A Day in the Life of the Roving Team (Tuesday, Oct 21)

0620 – Cell phone alarm goes off, time to wake up.

0630 – Cell phone alarm goes off, again. Actually wake up.

0640 – Breakfast, (eat as much as we can because we don’t know the next time we’ll be eating again.)

0700 – Pack our bags/the truck with everything that we’ll need for the day.

0720 – Leave the guesthouse for the day and pick up Yona, the Diocese Water Engineer, from the Kagando Hospital Entrance.

0800 – Reach the farthest possible point accessible by car and set out on foot.

0830 – Meet the Local Chairman of the village, part ways with Mike. He goes with the chairman to map out the schools and churches in the community while me and Asaph go to investigate the sources. We’ll switch roles tomorrow.

0855 – Reach Buzira Primary School, draw a crowd/following, as is typical with most kids we see. Get my pencil sharpened with a razor blade because the school does not have a functioning pencil sharpener.

1000 – See a fruit that I’ve never seen before. Ask Yona if it is edible only to turn around to see the guy behind me already eating one. Apparently, it’s wild, but edible. I eat five, they’re good.

1100 – Over three hours and just short of a 1000m higher than where we set out on foot, reach our first source of the day, the source of the Kabungi stream. However, it’s barely a trickle so we take the measurements just because we walked all that way to see it, but don’t bother with a sample because there isn’t enough flow to use.

1120 – Reach another source of the same stream a few hundred metres downhill. The flow still isn’t enough to really make it project worthy, but it is more than the first source so we take a sample.

1245 – Reach the source of the Kahindangoma stream. Clear the area and dig back until we find where the water originates from. Flow measures over three litres per second; this is good news, but less than Yona had measured on a previous visit.

1400 – Re-measure the flow about a hundred metres downstream to see if there is a great difference, which would indicate that there may be another eye somewhere upstream. The flow is about five lps, which is enough to warrant further investigation if our design requires more than the three lps we have already measured. Break out the banana pancakes (small Ugandan pastries that resemble bite-size pancakes, and are also our “lunch”). Share with the seven other guys that have joined us at various points of our journey so we each get just two pancakes. Start our trek back down the mountain.

1515 – Pass by the house of one of the men who are accompanying us. He goes into his garden to get some more wild fruits, as well as some passion fruits. I eat another five of the wild fruits, at least, and a handful of passion fruits too.

1600 – Meet back up with Mike on the trail on the way to the truck, and share successes/failures/other interesting facts (like the wild fruit) that happened that day.

1630 – Reach the truck, (after two months, this has been ingrained in us as being one of the most welcome sights, especially after a long day of walking like today) and drive back home. This picture's actually taken from one of the ridges we climbed in Kyrumba, about 1000 metres above where we parked the truck. I thought it was pretty cool that we could still see it from the top.

1700 – Drop off Yona at the hospital and return to the guesthouse. Greetings and pleasantries with the staff, standard Ugandan procedure with everyone you meet.

1730 – Glorious shower (cold water only though, but still glorious).

1800 – John and Katherine, a young couple from Florida who are working here for six months and who we met last week at the Kasese guesthouse, stop by.

1805 – I teach John how to eat the wild fruit, it’s his first time. He likens it to an unripe raspberry (I don’t think he liked it very much). Because of John’s reaction, Katherine’s too wary to try it herself.

1900 – Stomach can’t wait for dinner any longer; it’s been twelve hours since breakfast, our last meal. Drink a cup of tea to sooth the hunger pangs.

1930 – Dinner, my favourite time of the day! Dinner tonight consists of macaroni (our spaghetti), Irish Potatoes, Dodo (our spinach), Goat (the most common meat here in Uganda) stew, and bananas.

2000 – Download GPS data for the day and call Yona to arrange tomorrow’s schedule (which will be going back to Kyrumba, re:October 17 Blog, and once again, I’m driving…)The picture is of one of the little obstacles (I mean, rivers), that we came across along the only road into Kyrumba.

2030 – Go to the hospital canteen to buy more banana pancakes for tomorrow’s lunch.

2100 – Asaph goes to bed, too tired even to practice typing (we’re trying to teach him some basics to use a computer and most recently, he’s been learning to type).

2115 – Hear a weird buzzing noise (last night, we found a three inch long cockroach looking insect, so now we’re paranoid), Asaph gets up to investigate (me and Mike aren’t willing to do anything), it turns out be a small ladybug-like insect that’s capable of making noise far beyond its size.

2200 – Me and Mike pass out, content that we stayed awake all the way until 10pm.

2400-000 – A new day begins, we’ll start afresh, with the same goals, but for a different location.

