Day 6, April 25, 2021: Visiting the Church of Christ service in Kasese

Last night, the muezzin was particularly active again. Actually, there are several muezzins who call for prayer, one is particularly enthusiastic as he practically shouts into the microphone. Another has a much more pleasant voice, which wakes me up but I can quickly doze back to sleep. I am familiar with the calls to prayer from when I lived in the United Arab Emirates 25 years ago, although there were only 5 calls throughout the day. Now I looked it up for Uganda and lo and behold, there are 7 times when the call to prayer is made. Today, for example, it looks like this:

FAJR 05:42 AM/ SUNRISE 06:51 AM/ DHUHR 12:55 PM/ ASR 04:14 PM/ MAGHRIB 06:57 PM/ ISHA 08:04 PM/ QIYAM 02:07 AM

In addition, here it seems that the call to prayer is made at the beginning and end of the prayer time, so 14 times... maybe it's because we are in the middle of the Ramadan.

Today is a day marked by spirituality, as I am invited to the Church by Ezekiel, one of the directors of RWECO-VIDE. He is a teacher, mobile preacher, radio preacher, and runs a grocery store in Kasese.

Ezekiel and Bwambale pick me up at the hotel and one of the brothers from the church drives us to the church, which is only a 10-minute drive away. We are 15 minutes late, but there are only a few church members present. During the two-hour service, the church gradually fills up. Because I am a guest, today's service is celebrated bilingually: Ezekiel translates it into English for me and for the church members in the local language of the region, Lokanjo (one of the Bantu languages). I had never heard of the Church of Christ before. Before the service, Ezekiel gave me the New Testament, which is the foundation of this church.

However, I am surprised that both Bwambale and I are excluded from the communion. Bwambale is also a little surprised by this. I will ask Ezekiel about it tomorrow because according to the principles I found on Wikipedia, every baptized Christian is actually invited (more about the Church of Christ here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churches_of_Christ). However, they did ask me to donate, which is another principle of this church.

In my opinion, I am already donating my knowledge and time, which is at least as valuable as money. Because my work for the Senior Expert Service (https://www.ses-bonn.de/en/) is voluntary, meaning the expenses are covered, but I do not receive a salary for it. It is important to me to help in this way, which is why I decided to do it. However, I will mention this again to the directors tomorrow because Bwambale was quite surprised when I told him, even though they have already had several experts from the Senior Expert Service here on site.

Towards the end of the service, heavy rain accompanied by strong winds and thunderstorm starts. We are in the rainy season and the refreshment is welcome after the intense heat. After Bwambale and I have addressed a few words to the congregation one after another, we go back to the hotel. Since it is still pouring rain and Bwambale came from his village on a Boda Boda (motorcycle taxi), I invite him to have lunch.

We talk about various things: For example, I learn that a man can marry more than one woman here, regardless of their beliefs. This practice is still widespread here. I ask if a woman can also marry more than one man. But of course, that is not allowed. As egalitarian as women appear to me in many things here, it does not apply to this question. I would be jealous in such a case and therefore ask how it is for women here. Bwambale says that he doesn't know about that. On the contrary, women support each other. His father had two wives and it was apparently very harmonious. But is it always like this? Maybe just wishful thinking from men... So far, Bwambale has only been married to one woman.

While in the past, parents determined the choice of partner for their children, today couples are independent of their parents' will and can marry whoever they want (but not same-sex marriage). I find the principles by which families used to choose partners for their children interesting: It was not status or religious affiliation that mattered, but a long healthy history of the entire family without serious illnesses, diligence, and discipline.

I am spending the afternoon comfortably at the hotel today. It is raining and the shops are closed on Sundays. However, I would have liked to open the windows wide to let some fresh air into the room. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes are incredibly aggressive, probably even more so during the rainy season. Since I have decided not to take malaria prophylaxis, I am a little phobic about mosquito bites. Whether that was a good idea remains to be seen. At this point, I would like to explicitly point out that this is not a recommendation on my part to do the same. I am not a doctor and everyone has to decide for themselves.

I have thought long and hard and ultimately decided against it because of the strong side effects of these drugs. Frequent side effects are depression, hallucinations, and nausea. However, Malaria tropica, which is common in these regions, is fatal in 20% of cases; on the other hand, the risk of contracting it during a 4-week stay is only 1%, which I considered manageable. Moreover, there are many other nasty diseases that are also transmitted by mosquitoes and against which one is not protected even when taking malaria prophylaxis. However, I have brought the chemical bombs just in case.

Therefore, my perfume on this trip is called "NoBite" and I have it for the skin as well as for spraying on my clothes. Also, Raid, which hopefully kills the mosquitoes in the room, and the mosquito net over my bed. Nevertheless, I have already been bitten a few times. My African colleagues laughed heartily when I said their mosquitoes were very hungry for white skin and apparently hiding under my blanket. How else is it possible for me to be bitten under the mosquito net?

Next week, I will see if I can get a malaria rapid test done. The Africans do this regularly. If something shows up here, treatment would start immediately. I got this tip from my dear friend and talented Shiatsu therapist Katharina. If you live in Hamburg or are visiting and want to treat yourself - absolutely recommended by me: www.shiatsuforlife.de.

Just now, I watered my withered palm tree on the balcony. Let's see if I can revive it. Every evening, huge birds settle in the tree across from me. I think they are vultures.