Ugandan Wedding

We had the honor of attending our friend Jane's wedding. Here are a few pics from the all day event!

The bridal procession... some of the prettiest girls in Uganda!

Jane and her uncle making their way down the isle. I've been to several Ugandan weddings and I rarely see the bride smile... not sure why. Maybe it's all of ceremony they have to go through before the actual wedding day... it's quite exhausting!

The newly married couple!

My bro Ken singing his heart out!

More dancing and singing!

I couldn't resist!

We had to paint the church the day before...

Sanding and prepping for the paint.

David and his mad painting skills!

Some of the boys from Home Again roll'n it on!

Compassion=Action,

-Travis

Agriculture Done Well = Self-Sufficiency

It could be argued that the title of this blog may not be 100% correct, but it's pretty close.

Here in rural Uganda we are mainly dealing with an agrarian society. Everyone farms. It's not a choice... it's a matter of survival. Farming practices are passed down from generation to generation, but in poor communities these practices are rarely developed. The incorporation of modern technology and advances in agriclutural practices are desperately needed. Without these advances, an agrarian society will become weak and unable to meet the demand of a growing population.

They need training! They need to be taught how to intigrate new practices with the old way. How to do things like make organic fertilizers and pesticides from local recourses to produce a higher yeild and healthier crops. I am by no means well educated in the area of agriculture, but I know a man who is!

We are working with a local farmer named Anthony Magambo. He is heading up the agricultural department of Bringing Hope to the Family. We helped finance the beginings of this new arm of BHTF and are excited about where it's headed.

Anthony is starting by developing new farm land to supply the needs of BHTF as an organization. Food costs are one of BHTF's biggest expences. Being able to meet the organization's food demand will be a huge step on the road to self-sufficiency.

He is also training the girls at the vocational school and has started an experimental community training program, with the intent of one day having a centralized demonstration farm.

Here are a few pics from a day spent with Mr. Magambo...

Magambo talking with David about a new banana plantation he recently planted to supply food to Home Again Orphanage.

Newly planted banana trees.

These bananas are called matooke and are one of the main sources of food here in Uganda. These trees are about 18 months old.

Beans are commonly mixed in with banana trees or potato fields.

This is a nursery that is being cultivated by the girls at the vocational school. This is their practical hands on training.

Kale, one of the few green vegetables eaten on a regular basis... and it's pretty bitter!



Maize, more commonly kown to us as corn. Here in Uganda they grind it up and make a flour called porsho.



Magambo and David talking about these newly planted potatoes!



Pepperoncini's... a new cash crop to western Uganda.



Magambo planted 2,300 pine trees! This is a long term investment that makes good use of land with poor soil.



A new piggery! This initative was funded by our friends from Canada.



Meeting at Faith's house with the top management from BHTF about lots of exciting things... especially the new agricultural projects!


Compassion=Action,


-Travis

Christmas in Uganda!

These last three weeks have been a true safari (Swahili for long journey)... Nairobi to Mombasa to Arusha to Mwanza to Bukoba to Kayanga to Kigali to Mbarara to Kasese to Fort Portal to Kaihura! The journey has been incredible... beautiful landscapes, different cultures, amazing people and new friendships! I enjoyed every minute of it, but from the beginning we knew we had to be in Kaihura for Christmas!


We arrived in Kaihura the night of the 23rd. This small village in western Uganda is home to Bringing Hope to the Family, our flagship affiliate. They have a medical clinic, vocational school, orphanage that houses 47 children and another 1,800 children who are registered with the organization. Kaihura is a home away from home for me. This was my third Christmas in the village!


We spent the day with the kids at Home Again Orphanage. We helped serve them a Christmas feast and then just hung out with them for the rest of the day. These kids are some of the coolest people you could ever want to spend time with. They'll put a smile on your face and warm your heart. Once you get to know their stories and understand their background... it makes it even that much more impactful!


Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas day here in the village...

Faith and the girls getting ready for Christmas! Lots of preparations to be made.





Cooper learning the African art of beating beans out of their pods! He's probably never worked so hard on Christmas Eve.





Moses and me about to ride out to the country side to make some deliveries and pick up a few items for our friends up coming wedding on the 27th.





Rice, beans, beef, chicken, chapati, millet and the list goes on! This is one of the best meals these kids get all year and they definitely don't let much go to waste!




Chowing down and drinking soda!




It ncver hurts to have a little help with eating your food! This is little Favor and her twin sister Faith is in the background. They are two new additions to the Home Again family.




I think their fat and happy... I mean full and happy! This is little James (I affectionately reffer to him as cheeks), Victor (our poster child) and little Favor.




The whole crew on the front lawn of Home Again.

Christmas is SERIOUS business! This is cool little Allen.

Cooper and the Christmas tree... yes this is the Christmas tree. They look a little bit different over here... it's more of a limb than a tree. People have to be a bit more creative.

Hanging out with one of the coolest guys at Home Again... little Victor! He says Merry Christmas to all!

This lovely picture of our friend Cooper was taken by little Shearon... not bad for a seven year old.

