Tag Archive: perma-garden

Just When you thought you had read your Last Permagarden Story

Author: April 6, 2018

I had tried to dig a permagarden in Bugiri at the ATEFO offices, but I was constrained by the allowed size and ultimately defeated by goats. It just wasn’t what I had hoped for. Shortly after I moved into my annex last August, I noticed a nice little patch of land right next to me that was the ideal size for a permagarden. I also realized that the compound was secure against animals. It was the height of rainy season when I arrived, so I decided to wait until the beginning of the next rainy season to try again. Just before leaving to go to Cape Town on leave, some rain started, and while I was gone, it rained a few more times. I was disheartened by the appearance of the plot when I returned. A layer of grassy turf had taken firm hold.


I thought I would need to spend an entire weekend clearing the plot, and then the next weekend digging the garden. My resolve had weakened. Then one afternoon last week, I came home and was surprised to see the plot had been cleared.
The security guard told me that the Molly, one of the housekeepers for the main guesthouse, had cleared it in about an hour. I assumed she had her own plans for a garden. Beyond being impressed with her digging speed, I wondered if she would consider collaborating on a permagarden design. The next time I saw Molly, she said “I cleared it for you. You are very busy, and I heard you talking about it.” So at that point, since she had gone to the trouble, I had to dig it. I invited Molly and Mary, the other housekeeper, also with digging ability, to help me. (Yes there are two housekeepers, but they are mainly for attending to Julias and visitors in the main guesthouse.) The ladies would share some of the produce, and we’d bring the rest to the CARE office to share.

First though, I needed to buy seeds and two more hoes to go with the neighbor’s hoe that Molly had borrowed. Later I let Mary and Molly keep the new hoes. Then we went to the city dump to buy four basins of manure. Needing to get all this done before night fall Friday, I didn’t search around for any charcoal, ash or egg shells.

The Arua city dump where we bought a grain sack of manure from the city. A recent article said towns in Uganda are able to collect only 40 percent of their garbage whereas 60 percent either rots on streets or perhaps gets washed away by running water up to wetlands and nearby rivers.


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The next morning, Mary, Molly and I dug the permagarden. We were soon joined by Emily, a local Education PCV who had never received permagarden training. The soil was not the hard red clay I had become accustomed to the first two years. It was much softer, almost sandy. We planted onions, cabbages, collards, carrots and green peppers. That night It rained quite hard, I was glad we protected it with grass clippings. The rain continues to be sporadic, but I am hopeful. I took up the clippings and think I see some little buds.

We finished digging and planting seeds in 1 1/2 hours

In the meantime, in Kazo, a year after our visit to the Blue House orphanage, the girls are remembering their lessons and digging new permagardens.

Girls at the Blue House digging their gardens

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Wind Up

Author: June 1, 2017

This is the first of my many goodbyes. Azedy and Margaret’s four boys just went back to boarding school after the holiday break today. This is Aymed and Ayman. Margaret says they won’t be back until September. Most Ugandan students and parents of middle class means and above prefer boarding to what they believe is a the stigma of being a “desk scholar”. I struggle with this a bit. I couldn’t imagine sending my kids off to boarding school while they were so young. Well, I guess I did ‘imagine’ it a couple of times when Blair was a teenager.

Wednesday this week marked the two year anniversary of my Peace Corps service, when I arrived in Philadelphia for staging. This Saturday will be two years in Uganda. I am really winding down what I now consider the first “phase” of my Peace Corps service. My org ATEFO still goes out to youth groups but I haven’t been much of a participant lately, and that project has been winding down too. My supervisors at Peace Corps are starting pre-service training with a new batch of 53 Health and Agri-business volunteers. Nobody expects much from my cohort now as we wrap things up.

A few weeks ago, I agreed to “vet” a couple of NGOs who are expecting to receive new volunteers. I interviewed the CEO of the org and the prospective counterpart and took a few pictures of the office and the potential housing. It appears not only ATEFO will get a replacement, but another org in Bugiri will get a new volunteer. So if things work out, after I leave, the Muzungu population in Bugiri will double from one to two.

