Day Two: Uganda: the Crafts Fair and the Nangabo Technical Training Center

7:15pm, May 1st, 2019

Some of the store fronts at the crafts fair in Kampala

I had a rather early start to my day this morning, getting up at around 8:30 to start my day. My aunt woke me up with a cup of African tea with spiced milk which is kind of the Ugandan’s version of a chai tea. I then got ready for the day and sat down for breakfast with my aunt and Remi. This morning we had pineapple, hot buns, eggs, and more samosas!! Right after breakfast, at 10am, Sam, Sarah, and their grandchild Gabi came to drive us to Nangabo. Before going to Nangabo, we decided to go to a crafts fair which was very interesting. There were about 15 stalls set up in these little buildings and each one that you would walk by you would hear a woman saying “hello, please come in and have a look.” Every single woman said the exact same thing which was kind of funny just hearing it over and over again many times. Also while going into the stalls, I recognized many things that my grandparents had in their home like masks and little statues and bracelets and necklaces. My aunt and I bought some leather beaded bracelets that say Uganda which is very touristy, but they offer a sweet memory. 

Soon, we headed on our way to the Nangabo Technical Training Center. 

All of the children first greeting us at the center

We arrived at the center and were instantly greeted by 8 smiling children who had their arms out wide ready to hug us. We met Jackie who is the principle of the center, and we started on our tour. We first went to the kitchen where they cook all of the food for the center. We then went to where the students learn how to make pottery. We met Edward who has been making pottery for seven years. Edward showed us how he makes the pottery on his non-electric wheel. They get the clay from a swamp nearby, and they showed us the process in which they make the clay usable for pottery. Jackie then showed us the wood-fired oven that they bake the clay in and how they seal the oven up with bricks and mud to keep the heat in.

Edward making pottery on the nonelectric wheel

Some of the pottery that Edward made

Some of the things they made in the sewing room

Clyde and I in the library 

 

The two bio gas digesters

After seeing the kiln, they showed us their bunny cages, and they had an impressive amount of bunnies rounding around 25 bunnies. One of their future projects is building a permanent enclosure for the rabbits that is much larger and spacious for them to move around. One of the purposes of the rabbits is that their feces is used as manure for the farm, what I have learned over the past two days is,  Ugandans are very interested in recycling, renewable energy, and being as energy efficient as possible. After we saw the rabbits, we went to the farm. We saw the coffee trees and learned how they make their coffees, we saw they plant and tree nursery. The center is very into planting and growing trees with all of the deforestation that is occurring in Africa and especially around the training center. In the past years, there have been massive amounts of deforestation. So the with the center planting trees is their way of giving back to the environment for what has been taken. Their farm also consists of papayas, lettuce, onions, beans, Swiss chard, bananas, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, and many more things. We then went and saw where the center creates its own biogas. Two digesters digest the animal dung and the gas, which I would guess from my APES background is methane, is separated out and used to heat the ovens for cooking, and the rest of the dung is used as fertilizer for the farm.

The middle classroom of the early learning building

We then went to the computer lab where they have about 10 computers and a projector for the teachers in training to use. Then we went to the library where they have many books that were donated, or the center had bought themselves. Another one of their projects is to get more books and to get more updated books because all of the books that they currently have are a bit outdated. Next on the tour was a classroom that now has been made into a small chapel where a rebrand comes every Sunday, and they have mass. Then we went to where sewing and weaving are taught as one of the skills. They make many things like shoes, sponges, jewelry, pillows, and clothing like the traditional garb which I called a Basuti. We then continued to tour around and see the girl’s dormitory and the girl’s bathroom and shower. There is no running water at the school, so the toilet is outhouses, and the showers are bucket showers. The second largest project on their list is to have running water for showers and indoor plumbing hopefully. We then saw the community field. Every Monday at 5pm members of the community come to the area to play for hours with members of the center and the kids who go to school there. It is a place that the entire community can enjoy and play because this is the only actual field meant for everyone to play in. We then saw the nursery or also known as the early learning center where ages six to eight are taught. My grandmother was one of the integral people to get the early learning portion of the center up and running and so, with money that my family has raised, the center will be renovating the early learning center and naming it the Linnea Gershenberg Early Learning Center.

Sarah and Sam and I

Sarah and her wild guava!

The eucalyptus orchard

After the tour, we sat down for lunch with Jackie and Joyce Kibuuka who is Sam’s older sister and used to be the principle of the center until she retired. We are now staying at Joyce’s house which is only a short two-minute walk from the center, and she has a large farm. During lunch, we spoke about how Jackie came to work at the center, her future plans, my grandmother, and just catching up. After lunch, I said goodbye to my new little friends and promised I would be back to see them tomorrow. We walked back to Joyce’s house, and Sam took us for a tour of the farm since it is his family’s farm. Sam told us the history of how the eucalyptus orchard came to be because the corn they had planted was not successful in the dry season. We then came across beautiful flowers, a flame tree which was my grandmother’s favorite kind of tree, and wild guavas!! Guavas are one of my aunt’s favorite fruits, so my aunt quickly picked one off the tree and started to eat it! They were very delicious, and I ate a few myself on the walk back to the house.

Our dinner!

After we came back to the house, we said goodbye to Sam, Sarah, and Gabi who we will see on Saturday when they come back to pick us up because they have to go back to Kampala for work and school. We then rest for a little before we had an amazingly fresh dinner of matoke, country chicken which is the most natural chicken you can get, Swiss chard, potatoes, avocados, cucumbers, and beans. Now I am sitting with my aunt and Joyce watching some shows in Ugandan!!

Hours for the day: 8

Hours in total: 13.5

Until tomorrow

Maria