Monday, May 5, 2014:  Greetings from Uganda!  Arriving at the ACT center, Karen and Diana began an inventory of all the music equipment, assigning each student a specific instrument and getting a better idea of exactly what we have and what we need.  Dave, David, Barbara, Generous, Justus, Stephen and the rest of the HANDS agricultural team would be at the cent in a meeting all day.  Josiah and Lisa set off on foot to visit Parkarasio, the MukoHOPE orphan she sponsors, in his home.  Being part of a team like this is a wonderful opportunity to spend time with our sponsored children and meet their guardians!  Dave Molzahn has been blessed to spend quite a bit of time this trip with his orphan, Andrew, and was able to visit him in his home today also.  Dave and Karen sponsor 2 orphans, but have visited their homes on past trips, so they stayed at the center for the HANDS meeting and music lessons.  Elizabeth also sponsors 2 orphans, and for her it became an all-day affair.  She and Alexander began by traveling across Lake Bunyonyi in a dugout wooden canoe with carved wooden paddles and stumps for seats, quite a different experience. The climb up an endless hill to Eudia’s home gave her a whole new appreciation for the walking these folks do every day!  After another trip in a dugout canoe, she climbed another endless hill to visit Moses, where she was gifted with Irish potatoes and avocados.  It was so rewarding for all of us to be able to spend this kind of time with our kids!

Back at the center, Diana and Lisa sorted, inventoried and packed baskets and other handcrafts from the MEP program to be taken with us back the United States. So many beautiful things coming back with us! Karen was happy to be able to conduct music lessons all day. She is leading classes at 2 different levels now, both beginning students and those who began last year and are more advanced. They’re excited to be studying and eager to learn more.  Today Karen was excited to be able to get 4 African songs down on paper, transcribing them as the students played.  Meanwhile, there was a marathon HANDS meeting going on.  

The HANDS meeting went on for the full day with discussion around the planting last season, the selection of plots to rent, and the realization that we need to contract for multiple years to build up the soil to help ensure a successful commercial farming venture.  We were educated on the various planting seasons of which there appear to be three, four or five depending on the arrival of the rains.  There was much discussion around crop rotation, which we could do with multiple year leases, and the location of the land to minimize transportation costs, as well as deciding on which type of potato should be planted on which plot and according to what season the planting is in.         

Upon returning to Jopfan we realized the charging cable for the laptop had neglected to pack itself for the ride back, bringing all computer activities to an abrupt and premature end! Frustrated as we were, we realize how fortunate we are to have as much internet access as we do.

 

 

 

Tuesday, May 06, 2014:  Well, today didn’t exactly start off as planned, and that just may be the understatement of the trip!  Our driver, Rashid, had been feeling unwell for the past several days, but had bravely carried on, getting us where we needed to go and taking good care of us as he has the past 2 weeks.  However this morning he woke up feeling much worse, to the point of being unable to even leave his bed.  Our friend Justus came to the rescue, finding a van and driver who could get us to Muko today and stay with us for the day.  We communicated with Rashid’s employer, Chipper Adams, who quickly came up with a plan B.  Within the hour an ambulance was dispatched from Kampala bringing a nurse and a new driver.  The ambulance will return to Kampala with Rashid, where he will receive medical attention.  Please keep him in your prayers…..

Arriving at the village a little later than we’d planned, the van quickly departed with the HANDS team, who would be spending the day visiting plots and doing research.  Lessons were begun with the violin students, and Dave, Alexander and Lisa began building shelves for the secure storage room at the center.  This will help keep things much more organized, and will be used to store the violins and music equipment. They quickly took shape, are nice and sturdy, and look wonderful! Generous and Elizabeth settled down to work on the computers, and Josiah, Karen and Diana left to visit Precious, the MukoHOPE orphan Diana and her husband have just agreed to sponsor.  We’re all very excited for them, and this means Precious will be able to start school with the rest of the students in a couple of weeks!  After returning, Karen and Diana prepared an “American lunch” of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit and potato chips (or crisps as they would say here) for everyone.  It was much appreciated and devoured quickly.

After lunch the music and shelf-building continued, Elizabeth went back to work on the computer, and Lisa and Diana worked on cleaning out the storage room.  Arriving back at the Jopfan four of the team members went down the hill to town for a walk.  Walking back along the golf course (use the term very liberally) we were able to photograph the elusive crested crane, which is the national bird of Uganda.  A photo is attached to this blog.

Barbara and Dave M spent the day touring around with the HANDS team. They visited four of the sites used for the first potato crop, two sites where HOPE seeds were planted, one site where potatoes were being grown using organic fertilizer and the NARO field research station. It was a long day packed into a vehicle packed with from 12 to 14 people.

At 7:45 pm Pro Ride arrived with an ambulance from Kampala to pick up our driver Rashid and deliver our new driver Baker. So we are all set for the rest of the trip.