More Field Work and Baking

In some areas of Amuria, KIDO is working with communities to plant vegetables using nursery beds and then transplanting them in rows.  I got to participate on one of the days when they were transplanting.  Here is the nursery bed with grown-up tomatoes.

We used a rope to make straight lines and tied pieces of plastic bag on the rope at the proper intervals for planting.

Since it was still hot while we were planting, people collected grass and used it to cover the plants to protect them from the sun after transplanting.

I did another baking training recently too, in Katakwi.  This time, along with steaming cakes, we also made some "stovetop" biscuits. 

We just used a dry skillet and flipped the biscuits over several times throughout the baking process.  The bakers were very tough and used their bare hands to do this!

Of course, it was a lot of fun and made everyone happy to get to eat tasty baked goods at the end.

Green Manures/Cover Crops in Kaberamaido

I got to go to visit some demonstration gardens in Kaberamaido, where one of World Renew's partners is doing a project promoting green manures/cover crops (gm/ccs).  The point of a green manure is to use leaves and plant material as a living manure to fertilize your soil.  It doesn't require transportation or spreading and just grows itself in your garden.  Cover crops help to keep the soil covered to keep weeds down and to keep the soil moist even when it is not raining enough.  The gardens that we saw were pretty excellent.  Here is some mucuna, which has been growing for only a month.

The farmers planted several different kinds of gm/ccs in plots next to each other so they could compare the growth habits of each one.

The overall consensus of the different farmers we talked to at their various demonstration gardens was that mucuna and lablab were the gm/ccs that they were definitely going to use in their gardens, once the seed was multiplied.

We also saw a few people who have been taking mulching to heart.  They want to mulch around their vegetables to keep soil moisture there and to prevent erosion, much the same reasons as using a cover crop.  One farmer mulched around their cabbages with banana leaves and maize stalks.

And another farmer used the stalks from sesame (which is usually just discarded) as mulch because they didn't have access to enough grass.  It made me happy to see these creative ways of mulching.

And on a less happy note, here's a guy spraying his tomatoes with not enough protection.

Inservice Bible School Graduation

A while back, we each taught classes for the Inservice Bible School in Amuria (Bible courses for pastors and church leaders who aren't able to make it to the official Bible School in Mbale).  As a result, when the students were graduating, we were invited to attend the graduation, as some of their teachers.  These students started courses two years ago, meeting for a week at a time a few times throughout the year.  It was a pretty exciting event for them to be official graduates, after all that work.

All of the teachers had to wear caps and gowns too.  We thought we were done with that when we graduated from seminary in 2009, but apparently not!

One unique aspect of the graduation was the parade through town with a band leading the way, the entire graduating class, and the teachers (including us), followed by family members and pretty much everyone else in town who wasn't watching from the sides of the road.  I really wished I had the camera because it was very amusing.  Mostly just because we were a couple of random mzungus in the middle of this parade.

I did manage to get a couple of pictures at the end of the graduation, when the band was marching away from the venue.

Below are some of the ladies who cooked for everyone who attended the graduation:

Although it was a very long ceremony, it was exciting to see the students who have worked hard to gain more theological knowledge so they can be better pastors and church leaders.  We are glad that they appreciate their education so much!

When Helping Hurts Training - Katakwi

I taught my "When Helping Hurts" training again recently in Katakwi.  It went really well as it has in the other places.  There were about 30-35 attendees.  Since I have shared much about this training before, I'll just show you some pictures and a few testimonies.

One question in the manual asks whether they have ever given financially to help support a development organization doing good work in Uganda.  So far in every training the answer has been "no."  When the manual asks "why not?", the usual answer is that "we have nothing to give."  But one group probed deeper during their discussion.  They thought about whether they would give if they did have money.  They decided their answer would still be "no."  This woke them up to thinking about how they really felt towards the poor and how they want to now have a different, more caring attitude.



The coordinator for this training was Robert, a student of ours from four years ago.  At the end of the training he shared a testimony about his relationship with us.  He remembers that when we left the Bible college four years ago to go back to the US, we sold some of our theology books.   We had announced this to our classes and told the prices.  Robert said that they left the class and talked together and said: "how hard these missionaries are!  Why don't they just give them to us for free?"  Handouts were their usual experience with missionaries.  But now Robert understands why we did not give them for free and appreciates that we did not!  

