Saturday 5th May 2018

After a long day travelling yesterday, we took our time getting up today.

We then had a bit of time around Rukungiri.

Coffee beans being dried in the sun close to Rukungiri Modern Primary School.

The view from our bedroom window.

Rukungiri – A: Rondavels Hotel; B: Gables Technical School; C: All Saints Church; D: Rukungiri Modern Primary School; E: Rukungiri Modern Nursery School; F: the house Roger stayed in in 1997.

And we were able to visit the two parts of Rukungiri Modern School, the Nursery and the Primary Schools. It is school holidays at present, so any pictures of children in school unform in this post are from earlier visits or photos taken by others.

Sheep grazing on the playing field at the Nursery School.

Rukungiri Modern Nursery School above, Rukungiri Modern Primary School below.

Banner from Manchester in 2013.

School Kitchens!

School toilets!

We also visited the home that I, Roger, stayed in with John and Alice in 1997, which is now used by a carpenter.

A plan to travel to Katwekamwe, John and Alice’s home village was postponed because of rain.

Friday 4th May 2018

We left the farmland at lunchtime. In the morning John took us on a drive along one of the boundaries of the land that has been purchased. While we were out I asked him about how the project was set up. The pictures below are taken from different points on the boundary of their land and are taken on the zoom setting on my phone camera. The farm buildings are close to the horizon in each picture. They sit in the middle of the land …..

The land that has been purchased is of a very significant size and, as well as providing a good food supply for the primary and technical schools in Rukungiri, it is intended that an agricultural field school will be set up at Kijongobya (in Kyegegwa District) which will work alongside Gables Technical School in Rukungiri and broaden the possible courses of study for those young people who do not go on to higher education.

All of John and Alice’s projects have been set up with trustees and are managed by that group of trustees. They also have a charity in the UK which is run independently by people in the UK …… Rukungiri Orphan Partnership. (http://www.rop.uk.net and on Facebook.)

The vision is clearly John and Alice’s, and John is now 67 years old. It is difficult to imagine him retiring but it will happen one day. Between them they have set up teams of competent people in each of their projects who now run those projects without a great deal of interference from John and Alice. John and Alice are working with a group of younger people at the farmland at the moment training them to take on particular management roles. It is too early as yet to appoint an overall manager of the framland project but ultimately that will be the plan …….

They have also set up a school in Kijongobya working on the same principles as Rukungiri Modern. We have already shared some details about Kijongobya Modern Primary School in an earlier post.

One of the boreholes we have helped to fund will supply both the school and the village with water. The next phase of that project is to purchase a submersible pump and generator and to build a pumphouse for the generator and to protect the borehole. You have seen pictures of the water tanks (in an earlier post) which are ready and waiting for the pump.

We were planning to bring a group from Ashton Deanery to Uganda in 2017 but people found the likely cost prohibitive. We planned a two night stay at the farmland as things were a little more basic year or so ago. But we thought that a couple pictures of our room at the farmland might give a good impression of what it might be like to stay there. If you were ever to think about doing so!😇

We also thought that a couple of maps might help place where we have been for the past few days ……

On this first map, Kampala can be seen on the extreme right and the village of Kijongobya is marked by the blue ‘flag’ it is about 25km south of the Fort Portal road at Kyegegwa. The grey/black line to the left of the picture is the international boundary with the DRC (the Democratic Republic of Congo).

This larger scale map shows the Katonga Game Reserve, ths Katonga River and Kigongobya District (still marked by the blue ‘flag) in a little greater detail.

This last map shows Rukungiri in the centre (red ‘flag’). Mitoma which is marked onnthe first map above can be seen to the north-east of Rukungiri, Lake Edward to the north-west, the international boundary is visible on the left of the map. The towns of Kabale and Kisoro appear to the south along with Lake Mutanda and Lake Bunyoni. The international boundary south of Kisoro is the border with Rwanda.

And some pictures of people ……..

Us with John and Alice

Jo with Specioza, Stella

Leon and Elius

Elius and Roger

We travelled via Mbarara to Rukungiri, arriving at about 8.00pm.

We had a quick meal and then retired to our room where we had our first showers in a week. That sounds worse than it is. At the farmland, we were provided with buckets and jerry-cans of hot water to wash in, and in a while the bathrooms will be equipped with showers. Water pressure will be low, as a high level water tank has still to be installed at the farmland, and there will need to be more than solar power or wood fires to heat water!

The night time temperatures in Rukungiri are lower which means getting to sleep is a little easier. Although I’d (Roger) have to say that I am sleeping better here than in Ashton!😴

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 ….