And this little fellow is the community pet. I think the kids caught him at school. He doesn't look very happy... and I probably know why.

This has once again been a wonderful Christmas! What better way to celebrate the birth of our Savior.. the hope of the world.. than with children who have faced the horrors of this cruel world, but by the transforming power of Christ's love, have over come and been given a second chance!

Merry Christmas!!

-Travis

Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills

Our last four days in the southern hemisphere were spent in the land of a thousand hills... better known as Rwanda. It was a short reconnaissance trip. We were there to get a better grasp of what was happening in the coffee sector and to begin networking with locals.

Rwanda is one of the worlds biggest producers of arabica coffee and the source of our first coffee line. We are currently buying our coffee through a broker, but this trip was the first step in the process of buying directly from the communities where the coffee is being grown.

We really enjoyed our time in Rwanda and are looking forward to getting back as soon as possible. There is still so so much work to be done! We're just getting started!

Here's a few pics from our time in Rwanda...

Members of a local church gave us gifts after we went to their church service. Their pastor, Pastor Maso, was assisting us in learning more about the coffee community. He introduced us to a local Gov't offical who showed us several large coffee farms and a wet processing factory.

This is a huge water collection pit. It provides the water for the coffee cleaning process. It is about 150 yards up hill from where the cleaning takes place.

The tanks where the coffe is washed. It was off season, so there wasn't much action.

The view from the other side. It was a pretty cool design and engineering. I really wished we would have been there during the harvest, so we could have experienced the whole process.

Bags of clean processed arabica ready to be shipped off. One day we'll be buying container loads of coffee just like this!!

Compassion = Action,

-Travis

Coffee & Kayanga TZ

The ultimate goal of Up & Up Coffee is to buy directly from the farmer or local co-op. This is not the easiest thing to do, but we are determined to keep working towards this goal. We want to bring as much assistance to the local community as possible through direct business relationships... so here is a little bit of an insight into what it takes to accomplish this.

We were in Kayanga, TZ this past week meeting with local coffee farmers and researching the local farming and processing practices.

Here's a few pic's...

Meeting with the chairman of a local co-op. He helped navigate us through the coffee buying process in TZ and also supplied us with some samples of local Arabica.


We were in the country side most of the day visiting small farms. We stopped at a local pastors house for tea, andazi's and some roasted goat... once again a classic Cooper face!


Touring a local coffee processing factory with our friend Pastor John.



Filming the cleaning process.


Meeting with a group of local coffee farmers... very informative!



Headed to Rwanda to meet more farmers! We are standing over the river that separates Tanzania and Rwanda... the waterfall behind us was huge!!

Compassion = Action,

-Travis

Kayanga, Tanzania

The third leg of our journey brought us to a small town called Kayanga. It is located in the mountains of northwestern Tanzania... in the Karagwe district. We started building a relationship with a local visionary named John Mulokozi this past April. Pastor John, as we refer to him, is a local pastor and the founder of Christian Vision Ministries.

CVM is a small but ambitious organization. They conduct vocational training in the areas of tailoring and carpentry, they started a preschool program for orphans and disadvantaged children, and they have a group of widows that they work with.

They have also organized community groups throughout the district. These groups have been brought together to help each other and assist the disadvantaged children that live among them, but the catalyst for organizing these groups came from a partnership with Heifer International. These groups were trained by the local gov't in better husbandry practices and then received cows from Heifer Int'l. Heifer Int'l donated a limited amount of cows so many of the groups are still waiting to receive a cow... and most of the groups are made up of over 30 families.

We really enjoyed our time in Kayanga and are looking forward to the continued growth in our relationship with CVM!!

Here are a few pic's from our time with Ps John and the CVM family...


Meet Pastor John! One of the funnest easy going guys in all Tanzania! ...and he's a visionary!


This is the carpentry training center for CVM... small space with a big vision!


The tailoring shop for CVM. Forty students have graduated from their tailoring program.


This small simple structure is where the preschool is conducted. These are few orphans and widows greeting us with a song and dance.


Meeting with one of the community groups.


This is a hefeir that was given to the group above through our Know.Think.Act program. A youth group from TN started an action group and raised money.


I got the honor of helping Ps John with a baptism service. It was a little bit different from how we do it in America. They damed up a stream down in a valley.


I'm not a big fan of being in water where I can't see what's going on below the surface, so I can only image the courage it took for those who were getting submerged!


A picture of some crazy mzungus that Ps John has on the wall in his office.


26 oranges, 40 tangerines, 6 papayas, 12 sodas, 4 eggs, 1 bag of coffee, 26 tomatoes, 1 bag of 70 strange bad tasting orange things, 1 bag of roasted peanuts, a hand woven grass fiber tea set, 2 hand woven grass fiber pot pads, and a massive jack fruit! We received all these gifts in one day!



This was taken as we were headed out across Lake Victoria. Mwanza and it's rocks... looked like something out of Gulliver's Travels! This pic doesn't do it justice!!

Compassion = Action,

-Travis