Chroni-what-cles of Ngenge

So yeah, I didn’t post last week because I was off in eastern Uganda for the project trip. Where to begin… Our team of eleven left Monday the 18^th for the Kapchorwa district which borders Kenya (see my map to the right). With us we had several civil engineers, some irrigation specialists, a hydrogeologist, a public health volunteer, and of course, yours truly – a mechanical engineer. Along the way, our taxi made several random stops, one for lunch which was chicken-on-a-stick, a.k.a., chicken-in-your-face because it’s literally shoved through the windows of the taxi into your face, one to buy a string of tilapia which was mounted to the front of the taxi (see photo), another due to law enforcement, and one to take a leak along the side of the road. We arrived roughly six hours later at a place called Noah’s Ark, a guest house where we all slept and set up shop. We were then escorted to a place called Prayer Mountain, which is a feature that overlooks the Ngenge valley. Our project was in partnership with the church of Uganda. The Sebei Diocese, lead by Bishop Augustine Salimo initiated the project. From Prayer Mountain, Rev. Moses, who leads up community development in the Diocese, shared their vision for the Ngenge plain area which could be seen in its entirety from the mountain. As we soaked in the scenery and the vision, I think most of us began to grasp the magnitude of work that we had ahead of us.
Chicken-on-a-stick, a.k.a. chicken-in-your-face


Tilapia cooking on the "grill"

Overlooking Ngenge valley from Prayer Mountain

Rev. Moses presenting the vision while overlooking Ngenge from Prayer Mt.

We hopped to work the next day, and after spending some time in the oval office (thus dubbed because of its circular geometry) to flush out the scope of the task, several of us set out down the mountain to size up some of the water sources. The road descending the mountain made me reminisce about my Jeeping days, back when I had my Wrangler (those were the days…) (Oh yeah, Brent and Steven, how’s that CJ-5 coming?) Where was I? … Right… down the mountain. Anyway, we visited several villages, looking at boreholes (we call them wells in the States) and rivers. Seeing the folks and their living conditions down there was surreal – savanna, mud huts, no power, naked children, and desperate needs. Some of the villages were surviving alright, but others didn’t seem to be doing so well due to the lack of sanitary drinking water and crop failure of the previous year. Many folks had resorted to drinking contaminated river water and harvesting trees (which were already in limited supply) to make and sell charcoal, clearly not a sustainable trade. While in the Kaptulel village, we were treated to posho (maize flower and water) at the “resort hotel” (pictured, it speaks for itself). I wound up eating lunch a total of five days at the resort, so by the end of our stay, I was a regular. Hand washing was a new experience for me here, because it was done by a child who went around from person to person pouring water over your hands as you scrubbed them together. The kids are adorable. They go nuts when you snap their photo and then show it to them. It’s one of those things you really have to experience for yourself.

On several later journeys to the Ngenge plain (told you it was fun to say) a few of us went hunting for a several villages and streams that had been named, but their identity and location had not yet been discovered. This was definitely an adventure. On one trip, we managed to break one of the rear leaf springs of the vehicle (it was a miracle that the others held up to the beating they received). A little duct tape and bailing twine (minus the duct tape) and the Samurai was back on the road – so-called as it were. On yet another trip, “Baja Bosco” or “the Boss” navigated across an empty riverbed to save us a good hour of bouncing along through the bush, thanks Bosco.

Sunrise from Noah's ArkSamurai on the mend

Fixed it.
Picturesque African Savanna


Village of Kaptulel

The famous Ngenge Resort Hotel

Me and some chillins

Over the course of a few days, our team collected a lot of data and began to put together some recommendations for how to supply sanitary drinking water and irrigation. Huge challenges confronted us. The current dry season is called that for a reason, there’s no rain and very little surface water available. It didn’t take very long for us to discover that some of the hoped-for plans wouldn’t be feasible in the short term, if ever. The idea of a gravity fed water supply system to service both potable and irrigation water needs had been dreamt about by the communities, so we feared our presentation of the realities regarding such a system would dash all hope. I was frustrated because it seemed that our team had been hyped up to almost a savior status, that we were expected to come in and solve all their problems. Obviously, that wasn’t the case, so I felt like no matter how hard we tried, we could only let them down.

On Monday the 25^th, our team presented our recommendations to the community. Many of us feared for the worse because we weren’t delivering the grandiose gravity system that it seemed they were expecting. However, God really provide in that our presentation was well received, and that the people seemed excited to implement the simpler but effective and immediate solutions. There was sort of a phase plan which included immediate drinking water improvements and incremental irrigation development. The plan also includes training for community hygiene and a business proposal for funding and maintenance.

One thing that makes me chuckle is how my expectations have adapted here. Like you just assume that nothing will happen on time. Take our community meeting, for example. Never mind that fact that we’re already 1.5 hours behind schedule. The Bishop and Rev. Moses decide to eat lunch before we can start the meeting, thus delaying it for another hour. Or take, one day I went to the District Water Engineer’s office to pick up some documents I had previously arranged to photocopy. He told me that someone had borrowed them and should be returning them shortly. However, when I again stopped by around 4pm, he was M.I.A. “He hasn’t returned from lunch, yet,” is what the secretary told me. Just another day in Africa… Remarkably, I managed to get them copied before I left Kapchorwa. Oh, and here’s a good one. While waiting for the bus to “fill up” (I think one guy got it right when he said, “my definition of ‘full’ has changed”) the woman sitting next to me suddenly got up and started making here way to the front (we were in the second row from the rear). The task of negotiating your way to the exit of a packed bus is nearly impossible, but she managed to find a way. (It’s important to note that the “aisle” on buses and taxies are conveniently converted into seating room because they have seats that fold down into the aisle.) Meanwhile, people from the outside are yelling “there’s an empty seat right there!” while folks already on the bus are retorting, “It’s already taken!” Soon, she reappears with a pair of live chickens. We enjoyed the ride to Kampala with chickens squawking at every jolt.