So, in the end I decided to play hooky and go to court today. I only had two classes today, and being as Hadassah is on a weird exam schedule at the moment anyway, I thought I might as well take advantage of the day (but don't worry I didn't actually play hooky--all relevant parties were notified and approval was obtained :-)).
Court was...bizarre. Picture high school mock trial with all the sensible bits extracted, translated into your second language and stuffed into a room about two and half times the size of your bedroom, with two barely moving fans, loud traffic flowing through the open windows and people pushing through the door to see throughout the three hour blocks of questioning. The judge wore a wig that was a vestige of British colonialism not only figuratively but likely literally as well. All the lawyers wore robes, and all spoke in English, which was great, because it meant nobody was comfortable. (A translator was present for witnesses, though it was an often botched effort that left the lawyers, the judge and the witnesses quite frustrated.)
Just to review--the rabbi has brought a petition against his opponent in March's parliamentary elections, claiming that the opponent was only elected due to corruption such as intimidation and ballot stuffing on election day. Today, 19 of the rabbi's witnesses (chosen by the opponent from some 120 who submitted affidavits) testified.
Some highlights:
The Judge (to the rabbi before he was questioned): So you swear on the...Old Testament? (This was probably the first Jew he ever encountered in his courtroom, if not ever.)
Much of the questioning of the cross examining lawyers, of which there were three (to the rabbi's one) centered around what the distance was from this place to this place and how long it takes to get there--in essence, much of the questioning could have been replaced with a Google maps search.
The witnesses are cross examined only, pretty much, by the opponent's lawyers, and there's no limit on how long (and how ridiculous) this could be.
Finally, after each lawyer had a chance to question a witness, they would sit down...at which point the next lawyer would take over and ask even more inane questions.
At lunch, there was a break and I came back to Nabugoye with one of the yeshiva students who had also come to watch. We came back after lunch, but unfortunately the room was full then, and we could not get inside to hear the proceedings, so we returned to Nabugoye for the day. (There were some other gems which I can't recall now because I'm falling asleep, as seems to be the usual for 10:30PM nowadays, so if I think of any I'll include them in my next post!)
This early return gave me the opportunity to have some really interesting conversations with local people, including some of my first recorded ones. I first talked to the teacher with whom I spell at the high school, who vented to me about his problems with discipline at his institution. I then went to visit Naomi, the wife of Principal Aaron, and I sat and talked with her and her nephew Esau as she worked on some beaded necklaces and oversaw weeding by her own kids and those of the neighbors. She told me about the Jewish community she was from, a smaller one called Pallisa, as well as an Orthodox community which didn't really interact with the other ones because of their differences (Western denominational splits making their mark on even new, far flung Jewish communities!) Esau, who is waiting to hear which university he will be attending in the fall, described the services that are held in Kampala for Jewish students on Shabbat, which I did not previously know existed.
Much was learned, and I look forward to relistening to the audio and condensing it into meaningful testimonies.
That's all for now--back to teaching tomorrow! (The trial continues, but I think I will sit the last day out.)
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