Week 7 | Uganda

Week 7 came and went with a wide variety of activities. From visiting farms with cows, to digging & leveling with a hoe and breaking it (whoops), to baking homemade white bread and banana bread, to taking public transportation to Jinga, to planting beans and corn, to fixing a weed whacker (with the help of a video chat with Dillon), to visiting my boy Isaac, and singing a solo in church. 

Now I'll try and break that all down for ya.  

One of the beautiful evenings here in Bukeka. Minus the mosquitoes.

Went to visit a couple people that had some cows. I'm learning how people take care of their animals here and for what purpose they have them in hopes to gain some knowledge so Suubi can have our own herd of dairy cows in the future. 

Having your own cows means you are pretty well off in terms of providing for your family. They are expensive and a lot of work. A lot of work because you have to fetch water for them daily and cows drink a lot, and they cut fresh grass or whatever they feed them daily. So you don't really see many people who have more than 3 cows. 

Not my proudest accomplishment of the week. But it certainly felt good to have sweat dripping from my face as I worked. But I must have worked a little to hard. We were basically tilling up and leveling 2 acers all by hand. If anyone has a small tractor and tiller they'd like to get rid of, we could certainly take if off your hands. :) 

This would be possibly my greatest accomplishment this week. Not sure how this happened. But I baked bread. For the first time. With no proper measuring cups or spoons. In Africa. Without mom. In a gas oven. 

I will make a few small changes next time, but it turned out well enough! 

Planting grass this side is no small task. You don't have grass seed that you sprinkle on the ground and it grows. No, you transplant existing grass. So you have to dig up small pieces of grass with the roots, dig holes 1 ft by 1 ft apart and place the grass there cover it up, and apparently it will start growing in a couple days and spread.  

The corn had dried enough on the cob so we had a sheller come and take the kernels off and then it dried for a couple more days. 

Some just had fun playing in it. :) 

I don't have any pictures of it for some reason, but we now have it all bagged up into 200+ lb sacks, which will then be taken to the mill to be ground into flour. We should be left with 15-20 of these 200lb bags of corn flour. Now the children will had food for this next school term. 

Getting your food this side comes with a lot of work. You don't just go to the grocery store and buy whatever you want or need. You really have to work for it and its in a very little variety of foods. 

Ugandan pancakes. If you tell someone here that you want a pancake this is what you'll get. They are made with cassava flour and bananas. And are quite delicious! 

My boy Isaac! Such a little gentleman he is. While they had school break he begged me to come visit his home and family. He said it will be so fun and he was going to give me something nice. And did he ever. We left his home with all kinds of things. 3 bunches of the most delicious bananas, a sack of cassava (which btw I am currently eating as I type this), a sack of squash (I think), a jackfruit, and some gooseberries. 

 His parents. Isaac is the youngest in the family and the only child left at home. So he has lots of responsibilities helping do chores around home. 

 One of the fields where corn and beans are being planted. Yes, all by hand. I think this patch is about 5 acers. 

Waiting in line to get a hair cut!  

The barber also came this week, so all the boys and girls got their hair cut. Some were excited and  some not so much. If its as long or longer than the above picture, it all comes off. 

They do this for cleanliness and simplicity. 

So they all come to the staff room to take their turn. 

Saturday evening church choir practice! Boy do these ladies know how to dance and sing! And yes somehow I was chosen to sing the "preachers song" on Sunday. I did not have much say in the matter so there I was doing an acapella solo. Somehow it went well. 

Fresh banana bread! I am needing more ways to eat all my bananas this side. I hope they aren't harmful to a person, because I consume about 5 per day. 

Also not sure what has inspired this baking thing, because I never have spent so much time in the kitchen as I do here. But here's proof to my family that I actually can bake. ;)

And last but not least, 7000 miles never feels so far until your little sister becomes a Christian! I could not be more thankful to Jesus than I was when I woke up and seen her text on my phone.