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!