Blog - Agriculture

In May we have been busy weeding and watching the crops grow. The rains have been very good and the crops have benefitted greatly. Harvest of the sunflowers may begin in late June. The maize harvest will begin shortly after that.

Aaron Ruud farms 30 acres at the Dakabela Farm, close to Soroti, Uganda. He raises crops for Beacon of Hope College, which as you can imagine has a large food budget for 500 people onsite. Watch a video of Aaron

Missionary Farming from Pilgrim on Vimeo

"This has been a frustrating week. It started out poorly, got worse but finished well. Last Saturday, I was on my way back to town with a load of sweet potatoes for the school when I heard a load bang. I first thought it was a flat tire, but after seeing the trail of water I looked under the hood and found that the upper radiator hose had burst. Not just a short crack but actually split from end to end. On closer inspection, I saw the alternator belt broke too. The only thing I can figure out is, when the belt broke, the end came around and struck the hose which was weakened from age. I was fairly close to town so it didn't take too long to get another belt and a hose that wasn't an exact fit but was close enough to work. But then I saw that when the hose broke it also broke the short tube on the radiator the hose connects to. Here is where things start to get worse.

 

With the help of Julius, the engine room operator at the school, I got the hose on well enough to get the pickup to school. We got some 3-ton epoxy and reattached the tube to the radiator, waited a day for it to harden and drove home. Apparently, the hose exerts more than 3 tons of pressure because by the time I got home the tube was bro­ken again. Now, the only option was a new top for the radiator. This is not easy to find because the pickup, a Mazda, is not a common vehicle in Uganda. There was nothing at all in Soroti. We tried for several days to locate something in Kampala, the capital, but the most common suggestion was, "go to Kenya."

 

(In the US, with the help of a phone book and the internet, it is easy to find almost anything. Here, there are no phone books and most businesses do not have websites. So, the solution usually is to take the broken part to Kampala and ask around until you run across someone who knows someone who might know where to find what you need.

 

If you know exactly what you want and know where to go it is also possible to buy it and have them put it on the bus. Usually this takes about 12-24 hours for delivery. There are two problems with this, first, I wouldn't want to ship anything obviously valuable and, second, someone still has to physically go to the store to pay cash for the item.)

 

Finally, we tracked down someone who would fabricate the part from scratch. In the US, having someone build a part like this would be pretty expensive but here even skilled labor is pretty cheap, so this turned out to be the best option. I questioned him carefully and he assured me he would do the whole job for 50,000USh (about $25) and that it would be done the next day. So, I gave him the radiator.

 

So far so good, but in typical Ugandan fashion, he called the next day to tell us he wouldn't be able to come until the following morning. When he did come, about 1:00pm, he had the repaired radiator, but, in typical Ugandan fashion, the price had changed. Instead of 50,000, it was now 60,000, plus 20,000 for cleaning the radiator, plus10,000 for 2 small bolts, plus 10,000 for his transportation.

 

Still, the week ended well. I got the pickup back. It took 6 days to find a part and 2 hours to install it, but I'm happy to be driving again instead of walking.
This has been a frustrating week. It started out poorly, got worse but finished well. Last Saturday, I was on my way back to town with a load of sweet potatoes for the school when I heard a load bang. I first thought it was a flat tire, but after seeing the trail of water I looked under the hood and found that the upper radiator hose had burst. Not just a short crack but actually split from end to end. On closer inspection, I saw the alternator belt broke too. The only thing I can figure out is, when the belt broke, the end came around and struck the hose which was weakened from age. I was fairly close to town so it didn't take too long to get another belt and a hose that wasn't an exact fit but was close enough to work. But then I saw that when the hose broke it also broke the short tube on the radiator the hose connects to. Here is where things start to get worse.

 

With the help of Julius, the engine room operator at the school, I got the hose on well enough to get the pickup to school. We got some 3-ton epoxy and reattached the tube to the radiator, waited a day for it to harden and drove home. Apparently, the hose exerts more than 3 tons of pressure because by the time I got home the tube was bro­ken again. Now, the only option was a new top for the radiator. This is not easy to find because the pickup, a Mazda, is not a common vehicle in Uganda. There was nothing at all in Soroti. We tried for several days to locate something in Kampala, the capital, but the most common suggestion was, "go to Kenya."

 

(In the US, with the help of a phone book and the internet, it is easy to find almost anything. Here, there are no phone books and most businesses do not have websites. So, the solution usually is to take the broken part to Kampala and ask around until you run across someone who knows someone who might know where to find what you need.

 

If you know exactly what you want and know where to go it is also possible to buy it and have them put it on the bus. Usually this takes about 12-24 hours for delivery. There are two problems with this, first, I wouldn't want to ship anything obviously valuable and, second, someone still has to physically go to the store to pay cash for the item.)

 

Finally, we tracked down someone who would fabricate the part from scratch. In the US, having someone build a part like this would be pretty expensive but here even skilled labor is pretty cheap, so this turned out to be the best option. I questioned him carefully and he assured me he would do the whole job for 50,000USh (about $25) and that it would be done the next day. So, I gave him the radiator.

 

So far so good, but in typical Ugandan fashion, he called the next day to tell us he wouldn't be able to come until the following morning. When he did come, about 1:00pm, he had the repaired radiator, but, in typical Ugandan fashion, the price had changed. Instead of 50,000, it was now 60,000, plus 20,000 for cleaning the radiator, plus10,000 for 2 small bolts, plus 10,000 for his transportation.

 

Still, the week ended well. I got the pickup back. It took 6 days to find a part and 2 hours to install it, but I'm happy to be driving again instead of walking.

We are proud to premiere a new video created for us by Gregory King - "Pilgrim In Uganda 2009" - that captures the people, work and successes that Pilgrim experienced in Uganda in 2009. Enjoy and spread the word!

Click here to browse and enjoy other Pilgrim videos on Vimeo.

Related Links: Move On Malaria, Beacon Of Hope Secondary School, Trauma Treatment Program, Resettlement & Agricultural Assistance, Beacon Medical Centre