A Weekend in the Village

From Left to Right: Joshua, Myself, and Titus

This past weekend, I visited the home of two brothers, who are both students from our college. I have known Joshua for the whole year that I have been in Uganda and met his younger brother, Titus, this past semester. I have come to really appreciate both of them; they are younger than most of the other students, but have a passion for their community and for the Lord and are hard workers. I stayed with their family in the village for a little over two days.  

The rest of Joshua and Titus's family in front of their house

The first thing I did when I got to their house was to meet their family. Joshua, Titus, and their sister, live with their Aunt and cousins, plus some other children. In Uganda, many households have relatives living with them. Many times, if you go to a person's house, they will tell you "so and so is my son" when the "son" might actually be a nephew from their deceased brother.

The "Old McDonald Farm"

 Joshua and Titus gave me a grand tour of their aunt's farm. Their aunt who has quite the farm: cows, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, vegetables, and bananas.

Mother pig and her piglets

Joshua with their "Matoke", a cooking banana that is eaten with sauce.

Joshua and Titus with their carrots.

I was happy to hear their carrots were doing well. They told me that they got the idea of growing carrots when they saw me growing them at the college earlier this year.

The beautiful Ugandan countryside/village.

Catherine, the head school master, and Myself

Part of staying in the village included meeting Joshua and Titus's neighbors, friends, and relatives. Catherine is the head school master of the government school in their village. She is a woman who has worked hard to make the village a better place. She was very happy to have me in their village.

Pigs resting in the shade of coffee trees

The diverse agriculture in the village: cows, turkeys, chickens, pigs, coffee, and bananas.

Children threshing soybeans; they hit the stalks with sticks and then gather the beans.

One of the boreholes in the village; most villages will have 1-2 boreholes, depending on the economic status of the village.

Church service under the trees

I spoke at their morning church service. Most of the church members are teenagers. Joshua and Titus are the leaders of the church and have a desire to see people who are taught the Word of God without any compromise. 

I arrived back home Sunday afternoon. Trips like this are always a blessing, but I have to admit I like the luxuries of running water and electric. I especially like a fan to sleep at night.

 Prayer Requests:

1. For me as I travel the next 2 weeks.
2. Elections in February; elections are a time of tension in the country.

Another month in Uganda

This blog post is going to be hogpog of pictures of the past month. So, as you look at the pictures, you will need to switch gears as I move from picture to picture.

Some of the people from in the class "When Helping Hurts" training who also prepared lunch for everyone.

One of the highlights of the past month has been teaching the "When Helping Hurts" curriculum in a village about an hour from my house. I will share more about this training in the future.

My math class. Far left: Simon; Far Right: Shadrack

Simon and Shadrack were two of my math students. Simon has been very instrumental at connecting me with churches in the villages who are interested in taking the "When Helping Hurts" trainings. He also interprets for me at these trainings. Please pray for Shadrack, this morning we received news that he was poisoned the first day he arrived home for Christmas break and is in critical condition. 

My gifts I received after I completed the "When Helping Hurts" training in the village.

The last day of the training, the people at the church showered me with gifts: a chicken, pumpkins, sugar, soap, oranges, eggs, mandazis (an unsweetened donut hole), and enough transport money to cover that days travel. I was happy to see that they were excited to give what they could for the training.

A picture with the bride, groom, and myself.

 This past Saturday I had the privilege of attending my friend Evelyn's wedding. There is a church in Iganga, a town about 2 hours from my house, called Rescue City Church. I have several friends there, including Evelyn. It was good catching up with my friends and attending the wedding.

Sitting in another meeting.  

 A lot of my time has been spent in administrative activities. We are hoping to launch our Department of Community Transformation next semester. This means that there is lots of administrative work to be done: meetings, making brochures, traveling to check up on curriculum and books, etc. Since I am the head of the Department of Community Transformation, I get to chair these meetings and travel various places trying to organize different things. I actually enjoy it.

A typical scene in rural Uganda.

The next several pictures are shots of the Uganda countryside. Uganda is a very beautiful country.

This is a picture from right outside my room after a rain.

I never get tired of the many "moods", as my Uncle put it, that this mountain displays.

Students receiving the work scholarship work at removing some bushes on the college compound.

 Finally, if you are looking for a way to give that will really bless someone, please consider PTC's work scholarship fund. Personally, I can think of few better ways to give money. The scholarship covers 50% of the students tuition costs that semester. They are required to come up with the rest of the money from their church and also by their own means. The students who receive the scholarships are required to work a certain amount, either at the collage or on the farm. This structure brings accountability and initiative on both the students part and their home congregation.

Prayer requests:

1. The upcoming month as I am traveling a good bit.
2. For our Department of Community Transformation, that God would provide students.
3. Shadrack, a student who was in my math class and is in critical condition.
4. For me as I take my GRE exam on Wednesday.

