Thursday 3rd May

Pedigree long-horns

A goat being sold!

Alice bringing wood for bean poles.

Matoke being prepared!

The local milk carrier’s motorbike.

In the picture above the cattle are pedigree long-horns. Many Ankole long-horn cattle will have brown or grey horns and are not pure-bred. John hopes to improve yields of milk by cross-breeding high-quality Ankole cattle with Fresians and Holsteins. He also wants to maintain a pedigree herd which will mean that the planned agricultural field centre on the site will be a centre of excellence for the breed. Their horns are amazing, almost completely white and much larger than the less pure-bred examples elsewhere.

After a bit of a lie-in we went to Mpara Market via the petrol station and the mill. At the mill, we paid for the grinding of three large bags of flour to make Posho – 75,000 Ugsh or £15

At the market we were shadowed by someone the whole time who was looking for an opportunity to commit mischief, we were also of interest to quite a few people who had not seen white people before!

The track from the farm to the road.

Long-horn cattle about to set off from the market!

The livestock route from the sales-pens to the lorries.

In the evening, Vicar and Lay Reader came round to say farewell. We showed them pictures of Ashton-under-Lyne and Droylsden. In the early evening we took a few pictures around the farm. …………….

Peeling beans!

Wednesday 2nd May 2018

Alice took us on a tour of her part of the farmland this morning. Among other things we saw loads of beans and plantain, plenty of passion-fruit, pumpkin, maize, cassava, chinese gooseberries, apples, mangos, pawpaw, chickens, geese, rabbits and goats. There are just a few photos below ….

John’s focus is on the cattle and we’ll see more of them in a later post.

In the afternoon, “2.00pm sharp,” said John, we were to head off with the local vicar and lay reader to a daughter church to the south-west of Kijongobya. The two of us were ready as requested. The vicar and lay reader turned up at just before 2.00pm and we sat down for a short while to talk. Then, at about 2.15pm, lunch was served! We did not set off until after 3.00pm!

The visit was to St. John, Kishagazi. We both were expected to preach once again and the ‘short event of little more than an hour’ (John again!), turned out to be a 3-hour event followed by a meal! The hospitality was great and the food was good.

Tuesday 1st May 2018

Heavy morning rain. This kept us inside for much of the morning. Just a few quick photos on the farm!

In the afternoon, we visited Mpara, the small local town halfway to Kyegegwa, and attended the small daily market. Our presence caused quite a stir. People in this area have only ever seen white people driving past quickly in cars, so to have us stop and take some time near their stalls was a novelty for them.

The Lay Reader at the church in Kijongobya told us that we were the first white people he has ever talked to!

Monday 30th April 2018

Humid morning. Flies all over the surfaces in the dining room. Food needing, more than ever, to be covered! Breakfast of egg-on-toast was disturbed by a chicken determined to lay its egg in its favourite place. Turns out that this was the settee in the seat next to Jo.

In the morning we had a visit to Kijongobya Modern Primary School for their end of term prize-giving and service.

We also dropped down behind the school to find one of the boreholes that we have helped to fund. This one goes to quite a depth ……… 250ft. The borehole was dug by Nile Drilling with a professional report provided at the end of the work.

The water tank on the metal frame will serve the village of Kijongobya and the lower tank will serve the school. The low level buildings to the left of the raised tank are the teachers’ accommodation. Teacher’s pay is 250,000 shillings, or thereabouts, per month. This works out as about £50!!

After this we visited the new borehole on the farmland before seeing water being pumped from the older shallower borehole which was installed early in the life of the farm but which only reaches a depth of 50ft and can run dry later in the dry season.

Vertical electrical sounding was first undertaken to establish most likely water-bearing strata at each new borehole location. A borehole was then drilled in each location to levels suggested by interpretation of the survey results. At the determined best level for supply in each borehole, both a constant discharge test and a recovery test were undertaken. Elias, our ‘godson’ is a trained water-engineer and supervised the work.

Pumps still need to be bought and installed, the Nile Drilling’s report specifies these as needing to be electrical submersible pumps …. Electrical supply: 1.5kW; maximum flow rate: 2.5 metres cubed; required head: 100 metres maximum.

Late afternoon and evening were spent at Katonga Wildlife Reserve.

Sunday 29th April 2018

Kijongobya Church Sunday service is usually at 10.00am, at least that is the advertised time. Revised to 10.30am. Actually started at 11.00am. There have been heavy rains in the parish and getting to church was hard work for many.

We were told late yesterday that we would both be preaching at the service. On their monthly mission Sunday the church always has two preachers, each expected to preach for at least 30 to 40 mins, preferably longer!

Always thankful that we need to be translated, ….. it cuts the length of the sermon we need to prepare!

Sunday lunch at about 2.30pm followed by a siesta which lasted a while …. not up again until about 6.45pm! Evening meal of plantains, tomatoes and avocados, and good conversation before bed at 10.00pm.

Saturday 28th April 2018

Intended an early start for the journey to Kyegegwa and Kijongobya and our visit to John and Alice’s farmland. Set off about an hour later than intended and found ourselves waiting for a SIM at the MTN offices for not far off 3 hours.

On the Fort Portal road by about 1.00pm. The first couple of miles is now dual carriageway.

Stopped at the Esuubi Cafe for a coffee and cake at about 4.00pm.

http://www.esuubi.org.uk/esuubi-cafe

Arrived at the farmland at about 6.30pm. The last 22km from Kyegegwa were on murram road.

This is probably as remote as it gets in a heavy populated country like Uganda. Land in this part of Uganda is cheap. There is no electricity or other services. Before John and Alice bought land here there was no effective school in the most local village.

They are developing the farmland and local area with boreholes but as yet no permanent way of pumping the water around. Solar panels provide just enough power for charging phones and lights.

Greetings from Revd. John Tumusiime!😇😃😃.

Thursday 26th April 2018

Arrived in Kampala late today. Picked up from Entebbe and arrived at Whitecrest by about 10.45pm. A cup of tea with Lisa Kansiime before going off to bed. Despite this being the rainy season and so cooler it feels hot and humid to us!

On the flight from Amsterdam to Kigezi before the second leg to Kampala.

Our guest house in Kampala is owned by one of John and Alice Tumusiime’s sons, SimonPeter Kansiime and his wife Lisa ….