I spent last week in Kampala for the medical tests all departing and extension PCVs must undertake. I was a bit nervous, since the last time I had an extensive physical I learned I had diabetes. But after giving up some blood, piss and three different stool samples (they look for parasites) I got a clean bill of health. My blood sugar is absolutely normal notwithstanding I am struggling to keep my weight down. Ironically at the end of my week, I came down with a terrible cold, which I had avoided up until now.

The United Nations said that $ 1.4 billion was needed this year alone to help the nearly two million people who have fled war and famine in South Sudan.So far, only 14 percent of the initial $781 million appeal for 2017 has been provided. More than 100 lone children cross into Uganda each day as they flee conflict. Delphine told me the camps are 86% women and children.

While I was in Kampala, I visited the offices of CARE International, and enjoyed a visit with the Country Director, Delphine Pinault, who is French. We hit it off pretty well. She said as part of my job I would get a lot of opportunities to write about the CARE programs in the refugee camps, and will visit them with a team in a vehicle. My motorcycle riding days are coming to an end. Arua is a long eight hour bus ride from Kampala, but there is a UN plane that goes there every Monday. My CARE PCV mate Ruwani met with Delphine this week and informs me our orientation and training for two days is likely July 10 in Arua and we will likely take that plane. If so, I am excited I will get a preview of Arua before I come home for my one month leave. Hopefully I can drop off a box of my stuff then. It now appears I will be able take my month leave starting in mid-July after this orientation.

I know you are sick of permagardens, but this one from the other day is notable because I taught it by myself. Matthews needed to pick up some charcoal for it, so I said, we’ll just get started, and it was nearly finished by the time he returned.

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I was in Iganga the other day and peeked in at what I first thought was a presentation about nutrition, but I was only partially right. This was a classic multi-level marketing pitch with supplements as the main product. The presenters told me that Amway and HerbaLife is alive and well in Uganda too.

That calculates to $14,000 US per month

The is the product, made my Natures Way a U.S. company. Is MLM a sign of development in a country?

Lady jammed on a taxi with me, feeds corn to her hen in a sack at our feet.

A large structure was begun next to my compound. It is intended to have shops in it. That would be annoying for Azedy and Margaret, but who knows when it will be finished. There are a million roofless, uncompleted, structures like this all over Uganda. It’s a way people here invest.

This was a photo I posted on the blog in July 2015 of my Lusoga language cohort, during language training, still the most stressful part of service for me… Becky, Nick, Carson, Will and myself. We were so neat and clean.

Here we are recently at a mini reunion in Iganga. Missing is Will, who went home in January under the classification of “Interrupted Service.” I’ll leave it at that. He expects to attend law school at Florida State University. Due to a wedding, Nick was the first of the cohort to leave and become an RPCV after the COS conference. Becky and Carson (obscuring his man bun) will COS and come home about the same time I do. All three of them will be hunting for jobs. I have reviewed and edited about twenty resumes for my cohort.

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Blue House Camp, Part II

Author: April 2, 2017

A  chronicle of the afternoon camp activities

 

Morning leftover. The girls are doodling on a whiteboard waiting for the RUMPs session to let out. The lesson learned here was “What’s the difference between permanent ink markers and board markers on a whiteboard?”    ……………………………In the iconic pose of the 21st Century, Scott checks out how the Mets are doing in Spring training.

The afternoon means permagarden time for all the girls. I thought those new pants were supposed to be pajamas!

Matthews wants to dig a permagarden for the village where we did last week’s lesson. Watching Dave teach it twice was helpful.

“This hoe has seconds to live.” About ten readers will get that. Drop me a line!

Dave is ready to go MMA to disarm the hoe from the Sewing Instructor…… No, actually he is showing the width of the garden bed with his feet so you can work on it without stepping on it.

 

 

 

 

David, 58, is a fellow fossil, and Agribusness volunteer.He is our cohort’s permagarden master, He was featured in my blog a year ago here. David is from North Carolina by way of Pittsburgh and Wisconsin. After a career as a graphic artist, he did some woofing before his Peace Corps service. After service, he intends to help care for his mother in North Carolina for at least a year. He also hopes to work for a nearby branch of the Food Corps, part of AmeriCorps Eventually he’d like to do another Peace Corps tour.. David designed the Blue House camp t-shirts we used.

