Permaculture Noosa

I’ve passed the one month test here in Uganda. Im getting used to it and learning where to find the things I need and how to ask for those things.

My body is adapting too! I wake one morning with a gut pain like an alien is about to tear out my stomach. Oh God look out. After half an hour on the toilet I make my way to HQ. In the hot sun with a pack of hyenas in my guts, Uganda isnt much fun any more. I get to HQ and get my driver to help me find a guava tree. We drive to a house he knows and sure enough there’s a guava tree next to a mango tree. I go to the guava tree and all of a sudden all these white birds fly out just missing me. They’re not birds but cream coloured bats! Weird! I get a handfull of the young leaves and take them back to HQ and boil them into a dark tea. Within a 10 minutes I begin to feel better. Guava leaves are the best medicine for dysentry. You can also mix avacado leaves in the tea for severe cases.

A week later I get it again. More guava leaves. This time I check out the water supply in the hotel/shack. The bore pump is near the septic tank. Its the dry season and the bore is low. The septic must be running back into the bore hole. Oh dear! Other people are getting crook. More guava leaves!

Im walking out of the compound thinking about the plan I’m putting together to wean Karamoja off aid food and onto their own sustainable agriculture. Two little girls are in the shade near the gate. One is about 11 years old and the other is about 6.  Its hard to tell because they are both malnourished. The bigger one is kneeling and the little one is struggling to help her get a 20 litre full gerry can onto her head. I grab the jerry with one hand and lift as she stands. She points to her sister and says “and”. I see the little girl has a 10 litre container and I put it on her head. They thank me in their soft little voices and trudge off down the dusty track. I see this scene repeated all over Karamoja every day. The women are enslaved from an early age humping water. If we could get water to their homes the same energy could be used for food production.

In my plan I put small diesel pumps in villages and build many 5000 lt brick tanks from locally made fired bricks. The tanks only go where there is a community garden. The pump fills the tanks each day. The people learn water conservation because they only get 5000 lt. No garden, no tank. If you stop gardening, you get no water to the tank. Its harsh but it works. When people realize gardening is easier than carrying water, the food supply will increase. The community runs and maintains the pumps. I have to come up with projects that will employ people on “food for work” programs. I’v included windmill irrigation schemes and many other projects the villages can choose from. I’m also building test models to trial the strategies in the field and photograph them for the manual I’m writing.

Refrigeration is also on the cards. An old lady is making 2 sizes of pots for me to make pot in pot refrigerators. One pot goes inside the other with sand filling the gap between them. water is poured into the sand and damp potato sack acts as a lid. Inside the pot we have 15 degrees celsius. Now we can sell greens at the markets. greens last 3 hours in the heat. Now they get 3 days. We increase the food security from a different angle.

It’s Valentines day. I get invited to a “goat roast”. First I have to survey a village where the chief wants to do organic agriculture big time. We follow the chief in his ute. He says its only 8km. 40 kms later we arrive at group of mud huts with pointy grass roofs. There’s a group of people waiting in the shade of a shea tree. I ask him why there are no windows in the huts. Is it because of wild animals? He laughs and pretends he is shooting a gun. “No its for wild people, the Kjong”, he says.
I get introduced to the group. they get excited and the women make the leeleelee noise. The oldest elder is 85. They are such gentle old people. They shake my hand but wont let it go. I’m hungry. No breakfast as usual here and its 1 pm. Im fantasising about roasted goat. We walk off into the scrub with the chief and a few others. I explain a few ways we can use this land. We walk miles and finally get back to the village. I’m dreaming of goat meat. Wait, they want to show me a dam site. Ok I say, thinking of goat meat. We drive with 10 villagers hanging off the back of the pick -up truck. Yep, lovely dam site, goat time. Wait there is another over the ridge. GRRRR! We walk over the ridge. There’s a brand new bore capped off on the valley floor. The chief explains the government has put it in to supply a new school. A big tank is being built on the far hill. Great, irrigation potential. Used wisely, this water could transform this scrub into orchards. Its goat time! Lets go I tell the driver. Wave good bye to all the village, saliva dribbling from my mouth as I think of goat meat. Its 2 pm.

The driver is speeding. I told him if I didn’t get my goat meat I’m eating off one of his legs. He believes me. We get to town in record time. Im ambushed by some of my staff who have heard about the goat roast. The pick-up is full of people again. We get to the house where its all happening. I see chunks of raw meat. What? Its not even cooked yet.

We wait and wait. I drink a coke to kill the hunger. I have to give the small group who are organizing the event some cash. We just doubled the number of goat munchers. I am asked to get some beer. No worries. Finally at 6 pm we get the goat. It arrives on a platter. Im just about to grab a chunk  when I’m asked to say grace. Oh! Eh?… “Great Spirit, thanks for this yummy animal, Amen” They all stare for a second and then begin to chuckle. The normal prayers are much more complicated. I finally get a chunk of meat and gobble it down. A dog wanders over, I growl and it gets the message and runs off. Never try and take food off a hungry Steve, it’s dangerous. Because of all the extra people we get an entree’s worth of meat each. I go home hungry. It’s Ok though. Plenty of people in this land go to bed hungry. Im doing my best to sort that!