Court is in Session

Tuesday, February 8

Round 2 of our court experience started early this morning.  Our court hearing was scheduled for 10am, so our whole crew arrived shortly after 9am.  The judge arrived around 9:30am so things were looking up.  As it approached 10am, we moved from the benches outside to the courtroom.  There was a row of seats for all of the advocates (lawyers) and everyone else sat behind them.  I thought the judge was going to come into the courtroom to hear our case but we watched the clock spin without seeing her come out of her chambers. 

Civil courtroom in Soroti

Earlier that morning I gave Alex and Maureen a small tin of mints, they had a few the day before and liked them.  I hadn't seen the tin since then but noticed that Alex was holding it while we sat in court waiting.  I didn't hear any mints jingling around so I asked him for the tin.  As he fished it out of his pocket, it felt empty and I couldn't believe they had eaten all of the mints - the tin was nearly full.  When I opened the tin, I discovered it wasn't empty - Alex had filled it with ants!  There were about 15 big, black ants in the tin and I think they were angry!  I quickly closed the lid and tried to stifle my laughter.  When I told everyone else they all said, "yep, he's all boy!"  Although he was sitting patiently, he literally had ants in his pants! 

Finally, around 11:45 we received word that Justice Margaret Oguli Oumo would see us in her chamber.  She is a fair, no-nonsense judge, when she had questions she wanted direct, succinct answers.  The Brewers and Esther went first, with Mark going through the file he submitted to court and the judge writing down her notes.  It was surprising there wasn't a court reporter to write down the proceedings, Mark had to talk slowly and repeat himself so she could write everything down.  At the conclusion, she said she needed to see the registration document for Redeemer House Orphanage and then she would make her ruling.

We were next and Mark repeated most of what he said for Esther's case. Since Esther was abandoned, there were some questions about where she was from but having Simon and the grandparents there, this wasn't an issue for us. She didn't have any questions for the kids and didn't ask any direct questions of Simon, the grandparents or me. Since our affidavits were part of the record, she would review those...plus her hand was probably getting tired!

At the conclusion she said she would give her order this Friday at 2:30pm. Mark will travel back to Soroti to receive her order. According to Mark and Victoria, since the judge didn't ask for any other documents or provide any negative feedback, we should expect a favorable ruling. The order is only half of what we need, we also must have her ruling. The ruling is a more detailed document that provides the details behind her order. Mark hopes to also get this by Friday, but may have to get it next week if it isn't ready.

Post court hearing picture with Simon, Alex, Maureen, Mark and Allis

Post court hearing picture with Simon, Alex, Maureen, Emolu Augustine and Ogwel Seicudina

After court, we went back to the hotel and changed to prepare for our 7+ hour journey home.  It turned out to be closer to 8 hours!  The ride back was relatively uneventful, just tried to avoid potholes and head on collisions when passing trucks.



Badru, our driver, is ready to load up and go!

The kids napping during the long drive