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Elphaz stopped by. He serves on the board, amd is the brother of Beatrice, the late founder of Blue House. At one point he was caring for 20 children under his roof. His is 64.

The ground was transformed in less than two hours. Aine tells me they have had rain, and the straw has come off at both sites after germination.

“…and then that P-2 kid accidentally whacked me with her hoe right here….”

“If you can learn to levitate a ball, like this, you get into Hogwarts. Or Makere U. in Kampala, your choice.”

The older girls talked about HIV, consent, and condoms. The men were kicked out during question time. Scott mobilized the younger ones for “Hide the matoke”

Sweet Victory

Scott, 25, an Agribusiness volunteer, and hails from New Jersey. He is a recent graduate of Duquesne, as a Business Major. Before Peace Corps. he worked in the marketing department for the New York Mets baseball team. He is still thinking about his post-Peace Corps options, perhaps doing some consulting.

The venerable Ugandan tradition of handing out certificates. House Mom Matene is pleased.

Fossils propping each other up.

This is the link to Hope Multipurpose Inc, the org that supports the Blue House.

When a camp is over, Mackenzie just gets carried away.

Almost time to go to the pork joint.  A favorite Ugandan culinary delight. My brother-in-law loved it. Wish I had a photo of it.

…..but lets do a silly one first. Where is my mount?

 

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PCVs Sharing Knowledge with Kazo town

Author: March 29, 2017

Our first working day was on Friday, providing sessions to benefit the town of Kazo. We dug a demonstration permagarden behind the Catholic Primary School, taught financial literacy to local farmers, and taught RUMPs to a vocational sewing school. It all went well.

They removed too much top soil in prepping the land so we had to bring some of it back. Notice the adjacent roof which will help drain rain into the garden

David brought his illustrated grain sacks to explain this type of garden

A color-full plate grown in a garden next to your house provides year-round good nutrition even in hard times.

 

Add ash for minerals, manure for nitrogen, charcoal for water retention, and egg shells for calcium

Scott pours a full Jerry can into one of the corner holes to show how much the garden can retain. The water seeps deep under the garden.

The MaMas dig as well as the men!

We planted our color-full plate of cabbage, carrots, eggplant, cucumbers, and simi greens (collards)

Since the garden is dug so deep, you can plant the seeds closer together. The roots will go straight down and seek out the water that is stored. The surface growth, being closer, adds shade and so there is less surface drying.

Spectators from the classroom

Finish with a cover of straw. Water a bit if it doesn’t rain, allow the seeds to germinate, remove the covering.


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After digging the garden, we moved inside a class room to teach a session of record keeping

They are paying attention too!

Scott invited the farmers up to record the cash book entries

Meanwhile at the town’s vocational school run by the Blue House on it’s grounds, Kelly and Mackenzie teach how to sew Reusable Menstrual Pads (RUMPs) with the school’s teacher Musiime as their able assistant and translator. These students come from the town and nearby villages. Some board in a nearby building during the week. One student is a Blue House girl.

I love this photo but I can’t rotate it!

 

In the background on the chalkboard, Kelly has has done the math to show the cost of commercial pads for three women in the family is 216,000 UGx, compared to 15,000 UGx for RUMPs. They help keep girls in school the full month. They also can be made and sold to other girls as an Income Generating Activity

Finished RUMPs. A girl snaps it into her panty and can remove the absorbent cloth from under the ribbons to wash and re-use. I’ll show this better in the Blue House camp post

Karen set out piles of clothes for the girls made at, and donated by, students in a clothing design class at the University of Minnesota

Back at the Guest House we relax and plan for the Blue House Orphanage Girl’s Camp the next day

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Fortune Teller

Author: January 22, 2017

In 2012, if a fortune teller told me that in less than five years, my boss would be Donald Trump, I would wonder what possessed me to go on The Apprentice (I’ve seen maybe half of one episode). Further, if that fortune teller said another of my bosses would recently be the CEO of Exxon, I’d be asking for my money back. But here I am; life just keeps throwing curves.

