Kampala in a Day

The rest of today was spent seeing some incredible lab experiments being carried out by our research team (which is comprised of several recent grads from the chemistry program at a nearby university). A big part of our work here is making sure that it is sustainable as possible, so our team isn't just growing crops for cleaner oil - they are using literally the entire plant. They have already started developing soap from two of our plants (both handsoap and bars) and are working on creating a laundry detergent that would also keep away bugs. The soap on the left is from sheep fat, and the right is from palm oil. It's pretty impressive work, especially considering its being done by recent graduates.

Our office compound in Kampala is one of the nicest buildings in the area. It is brand new and is the base for our operations, since the farming takes place in several areas around the country. The area seemed fairly safe but it is staffed with round the clock security. After a few meetings there, we headed into town. While the main roads are paved and fairly organized, every single side street isn't, and there are a decent number of places with no roads at all. Several people on motorbikes got stuck in holes and that didn't seem to be too rare an occurance.

As I noticed this morning, the disparity between different areas is staggering. It's not about income per se, but just the way buildings are constructed. The rural areas have people mostly living in small and poorly maintained one room structures. The commercial suburb areas have rows and rows of the shops I described earlier, all with different purposes. The immediate downtown, for about 6 square blocks, looks like any other American city.

We drove around for about 4 hours, including a stop at the nursery where we buy some of our seeds from. I also had my first real meal in Uganda - a fast food type place. They had pizza and hot dogs but it was more like a restaurant, and before I could order, one of our employees took care of it for me. One lamb, smashed banana, and potato later, I had survived a very good first meal.

Tonight I grabbed dinner with our CEO's wife because he is still traveling. We went to a nice restaurant that was part of a small casino, and it took everything in me to not play blackjack. I told her that I had a gambling problem and she thought I was kidding, so I didn't mention AC the week I get back. I had a pizza for dinner - after my Ugandan lunch I wanted to see how they fared at American food. Not bad at all. This is a picture of her to the left, photographed against her will while I took stock of everything in the office.

Tomorrow I go on a 4 hour drive to our first farm operation, and will be staying there overnight. It is in a town called Karamojo, and inhabited by the Karamajong tribe. Over dinner tonight, I learned that for over 100 years, they have had no electricity, jobs, or even agriculture - they have essentially been raising cattle for the tribe's existence and have no way to move forward. They now form the basis of our workforce and for the first time, they have a new school, electricity, jobs, income, and a sense of security. I can't wait to see how far it has come along and meet the people there.

That being said, when I told some of the people that lived in one-room wooden houses in Kampala that I was going to Karamojo, they laughed and said, "Have fun with that." Needless to say, I expect a picture of me in an absurdly embarssing mosquito suit at some point soon. I was also told that the most shocking and underdeveloped part of Karamojo is the road to get there, which makes NYC potholes look adorable.

Not sure what the internet situation is up there but its highly likely that Iàll be lucky to have running water..so potentially in blog hiding until Wednesday night.