Cow Searching/Touring in Kenya

Left to Right: Cow dealer, myself, and Samuel. This is the first farm we visited in Kenya.

       At Ebenezer Dairy Farm (the farm I help with at the bible college), we are working at refining our herd's genetics and down sizing by selling our lower producing cows, keeping our higher producing cows, and buying one high producing cow. Since I was planning on going to Kenya to visit my Aunt and Uncle anyway, I decided to see what the cow market was like in Kenya. This is a part of Kenya I have wanted to visit ever since I've been living in Uganda. Through some connections, I came in contact with Samuel. Samuel, and some of his colleagues work with an organization called Send a Cow. Send a Cow is under UKAID, but has a program that is similar to Heifer International. They work with women's savings groups in the rural areas of Kenya; after working with the savings group for one year, they buy them a pregnant heifer. The saving group which receives a cow is required to give the first heifer calf away. Samuel and his colleagues were touring some farms to identify heifers for Send a Cow to purchase. They invited me to go along with them in their Land Cruiser to look for heifers. All the cows we saw were either Holstein, Ayrshire, or Guernsey or a mix. I was not helping them, only going with them for the ride and to see if any heifers might be suitable for our farm in Uganda.

Here is a pit for storing silage at the first farm we visited. The corn was about to be harvested and put here. They told me that once this pit is full, it can last this farm up to 8 months.

        The Rift Valley is an area in western Kenya. The elevation is 5000-10,000 ft above sea level. Because of the elevation, it is cooler then most parts of Africa, which makes it conducive for producing milk, wheat, horticulture crops, and tea. It was very fascinating to me because I am used to areas of Africa which are warmer, with little or no dairy production. I am not used to being in an area with so much tea either.

The whole day we were in the Rift valley. Pictures can not describe the beauty there. Tea fields, pasture, corn fields, and vegetables.

Here is an average size tea field, probably around 2 acres. While there are big tea plantations in places, most of the tea fields we saw were small-scale tea operations.

          According to http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/100020-the-worlds-top-10-tea-producing-nations, Kenya ranks 3rd in the world for it's tea production.
       

Notice here the diversity: fenced pasture, a Holstein cow, house, tea field behind the cow, corn behind the tea, eucalyptus and pine trees along the fence.

I got to see some rigs I rarely, if ever, in Africa. This combine was going to harvest wheat.

We didn't stay behind this guy too long. :)

The second farm we stopped at had really nice animals, but they didn't have any heifers for sale.

          

  The third farm we stopped at had a lot of animals, over 100 they said. Because there were so many animals, the care was not as good and the cows didn't look as good as the other three farms we visited. However, because this farm had around 20 heifers that were 3-4 months pregnant, the guys from Send a Cow were able to identify and tag 10 animals which they will go back later and buy. Send a Cow only buys pregnant heifers for their program.

The farm that we visited with the most animals.

The crew from Send a Cow and the farmers working with the cows. Samuel, the guy with his hand in the cow, is pregnancy checking each animal, then the guy in on the right in the black hat was putting eartags in each animal Send a Cow is purchasing. The guy in the white hat was writing down the number of each animal. Many of these heifers were 3-4 months pregnant.

The Land Cruiser we were touring the countryside with.

        The fourth and final farm we visited for the day, also had nice cows. There were probably 50-70 cows and heifers at this farm. What I liked about this farm was that the cows in the pasture reminded me so much of what I might see on a  Pennsylvania farm. I had to keep reminding myself that I was on a dairy farm in Africa, and not in Pennsylvania.

Cows under a shade tree, in a pasture, with a stream running through it.

About the only way to tell that we are in Africa is the small tea field on the side of the hill in the background.

         In the evening, I traveled for about two hours to my Aunt and Uncles house in Kisumu, Kenya. It was a fun day for me. I never saw so many Holstein cows, tea fields, and eucalyptus trees in a days time. The weather was amazing: blue sky, breezy, and comfortable temperatures, I never broke out in a sweat the whole day.

Back in Uganda

         I arrived back in Uganda July 17th, after a great two months at home. The first month at home I was in my friends', Abe and Kate DeHart, wedding. I also spent a lot of time helping on our family farm. It was to run equipment again and not to have to do everything by hand. The second month I spent time traveling, going on vacation with my family, and getting ready to come back to Uganda.

        Upon arriving in Uganda, I didn't have much time to rest. Anthony and Sara Sytsma, missionary friends of mine, were doing a training call "When Helping Hurts". The training was attended mostly by Ugandan pastors and church leaders. So two days after I arrived in Uganda, with jetlag still reminding me I had just arrived in Uganda, I attended the training.

The training included teaching by either Anthony or Sara with everyone and also times of small group discussions.

        I enjoy trainings like this because it is good hear the local perspective. We discussed issues of dependency and how to help beggars and other poor people in their community in ways that can help people develop.