While my application to volunteer was pending, I attended a Peace Corps function at the University of Denver. The assistant to the Director was the main guest, and commented that the Peace Corps was a rare agency because “it has always has friends on both sides of the aisle”. Yet, I think we can all agree, these look like different times.

So what does Trump mean for the future of Peace Corps? Internet sleuthing doesn’t come up with anything more than speculation on Reddit. Beyond his expressed sentiment during the campaign to reduce foreign aid, as far as I could find, Trump has never mentioned the Peace Corps.

In a Kaiser Family Foundation study published in early 2015, the average respondent thought that 26 percent of the federal budget went to foreign aid. More than half of the respondents thought the United States was spending too much on foreign aid. In reality, the amount spent is slightly more than 1%– $50.1 billion out of $4.15 trillion. Of that, $18.1 billion is for Economic and Development Assistance. Seven African countries, (including Uganda) feature among the top-10 recipients of economic assistance, ranging from $400-600 million. Most of the money is funneled toward health initiatives, particularly HIV/AIDS treatment and research. I got all this info here.

The Peace Corps annual budget is $410 million, which supports 7,000 volunteers. The avowed goal has been to increase this to 10,000 volunteers. The Peace Corps three goals are education and training in interested countries for sustainable results, representing the face of America to the people we serve, and ( like my blog), to promote a better understanding of these countries to Americans. These goals are not capital intensive like buying and supplying equipment, goods, or weapons. I do have to keep track of how many people I train in my sessions, so the Peace Corps can quantify totals to justify it’s existence.

The National Peace Corps Association has been urging RPCVs to write to Trump’s transition team to explain why the Peace Corps is needed. It also gleaned some information about proposed members of his cabinet.

Most of the attention on proposed Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, the ten-year CEO of Exxon, has been about Exxon’s role on climate change, and his warm relationship with Russia. But Tillerson also oversaw ExxonMobil Foundation’s contributions to global development efforts in over 90 countries, through partnerships with a wide range of leading government agencies, NGOs and companies in development, including some which also partner with the Peace Corps. The Foundation’s international focus is on women’s economic empowerment and malaria eradication.
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Elaine Chao has been tapped to be Secretary of Transportation. She is a former Director of the Peace Corps (1991-92) and also served as President George W. Bush’s Secretary of Labor She is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. There might be some influence there.

Congress determines funding, but it has been pointed out that volunteers serve under the president’s discretion, so he has the power to call us all home.The director of the Peace Corps during the Obama administration, Carrie Hessler-Radele stepped down last week, when Trump was inaugurated. I suppose her replacement will offer a clue about the future of the Peace Corps. The next four years promise to be an interesting ride.

This was a photo we took after our permagarden training

This the same place today. They did grow tomatoes successfully and promised to re-plant when rainy season returns.

Hey didn’t I see you at the Women’s March yesterday?

 

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Permagarden 101

Author: September 20, 2016

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Matthews likes to add banana leaves for protection of the tomato seedlings. We also planted spinach, carrots, and cabbages. The slope runs toward the people, the holes trap some of the flow from a heavy downpour, and the beds are dug two feet deep to trap more water and allow the roots to go straight down and allow for closer planting.

As I had indicated in an earlier post, ATEFO has a new contract to work with 1500 youth in 110 groups in Bugiri and Iganga. Part of the contract is to teach and dig 600 household gardens before the contract expires in July next year. These would provide a steady source of nutrition for the household with minimal maintenance. It’s a daunting goal.

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Becky shows how deep the top soil is, about an inch, before the double digging allowed more manure and air to permit the stick to go down two feet. I particularly enjoyed the fact that Becky could teach this, as I have been chiding Adams that he only hired male trainers for the new contract. He blames it on the lack of skilled female motorcycle drivers to get into the deep villages.

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Carson talks to the group.

