I promised to post again soon since I have been not
posted very much in the last while but I started writing this about two weeks ago
and then just left it. So sorry for that. Of the interns I have definitely been the spoiled one
because I have done a bunch of things the others haven’t. Most recently I have
gone on two small project trips and done a few days of shadowing an eMi
construction manager in Jinja.
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| The COTN Site (Thrilling I know) |
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| A well COTN built for the surrounding community |
One small project I mention briefly in my last post but now
I will tell you about what happened on the trip. The organization had recently
bought some more land and they needed to revise their master plan so Robert, a
long-term architecture volunteer, and I went up to Lira which is a 5 hr drive
north of Kampala. Lira is much drier than Kampala but still green because it is
the rainy season. They have experienced a little of the drought that has been
affecting the horn of Africa but the affects have really been minimal when you
compare it to places like Somalia. Children of the Nations run a primary
school, children homes, and child sponsorship in Lira. I went to survey the
newly purchased land which seems pretty simple as it was not very large and was
very open. Of course it was not simple because the GPS survey unit would not
work and after 3 hrs in the sun trying to get it to work we gave up. I was able
to use the handheld GPS unit to roughly get the new boundaries and then we
called it a day as the afternoon rain was coming. The ministry urged us to stay
another night and attend their church the following morning. We stayed and
experienced a church service that makes the western Pentecostal church look
like an Anglican church. At one point some people pick up their chairs and were
dancing with them over their heads. The whole trip was a great time that I got
to meet some great people doing great work.
We did another small day project that was much more
successful with the GPS survey equipment. The project was located in Mbale in
the Mount Elgon foothills. It was a small medical centre and school that recently purchased some more land. Within 3hrs we
were back on the road and the long drive back to Kampala. It was a long day
with over 14hrs of driving.
A few weeks back I was able to follow around an eMi project
manager for three days. Project management is something that I have interest in
and the three days gave a great glimpse into what it would be like. I
definitely saw the great differences between western and Ugandan management
styles such as direct vs. indirect communication. Many of the principles are
the same though and I look forward to possibly do some construction management work
next semester.
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| Driving back from market |
In the past week all the other fall interns have left, two
will return in mid-January, but it is sad to see them all go. It has definitely changed quite a bit over here as I am now the only person in a room with six desks.
The other interns were awesome and it was great to get to know them and I can
say for sure that they have been changed through their time here. We decided
that we needed to create a legacy before we left so we commissioned a local
welder to build a BBQ for us. It was made out of an oil drum and uses charcoal.
In the picture it is not quite finish but I will show you a picture of the
grill when it is finished because that will be the most amazing part. We used
the grill for the interns’ farewell dinner even though it was not quite
finished. We bought a goat few days prior and one for the guards killed it and
we butchered it into tasty shish kebabs that were marinated in a rosemary pineapple
marinate. Now before anyone can say that I am not a man for taking part in
killing the goat I was not there I had to go to the market to get food for
dinner and when I got back it was already skinned. All the Ugandans were astonished
that none of had killed a goat before then they became even more astonished
when one of the long-term volunteers said when she was younger she had one as a
pet and didn’t eat it. Honestly I like the taste of goat and think that I might
get a couple when I come back home. I will probably keep them at my village (mom’s
house) until they are ready to eat.
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| Our BBQ!! |
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| Erland with Dinner the goat |
With Christmas coming in just a few days the office closes today
for two weeks. During the two weeks I will be traveling out to the Kenya coast
and back. During the journey I will go by bus and train; it will take me from
the tropical rainforest of Uganda through the eastern Rift Valley and to the
hot and dry coast along the Indian Ocean. Not sure what I will do there maybe
learn windsurfing do some swimming in a warm ocean, relax and read. It will definitely be weird being somewhere so hot for Christmas and away from my family for the first time.
Please pray for me and other eMi staff that are traveling during Christmas. Also keep the Democratic Republic of Congo in your prayers as there is great tension from the recent election results and eMi has two project trips planned there in February.
Blessings,
Aaron
