Next generation in Tiika

As we sat on the veranda one evening sheltered a bit from the wind and the showers, 3 teen girls passed by the side of the house, very surprised to find us there. One of the 3 greeted me in English, while the others greeted in the local language. As they moved away, Josephine and her niece, Daisylanda, chided them on their rudeness. Finally all three came and greeted “properly”. With some encouragement they began to talk with me answering my questions carefully.

I had to slow my speech and improve my enunciation of each letter in a word to be more readily understood. One girl hopes to study the raising of cattle, another, maize and the third, trees. They are all in P7, the last year of elementary school, although they were about 15 or 16 years of age. Whether they can continue will depend upon their families' ability to raise the required school fees.

Gold Mining III

Once the dirt is removed the sand is washed with powdered white mercury.








The mercury adheres to gold dust and is also heavier than the sand or water, so all the stirring moves this to the bottom of the basin. When all the sand is washed away, only the gold and mercury are left.













This mixture is placed into a cloth and wrung out tightly, forcing most of the mercury thru the cloth, leaving the gold dust and some mercury behind.









These small balls are carefully gathered up and collected for sale to brokers in Busia.





The sand is collected and taken back for re-pounding to attempt to retrieve more gold dust.

The work would go easier if they had some equipment, like a pump for removing the ground water from the caves and a gold metal detector to trace the ore veins. But in the meantime, they do what they can do and work very hard at it.

Gold Mining II

The rock pieces are bagged and carried by back or bicycle to a pounding place. There, with lead weighted metal poles the rocks are pulverized into fine sand, which is placed into large basins.






















These basins are taken to the nearby “river”, actually a small stream this time of year, with pools of water. The basins are wetted with water, held just below the surface and the dirt is washed away. Gold particles and the sand it adheres to are heavier than the dust and dirt and water.

Gold Mining I

One labor intensive industry that supports some families in the “off” season from agriculture is digging for gold. The process here is detailed with pictures as it is very different from what was initially used in CA 170 years back.
Rock is dug out of the ground by pick and hammer, sometimes creating 15' deep caves/tunnels. This cavern was made over a 2 year period. It curves to follow the band of rock containing the gold.




The ground water that comes in is removed by buckets or basins. The same containers are used to lift out the ore and rocks broken loose by the miners.

Family History

Josephine, 58, and her brother Moses, 81, are the surviving children from a family that had only 4 kids. Their father was very progressive in that he gave land to his daughters as well as his sons. Moses has had 4 different wives, with 15 children altogether. His last wife left him with 4 kids and ran off to another man. The youngest and next youngest are with him. The 5 year old is very independent and has abilities beyond his age, able to make a fire and cook porridge. The 12 year old is learning to drive a boda-boda and makes 2-4,000/= a day when there is work.

Josephine has 3 daughters, one in the US, one in Norway and one in Uganda. She lives in Kampala, fairly near to the former eMi office, but her heart is clearly in this village and with her family here.

Karamoja

Karamoja is a district in north eastern Uganda, bordering Kenya. The people there are famous for their love of cattle and their tendency to keep to old ways rather than adapt to more modern styles of living working, etc. Most people in Uganda fear them, for they are fierce warriors, even the women, and believe that all cattle not yet in their control are just waiting to come home to them. So their reputation also includes cattle rustling. They have picked up and use modern rifles, which has added to their infamy. (The rest of Uganda has strict gun control laws which are enforced.)

The lady staying in one of Josephine's rooms is from Karamoja. She wears clothes, greets in the local language and is learning to dig. Josephine explained that the lady does not pay rent, nor will she be asked to pay rent. It is common knowledge, that if one asks a Karamajong to pay rent, the one asking will be murdered. Now, Karamajong usually sleep outside, with or near their cattle, so the concept of house/home, rent, utilities, etc really is foreign to them.

One day this lady had visitors, including this cute baby and his older brother. I was allowed to hold the baby for a while, then the mom came and took him for a feeding.

Healing

Thanks be to God for great medical care! Saturday I saw the doctor on-call for a sore on the back of my thigh that was getting sorer by the day. Turns out it wasn't a mango fly larva as I had assumed (not being able to see the spot at all), likely a spider bite that got infected.

Two days later, the area is improving, with twice daily antibiotics and wound care packing, even with honey!

Am so grateful that it happened when it did and should be all well before I begin my travels home.

PS The wound is only 4 mm deep and 7 mm wide!

Walking with Moses

One morning when Josephine had gone visiting, Moses, her 81 year old brother, came to take me to see some land. He was not comfortable with his English, but was willing to try. We passed the school I'd been to previously and kept walking. He greeted every one who passed us on the road, all the people working in the fields near the roads and the people in the houses and compounds along the road. Good thing he did or I would have been left far behind. He is a fast walker.

After the first set of greetings, he laughed and said people said he was strong. After the next set of people, he said they said he was tough. These same comments were made by most of the adults he spoke with.

After 45 minutes of walking, we entered near another primary school. I resisted going further. I was hot, tired, thirsty ( having not brought a hat, or water or being in reasonable physical shape). I told Moses I would wait for him under a tree near a small shop. He said he'd be gone 5 minutes to talk with the Head Master at the school. Half an hour later I was taking photos of some beautiful children who were just hanging around.















Later Moses appeared and we began the walk back home. Along the way we were joined by many of the older students from yesterday's school, who wanted to keep us company, wanted to see the photos and in genereal were making a good sized parade with us. I was so glad to get back and find Josephine there who explained to the students that the photos were already at the school and that I needed a rest after all the walking.

When I told her of our adventure, she broke out into peals of laughter. People were assuming that I was Moses' new wife....thus all the comments about “tough” and “strong”. Now, I had suspicion that perhaps that was what was happening. There is just something about Moses, even at 81 years, that would make it possible for him to take another wife. Not me!