Matthews and I organized trainings in Iganga and Bugiri for the ATEFO trainers to learn about digging permagardens. For the first training near Iganga, I recruited fellow Peace Corps volunteers from my Lusoga Language cohort, Becky and Carson, to help out. They had been trainers for the new Agri-business cohort that just arrived in June, and had received a permagarden refresher from my hero, Peter Jenson. It was a great session. I think the ATEFO trainers present were impressed, and most of all, Matthews is sold on it. I had dug such a garden last year at the office, but this lesson connected the dots better for him.

The next day Matthews and I dug a smaller garden, with two beds instead of three, for the Bugiri Trainers. Slipping back into Uganda’s ways, that day’s program was plagued by time conflicts, and poor communication, which resulted in some trainers and youth not attending either session. So a challenge remains to spreading the word for 600 permagardens. You want to connect with at least one “early adapter” in each youth or farmer group, who will appreciate the demo garden we dig, then dig his own, then perhaps help a neighbor dig another one too. That’s how to get to 600. While digging these gardens we continue to teach sack gardens.

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Goats Head Soup (A fitting punishment)

Author: June 25, 2016

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This is Adams’ passion fruit field where I picked beans last December

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Some dastardly goats

I was disappointed when I came back from vacation. Matthews reported that goats had ruined my permagarden for the season, with the exception of a few surviving tomato plants. Also when I got my home, I went to the field behind the compound I had featured  in my blog earlier with the cows plowing and Margaret digging. Matthews had given her some banana seedlings that were doing quite well. Even with a surrounding fence however, goats got in and ate the leaves from the banana plants right down to the stalks. The sweet potatoes and cassava are still OK. I have said before goats are tethered everywhere, but some get loose and roam around.
While talking with Margaret about the banana plant calamity, she picked some “greens” for me. Some of them was do do (long o), a bitter green which is a sad substitute for spinach in my opinion. I don’t even know what the other greens were, nor can I tell the difference with weeds very easily. Then the caretaker for Adams’ passion fruit field, where I had worked in December to pick beans, gave me a bag of beans, from the same place. So I am preparing and eating them. It’s only fair I emulate the natives. Its so time consuming for a pampered American from the suburbs.

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A handful of greens to rinse three times, chop, and cook on the griddle.


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After cooking the greens, I made a grilled cheese and avocado sandwich, and that was dinner. I could not eat all the greens. How I miss broccoli. I will grow it someday.

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A bag of Adams’ beans to clean while I watch some movie on my computer.

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In my current situation of managing my monthly living allowance, these are relatively expensive, but labor saving, alternatives. Shame on me, the pampered American has not totally escaped processed foods.

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In my new neighborhood, a new group of kids to treat me like a rock star. They come running, and I am obliged to lift and toss each one up a bit. Its good for my arms. Here, they clustered at my door and “helped” me knock while I waited for someone to let me in.

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Keep On Working

Author: May 31, 2016

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Matthews had loaned his helmet to someone else. I have armored pants but don’t always wear them.

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Staff meeting at ATEFO. They have a new contract working with maize farmers

I hope you all had a good Memorial Day Weekend. It has been noted that out of 200,000 volunteers since the start of Peace Corps in 1962, 301 have died in service.

For my Memorial Day, I invested in a bit of data and watched the second half of game 7 of the Golden State v. Oklahoma City series, starting at 5:00 a.m. Tuesday. It was the first basketball I had seen in a year. The Denver Nuggets had two great rookies this year, but I haven’t seen them play yet.

The commercials startle me with how comparatively affluent America is. A PSA was shown promoting little league basketball. Oh how nice it would be if every town in Uganda had a gym like that for the kids.
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Hopefully, with the burial, typhoid, special classes, the two weeks preparing for the Introduction and Wedding behind him, Matthews is going to be able to take me to the villages on a more consistent basis. We are checking back on certain groups to see how much they retained or implemented from previous lessons on record keeping. While this process can be frustrating, I do believe I can find an “early adapter” or two in each farmer group. That might be the best I can hope for. I tell the groups that in both Uganda and America, the most successful families are careful and disciplined with their spending. Keeping track of your money, and planning is the pathway to prosperity.
In the meantime, I am advising the incoming President of the Bugiri Rotary Club about ways to increase its presence in the community and encouraging member attendance. A big challenge is collecting dues, which are around US$150 per year. We also want to have a bigger presence in the local secondary schools. As I am getting more acquainted with members, some have great back stories of overcoming adversity. I am going to try to get a few them to inspire the youth groups with their stories, and I hope to share some on this blog.

