Cooking in Uganda

By Sara:

How do people in Uganda cook their food?  There are different methods, depending on what resources people have.  The type of fuel also determines the method of cooking.

One way is with firewood over a 3-stone fire:

Or using charcoal in a charcoal stove:

For cooking larger amounts of food, you can have a permanent clay or cement stove for either firewood or charcoal.  This one is for using charcoal:

For people who are cooking their food inside their house where there isn't good ventilation, it is more likely they use a gas cooker.  It could be a single or double burner, like what Anthony and I had our first year in Uganda (2009)

 Or it could be a stove with an oven, like we have now:

One more fun way that people sometimes cook sweet potatoes, is in a hole in the ground using coals:

The finished product - very tasty!

Learning from Farmers

By Sara:

Last year, I had the opportunity to host staff from Amigos Worldwide at my house, teach them about some plants which were new to them, and take them along for one of my farmer trainings.  In January, I was able to reciprocate by visiting one of the places where they are working near Gulu.

Titus and Maureen took me on the tour and we met with two different farmer groups to hear about what they are learning and putting into practice in their communities.  I was especially impressed by one of the groups' desire to learn new cooking ideas from Titus.  Titus studied catering before he went into agriculture, so he always shares something different with the group when he visits.  Many Ugandans are not into trying new things, but this group was definitely ready to try whatever he suggested to them!

It also struck me what the groups shared as the most helpful techniques they've learned from Amigos trainings so far.  One of the main things people mentioned was about planting in rows.  They said that they used to broadcast pretty much anything, but now they plant in rows, even small-seeded crops (which can be a big challenge when you are planting an acre or more).  But now, they use an empty water bottle with a small hole in the lid.  They mix the seeds with some sand and then fill the bottle with that mixture.  That way, they can stand as they walk and sprinkle the seeds in lines.  The group marveled at how now, even men can weed the garden!  Because apparently if the work is difficult, women have to do it...  Not only that, though, but they realized they are not using as many seeds to plant a garden as they did before and still get a good harvest.  So the work of weeding is reduced and seeds are not wasted.

Planting in lines seems like a really simple technique, as if there's no point mentioning it since surely everyone already knows to do that.  But if you think about it, when you're planting a big garden by hand, it seems faster and easier to broadcast, rather than bending over and planting every seed in a line.  When farmers like these learn a simpler way to plant in lines and see how it can benefit them, though, it can make a big difference in their lives.

While we were in the village, there was a family threshing chia seeds.  You can see how they are beating the stems with sticks on top of a tarp in the picture below:

We also visited a farmer who has benefited from training on beekeeping.  The hives were entrusted to a group, but the other people gave up on the work, so this farmer has continued on his own.  He has continued to add more beehives since then and is expanding on his honey business.  You can see the variety of types of hives he has in the picture below.

When Kang had his internship with us in January, I took him to visit Benjamin, someone from PAG with whom I worked during my time with World Renew.  He is now working as an agriculture extension officer and also has some very interesting agricultural projects going on at his home.

First, Benjamin has built a greenhouse in which to grow sweet peppers.  Years ago, he started outside with tomatoes and only as many plants as he could water by hand.  But over time, he saved the profits from each season and eventually was able to invest them in building the greenhouse and setting up drip irrigation.

He still has tomatoes outside and put up poles so he can trellis them when they get bigger.

Kang got to try out the manual pump Benjamin has for getting water into the tank he uses for his drip irrigation scheme.  He got this after he earned enough money from the vegetables he used to water by hand.  Now, he also has a small generator pump, but this manual one is the pump he started with.  Benjamin is a good example of someone who planned well and used what he had to grow high value crops, then slowly built up his resources from there.

 

 

While we were there, his kids and some friends were threshing beans, using the same method as the kids above with the chia.  They were very excited to show off their energy in a video:

Shopping in Uganda

By Sara:

Where can you go to buy things in Uganda?

1. Small shops/vendors by the road

2. In the indoor city market:

 3. At weekly outdoor markets:

4. Supermarkets and specialty stores

5. Bonus: Fast Food

And it really is fast - it's cooked by the side of the road, then the sellers will run alongside your vehicle until you stop, then try to push their wares through your window as soon as you crack it open.

