In the field

Now that things have started moving on my initial project, I'm getting out of the office and into the field more. Hanifah, my partner in this project has graduated from Agriculture College now and has been hired to oversee the demonstration farm. Last Monday, we went to the community to sensitize them about our first mini-project, a nursery bed. We explained how it would be constructed and what we needed from them, and reiterated how the community demonstration farm will work. They are anxious to start many projects but we emphasized the need to begin slowly so that they are not overwhelmed, and end up starting too many things at once so that they never complete any. I also told them about the donation of seeds from Seeds For Peace and they were very excited to hear about that. The seeds were mailed this past Friday so they should be arriving here in about three weeks.

On Wednesday of last week, Hanifah and I went shopping to pick up the supplies we will need for construction and implementation. Anita from FSD had given me my seed grant of $300 and that's what we used to purchase the materials. We bought fertilizer, seeds, a pesticide sprayer, seed tubes, nails, a hammer, and some other equipment in town. Yesterday, we delivered all of these supplies to the demonstration farm homestead and met again with the farmers. They were very appreciative of what had been purchased so far and were eager to help us procure the remaining materials. We still needed to purchase a load of manure, a bundle of straw, some poles, and a few other small things.

The farmers offered to donate some straw to us, and gave us a discount on some poles from their fields. Once we had agreed on the price of the poles, we set out into the woods to mark the trees that would be cut down to provide us with the poles.

Construction of the nursery bed will be next Monday, January 27th. I am feeling very confident about our progress and we have all the materials we need. Now it's just a matter of the farmers coming, observing, and helping, and ensuring they deliver the poles. It has been very nice to be able to get out of the office, even if it's just one day a week!

I was given a fresh pineapple, direct from the plant :)

10 People in a Toyota Corolla

This past weekend was an adventure! On Saturday, my host mom invited me to come to visit one of their farm plots, which is located quite near to our house. It was about 4:00 when we left and the weather was really pleasant. It wasn't too hot and there was a very nice breeze with a cloudless sky. I commented that I wanted to visit a place called Pine Ridge one day (we live near the top of a valley that is rimmed by road atop the surrounding hill. Pine Ridge is a rest area at the top from which you can see in every direction...oh and it's covered in pines) so she suggested we go then. We walked leisurely so it took us about an hour to get to the top. I had previously gone up there, though not as far as the rest stop, and had managed in about twenty minutes, but taking our time was really nice. At the rest area, we got a soda and explored the peak of the hill. Turns out a local MP had purchased most of the land up there and had built the rest area and a race track for rally cars (??). I tried to climb one of the stands to get a birds eye view of everything but the first board I stepped on broke in half so I decided to enjoy the view from below. We made it back around 7:00 and were privy to a gorgeous sunset on the way home.

On Sunday, we planned to visit 'The Village'. I had always heard my family talk about the village but as yet had not managed to visit it. It is called Kanoni and is located in Gomba district, about an hour and a half from Masaka. Most of my host mom's family is still there, including her brothers, mothers, and father. We never anticipated what a journey it would be! We set out from Masaka around 11:30 in the morning and drove through many small villages. About an hour into the trip, going up an incline, the car suddenly stalled and refused to start. In addition, the brakes seemed unresponsive. The person driving us, a friend of my host mom, had apparently had many problems with his car because it was quite old so he set off on a boda (motorcycle taxi) to find a mechanic in the next town. He returned shortly with the mechanic and they set to work. My host mom, sister, brother, and I sought refuge in the shade while we waited. Two hours passed and there did not seem to be much progress. Of course, the place we were stranded had no cell reception so it was either wait there for the car to be repaired, or make our way forward by other means. After the two and a half hour mark, we began to try to find a taxi to take us the rest of the way. An hour later, and we still had no luck. At this point, we had only eaten a piece of bread for breakfast and it was already after 3pm so Margaret got on a boda to pick us up some snacks and drinks in the next town. When she returned, we scarfed it down and set out anew in our quest.