We talked about different types of poverty and how a broken relationship with other people or with God's creation, can contribute towards material poverty.  At the end, one lady shared about how the training made her really want to take care of her animals differently.  Before, she wouldn't mind if an animal went hungry all day without grazing.  But now that she knows that God cares about her animals and that she is a steward of them, she wants to take better care of them and show compassion.

This same lady also shared that personal conflicts are a large problem in their community.  People who are saved still have land disputes and divisions in the church.  She wants to go home focusing on reconciliation and making peace between people.

I did the exercise again where they are to draw "community development."  It's always a funny activity, but also powerful.  Their drawings were powerful because they have drawn a community developing itself, not being developed by organizations.  And the development for them is not huge buildings, or fancy cars, but instead enough water for the community, food to eat, a hospital, animals and plants living well, and churches filled with people praising God.  Their drawn communities are simple compared to what communities in the US look like, but they look like a place where I wouldn't mind living.

Testimonies:

"I have also got knowledge on how to change the minds of those people who think that they are poor yet it's easy to get something to do."

"Now I am also going out to educate the church and the community at large on what I have learnt."

"I want to appreciate and honor God for giving you the heart of love to the people of Katakwi, because of the knowledge and skills that you have taught us.  And I am going to use it for the rest of my life and my community."

"I have also learnt about poverty, what is poverty, types of poverty, and how to fight poverty." 

"In this teaching I have learnt that I must use the resources well that God has given me."

Recent Church Visits

First, here is a video from the church we go on normal Sundays.  This is a local Christian artist giving a taste of her new album.  We thought you might enjoy seeing the dancing.

We continue to visit churches in the village often to preach and teach, about every other weekend or sometimes more.  Here is a church near Kabermaido we visited with our friend Tom, who is chairman of the board for KMDP, a development partner of World Renew that we work with.

"Old mamas" singing a song for the church.

We had our friend from the US, Emily (we worked at WHRI together in Texas), visiting the church with us.  She is doing an internship nearby in Karamoja and will stay with us from time to time.

Kenya: Mount Longonot and RIT

At the end of our Kenya trip, we decided to visit two more places with our personal free time.  First we went to Mount Longonot National Park to hike, and then we visited a Reformed Seminary near Eldoret.

The park was very beautiful and a very unique hiking experience for us.  It was the first time hiking in Africa in a park without a guide (which is often required).  And there were actually big animals to be seen during the hike such as giraffes, antelope, and zebras.  The mountain is actually a sleeping volcano.  The hike consists of walking up to the very steep rim, and then walking around the edge of the crater.  Here is an aerial photo I found online:

The entire hike took us about six hours including stops to rest.  Here is what it looked like to begin. 

Then we started going up and I proved to myself that I am vastly out of shape.  It was tough.

Here is a video showing the scope of the hike.

The drop offs were a bit scary at times, especially since I am afraid of heights.  Sometimes it was like this on both your right and left.

The view from the highest point, Mount Longonot summit:

Sara trying to act like her goats who always stand on small rocks in our yard.

On the way back down we got a glimpse of some animals near us.

Donkeys are everywhere in Kenya, especially pulling wagons like this.  It makes me think maybe we need to be in Kenya in the future.  Because I needs me a donkey.

The other visit we made was to Reformed Institute for Theological Training.  I had heard about the school from someone I taught Timothy Leadership Training with once in Soroti.  We had heard that this Reformed seminary also had a farm at the school.   We thought it would be an interesting place to visit.  We had not yet seen any Reformed churches in Africa up to this point so we thought we should see what they were like, and having a farm as part of the school was very cool to Sara.  So we organized a quick tour.

We began the visit worshiping in the Reformed Church located at the school.  It was all in Swahili so we didn't understand much, but the choir was beautiful.

Here are some photos of the school and farm.  Someday we would love to start our own seminary/monastery/farm/intentional community in Africa.  So seeing this place gave us some more inspiration.