was the
'sermon' I preached, and I got a new understanding on the "yoke" which
Jesus mentioned in Matthew)

Yes, but there are still many issues to be resolved. I really hope I
can go to church in Spore, serve the Lord, serve in ministry. More
importantly, I want to grow spiritually. My growth is really minimal.
I am still a spiritual baby, despite the long time I've been telling
others that I am a Christian.

Yes, use me Lord.

KK ENOUGH OF THE WEEKEND. Hmmm just an update… might not be able to
update much in the next few weeks, cos after this current week, I'd be
going to rural rotation at Wakiso Health Centre for 2 wks, for which I
do not know if I'd have internet. Then I will be touring for another
1.5 wks around the country… so moving around, might not have chance to
update.

But yes, I do want to update. And my travel diary is still on DAY 2. SIGHS

And yes, I bought lotsa souvenirs but still tink I have many ppl I
haven't bought hahaha bought mainly for my family.

But yes, keep close to God! Love Him!!!