Notice all the vendors in the picture below crowded around the front passenger window of the car (yes, passenger - remember we drive on the left side of the road!):

Photos and Stories from the Last Six Months

By Anthony:

In this post, I'll share some photos from our daily life here at home, from church events, animals we see, funny things on the road, and other miscellaneous activities.

First, look at the creative way that Sara sometimes teaches farmer groups:

Back around Christmas time, Sara and I went on a prayer retreat just by ourselves on the Nile River. Here is a picture from that great time:

Over Christmas break was when Sara started painting murals all over our house and on our compound walls. She has a huge to-do list of more to paint when she gets more time. She really enjoys it and might teach some Ugandan friends how to paint as well.

This one is in my office. Why a frog? It was one of my nicknames growing up and I use it for multiplayer gaming too.

Around Sara's office:

Don't mind the ant poison on the floor.

Our gate straight from Minas Tirith.

Also next to our gate. The door to Moria, with a Swahili twist (Karibu means welcome).

This is the outdoor latrine. It just makes it much more enjoyable to use the latrine.

On our verandah:

 

The inside of our gate:

From "The Hobbit", in our dining room:

Sara made cakes for three of our neighbors for Christmas:

Here is when we celebrated my birthday in January at a Japanese restaurant in Kampala. Our first time having sushi in Uganda:

At the beginning of January, we had an intern, Kang Heo, come from Calvin Seminary to stay with us for a few weeks. We had a great time with him. He got to visit the village, go to church events, visit farmers with Sara, attend TLT events with Stephen, and more.

We fed him pigeon with carrots, cassava and sweet potato.

He came to my pastor's book club that I lead:

We were able to play an international game of ping pong. It was South Korea and Argentina versus USA and Uganda.

Soon after this we had a retirement party for one of our night guards, Raymond. His age was making it harder to do this work, so he will now get involved in business instead. Sara made him and his wife matching clothing.

In March, I started paying some guys to dig a fish pond for me. It turned into a big project because at only a foot deep or less it was just like rock. I'll post more pictures of that later when I get the pond started.

Here is the nearest trading center in proximity to our home. You can tell we now live almost in the village, on the outskirts of town. At this trading center there are two bars, a shop, a restaurant, a hairdresser, and a couple other small things. The two bars are what we appreciate the most, especially when they play loud music while we are trying to sleep....

I started an initiative that kind of died out, and I'm not sure why yet. I started rounding up idle youth from the center who were sitting around at the bars with nothing to do. I taught them how to play ping pong. We played several times. They were having fun. Then the next three times I invited people no one showed up. I heard there were burials and weddings each time that they had to go to. Maybe I will keep trying.

One of our long time friends in Uganda since 2009, Robert Odukatum, has just become the new bishop of North Teso PAG Pastorate. We had him come over so we could pray for him and give him some advice. There is something very gratifying seeing the people you have taught for so many years attain such positions.

Here is Sara with her friend Jane. They get together usually once a week for fellowship and planning trainings together.

Here is what happens when you go to burials. This is one tiny percentage of parking at someone's home in the village for a burial.

Here are a couple beautiful flower pictures from Sara's garden and some countryside photos.

Here is the kind of Ugandan food we eat a lot. Fish, atapa (sticky "bread" made from millet flour and cassava flour), matoke (like plantains), beans, rice, and some beef.

But at home we make things like this:

A post like this isn't complete without some animal photos, our animals and some wild ones. This is a video of baby rabbits we let wander around our living room for a bit:

The baby rabbits have since grown a lot:

We also had ducklings which are now all grown up:

A few our of pigeons (even eating them regularly, we are up to around 30 I think).

They spend most of their time on the roof.

Some wild animals:

Marabou storks are all over in Uganda. They mostly eat out of trash piles, so that's gross, but they are a big bird, cool to see flying.

Last here are some funny things we saw on the road. We have Costco in Uganda, did you know? (no, not the same one).

Seeing a college named Johnass always cracks us up.

Cute little puppy:

This guy was doing some kind of mobile advertising very loudly:

 

And me buying meat on a stick while traveling. I haven't had it since 2009 when it got me super sick. But this time no issues!