*Obviously, everyday isn’t as long, or as hard as today was, but I think that today was a pretty good summary of a lot of what we do on a regular basis. Some would call it work, others, maybe something worse; but a lot of the time when I’m up in the hills, staring at the backdrop of the immense Rift Valley, the towering Rwenzori Mountains, or one of the Great Lakes (of Africa, that is), I can’t help but consider myself very blessed to be able to be doing what it is I’m doing.

On another, completely unrelated note and for no apparent reason other than to more accurately describe what this blog is about, I’ll be changing my blog address to wesinuganda.blogspot.com. So please use that address in the future.

Oh, Kyrumba! (Thursday, Oct 23)

So a couple of blogs ago, I claimed that I had just driven the most difficult road ever in my life. Well we went back to the same place yesterday and, again, I was driving. Just when we thought we’d found the worst road ever, we were shown otherwise. It had rained the last few nights in Kagando, so it wasn’t a surprise that the ground was wet and the roads slightly muddy. However, it had apparently rained hard enough for one of the streams to take out part of the road, leaving behind a gap about two feet deep and a foot wide all the way across! I think our first thoughts were something along the lines of, “Oh well, guess we’re not going to Kyrumba today…” which then turned to, “It can’t be THAT bad, you think we could get across?” followed by, “Yea, pretty sure we can do this, we’re engineers!” And so, with the help of some passer-bys, we built a sort of bridge/dam using banana trees and rocks to drive across. In the end, it took a lot of maneuvering coupled with a few “what have we gotten ourselves into” moments, but we made it across, and managed to get in a full day of work at Kyrumba. However, all three sources that we examined came back with E. Coli, meaning that, at the end of the day, we weren’t much farther ahead than if we had just turned back…

On another note, after three nights in Kagando, we returned to the Kasese guesthouse tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll be heading north to Kitswamba to visit a couple of new sources that the LCIII, head of the sub-county, has identified. Kitswamba is widely known throughout the Kasese district as being the area in greatest need for water, so it would be wonderful if we could find water to bring to the people in the communities there. So far, we’ve looked at a couple possible sources but they have either turned out to have insufficient flow, poor quality, or both. And while we want to be optimistic, in reality, if we don’t find a good source this time around, chances are that we won’t be going back to Kitswamba another time. Tomorrow night, we’ll be camping out somewhere between Kitswamba and Kaswa and then head to Kaswa on Saturday to see another source. This is also an important visit as we need another clean source in Kaswa to add to the flow from the existing sources we have already found. We currently have enough water for about half of a project proposal, which will serve about the population in one parish; however, we’re hoping that with another source, we’d be able to make it one complete project proposal, and be able to supply the two bordering parishes with water as well. In short, the next two days are quite important in that the results may confirm, or cancel, the potential for any water projects in these two locations.

EDIT: The internet café was closed when we went tonight so this won’t be posted til after we get back on Saturday night, at which time I’ll be able to post the results as well.

Water!

Yes, it took almost three weeks, over thirty visits to possible sources, and countless hills climbed, but we’ve now finally found a water source sufficient to fulfill the criteria for a CIDA proposal. Even better, we’ve probably got enough water for two full separate projects, and possibly one more that we just haven’t had the chance to see yet. I can’t tell you how elated we were when we arrived at the source on Thursday to see (and hear) the water that we’d been searching for since the beginning of the month. The picture above shows the valley that we are hoping to serve with one of the water sources.

To give you a little background, a typical ACTS project aims to serve about ten thousand people with a source that yields 3 litres per second. Until Thursday, none of the sources that we had seen had even come to half of our desired amount of water. So it was quite the event to finally find an adequate source, and one that actually gives 5 litres per second. Now Yona, who is actually the one who deserves the credit for finding the source, has ambitious plans to serve twenty thousand people, essentially everyone in the valley down from the source. And while we’re not as optimistic that we’ll be able to do complete such a large project, at least all in one go, the problem of how many people we’ll be able to bring water to is much more enticing than trying to figure out when/if we’d ever find water. So for those of you who have been praying for our work, this is definitely a HUGE prayer answered.

Next week, we’ll be staying at the diocese guesthouse in Kagando, and maybe even camping out in the hills, as we’ll be much closer to the sources than the guesthouse in Kasese. Now that we have sources, the next step is to meet with the local community leaders to begin gathering information about the local population that we’ll be aiming to serve. We’ll also be mapping out the topography of the area to be able to do calculations. Once we’ve got all the information, the actual design of the pipeline is actual the quick and easy part and we’re hoping that, if all goes well, our hopes are to have at least one complete design by the end of this week.