Here the small group I was part of came up with a development plan. Someone was going to grow beans and take them to market to sell.
From left to right: Betty, Lazarus, and myself. 

There were times of laughter as well.
 

        The next weekend, after finishing the training, I went with the Sytsma's and their friend Jeff to hike Mt. Wanali, the mountain I can see from my house. This was the first time I had hiked this mountain.

What Mt. Wanali looks like from my house.

From left to right: Anthony, Jeff, Sara, myself.

Such a sweet little house, surrounded by vegetation and crops.

The water fall in the background is a large waterfall that can be seen from my house.

So much crop diversity in Uganda, especially on these mountains! In the immediate right corner are peas, in the right center are potatoes, on the left is a banana plant, and in the center, it is hard to see, is coffee.

       Following the hike, I traveled to Iganga that very afternoon to visit my pastor friend, Daniel, as well as my friend Luke Kuepfer. Luke is the one who connected me with Daniel. I always enjoy visiting Daniel and his church. I have many friend in Iganga. It was fun visiting Daniel's farm with Luke and his son Jamin.

Visiting Daniel's farm with Luke and his son Jamin.

Daniel and myself in his soybean field.

          I have to say the last month has been such a flurry of activity: working hard on curriculum development and planting crops at the farm. I am excited to say that we are now finished with the outlines of our curriculum development. I was the one heading it up, so that meant many days working with individual staff at the college on the individual programs and late nights editing material when I wasn’t managing things on the farm.

Year 1                                                   Semester 1
Course Code	Course Name	LH	TH	PH	CH	CU
THE 1101	Bible Survey I	45	-	-	45	3
ICT 1101	Basic Computing	30	30	30	60	4
GEN 1101	Communication Skills	20	-	20	30	2
AGB 1101	Introduction to Soil and Plant Physiology	45	-	30	60	4
AGB 1102	Principles of Economics	45	-	-	45	3
AGB 1103	Financial Accounting	45	-	30	60	4
Total CU’s						20
Year 1                                                   Semester 2
Course Code	Course Name	LH	TH	PH	CH	CU
THE 1201	Bible Survey II	45	-	-	45	3
GEN 1201	Christian Worldviews	45	-	-	45	3
AGB 1201	Introduction to Livestock and Dairy Management	30	-	30	45	3
GEN 1202	Research Methods	45	-	-	45	3
AGB 1202	Principles of Agronomy	30	-	30	45	3
AGB 1203	Principles of Agribusiness	45	-	-	45	3
Total CU’s						18
AGB 1204	Internship	-	-	120	60	4
Year 2                                                   Semester 1
Course Code	Course Name	LH	TH	PH	CH	CU
GEN 2101	Christian Ethics	45	-	-	45	3
AGB 2101	Plant Pest Management	45	-	30	60	4
AGB 2102	Small Livestock Care	45	-	30	60	4
AGB 2103	Agricultural Economics	30	-	-	30	2
AGB 2104	Principles of Farm Management	30	-	30	45	3
AGB 2105	Agricultural Policy and Planning	45	-	-	45	3
Total CU’s						19
Year 2                                                  Semester 2
Course Code	Course Name	LH	TH	PH	CH		CU
AGB 2201	Principles of Cattle Management	45	-	30	60		4
AGB 2202	Principles of Crop Production	45	-	30	60		4
AGB 2203	Supply Chain Management	30	-	-	30		2
AGB 2204	Agricultural Marketing	45	-	-	45		3
AGB 2205	Principles of Management	45	-	-	45		3
AGB 2206	Local Economic Development	45	-	-	45		3
Total CU’s							19

This is a the courses we hope to offer in our Agribusiness program. We developed 5 programs: Agribusiness, IT, Child Development, Social Development, and Counseling. Each document was around 50 pages long.         

           At the farm we were very busy the last 6 weeks, as the rains began the end of March. We planted 3.5 acres of corn, intercropped with kidney beans. We planted another 2 acres of Eucalyptus trees and surrounded all of our 15 acres of land with Eucalyptus trees, 1700 trees in all. 

This is what our trees will hopefully look like in a couple of years.

            Some of the other crops we planted were: Napier grass to feed the cows, bananas, mangos, papayas, jackfruit, oranges, and avocados. Most of these fruits we only planted a few of so that we would have them to eat at the school. 

Napier Grass, one of the most common animal forages in Africa.

Maize (corn), intercropped with kidney beans. Both are staple foods in Uganda.

Jackfruit are quite large and hang on a tree in an interesting way.

After it rains, sometimes we get a fog or haze around the mountain.

            Most of you probably heard that I am coming back to the States for 2 months, before returning to Uganda in July. I am excited to see family and friends, be part of my friends’ wedding, and working on our farm. The last 7 months in Uganda have been very good, I praise God for ways He helped me grow spiritually and emotionally by the people and situations He put in my path.