February 18th
Today, in the morning I wrote again in the book that Kris
gave me, but now I’m obviously back on the computer and I’ll type what I wrote
in the book. “We’ve had no electricity for the last two days and I want to save
the little battery I have left on the computer for looking things up on the
internet for preparing lesson plans. So here I am writing by hand. Yesterday, I
gave my first lectures at Keframa, one in biology (soil science) and the other
in applied arithmetic (percentages, discounts, commissions, etc.). Today I will
go back to finish the math lesson, and give a biology lesson on genetics to the
equivalent of 11th graders. I’m not sure what they have studied up
to now so I will be partially winging it (with some help from books and my
computer). No electricity there ever, so that’s why I need my computer battery.
Yesterday, JF was at KC also to view the start of drilling a
“bore hole” (well). Currently KC gets its water, hauled by students in the big
yellow containers, from a well shared with the neighbors and there is some
strife over that. The well is being dug by an NGO called “Mission 4 Water,” and
the British ex-pat who runs their office here (with her husband), Sue, was
there to supervise. She is from the same church as Sheila and Ian and had come
on an earlier trip of theirs to Uganda, and became involved. I hear that quite
frequently from ex-pats who have been here for a while. ‘I came to visit, fell
in love with the place and what needs to be done, and couldn’t go back to the
job I had for the last 30 years because this work is meaningful’. All
the ones I’ve met are Christians, but I’m sure there are other types out there
also.
Yesterday, JF and his father, Martin, spoke of some of the
terrible time 10-15 years ago, when the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) was
terrorizing the area where KC is located. JF spoke of hiding in the fields, and
narrow escapes by him and others. Martin spoke of moving away from their land
into town where there was more safety. He spoke of a nephew who fled the
country as a refugee to Canada, and he is still there, married to a Tanzanian
woman, has kids and works with refugees there.
Fast Facts
Population:
26,907,000
Capital:
Kampala; 1,246,000
Area:
241,139 square kilometers (93,104
square miles)
Language:
English, Ganda or Luganda, many local
languages
Religion:
Roman Catholic, Protestant, indigenous
beliefs, Muslim
Currency:
Ugandan shilling ($ 1 = 2430 Ugandan shillings)
Life Expectancy:
44
GDP per Capita:
U.S. $1,200
Literacy Percent: 70
Uganda, a landlocked country in East Africa, consists of
savanna plateau with mountains and lakes. "The pearl of Africa,"
wrote Winston Churchill of this former British protectorate that embraces Lake
Victoria, source of the White Nile, and the misty Ruwenzori Mountains—a home of
the endangered mountain gorilla.
Prosperous at independence in 1962, the country was
brutalized under the chaotic regimes of Milton Obote and Idi Amin, when as many
as 800,000 Ugandans were murdered. In 1986 Yoweri Museveni, leader of the
National Resistance Army, came to power and, despite continued military and
economic challenges, restored stability to a large extent. Museveni was elected
president in May 1996 in the first popular election for president since
independence—and reelected in 2001.
In 1998 Uganda sent troops into the Democratic Republic of
the Congo's civil war. It withdrew the last of its forces in 2003—and thousands
of Congolese crossed into Uganda to seek asylum. An insurgent militia, known as
the Lord's Resistance Army, continued to terrorize northern Uganda—abducting some
20,000 children over the years and making them soldiers. The LRA withdrew into the
Democratic Republic of the Congo in about 2006.
Fertile soil keeps farms and coffee plantations
flourishing, but AIDS—epidemic in some areas—may now be Uganda's greatest
enemy.
ECONOMY
·
Industry: Sugar, brewing, tobacco,
cotton textiles, cement
·
Agriculture: Coffee, tea, cotton,
tobacco; beef
·
Exports: Coffee, fish and fish
products, tea, gold, cotton
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