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Remember that post with the two cows plowing? I was amazed to find the progress they had made the other day planting sweet potatoes. Margaret is a teacher and the the schools are on holiday. I chided Azedy, but he says he was getting up at 5 a.m. and doing his share.

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But they still have a way to go! Matthews helped me plant spinach, carrots and cabbage in my permagarden at the office. I want to make spinach salad so bad…

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While Matthews translated what I just said, I walked around and took this photo of a recent group.

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Every race, every creed, education

Author: March 8, 2016

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The parents and students in attendance

Today is a public holiday. In fact around the world it is International Woman’s Day. I don’t think it is recognized so much in the USA.

ATEFO has selected fifty farmer groups in Bugiri district to receive intensified training. While ATEFO waits for additional funding to bring back the other trainers, Matthews and I will start on three of these groups. I wanted to do four or five, but Adams insisted on only three to start. We were supposed to go out Monday, but on Sunday Matthews learned he lost a 9 y.o. grandson to cancer, and the burial was Monday. Knowing that I have been anxious to start training again, he was willing to stay in Bugiri, but I said he should go to the burial. One more day won’t matter. So hopefully tomorrow we will finally get back out to the villages.

On Saturday, Matthews had requested me to speak to a meeting of parents and children of a school he is supporting in his home village near Kamuli. I had to take two taxis to get to Kamuli, where Matthews met me and then we took a borrowed motorcycle to the village. The taxis were slow, as they often are, constantly stopping to solicit passengers. I sat in Jinja for 45 minutes waiting for the taxi to Kamuli to fill up. By the time we got to the meeting we were an hour late. Being late is a Ugandan tradition but I didn’t want to add to it. Many had gone home, but there was still a nice size crowd when we arrived. The local LC-1 and town council chair were also there.

When we pulled up, they started up with a song to greet me. It really caught me off guard, and they did another chorus, led by Matthews, so I could film it. See it here. The women love to make those yelping sounds.

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View from the front door

This village, like most, has a high level of poverty. So far, the school is only pre-school, then P-1, P-2 and P-3. If possible, a grade will be added each year. They are crammed into a very small building,

I think it used to be a home. Matthews says there is the need to accommodate 100 students at these ages, though many don’t go to school. While 100 students per classroom is pretty normal in Uganda, no way is this school large enough. Somehow they need to raise the funds to build more.

 

What can I say to these people? Essentially I tried to motivate them to cooperate together to overcome their challenges, and appreciate the efforts of supporters like Matthews. I discussed the importance of education, and in particular the importance of keeping their girls in school. I interacted with the children and encouraged them to obey their parents and appreciate the sacrifices they make to see that they get an education.

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Note the blackboard on the left

Note the blackboard on the left

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Another room, No blackboard here. Most of the benches were taken outside for our meeting.

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Meowri is back to being feisty.

I encouraged the headmistress to add English to the curriculum. With 90 different dialects in Uganda, English is the common denominator that might help with their future mobility for jobs. World-wide, English is the “money language”. Simon’s children at my home stay were taking English lessons at the same primary level, including printing it. The village kids are behind in this regard, although just getting to go to school is a challenge.

I mentioned my own father attended a similar one room school house in Virginia Dale, Colorado (Another one room school house built on my pioneer ancestor’s homestead stands today at the Littleton Historical Museum. A few owners later, the Lilley homestead is now Columbine Country Club).

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Back side of the school

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I met a few of Matthews’ children at his home after the meeting. His daughter wears a Colorado T-shirt

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My Aunt Shirley’s hand made stars up in Matthews’ ceiling. They will be Christmas ornaments next year.