A car finally stopped and we convinced them to take us. They were not going all the way to Kanoni but they could get us closer. The old Toyota Corolla already had 6 people in it, but we crammed the four of us in somehow. There were four of us in the front, including two in the driver's seat, and six in the back. Not the most comfortable (or safe) arrangement but we were on the way again! We reached the car's final destination after about ten minutes and piled out of the clown car. Now all we had to do was find another taxi to take us the remaining 10km! Another half an hour and we had had no luck so we decided to board bodas to take us the remainder of the way. By this point we had been waiting on the side of the road for about 4 and a half hours total; we were hot, sweaty, dusty, tired, and hungry. What was 20 minutes on the back of a motorcycle on dusty roads? Feli and I boarded one and left Margaret and Tendo to find a second. An uneventful ride brought us to Kanoni at last. Feli showed me to her uncle Joseph's house and we devoured our lunch. Margaret arrived a short time later and she took me to see one of her mother's. Polygamy is not too uncommon, especially among the older generation, in Uganda so Margaret's father had four wives, one of which has since died. She explained that although it isn't always like this, in her experience all of her mothers were kind and cared for each and every child, biological or not, like he or she was her own. Margaret's biological mother is now quite old and is often ill, and the remaining two wives have taken her in to help care for her. It really is great to see that such an arrangement can work very well.

 After we had met mother 1, Joseph took us in his car to see the new house he is constructing. It is huge and in a really nice area, overlooking a small valley filled with fields.

All of Margaret's family seem to be quite successful. Her father rears a number of animals and owns properties which he rents out. Joseph owns a couple rentals and some small gas stations. Another brother, Peter, has a successful bar and restaurant, and Dora operates a chicken factory. They all own multiple areas of land and their own homes, but remain down to earth and really friendly. Once we left Jospeh's house, we drove over to meet my Jia Jias (grandparents) at their village home. There were a number of grandchildren running around, and I met Margaret's biological mother, and the third mother, as well as her father. He seemed very quick witted and funny and everyone was very welcoming. By this time it was already close to seven so all of the visiting was very short. We promised to come back again, avoiding the delays that shortened our visit, so that we could spend more time with everyone. We began the journey back to Masaka at 8 and arrived home just before ten. It had been an exhausting (and dirty) day so we showered, ate, and collapsed in bed.

Always an adventure!

In the Land of Blue and Green

My wonderful holiday in China (and Hong Kong) gave me the refreshment and break I needed to come back to Uganda renewed in energy and spirit. My flight landed early and though before 9am, the day was already warm and clear. My mom, sister, and uncle met me at the airport and it was fantastic to see them again. They had all dressed up for the occasion and even gave me a rose. We made it back to Masaka around 2 and I spent the remainder of the day resting, unpacking, and socializing with the family. 

Monday morning I was back at work. Back to reality… My supervisor wasn’t in so I worked on a few things and returned home for lunch. Tuesday I met with my supervisor and came up with a plan for this week and next. Because the whole organization just returned back from holiday, this whole week was dedicated to the end of the year reports for 2013 and Thursday and Friday were set aside for presentations. Each department, program, and project gave a presentation on their successes and challenges from 2013 and the plans for 2014. It was good to hear about all the different things Kitovu Mobile does. On Friday, I was tasked with giving a report to help the staff better understand how the SACCO will work. Unfortunately, the power went out just as I was ready to present so I had to shout the whole thing. Luckily, it was well received and we’ll be moving ahead with plans for its registration.

The plan for next week is to meet with the community where we are going to be setting up the community demonstration farm on Monday to sensitize them about the first project we will undertake. My budget for a seed nursery has been approved so hopefully next week we will purchase the necessary materials and begin construction. At Monday’s meeting, we also plan to get feedback from the farmers about what they would most like to learn or what they feel would be most critical to improving their lives. Their responses will hopefully guide the remainder of my time here. I hope that now that the CDF is in motion, I’ll be more active and be in the field more. I’m ready to get my hands dirty!

Murchison Falls Trip

The week before I left for China, I went with the FSD staff to Murchison Falls National Park. I spent the weekend before in Kampala with Robert. We didn’t do too much; book shopping, gift shopping, and eating mostly. That Monday, Anita, Nina, and Anita’s son Majid picked us up and we headed for Masindi, the closest town to Murchison Falls National Park. Masindi was really only useful as a launching point for the park as there wasn’t much to do there. We stayed in nice cottages, although both power and water were frequently off.

