From Uganda (for now)

Greetings folks,

I know it’s been a while since I last blogged, things have been busy and my head has been quite full. I finally decided to insist upon sitting down and writing now before another month whizzes by, as is the increasing tendency.

So, it may surprise you to learn that I’m writing this from a balcony overlooking a red-earth lane, between a curtain of palm trees and banana palms, in a guesthouse in the city of Gulu, in northern Uganda. No, you haven’t stumbled into a parallel universe in which I had always been deployed by BMS to Africa, rather than South America. No, I didn’t fly directly from Peru,

by turning east out of Lima and flying in an almost straight line (following the curvature of the earth, of course) for about 7,556 miles to arrive at Entebbe International Airport. Alas, the lack of pilot’s license and private Boeing were my primary obstacles. The secondary obstacles were the cost of a return ticket Lima – Entebbe and the desire to avoid 60 hours of flying for a two-week field trip. 

So to clarify, I did fly to the UK first, about ten days ago. As many of you may already know, 2023 is a Home Assignment year for me and I won’t now return to Peru until the beginning of August. Taking advantage of this, I decided this was also the year to attend the Bangor University Tropical Forestry and Food Security masters program Study Tour in Uganda. I’m in the final year of the part-time program and this is one of those non-negotiable modules and I’d really like to finish this year…

Up until my early 20s, I imagined that I would eventually go and try to make myself useful in some jungle part of Africa. I met a Congolese man in the queue for Entebbe Immigration Control who asked me where I was from. He was apparently unconvinced by my response (“I’m from the UK”) and asked me “But originally?” In light of the overwhelming reality of geography, I was born in Kenya. He didn’t miss a beat, “So you are Kenyan.” From his tone of voice, he was merely stating an obvious and incontrovertible fact. At that point one of the immigration officials put us into different queues and I was unable to debate the definition of ‘being from’ and the observation that since leaving Kenya in the Winter of 1981 at the grand age of 11months, I was only now, in this airport, the closest I’ve ever been to the place of my birth. In 16 hours on a bus I could be in Nairobi – the equivalent of a bus ride from Piura to Lima. Was I tempted to abandon the Study Tour and go in search of the place on my passport under ‘place of birth’? A little. I have no memories of it but I’ve seen possibly thousands of photos and slides of my family’s time in Zambia and Kenya. This is probably a big part of the reason for thinking I’d end up going back at some point.

And here I am. I spent the day with Genesis and Wilson from the Justice, Livelihood and Health (JLH) charity that BMS helped establish and still partners with. Genesis and his team manage the agro-forestry project here in Gulu, a project I’ve heard, read and thought a lot about since taking on the Creation Stewardship role. It has been amazing to come and see it and to be able to chat with Genesis and Wilson face-to-face about the challenges and joys of the project, even as we rest under the shade of the (naturalised) malina trees that have grown so well, next to stunted and termite-attacked (exotic) eucalyptus’ saplings – but everyone still wants more eucalyptus in another sobering demonstration of the power of propaganda. We were out in Pajja community all day, talking to farmers from the project about the impacts of the trees on their lives and the environment, and promoting the Lorena stove, a fuel-efficient cookstove with a chimney. Every conversation ended with a farmer expressing their hope to plant more trees in future, trees for timber which will pay for their children’s school fees or provide an income in their old age. There is a lot of hope being planted.

I will be here with JLH for one more day before being driven back to Kampala on Saturday to join the other students on the Study Tour. Aside from the lecturers and a couple of us flying in from the UK, 90% of the students are from other African countries. I’m looking forward to learning about the diverse experiences and perspectives on natural resource management, as well as delving deeper into the issue here in Uganda. In total, I will be here for 20 days.

After that, I head back for Home Assignment and I also look forward to travelling around the United Kingdom, hopefully catching up with many of you. I might also mention that I have the pleasure of attending a family wedding in North Cyprus after I return from Uganda. Whilst it all does seem a bit crammed into the 90 days I’m allowed to be in the UK, I won’t be complaining – but I will stop off at the BMS Carbon Calculator to help fund more of Genesis’ projects! 

BMS Carbon Calculator

God bless and keep you all,

Love Laura x

Somewhere over the Sahara

Somewhere in the Bush

Looking for a woodlot

Thatch: Uganda Style

Lost British Kenyan found under tree?