Local schooling

A visit to the nearest elementary school was truly educational for me. The school, sponsored in part by World Vision and funded by the Ugandan government is an example of a free school. There is no tuition charged. However students have to buy the uniform, books and supplies, help with planting in the garden which supplies the food for the midday meal.

For grades P1 (age 5) to P7 (12+) there are 16 teachers, 1 head master, 1 asst head master and 1400 students!!!


They were in their last week of school before a 2 week break, so energy was high as was excitement over having a visitor with a camera. Prints were made later the same day and given to the Head Master to post. Not all students were in the photos as many were playing football in the field, or still taking exams in class.

Plowing

While much work is done by hand, some fields are so large that other means of tilling have to be employed. The usual option is a team of oxen with a plow. This team passed us by one morning, pulling the plow inside an old tire. The tire keeps the plow from digging up the road. Also, in a different position on the tire, the field is more shallowly plowed than it would be otherwise.

Greeting

Greeting others is a way of life here in Africa. It is one of the customs that is difficult for many of us from the west to adapt to. But sitting with Josephine on the veranda of her house and watching the interactions, I learned a bit of the value of it.

Josephine greeted every person who passed by, whether they were footing, on a bicycle or boda. The person would always answer back. Sometimes there was a prolonged interchange as the mover continued on their journey. Sometimes Josephine went to the road and they stopped for a longer conversation. This happened all day long, with some people greeted numerous times as they passed by going to work, returning home for lunch, returning to work and then returning home in the evening. Even children passing by the house or on the road might stop to greet, some kneeling to greet as well, a custom for young ladies and children when greeting an old person (like me and Josephine).
One morning she greeted over 100 people, had conversations with more than 12 of them and showed off photos to more than 10 students – all this before 9:30, when she left to go visit a niece who was ill.

One day, her greeting brought into the yard a young woman selling chapatis, which we decided to purchase. Another morning, she learned the vendor with the big box on his bicycle has mandazi (like square heavy cake donuts). So she asked for the passerby to call the vendor back. He came and we purchased snacks for 2 days, a bag of mandazi and one of mahamri (my favorite Kenyan style yeasted snack bread).

Footwear

Moses went barefoot every where we went. Josephine worn blue and yellow slippers/thongs. I wore ankle high hiking boots. Guess which one of us had a blister after all the walking?

Paul's Family home

The family compound was spacious, with much room for playing, working and entertaining.










There was a raised shed that housed the goats









A mud and stick house for the older children, with a fruit bearing orange tree nearby.









A cook house/kitchen











The family banda, where the parents and the babies stay.

Pest control

In the yard, there was evidence of the activity of moles, who love to eat the roots of mango and orange trees.
Silver was called in to set traps, a fine wire loop, baited with a potato and activated by a bent branch.




He set two traps one evening, but by the time we'd left there was no mole caught. They will keep after them, as poisons are too expensive and this will eventually work.

Josephine's Home

With the gift from a former employer Josephine was able to buy the materials to build this house on a piece of land given her by her father just before he died. The house has cement floor, four rooms, each with an outside door. The front of the house has a wide, roofed veranda the length of the house. The walls are built from bricks and mortar, with iron sheeting for the roof. The doors are made of wooden planks and fastened on the outside with a metal hasp. There is no electricity or windows. Josephine is most embarrassed that the house is not plastered and painted inside and out. However, it was warm and dry during the night and the rains and free of bugs and vermin. So...all in all a great place to visit.

Fun is where you find it

Two boys, about 7 and 8, went to untie the goats in the field and bring them to the shed, an evening routine. This time, only 2 of the 6 goats went in easily. Two others headed towards the shed and veered at the last minute running through the shrub fence into the neighbor's yard and cooking area, helping themselves to the water in the pots and some of the maize, etc lying around. One of the boys caught up with them, but couldn't catch hold of the trailing rope. The goats dashed off towards the field again. Meanwhile the other boy had chased the billy goat and a young through the kitchen area of the compound and back towards the shed. The baby when inside and the boy was quick to tie it in. However the black billy trotted smartly out past the laundry line into the scrub brush behind the clinic.

This merry chase must have lasted over 15 minutes, with all the goats finally in the shed and tied off. Lots of exercise for boys and goats and much laughter for the rest of us.

Busia area

Recently I traveled with Josephine to her village near Busia, a border town with Kenya. She and her family have a large amount of land there and hope to find ways to develop it to benefit the community.

Only Josephine, her nephew and his wife spoke English,so I spent much of my time journaling observations and learning from them about life in this village area, Tiika.

The land has a bed rock of lava and sedimentary stone just below the surface. In some places the soil is only 6” thick, while in other places it may be as much as 4'. The soil is fertile and grows good crops of maize, groundnuts, sorghum, cassava, sweet potatoes, as well as other crops. Here, as around the world, the seasons and weather are changing. Many of the farmers are trying out crops that have not been grown previously.

The experimental plot behind the family compound now has seedlings for
mango,

orange,

and matooke trees,

along with starts for pineapple.





Because of the termites and moles, there are also kinds of trees planted to keep these pests at bay.

Paul, her nephew, has planted a kind of mango which produces fruits about 8” in diameter and are very sweet. The crops begin at the third year. He is hoping the revenue from these will cover school fees for his children for the remainder of their primary and secondary classes.

Welcome

Here is the front door to my house.












Here is a buffet table set with lots of food to share with friends. When would you like to come?

front yard flowers

These unusual flowers attract the small sunbirds, ones similar to the hummingbirds in your yards. The plants are broad leafed and very green, a wonderful contrast to the vibrant red-pink of these flowers which are beautiful for more than a month before fading. Sorry, I don't know their names, common or botanical.