A perfectly acceptable way to travel

I will never sick of these views!

On the road

The cottages we stayed in

We woke up early on Tuesday morning and found out that Robert had been sick most of the night and would be staying behind. The remaining four of us arrived at the park just after the gates opened and were right away rewarded with a troop of baboons crossing the road. From the gate we entered, it was an 80km drive through mostly forest to the ferry that would take us across the Nile to the main safari area. Along the scenic drive we saw many baboons, a warthog, and several birds including hornbills, ibises, and guinea fowl.

We reached the ferry crossing with about one minute to spare and boarded immediately. The crossing took only five minutes and on the north side of the river, we were joined by Emma, our UWA (Uganda Wildlife Authority) guide. He has worked in the park for three years and was very knowledgeable and helpful. Five minutes along the track he had already spotted a herd of elephants resting in the shade of a tree. Though quite far away, it was still a good sighting.

We continued on and were soon choking on the dust caused by a dump truck making its way down the track. As we pulled over to avoid its wake, another came up behind us. Emma explained that recently the drilling of oil had been allowed within the park and the truck were hauling dirt to strengthen the ground for the big machines. In addition, other machines periodically jammed the roadways. Emma lamented that the oil company was supposed to spray water on the roads to prevent the inevitable dust storm, as well as pull over to allow safari vehicles to pass; although they rarely bothered.

Luckily It seemed that the animals had become used to the rumbling of passing trucks so they were still visible. Thankfully as well, only the first third of our trip was plagued by the trucks. We were on the drive about 2.5 hours (we had to be back for the noon ferry crossing). There were great vistas of open savannah as well as hilly views. We saw a huge number of hartebeest, oribi, and Ugandan kob as well as buffalo and many giraffes. Also present were quite a few warthogs, some crested cranes, and a monkey or two. Unfortunately we didn’t see any big cats or other carnivores.

Hartebeest

Oribi

Ugandan kob

Hornbill

Buffalo

This one was quite close

The crested crane, Uganda's national bird

We made it back to the ferry and parked in line. I stepped out to walk near the river as we waited and turned back to look at the line of vehicles. All of a sudden, I saw a baboon race towards a mini-bus that a group of Chinese tourists were standing near and leap into the open passenger seat window. In a flash, he had grabbed a bunch of bananas (how stereotypical!) and took off with them. A guard gave chase but the baboon quickly scampered away, shoving its prize into its mouth. Needless to say, the waiting cars were much more cautious about their vehicles and belongings after that incident. As we were about to board the ferry, the baboons saw their final chance and three of them mounted onslaughts, jumping on the roofs of some of the vans. They were reluctantly chased away and we drove quickly to the safety of the ferry.

Running away with his trophy

Cheeky animals!

After returning to the south side of the Nile, we ate lunch and returned to the shore to await our Nile River cruise that would take us close to the base of the falls for which the park was named. The cruise was relaxing and took about three hours round trip. We saw many birds such as fish eagles, kingfishers, herons, and many others I couldnt’ possibly name. There were also a large number of hippos lounging in the shallows and the odd crocodile or antelope by the shoreline. The falls themselves were smaller than I had expected and we didn’t get as close as I had hoped. There was an option to take a hike to the tope of the falls but we decided against it due to the heat and the limited time we had. After we returned to the dock, we made the long drive back in the waning twilight.

Fish eagle

White-tailed colobus monkeys

Gorgeous day

Murchison Falls

Murchison Falls

I spent Thursday and Friday morning in Entebbe at a hostel. Thursday I hooked up with two other travellers and we visited the Wildlife Education Centre. It serves as a rehabilitation centre for injured and orphaned animals. They had a leopard, some hyenas and lions, a shoebill stork, among the usual animals as well. They also had two rhinos and when we reached their pen, they happened to be right near the fence. Our guide went straight to the male and started stroking his butt. Apparently it's a rhino sweet spot. He even let us touch it! The skin was leathery and hairy, but softer than I expected. I guess I didn't stroke well enough because shortly after he moved away. After the Wildlife Education Centre, we got some lunch and wandered over to the Botanical Gardens. They were serene and beautiful as expected. I'm glad I got to spend the extra time in Entebbe before my flight.

Shoebill stork