ACT Uganda Blog

"In the bleak midwinter..." the opening words to my favorite Advent carol, I sit watching the 9th or 10th inch of snow falling. While it's beautiful, I can't help but wonder what my friends in Muko are doing on a day like every other day in Uganda - about 70-75 degrees F and sunny or slightly overcast skies.  For those of you who have not had the blessing to travel there, it is a gorgeous country. Muko Sub-County is between 6,000 and 6,400 ft elevation (much like Aspen, CO) but it sits just 400 or so km south of the equator. The days are pretty much the same weather all year round. They don't have summer, fall, winter or spring - they have wet seasons and dry seasons. The sun is constant in rising and setting, unlike our sun which moves closer to the horizon in winter. There is a reassurance in the sameness of the weather in Uganda. It was dubbed the Pearl of Africa by Winston Churchill. There are 56 different tribes in Uganda. The people of Muko are Bakiga (prono...

When the US Travel Team arrived last August in Muko, our first visit to Muko High School took us to the old Science Room, in which we heard from Senior 6 students, Joan Rukundo and Anxious Niwananya. One of the more interesting and potentially exciting experiments which students in the chemistry program at Muko High School (MHS) are engaged is making cleaning products, both ancient and modern varieties. Joan described her work in making bar soap. She performed a chemical reaction know as saponification by reacting caustic soda (lye or sodium hydroxide) with vegetable oil and pouring the added dye and perfume before the mixture hardened to improve esthetics.  This reaction has been utilized for nearly 5,000 years. Archeologists have determined that Egyptians made cylinders of soap in a similar manner as early as 2,800 BCE.  A more recently discovered method to produce a commonly used cleaning agent was performed and described by Anxious. He reacted sulfuric acid with naturally ...

Over the past 20 years (Happy Anniversary ACT - 2003!), there have been lots of times we feel dismayed that all we are doing really doesn't make that much difference. Then, we get a result that confirms that indeed, everyone's hard work is paying off! Yesterday, was one of those days for all of us involved in and supporting ACT! As you know, ACT was asked by the Kigezi Diocese (Anglican) to take over the management of Muko High School a number of years ago. This has been a journey of highs and many lows in trying to stabilize the school academically, staff-wise and the physical campus. We have come a long way: new security fencing, solar power, better food for the kids, new bath areas for the kids, a new water system, raising the roof and repair of classrooms, a computer lab full of computers, computer training for the staff, successful recruitment of many new students, establishing the HONOR Scholarship Fund (also at Mulore School) and our most recent improvement, the beautifu...

February 3rd. Yep. This is about the time we begin getting our seed catalogues in the mail for our warmer months (our dear Ugandan friends: for us   in the US,  May, June, July, August, September, are our growing prime season). We sit in our comfy chairs looking through the Burpee Catalogue dreaming of what our gardens might look like this year. Well, I for one am grateful for many things concerning gardening in Michigan vs. gardening in Muko.  Even though the Ugandans have a year 'round growing season, there are many things that make gardening so much more difficult. First, let's acknowledge in the US, we get in our car and drive to the Grocery Store to get most of our food most of the time. In Uganda, much of their family's diet comes from their very small garden plot.  The US gardens tend to be on relatively flat ground, making it easier to cultivate and tend. Check out Deus Tumushabe's garden - a virtual 45 degree angle! And his crops grow under his diligent care...