Quarantine in Uganda

By Lauren

Hi dear friends,

First, let us say that we miss you and we pray that our Father has sustained you in this season. We hope that He has shown you more of His love and care. We pray that He has continued to cultivate a deeper posture of gratitude for those around you and for the provision that He has over you each day.

I just finished reading through 1 Peter- in chapter 1:3-4 the verses say, "... we have a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.." How incredible to know that our Hope is in the finished work of Jesus on the cross and that Hope does not diminish, does not go bad, and this Hope is the purest of pure.

It seems that most of the world has been forced to be in hibernation over the last few months.  Here in Uganda, it has been no different. When we got back to our home in Uganda in mid February, we jumped right into working hard to settle back into our home- to set up things and our life again and we both got back to work while trying to navigate a new rhythm with a newborn.

We had Eric’s sister, Susanna, with us who was supposed to participate in a 3-month volunteer stint here that was quickly diverted when lockdown started, her opportunities diminished, and we got her on an emergency flight out of Uganda (since the borders and airports had closed down).

Here is what life has looked like for us recently:

Eric’s work:

I (Eric), will give you a short update on the farming that I've been doing, followed by pictures. I will explain each picture in the caption below the picture. I am mainly farming right now and not traveling to the communities because it is illegal to gather and meet with more than 5 people. I have my 1/4 acre garden on our compound, a 1/3 acre garden outside our gate, and a 2 acre garden/field that I'm helping with on Reverend Kenneth's land. Reverend Kenneth is the man I worked with in the communities before the lockdown. He has a large piece of land. His sons do a lot of the labor, but I go twice a week to instruct on the next phase, and help when I'm there. I've enjoyed getting to know Reverend Kenneth's family.

We live next door to a government owned property, where about 10 soldiers stay. Two months ago, a soldier, named Awilo, came and asked me if I could help farm the piece of land outside our gate. It's been a great opportunity to teach him while also demonstrating for all the people that walk past on the road.

I'm again planting things on our compound, as a way to get produce, but also to try different methods of growing crops.

This is Reverend Kenneth's 3/4 acre of corn, intercropped with cassava. 

Reverend Kennth and I.

At Reverend Kenneth's field, we planted maize and put DAP (a fertilizer that has phosphorus and nitrogen) on part of the on maize after we covered. The maize on the right had the DAP and the maize on the left did not, the difference is quite stark.

We planted cabbage and then covered them with pieces of banana stalk. This shades the fragile transplants from the hot sun; after several days, we remove the banana stems.

Inside our compound, we intercropped ginger and cilantro. Ginger takes over a month to germinate, so I want to see if I can harvest a crop of cilantro before the ginger becomes too large.

This is our neighbor, Awilo, in the garden plot in front of our house. Here, we are planting corn in the dug rows, and sweet potatoes in the mounds, between the maize. The idea is to intercrop in such a way so that plants are occupying the plot vertically (maize) and horizontally (sweet potatoes) so that the net production per acre is higher, than if the plot was split in two and each crop was grown separately. I want to see if the sweet potato vines and cover the ground, helping to preserve moisture and smother the weeds, while the maize grows. Stay tuned!

This picture is from the same field as the picture above, 2 weeks later.

Several weeks ago we had a chameleon in a small mango tree in our compound.

They can change colors so quickly. This picture was taken only 1 minute before the picture below (he is on the stick to the right of the picture).

Collard greens (right), tomatoes (left), and butternut squash and passion fruit (back). Here is another intercropping setup where I'm growing crops horizontally and vertically. Butternut squash is a vine that crawls on the ground. The passion fruit are beginning to climb up the arbor.

More butternut squash outside. I was starting to get what I believed were snails eating the squash. Insecticide does not work on snails, since they are mollusks, I put chicken manure around each plant, hoping that the "saltiness" of the fresh chicken manure would deter the snails just long enough, for the squash to grow bigger to the point where snails wouldn't bother them anymore. The chicken manure will then become fertilizer for the squash. I did end up losing one more hill of squash to something, so I'm not sure if it worked so well.

This is at the base of a banana plant. We dug these holes and planted Turmeric. Another example of intercropping. My goal is for the turmeric to benefit from the manure and mulch that I add to the bananas, while increasing the net production of bananas and turmeric, compared to if each was grown separately.  

Lauren: We are grateful that I am still able to work! My work is curriculum writing from home for an organization that is based in the capital of Kampala. Therefore I spend a few hours each day writing and creating on my computer! I am also still able to meet with my prayer group in the area (online) and of course, I have the joy of being with Aubrey Anne each day. Since we are not able to drive anywhere or participate in public exercise, all of our activities are around our compound, including stroller rides.  We do take a walk to town as a family about once a week to go to the grocery store or to stop at a coffee shop for a coffee/tea date!

Aubrey Anne loves doing leg lifts!

Here we are at the coffee shop, she had just woken up and had a very confused look on her face! 

Family Life: We have loved living life and interacting with our little (and definitely growing) 4.5 month Aubrey Anne! We may have way too many photos and videos on our phones yet there is much to document from her each day (and we need to keep grandparents updated :) ) We have also had the joy of zoom calls and Facetiming a lot of friends and family both near and far!

Eric took Aubrey Anne in the truck to pick up bamboo poles just down the road.

We also get to participate in the Psalms Devotional each afternoon with our community from Grace Fellowship Church (GFC) in State College, PA as well as Worship Wednesday with The District Church in Washington, DC. We also are able to “attend” church with these two communities each week since churches are closed here and online worship is not an option.

During our Psalms Zoom call, Aubrey Anne was so alert and watching our teacher on the computer.

A special thank you to each of you for your prayers and love. We would especially like to thank our Advocacy Team at GFC for their overall support and care for us as we are in Uganda.

With love and joy, 

Eric, Lauren, and Aubrey Anne