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Church under construction. Roofing tiles in the back.

I wasn’t particularly impressed with myself, but Matthews said later I was a big hit. I might represent a ‘great white hope” but securing the resources to improve the school is likely beyond my reach. It’s frustrating, but I have a few hundred farmers here in Bugiri I hope to boost in some small measure. On the plus side, there are couple of acres around the school which can be cultivated to provide nutrition to the students and income for the school. A permagarden can be dug out back and take water from the roof. I may go back to help Matthews dig it. I think Father Christmas will visit the kids too.
Before taking me back to Kamuli to get my taxi home, Matthews brought me by a nearby church under construction It is Seventh Day Adventist. Matthews is a pretty devout SDA, and also is supporting this construction (although not lately!). The walls are up but it still needs a roof. During rainy season, they use a tarp. I saw a pile of roofing tiles to install soon. The church was at least four times the size of the school. I struggle with this. In this village, should the church have the same or higher priority than the school? In my country there is a similar weighing of priorities. Citizens can choose to make a tax-deductible donations to support construction of Churches, and/or choose whether to vote for bonds to repair deteriorating schools or build more. Heaven and Education, both laudable goals, sometimes competing for scarce resources.

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What’s for Tea Mum?

Author: February 14, 2016

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A nearby view from Karen’s place of some of the tea fields. These are actually trees which are kept trimmed into shrubs. After planting they take 3 years before the leaves are tea-worthy, and then they produce every growing season for 100 years. Most of these fields were planted in the early 1960’s. Karen frequently sees baboons, which inhabit the wooded valley below, but they were not around on our day there. A couple of days later we saw baboons on the road to Queen Elizabeth National Park. We did see white-tailed monkeys called Colombus in the plantation’s forest. Couldn’t get good pictures.

 

My fellow fossil David, and still-too-young-to be-a-fossil Karen enjoyed a great week traveling together. Our first stop was the massive tea plantation at Karen’s site. Karen is a Health volunteer recently retired from her career in the Navy as an air traffic controller. She teaches about good, nutrition, HIV and other health topics to the several worker camps spread throughout the plantation.

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This selfie to mark the beginning of our travels was taken upon our arrival by taxi at the closest town to the plantation. Karen needs to summon a car from here to get home

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The field on the right and beyond has been sprayed with ground up limestone to treat algae. This is brand new technology. They will be growing again next season.

 

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Karen stands by her excellent permagarden by her home. It takes drainage from her roof and is double dug and everything. She dug another one at a work camp.

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The tea factory. There were conveyer belts with fans to dry the leaves and then they are ground down, separated by quality, and put in large bags, transported elsewhere to be processed into the tiny tea bags.. There are different grades of tea. They make black tea. Green tea is from the same leaves, just processed differently.

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This is a tasting room. A spittoon in the right foreground. When new employees are interviewed, in the waiting room they are given the choice of coffee, tea, or other drinks. If they don’t select tea they don’t get hired!

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These are the machines to trim the tea trees. Run by two on each side, and a third person with a bag to collect it

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The plantation raises its own eucalyptus trees, which are fast-growing, and used to power the factory with steam energy

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Feeding the boiler

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Karen and her supervisor Elijah at a work camp. In Uganda, no matter where you go, you have to sign a guest book. I have signed dozens of these.

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An artistic representation of a crowded taxi for sale in a hotel in Fort Portal. The tires are bottle caps. I plan to buy one to bring home when I return to America, but it was too delicate to lug and too expensive ($12 US- ha! Uganda!) to get now.

We teased that Karen’s place is “Posh Corps”. She has tremendous views, good electricity, running water, a kitchen similar to a US suburb (both gas and electric burners, gas oven, many cabinets), western style toilet, a nearby club for executives Karen may use (free beer) and even a nearby landing strip. David and I stayed at a guest house a few minutes from Karen’s home. We had a cook and our clothes were laundered.

We walked through the tea fields to the Tea Factory and received a tour. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures in the factory. Later we enjoyed the free beer at the club and a lively conversation with Karen’s supervisor, Elijah.

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