I think I can, I think I can... (Friday, Oct 17)

So I drove some roads that I wouldn’t have thought possible before today. It really gives a whole new definition to off-roading, except that we were actually driving on “roads”! We were headed out to check out some sources in the Kyrumba Sub-county, and in some spots, the road was most probably the worst that I’ve EVER driven, and I’ve been on some pretty questionable roads, especially during my time in Uganda.

Unfortunately, none of the pictures we’ve got from today do justice to the steepness, narrowness, or overall perilous condition of the road. (This may have been in part due to the fact that everyone was holding on for dear life during the best photo opportunities/most harrowing moments.) And of course, this adventure wouldn’t have been with the same if we hadn’t gotten the truck stuck in two places. The first time required the help of a group of about 8 bystanders to pull/push the rear tire of truck back onto the road after it had partially slid into a ditch. The second time was basically during a torrential downpour, as I tried to keep control of the truck as we drove (slid) down the same hill that I had gotten stuck on the way up, take a sharp corner while crossing a stream, and get up an equally steep uphill with a rock face on one side and a valley on the other. The rain had turned the road to mud meaning that the little traction that I had on the drive up to the source, no longer existed on the way down. And with the truck perched precariously, half straddling the stream, we were forced to stop and pretty much cover the uphill side of the road with large rocks to get through the several inch thick mud that had earlier been a road.

But, at the end of the day, we managed to get where we needed to go, check out the sources AND find water, get through safely, and have some new adventures to share! However, because we found water there, we’ll need to go back to map out the area and complete a design for the pipeline. I call not driving…

The picture is from the first time I got stuck. Notice the crowd that’s gathered to watch, no pressure at all, eh?

Camping in Uganda!

We’ve spent the past three days camping out in a church in the Katunda area, about two hours from Kasese, in search of water sources in the region. It was quite the experience for both Yona and Asaph, as neither of them had used tents, or even sleeping bags, before! The view here, at about 1800 meters above sea level, is amazing, the people are even friendlier than usual, the hospitality has been wonderful, AND we’ve found a few decent sources that have potential for projects! The roads, on the other hand, are less than stellar, even by Ugandan standards. In fact, as you can see in the picture, they are more like small footpaths than anything meant for a truck to drive on (Notice the amazing view in the background, though my camera totally doesn't do it justice.)

So, here in Uganda, it seems that there is a chairman/person for everything. Accordingly, there is a water chairman for the two sub-county’s where we were working. We met him on our way up to the site on the first day, and after hiking up and down hills all day in pursuit of water, he walked another thirteen kilometers back home. Even more incredibly, he was back at 7:30 the next morning, and the morning after that as well. To top it off, the chairman is in his sixties, and he always wears dress clothes, complete with a blazer! Hahaha, yes, it is a little bit embarrassing, and inspiring though, as I struggle to pull myself up yet another hill, to look back and see him with no sign of sweat or fatigue.
There is a definite sense of hope and excitement from the chairman and the other community leaders whenever they meet with us and it is obvious they have expectations for us to help their communities. And with that comes a degree of responsibility to produce, which is why it is all the more rewarding when we do find an adequate source with which we can put forth a proposal for.


On that note, we had a very encouraging meeting with the Kasese District Water Office today. We had hoped to get some information regarding possible sources and they were able to do one better, by providing completed designs for potential projects. It turns out that both organizations share the same goal, which is to bring clean water to as many people as possible. The office has already identified many priorities in the district and developed plans for these communities, but has no funding to carry out the projects. ACTS, on the other hand, is looking for projects for which we can construct with funding from the Canadian government. So it appears that our two organizations may be a perfect compliment to each other and I really pray that we will be able to work together, for the benefit of the Ugandan people.

Seeing Spots! (Monday, Oct 6)

Yes, that’s right, I’ve seen a leopard, up close, in real life, in the wild… kinda.. We were on our way up to Kasese (where me, Mike and Asaph will probably be working for the next month) when we spotted the leopard, not more than 15 metres from the road. Two weeks ago, on our way back from a preliminary trip to Kasese, we spotted a group of elephants, but this leopard easily tops that! It is particularly awesome because leopards and lions are the most elusive of all the animals, even safaris often do not see them, but we got to see one just metres from our car. (I was driving at the time and haven't yet got Mike's pictures of the leopard, so this picture is just pulled off google... =p)

I’m currently staying in the town of Kasese, working with the South Rwenzori Diocese of the Anglican Church of Uganda. While in many places throughout the world, water systems are the jurisdiction of the government, that is not completely the case in Uganda. The diocese here has its own water engineer, who is working with us to identify feasible potential projects that ACTS can help construct. Thus far, we’ve spent two days at two different possible project sites. However, both initial test results indicate that the quality of the water sources are not clean enough to retain funding for a project. The water engineer, Yona, has identified these two locations as the most urgent needs within the Diocese. However, without clean test results, we won’t be able to help these communities. Yona is an extremely faithful man, and he has been earnestly praying that God would provide some adequate sources for us to be able to help these communities. So as we head back up to these sources this coming week, I ask you pray that we would receive clear direction, in the form of test results, in regards to the future of these two projects.

