Wednesday 29^th October 2014

The last two days have been full of a mixture of encouragements, frustrations and some interesting diversions.

Tuesday morning involved a trip to the local District Council Offices My heart always sinks a little as I am ushered into a long dingy rather grubby corridor with rooms coming off it with large untidy piles of files gathering dust and people sitting around often less than enthusiastically undertaking their duties! We sat down in a District Administrators office who proceeded to explain the tangled web we would need to work through to alter our status from a limited company with its tax implications to a CBO (community based organisation) and thence to an NGO (non-government organisation) It was clear that this wasn’t going to be straightforward but the official involved did his best to help copying a couple of vital sheets to guide us through the application process.

I left the offices somewhat downhearted but as we were exiting the compound a Mzungu( white person) stopped and offered us a lift back to town which avoided the ever perilous Boda Boda (Motor cycle taxi) ride. Geoff is a retired fireman now married to Rhoda who was brought up in Mityana We had a very stimulating discussion. Rhoda runs her own NGO helping women who have been raped so they have considerable experience in negotiating the administrative obstacle race. He like me has considerable reservations about how many different NGOs are now working in Mityana all working in isolation and not sharing their experience On Monday we had the pleasure of meeting a group who are working in a local community centre funded from the UK. We were very pleased to meet those who were spending between 1 and 3 weeks here but it was all a chance meeting as was the encounter with Geoff and Rhoda. I have a very strong feeling that there should be some kind of informal network of NGOs especially those from the UK to allow sharing of experience and helping each other to avoid mistakes and duplication of effort. We shall see…..

Yesterday afternoon we went again in search of the Railway Station-one of my favourite Mityana places. Somehow I can still sense where the steam engines once trundled through the now deserted station. Since we last visited 3 years ago the old road to the station has been opened up and the remaining track has been removed presumably for scrap. I still hope to find some small long forgotten memento hidden away in the grass but it was not to be!

No trains expected in the near future!

The deserted station Only one cow as a prospective passenger

 

 After stopping for a soda we then spent a very interesting 2 hours at the local farm project we wanted to visit.

The fruit farm

 

ON only 3 acres and over a 10 year period Moses has established a model fruit farm with a wide variety of fruit, some vegetables and rearing cows and pigs. He has developed a biogas system and developed ways of producing pesticides from a mixture of animal urine, ground up tobacco and ash. It is a truly amazing experience and a very profitable enterprise. We are hopeful that many of the techniques he has established could be developed at the Ekiwomulu site.

Giant passion fruit

The biogas system

Moses feeding the fish

A guava tree laden with fruit An excellent source of Vitamin C

This morning has again involved another bureaucratic tangle as we have been to see the local lawyer to discuss our Limited Company Registration and CBO application. It is matters like this which are not the attractive side of a project like Ekiwolumu but which have the capacity to cripple the project if not properly handled. At least I know why I didn’t become a lawyer or enter local government!

27^th October 2014

The weekend proved eventful. We were woken early on Saturday morning by the person who make the samosas for Kolping House where we are staying Ann was keen to learn how these were done and an early morning lesson proved very instructive making a good supply of 30 meat and 30 vegetable samosas to meet the days demands! We were even able to eat some of the produce for breakfast.

Susan and Ann with many Samosas

 

Busy at work!

During the course of the day we met with Nora, Stella and Phionah who will fulfil the different jobs needed to run the Café when it is ready. There are a lot of practical issues to thrash out at this stage not least who will dust the craft available for sale each day!  We did also fit in a brief visit to John Bosco's house he is the project assistant who was married just 2 weeks ago

John Bosco's new house

We did try to visit a local farming project in the afternoon but the owner was away for the weekend so that will be something to look forward to during the week. Moses is farming intensively a 3 acre site producing a wide range of fruit and other crops as well as some fish farming.

After going to church yesterday (we arrived an hour late but still we were in church for an hour and a half!) we went to Ekiwolumu for the Primary 7 leaving party. The academic year here runs January to December and the pupils swap from primary to secondary school a year later than at home at the end of year 7. This process involves exams similar to the old 11 plus so it is a stressful time for the pupils. The party is a pre exam jolly to help everyone relax and to encourage them. It was a series of entertainments interspersed with suitable speeches including one by yours truly! It was in fact great fun and some superb local food was provided.

"Slashing the cake"

The Entertainments

Message to the pupils from all their teachers

Today has been spent in some rather projected meetings to help develop the priorities for the structural issues at Ekimowulu, future funding issues for the school and discussing more details regarding the Café. It can sometimes be difficult to know what you have achieved at the end of the time but I used to feel that sometimes after meetings when I worked for the East Sussex Primary Care Trust! At least the solar panels have made it up onto the roof safely!

Solar panels in place

 

The teachers at Ekiwomulu

 

On a brief trip again to the Café we met Emanuel who has been producing some excellent carvings for the front service counter.

Emanuel's carvings on the front counter

As I write this the distant strains of Silent Night are ringing out. Christmas is coming even if the nights are not quite as silent as we would like!

Friday October 24th

This has been a busy week following our arrival at Entebbe on Sunday evening. We had a relatively easy journey from Entebbe to Mityana on Monday taking the opportunity to stop at Papercraft, a workshop using recycled paper to produce a wide range of stationary items.

We are staying in room A16 at Kolping House in the centre of Mityana which remains the best place for us to be based to allow us to meet all those we need to be seeing but having the disadvantage of being rather noisy at nights!

With a list of around 30 tasks to undertake while we are here, after discussing a plan for our 3 weeks here with John Bosco, we visited Ekiwomulu on Tuesday  to briefly see what was happening. We had the opportunity to discuss our forthcoming activities with Samuel the head teacher. Wednesday morning allowed an opportunity to visit the Café. The project is progressing well and the hope is that the Café will open while we are still here but time will tell. Work was being undertaken to complete the vehicle access and also a porch over the main Café entrance. It certainly is an impressive structure and has great potential to help move Esuubi forward to a self-sustaining state.

The vehicle entrance under construction

One major success on Wednesday was a trip to the tax office! We have been struggling to sort out tax registration for Esuubi here in Uganda to enable us to import a shipment of items needed for the Cafe. The process has been somewhat difficult but with the assistance of an amazing man in the tax office the necessary registration was sorted out and the necessary work to authorise the clearing agents at Entebbe to act for us  was completed I have to say it really restored my faith that things can function effectively here after all!

Yesterday was spent doing a walk around all the buildings at Ekiwomulu to make a job list. Overall the buildings remain in good shape but there is still the need for guttering and plastering of the walls of the various buildings. We fortunately were present when both the electrical installers and the water filter servicing agents were on site. We were able to avert a potential problem by ensuring the solar panels for the electrical installation were placed on the roof of the administration block rather than on top of 8 foot poles where they could have easily fallen victim to the 200+ small children on the site! The water filters were also serviced although 2 of the 6 sand filters have become non-functional and will need replacing but the filters nevertheless provide a regular supply of up to 60 litres of drinkable water for each house when they are fully functional.

The solar panels waiting to be roof mounted

The batteries for the electricity supply

Today we have visited Ebenezer secondary school and obtained up to date photographs of all the students. We ended up visiting 3 sites as the students have had to go to stay at various schools that are acting as examination centres for their S4 exams equivalent to GCSE.

There have not been too many casualties so far apart from one pair of glasses that Ann sat on!

Ann busy in the Office!