Gretchen's View--June 28th: Father Bruno

A colleague at school introduced me to Father Bruno, a warm, welcoming priest of four years from Queen of Heaven church in Cherry Hill, NJ. We had Father Bruno over for dinner on Sunday, June 24th in order to learn more about Ugandan customs and culture prior to our departure, and to collect items to take to his village. His village, Namengo, is located in the southeastern Budaka district. It was not until recently that Father's village had access to clean water, and thanks to the Queen of Heaven parish, his mother and her fellow villagers now have a well used by 2,000 people. As a child, he had to walk two miles to fetch pond water, which he would then carry in a large jerry can on his head. In addition to walking two miles each way for water, Father Bruno would walk ten miles (each way) to school. When it rained, he and his fellow students would wrap their schoolbooks in large leaves. Regardless of distance and weather, Father Bruno always made a point of arriving at school on time, for he was punished for tardiness.

Elizabeth, Doug, and I will take a day trip to Father Bruno's village, see his school, and meet his family. His family is of the Baganda tribe, and he taught us how to say thank you in Lugandan: "webale." I anticipate loading pictures of Father's village on this blog, but for now, you can see a picture of him as we celebrated his birthday American style.