Nebbified!

This field trip to Nebbi has been a complete eye-opener.. It is hard to sum up the experiences in words, for many of them were felt with the heart. The drive up to Nebbi was eventful, roads under construction (some sections had a speed bump every 20 feet for 2 miles. Hahaha) Needless to say a trip that was estimated to take 4 hours, ended up taking over 9. It was fun though, had an amazing chance to get to know my driver Martin really well, and to hear a lot of his personal stories and experiences of the past presidents and the wars that have consumed Uganda. His insight into the past events were really revealing. People in Uganda share very different opinions of certain issues/events from where they are from in the country. Martin is native to Gulu but has been living in Kampala for many years, so his perspectives are a fusion between the two regions. Was extremely interesting to listen to.

The landscape and scenery along the way was simply breathtaking. So nice to get out of the city and breath in some fresh air, looking to the horizon to see as far as the eye can go, clear beautiful African Skies, low lands with Elephants grazing on Palm Tree Fruits, Baboons and Monkeys roaming the roadsides for food that people throw them, seeing the immense brute power and force of the Nile River crashing over boulders, leaping over waterfalls, Hills upon hills lush with extreme diversity in plant life, tree species, birds and soil types, thatch roof huts with amazing homestead farming, goats roaming the streets and villages, Cows with huge horns dictating the flow of traffic, mothers and children carrying 100L water hugs (sometimes 2) on their heads---It was beautifulll!!!!

I think the hardest and most revealing (in terms of grander gleanings) part of the trip (which occurred very early on in the travels) was driving through 3 IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps new GULU and seeing people who after 20 years of struggle and readjustment to life after war were fullys returning to regular life, things were picking up, people were returning to their villages and re-establishing themselves. The ones that have stayed are rebuilding agriculture in the region, re-establishing strong markets, rebuilding regional trust, and re-mending the beauty of the human fabric of life. There was such hope, such joy and happiness on the peoples faces and in the interaction with one another. It astounds me, the healing process is long and with many obstacles along the way, but at the same time I think it brings about a sort of social enlightenment in a sense. It now solidifies a strong yearning and initiative for long lasting peace. An evolving of society towards true communal values on a broader scale. This at least is the course I am seeing develop and the path that many humans are craving in this time of global strife, war, poverty, hunger, disease, climate change. We are all yearning for change, for a sense of real, stable and truthful global peace and cooperation. The people of Uganda and the strength they have had on this path should inspire us all…

On to the rest of the trip, Nebbi was incredible. Every day I would meet Martin and George (UCA Field Officer in Nebbi, who just had his 6th child today, yay!!) at 8:30, we would stop by the field office and then head out for 2-3 hour jdrives into the middle of nowhere. Not knowing where I was headed or who I would meet always made the ride even more enticing. Our first day we headed up to Zeu.. Have never seen such views. The road to the village was through the Highlands of Nebbi, basically cradling the ridge of a series of mountainous hilly ranges, down side streets, up 70 degree slopes (have no clue how the driver did it. Felt like the car was going to tip backwards, travelling down random paths fit for a bicycle (needless to say with the windows down I got smacked in the head quite the many times with 8 foot high grass. Haha).
Looking out the window to the right are endless hills, covered in pockets of thatch roof huts, sunlight lighting up the coloration in the hillside (deep green grass and trees from the heavy rainfall this year, deep browns covered in arrays of crops) It almost looked as if the hills were covered with decorative quilts. Looking out the window out the left, and you see hills of the Democratic Republic of Congo, until the horizon broke. Arriving at the first village I met Mary, quite the entrepreneur. She grows beans, maize, Cassava, coffee, pumpkin, bee hives, cows, goats and chickens, all on different plots that you intricately walk to through secret little paths through the bush. It was an agricultural jungle.. So lovely. Felt like I was in Lord of the Rings, feeling somewhat of a fulfilment to a nostalgic life as a farmer that I have always dreamed about.
The most amazing thing happened, we were walking to see her bee hives (quite a hike down a hill) and it started to pour (full-on monsoon style). It was incredible walking in the middle of nowhere, on the side of a huge hill, overlooking the valleys and hills, with soulful rain pouring down. I wish I had a lamp post (I would have jumped around singing “I’m singing in the rain”).. I had the biggest smile on both my heart and face. It was liberating and thrilling, it livened my spirit and calmed my soul, it reconnected me to so many feeling and thoughts of openness and enjoying the simple things in life that we have been blessed with on earth (like getting to smile when it rains. Here it is a blessing, for it allows for good harvests, back home we complain because it might mess up our hair. Hahaha).

Second , third and fourth day were spent on similar trips, but all to different regions of Nebbi, all different soil types, topography and crops that farmers were growing. I saw farmers who produced Mangoes, Oranges, Lemon, Okra, A variety of tree species in makeshift tree nurseries, banana, and other crops (really too many to type). All had different sloping plots, all different soil make ups, different environmental impacts (from too much rain, to to little, from fertile rich black loamy soil to sandy and rocky, you name it agriculturally it was there.) Enough of agriculture, as I am going to have several more posts to relay the learning’s and observations of that side of things later on….

Jump to a rather funny, but embarrassing story (got to share these ones. They’re what make traveling such a great time). I was out about 3 hours in the middle of nowhere, and then down a super long random side road, again further into the middle of nowhere. I was tentatively listening to the agricultural wisdom of Orambi (a farm manager in one of the project sites). He was telling me about pruning, propagating and grafting exotic mango cuttings onto native mango root stalks (was really interesting to me), but boom, bam, blurp, slush, slosh, owwweeee I got a sudden stab in my stomache-- the most explosive, nuclear meltdown diarrhea arrived on the scene, and like a firefighter, it was rushing quickly to get out of the fire station, haha. I tried to continue listening but my knees were shaking, I was losing focus and I felt the sweats coming on. I quickly excused myself and ran off to the nearest patch of bush, quickly squatted and like Harry (in Dumb and Dumber when he’s in Jasper on the toilet after mistakenly taking laxatives), I was off like horses at a race fresh out of the gates. Hahaha It gets better… I got bit in the temple by a giant beetle, scratched my legs on thorns, and best of all….. NO TP!! OHH the joy of using freshly picked tall grass and its' non absorptive capacity. Hahahahahahaha
Enough of grossing you out. It was intended for a laugh, hope it served it’s purpose well. I MUST STOP EATING ROADSIDE ROASTED MAIZE, BANANA AND CASSAVA ROOT!!! Apparently it has taken me several times to realise this. It's just soooo tasty.

I think that is a good note to end on. Will be much much more to post on in the next coming days. Will continue to relay thoughts as I reflect on things and break down experiences/gleanings.
Wish you all an amazing weekend.
Hope you are well
Peace and Love