Blog moved to Posterous

I've moved my blog to Posterous: http://thomasbell.posterous.com

Football and Motrobikes

Saturday I went with Duku Kenneth to pick up our new Seed Effect motorbikes from “his guy" that was "bringing them in" from DR Congo. I don't think there was anything illegal (though law has a different meaning here given that there isn't really a government), but I also got the impression that these bikes had sort of just emerged from the jungle somehow. The bikes are for our team, mostly so our loan officers can get around to visit the people we serve.



I've also been riding one for the last few days on my "commute" from Kaya's to the office. Its dirt roads, and mostly mud with the recent rain. So it’s more like off-roading than actually driving on legit roads. I've had a few near wipe-outs sliding through the mud, but the bikes are not that heavy and you can't really go faster than about 20 mph. So unless I get clocked by one of the twice-weekly oncoming lorries I don't think it’s too likely I'll get banged up. But the locals think it’s hilarious that I have trouble getting the bike going . . . the clutch doesn't exactly work like it does on American and Euro bikes. I think I’ve mastered it now after a dozen impromptu lessons from local guys. I can get around much more quickly and it’s a lot of fun to drive. The next challenge is going to be carrying passengers without killing them. See the nice shiny Seed Effect motorbike on the right.



Then we also saw Kajo Kaji play a soccer match against Nimule, it was a draw in case you were wondering. Pouring down rain on an uneven field was interesting to see. Check out this clip of the match here: http://vimeo.com/9781331. It rained a ton over the last week, despite the fact it's the dry season. Good news is that it cooled down a lot. Except the middle of the day, the heat's not too bad right now.


We had two new groups in training last week now and we will be giving loans next week to as many as 35 new people. It's been going very well. I never thought I'd be at a job where I'm at the office for 60 plus hours a week, I still don't want to leave at the end of the day and I look forward to "working from home" when I get back to Kaya's in the evening. The people have been great, everyone from Kaya to Heather, Christy, Stephen and Kenneth most of all. At least for now, I'm home.

Jumping the Border

I got to make my first trip across the border to Moyo, Uganda on Monday with Kaya and Heather. It’s only about 10 miles but it takes an hour to get there, partly due to the border checkpoints and partly due to the fact that the road is dirt and only mostly graded. The border checkpoints went smoothly. Sudan Customs and Immigration was literally a wooden shack next to a “road blockade” (a string connecting two wooden sticks on either side of the road). The Uganda version had an actual concrete building. It was strange that the two checkpoints are each about a mile or so from the actual border so for about two miles you are in “no man’s land” as Kaya said. But I got my monthly Sudan visa (apparently they are now mandating that we only have a visa for one month due to “the threat of terrorism” according to the verbiage on my visa).

Moyo is like Kajo Keji plus, no paved roads or power grid but a bit of infrastructure. It is where we do Seed Effect’s banking and wire transfers at Stanbic Bank Uganda. Moyo has an ATM, quite a bit more commerce and at least one shop with Western-ish goods . . . Peanut Butter, Nutella, British Digestive Biscuits, Heinz Ketchup and the most critical item of all, “Euro Silky” toilet paper. It only took us about 3 hours to collect our wire transfer. The tellers spend about 15 minutes on each customer for even simple deposits and withdrawls . . . point 7 of 150 on why it’s not exactly a big mystery that the cost of doing business anywhere in Africa vastly exceeds that of a place like Austria.

Afternoons in Uganda will become more frequent when it doesn’t cost me $50 each time I cross the border, but for that privilege I must endure a trip to Juba for a multi-entry/exit visa. No small undertaking given the 8 hour drive on crazy roads and the fact that Juba is flat out nuts.

Politics at Grace

Last Sunday was very interesting. Pastor Kaya took me over to Grace FM, the local Christian Radio station that e3 is involved with. We were there to look at the power system they have to run the station because Seed Effect’s biggest hurdle right now is getting a working power system implemented. Our solar only gets us a few hours each day and we have to run an expensive gas generator the rest of the time.

