Novembers History!

First Day Off!

So, it is Monday, and I was given a long weekend, something I very much appreciated! Teaching has been going fantastic, yet everyone enjoys a break! To start my Monday, I was bending over under my Hot water tank, and stood up suddenly, not remembering it was directly above my head and yes, was given a ker-thunk back to reality- it hurt!

I than went to the office, and met Malaina, and we headed out to Kajjansi, where our Airstrip is located, on the way to Entebbe Int. Airport. There at the airfield, I spent time with Adelle-2, Malaina's youngest as she met with a National MAF staff member for a meeting. We toured the tarmac, took pictures by the planes, and bothered the men in the hangar-making sure they were actually working (one of them being Adelle's dad!) and wandered around. It was fun to watch our MAF flights come and go, seeing it happen for real. As a MAF teacher here, I am indirectly related to the reality MAF plays here in Uganda, so to see a flight leave, knowing they are making a difference somewhere was very special! I enjoyed my time at the hangar, playing with Adelle, seeing our Engineers and Mechanic's busily working; enjoying their breaks with them, eating true Ugandan food- it's fantastic, and so filling!

After Malaina, Adelle and I left the hangar, Malaina dropped me by a Petrol station and I took a Boda to the huge greenhouse that I had been hoping to visit. After a very picturesque Boda ride, past large Tea plantations, we arrived. I was not sure if it was even possible to see the greenhouse, and as I learnt from a Ugandan Guard at Tea Plantation's Compound, it was a Rose Greenhouse. So, we had first gone to the wrong place, but I was ok with that as the view from the top of the hill there was so breathtaking! As we pulled up to the compound at Kajjansi Roses Limited, I spoke with the guard and after a short time he opened the gate, inviting me in. The rains were coming very fast, thunder was booming around us and the sky was very black. In the direction of our Airstrip, it looked to be raining already, just a few kilometres away. As we walked to the main office, the rains started and we had just entered the building when the sky broke loose and the rains came!

I met at the greenhouse with the Manager and he was very welcoming and we had a great talk- it was so special to talk greenhouse lingo with someone, while in AFRICA, when I had spent my life in Canada in the greenhouse!!! We toured the working area, while the rains beat down on the tin roof, it was deafening and so we shouted back and forth to each other as the rains overpowered our conversation. The greenhouse consisted of about 10 acres of only Cut flower roses, most of which were sold wholesale to Holland. Through my time at the greenhouse, I learnt the in's and out's of how they have so much manual labour due to newer technology being too expensive to invest in, and due to Uganda being a developing country many of the high quality new technology systems that are available in the West are simply not there in Africa yet.

The quality of work was amazing, especially due to the very heavy workload and large demand, with such a small number of crew. They had one employee per ½ acre roughly, and the responsibilities were very large. I was very impressed and found it so special to have been able to see the greenhouse and had tour.

Now as most of you reading this will not understand much of what I have written, I'll leave it simple, and not confuse you further with 'boring greenhouse talk'. I enjoy it and was so very excited to have been able to visit there. The manager sent me home with a bouquet of roses, with such a quality I have yet to see in Canada, where they sell a bouquet of 20 stems for 1,500 shillings = about 75cents. Yes, it's amazing- they are so pretty!!

In the next few months or weeks, whatever works out, I hope to visit another location they have, with Chrysanthemums, well, for me I'd just call them Mum's but you all wouldn't understand what that is!! I look forward to seeing the work here and just learning more and more of the culture.

God has created in Uganda, such a special country, and people and I have yet to see most of it. I have only been in the Kampala surroundings, a huge city built on many hills, with many thousands of busy people, and lives. The land around Kampala is more sparsely populated and life in the villages is so much more difficult and demanding with more limited resources- if they have even ever heard of other resources which in many cases they haven't, but simply make do with what they have. Can we make do with very little? How much are we willing to sacrifice to provide more for those who have so little? I do pray and hope that the lack of so much here in this country and those others that I hope to see, will never just become a sight, just another person, and a view, but that I might be constantly reminded of the hope God gives us daily; seeing the needs and trying to meet them in any way possible, the Lord willing.

Well, it is late and I had wonderful day off, and am so thankful for the breather, but as I took a Boda back to the Airstrip for a ride home with the Hangar men- yes, remember that we had rains, so I was filthy, my legs, feet and flip-flops were covered in mud. So, I need to yet shower and make sure that mud doesn't become a trademark!!

Love and Blessings, Lena