On a side note, the motherboard in my laptop has died (or so Dell tech support tells me) and is on its way home back to Canada, where the warranty is valid. Thus, I no longer have a personal computer to use. On the bright side, we discovered this on the morning just before we left for Kasese, so we were able to bring another laptop along. Had my laptop died later that day, that wouldn’t have been possible and then, we would have had a real problem. So, I guess the lesson of the day is that God’s always got things worked out; if we’re just willing to serve, He’ll take care of the little things, as He always does.

Finally, I ask that you pray for the relationships between me, Mike, Asaph and Yona as essentially, we’ll be a team for the next month. With bad water quality results from the past few sources, as well as some unsuccessful meetings with local district and community offices, we (in particular, me and Mike) are beginning to feel some pressure to find some viable projects soon. So once again, my two main prayer requests at the moment are for:
1. the four of us to work well together as a team, and
2. that we would be able to find at least one adequate water source in the coming week.

Country of a Thousand Hills...

I am now back in Uganda after an awesome weekend in Rwanda! We spent two days in Kigali, which is quite small and peaceful, especially for a country’s capital city, and two more days in a town called Gisenyi, on the coast of Lake Kivu near the border with the Congo. Overall, Rwanda is a beautiful country and arguably, the safest and most stable country in East Africa. This is even more impressive considering the tragedy of the genocide, which took place just fourteen years ago, and it’s pretty incredible how far the country has come since then. The Hotel Mille Collines, made famous by the movie Hotel Rwanda, is located right in the heart of the city and as we walked the streets of Kigali, it was difficult to imagine the atrocities that probably happened in those exact places not that long ago. The visit to the national memorial was somber, but necessary, and while it is clear that the Rwandan people have worked hard to get past the horrific results of ‘94, they are also determined to remember it in order to prevent anything of the like from every transpiring again.

Our time in Gisenyi was also quite memorable, as me and Chris met an awesome group of Rwandans on the beach the first afternoon we were there. Most of them spoke some English in addition to French, the official language in Rwanda. It was perfect because I was able to practice my French and vice versa for them. It was quite the memorable day, and I truly felt as if I was really able to understand, appreciate, and experience the Rwandan culture. It was pretty funny to see the Rwandans, as they came to recognize how similar we all really are, even though we look different and come from such different upbringings. In a sense, it was more of a cultural experience for them, than it was for us! After the beach, we had a candlelight dinner together (there was a power outage), and it was really awesome to see how much it meant to them. Several of them told me that it was the first time they’d ever eaten at the same table with a “Muzungu” (African for white man), and obviously, an Asian, as well. Another highlight of the trip was finding a restaurant offering a heaping plate of rice, beans, sweet potato, spaghetti, and chips (essentially, potato wedges) for 200 Rwandan Francs (equivalent to about 40 cents Canadian!) This was a particularly good find because me and Chris decided to set a budget of 10000 Francs ($20Cdn)for the day we left Kigali. This had to get us to Gisenyi, feed us three meals, and pay for lodging for the night. Breakfast and the bus set us back 4000, but lunch only cost 200 and we found dorms in the Presbyterian church guesthouse for 1200 a bed. So, we ended up having enough money leftover to pay for dinner for 14! We revised our budget to 5000 francs for the next day, which still proved to more than enough to get by comfortably. Overall, Rwanda proved to be quite the captivating country, full of new experiences, awesome people, cheap food, and a ton of great memories!

A few pics...

I'm not sure how to line up the captions with each image in a more aesthetically pleasing/organized format; so just consider it a game of matching up each caption with the corresponding picture...

Just the rookies (the interns plus Geoff and Ros) and our awesome Ryankole teacher!














The first possible source that we visited. Unfortunately, it didn't have the capacity that is needed to secure funding for a project from CIDA.












The current source of water for one of the local communities. This picture basically tells it all, and ultimately, is the reason that we're working here in Uganda.














Just a typical Ugandan road. (The trucks needed a "running" start from the bottom of the hill to be able to get up and over to the church on the other side.)
















One of the many wonders of God's creation. We can't stop taking pictures of them so I'll keep posting pictures of 'em.











Another one of God's creations, we don't appreciate these guys as much though. Here they are enjoying Julia and Steph's doughnuts.











And finally, how many people can you fit in a pick-up truck?

Answer: We're still not sure, but the current record we've witnessed is around thirty. Yea, we lost count...