Back in Leuven

We had several days to visit various people - Tom did lots of interviews on video and took lots of pictures. I took some, but not nearly as many. We went to Amuru, the town where the CSJs are hoping to settle. The Mass there was amazing - lots of lively singing, a group of dancers and a VERY packed church. The people were VERY friendly as they have been everywhere we went in Uganda. Just wonderful people. They have been living in camps with the grass roofed houses very close together. They normally live in the same type of house, but spread out with their fields and gardens in between. That makes life much more normal.
But they gathered in the camps for safety, and sometimes at the demand of the government - thus forcing them to abandon their farms, and their only source of lifelihood. The greater peace of the last year or so has given some the impetus to begin moving back to their villages and their land. However, this has been somewhat put in question by recent surge in violence. The situation is quite complicated, you'll have to get some more information from the video that Tom took, but I'm sure there is a lot more than he could capture on tape. Anyway - pray for the people there - wonderful people, but the violence has made life very tough for them.
I managed to fall coming home from a party after dark and I injured my foot - that slowed me down a bit, but I'm better now.
It took a day to drive down from Gulu to Kampala. There were errands to do in Kampala, but Tom and I managed to get to the Shrine of the Uganda Martyrs during the day. We left early for the airport - I was still on crutches - people were SO nice - crutches is definitely the way to travel. We got a wheelchair to navigate the airport in London. I think we went from the plane half-way across London, then back to the same gate for the next plane. So it was good having the wheelchair - Tom managed to skitter along beside. We had checked most of the luggage, so it worked quite well. When we boarded the last plane, the attendant directed us to the first two seats in first class - the plane was nearly empty.
We made it back to Leuven about 8:30pm, but we didn't stay up to ring in the new year. All the best to everyone for a blessed and peacefilled New Year!
--Amy