But the power setup was not the cool part of our trip to Grace FM. Kaya and Steven got into a serious convo about Southern Sudan politics [Steven is the station manager who interviewed me on the radio in November]. Given that the South will probably secede in about a year and war is looming, a political discussion carries a little more weight here. Neither Kaya or Steven seem to be super political, but they were just concerned that the officials running for election, the governor of the province I think, would actually make an appearance in town. They even talked about how Steven would love to host a forum with the candidates on Grace FM and they’d love to do an in person event if only there was a suitable venue.

Playing with Scissors (or a machete)

The kids having a grand ole time at Kaya's house, baby Mike Congrove playing with a machete (bottom left). I'm just kidding . . . I think.

Arrival

Heather and Kenneth met me at the Kajo Keji airstrip (above), unloaded my bag’s at Kaya’s place and then we had a short meeting at the Seed Effect office before I crashed and got some sleep Thursday night. On Friday the team had a welcome lunch party for me at Stephen's. It was great to see everyone again. After the party we had a very productive kickoff meeting and we are planning to prep next week to do two more loan groups the week after, totaling 30 new clients.

Today was great except for the part where I broke the door to building I live in, shattered the window, and had on no pants at the time. But on a positive note I reassembled my bike, with a little help from the Kaya kids and the watchman. So now have transport (all 3 e3 vehicles are out of commission right now). And tonight we had a great surprise birthday party for Kelly, an American who works at the orphanage. We tricked her by taking her by the local saloon (tongue-in-cheek) to buy a soda. Very interesting entertainment was featured.

The barkeep was playing a tape of one of the McCain-Obama presidential debates from 2008. As thrilling as that was to watch, again, we left and eventually stumbled upon the real party at Stephen’s. Lots of fun, lots of food. So we do actually have at least 6 other Americans in town for now, though only Heather and Christy are with e3 [R to L, Christy, Stephen, Cole, Emily (just visiting) and back of Heather's head].

The Journey

I left the US last Monday and spent three days traveling to Kajo Keji, Sudan. Both long flights went very smoothly. I even struck up a great extended conversation with my seat-mate, Agnes, who was returning to Uganda for the first time since childhood (she was at least 60). And finally I arrived safely in Kampala, Uganda late Tuesday night.

Julie and Vincent Mbalangu met me at the Airport in Entebbe. They are Ugandan missionaries with the Navigators who Missy introduced me to when we were in Kampala last November. Julie and Vincent were kind enough to let me stay with them in their home for two nights. They also gave me a grand tour of Kampala on Wednesday and I feel I know the city much better now.

We had an interesting night on Wednesday. We drove to Entebbe Airport to pick up Rudy, an American who was speaking at a conference put on by Julie and Vincent in Kampala last weekend. On our way back, at about 11pm, when we were halfway between Entebbe and Kampala on quite a deserted stretch of road, our car broke down. Unable to get a taxi to stop, Vincent eventually just took off walking into the darkness in hopes of finding a gas station. Thank God he turned up an hour or so later in a taxi and we made it home a few hours later without trouble.

It was a bit of a trick making my MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) flight into Sudan. I called Wednesday to double check which airport I was leaving from, which is not as clear-cut as you might think. I asked the guy on the phone if I was flying out of Entebbe International (the main airport) or Kajjansi (the MAF airfield). He tells me I’m flying out of BOTH Entebbe and Kajjansi at 7am. Of course this makes no sense but he is insistent. So I decided I’d go to Kajjansi first (its closer) and I could still get to Entebbe if I chose wrong.

I also ended up having to get to the airfield an hour early due to last minute transportation issues (Vincent’s car dying hours earlier). The airfield wasn’t even open yet and Vincent and I had to convince the night watchman to let me unload my 300 lbs worth of baggage and wait sitting in the dark for the MAF folks to arrive.
It turned out that our flight flew out of Kajjansi, landed at Entebbe a couple miles away, and then flew out for Sudan. So I was in fact leaving out of Kajjansi and Entebbe, both technically scheduled for 7am departure. Good times.

And since there were 6 of us (and because of my luggage), we got to fly the big plane (above). And Gareth, our Scottish pilot, was a real pro so we made the trip up to Sudan in only a couple hours and without incident. A long three days but I arrived in Kajo Keji on February 10 without major incident. God is good.