Uganda March 2011 - part 2 - visiting Parabongo

It was very hot in Gulu on March 14th 2011 - about 36 degrees hot!  So with bottles of water at the ready Timothy Njakasi from Send a Cow Uganda and myself headed off from Gulu to visit our farmers at the nearby village of Parabongo.  Nearby if you are a crow, but if you are driving the 10 miles, or so, it takes about an hour on the bumpy, bouncy, pot-hole filled roads of Uganda. I couldn't help but think about my first trip there in 2008 when I was faced with 60 faces filled with so much sadness and pain it was almost unbearable.

This was my 3rd trip, and the first time I was visiting our farmers at home and not in the IDP camp.  Excited was not the word!  We had planned for the whole day to spend with the farmers (which translates to about 3 hours!).   There is a short slide-show of photos of the day at the bottom of this blog.

We arrived to the most wonderful welcome.  The farmers lined the path down to Demon's (yes really) house.  They were singing, clapping and dancing as we made our way in a procession to his home!

We now have 2 groups at Parabongo - the original and the new.  The new group seemed slightly bemused by the excitement of our reunion! Both groups sang welcoming songs and then we got down to the nitty gritty of the day - the meeting.

Meetings start with a farmers prayer and then I ask about their lives, the progress they have made and the challenges they face.  The progress stories are brilliant, ranging from sending the children to school (hurrah) and eating 3 meals a day to setting up businesses, buying land and building houses. Seeing their new houses was very moving because everything they had was destroyed during the war, so they are re-building their lives hut by hut.  The challenges are very practical; storage for the seeds, water for irrigation and help for the schools.  Here is the report/letter they wrote for me (I know it's big, but I thought you would like to be able to read it!): 

Their homes consist of huts and lots of space.  Because of the horrendously cramped conditions in the camp they said that they are using more space than before.  The compound, as they call it, is made up of; the kitchen hut, the living-room hut (eating, relaxing), bedroom huts for the children (one each boys and girls) and the parents bedroom hut.  They are learning (thanks to Send a Cow Uganda) to build separate lavatories and washing areas.


Then we had lunch... 3 years ago I visited them and they had nothing - absolutely nothing.  2 years ago, still in the camp, they presented me with a beautiful pot, a basket and a brush to sweep my compound - they did ask me if I use the brush to sweep my compound... I think next time I will take some photos of how we live in our part of the world.

They cooked and served lunch on plates, whilst we sat on chairs in their newly built home.  They haven't got to knives and forks yet and it was an interesting experience eating sweet potatoes, spinach and groundnut (peanut) purée with my fingers. 
As I am a beginner of this way of eating,  I have left out the photos of me trying...   It was fabulous and quite the best meal I have ever had in my entire life.

After lunch we headed off to visit other farmers and their homes.  Disaster struck after farmer number 1.  The dreaded puncture... in the middle of the bush... no mobile phone signal... no shade and no water left in the bottles.  An hour and considerable sun-burn later all was mended.  Luckily Timothy never leaves home without a spare wheel in his truck.  Sadly it meant that we couldn't visit anymore farms and had to head back to Gulu before darkness fell.

I was going to end this by asking you to pray/hope/wish for rain in Gulu as it is a real problem.  But... as I type Demon has just sent a text message saying that it is raining!  So hurrah for rain and hurrah for the wonderful people of Northern Uganda - and a special hurrah for mobile phones!