Well it's been about three weeks since I arrived back in Kampala from my holiday at home, and already it feels like I never left. When I arrived back here my apartment was covered in about 2 inches of red dust that I'm still in the process of trying to get rid of...welcome home.... Thankfully the rains have started so the dust is settling down some what, but it would take an ocean of water to really put it to rest.
A lot has happened here while I was away, both on the work front and in Uganda in general. Close to home here, well actually on the very road I live on construction crews have been trying over the last year to work on our dusty pothole filled road, but they never seem to quite finish the job. In an act of frustration residents decided they'd had enough and set up a blockade not allowing any traffic to pass through for quite some time. Eventually the conflict was worked out and the road crew began work again, but I haven't seen them in several days and the road is far from being fixed so who knows what will happen next.
Land issues are always a hot topic here in Uganda, and within the last couple of weeks tensions have boiled over on several occasions. In some rural areas local people have actually lynched landlords who were attempting to sell off their land to outsiders. This has reportedly happened in a few areas causing tension to rise between neighboring ethnic groups. Land issues are sure to be a main issue in the upcoming 'election'.
As mentioned earlier, the rainy season is here...hopefully. This is great news to people living in rural Uganda who have experiencing drought like conditions in several areas. Due to the lack of rain cattle farmers have reported that many of their cattle are dying and as a result milk prices have tripled since I've been away!
On the work side of things I'm happy to say that all seems to be going very well. When I was away at least 10 more children have now been sponsored to go to school bringing the number of children under our sponsorship program to around 80. The women in our tailoring program seem to be progressing nicely, they've mastered table mats, oven mits, and are now making change purses and next will be hand bags. We've distributed another 5 loans to women whose children we sponsor to boost their various businesses, and we've also started an adult literacy program beginning with these 5 women as well. It's encouraging for me to see the progress made in the short month that I was away. I see it as a testament to our local staff and the many volunteers that come for a few months or weeks to lend a hand....good work all!!
It's good to be back here refreshed and refocused. Thanks for a great time at home everyone!!
I am going to try and post more frequently so stay tuned...
Until next time
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