20.3.07 – Backlog: Monkeys, Nile, Fieldwork

My fieldwork has continued to be awesomely challenging. A consultant called Habib has come to Arua from K’la to help evaluate some areas of the agricultural marketing initiative I am working on. We spent the morning traveling between different rural sim-sim (sesame) stores, which are trading points for farmer group leaders to bag and collect lots and lots of sesame to sell in bulk. I have begun interviewing these farmer leader/chairpersons to assess some of the program strengths and weaknesses….work aside the day was fantastic as it involved cruising through the Nile river basin, where we got a flat tire before seeing my first monkeys in Uganda! Judy in the Jungle!

Fieldwork continued for my other project – I’ve been participating in an organizational self-assessment for a small organization doing social empowerment for orphans and vulnerable children in Uganda. This involves carpentry tailoring training classes for young men and women. The organization is in the Awindiri village area outside of Arua town – no electricity, water, etc. – but beautiful children playing on the grounds:









my favorite boy artist, drawing sunshine in the sand: