What A Day!!!

Wow...so much to tell everyone today, where should i start.

Well we started this morning at 7:15 heading to the garden to meet the people that were showing up to work with us today. Luke and I had both got up at 6:30 thinking that we would have a nice banana and a snack, maybe some tea before heading out to work in the field for the morning. The pastor told us that we should meet them there at 8am so we thought we had plenty of time. Not the case. The villagers decided to show up EARLY, which is a huge deal in Africa, so they sent someone to come get us at 7:10. Luke and i quickly tied on our shoes, snagged a water bottle each and rushed out to the garden, still applying sunscreen while we walked.

The turnout was amazing, especially considering that there was a market down the road today that most of the people usually go to for business. As you can see from the picture above we were able to accomplish a ton with the people that showed up and everyone was very excited. After we were all done working for the morning we were able to feed the 50 workers breakfast and they all comitted to coming back tomorrow to help more. The pastor and deacons were taking down peoples names so that they have a roster of who works in the garden so at harvest the people who work hard will get rewarded. It is awesome to see such a huge community effort and afterwards people were agreeing to help in each others personal gardens to get work done faster. The community is definitely seeing the big picture and they are very excited about it which makes Luke and I feel awesome about what we are accomplishing.

After we finished with the garden today Sam (a pastor here) and I went to the market down the street to buy ground nut seeds for the garden but they were already sold out. Luke was successful in buying Kasava cuttings for the garden this afternoon and is heading to another market about 10K away tomorrow at 7:30 to buy the ground nuts there.

We were visited by The Chairman (Joseph) this afternoon who made a special trip out here to bring Luke's missing bag from Soroti along with some other supplies we were in need of for food. When he arrived both Luke and I looked in his truck for the beloved bag and it was missing. The Chairman had forgotten the bag; which i find hilarious but Luke...not so much.

We hung out with Joseph for the afternoon while the rainstorms beat down and once they subsided Joseph left and Luke and I headed to the primary school for some mud futball (soccer).

Holy Moly...it has been a long time since i played and I am really going to feel it tomorrow. The field was so slippery from the rain and mud that everyone spent almost an equal amount of time on their butts in the mud as they did with the ball. It was like trying to play futbol on a slip and slide greased with crisco and there was some very serious laughs that were had...especially at me since i was the first one to end up on my hind end. Luke played keeper (goalie) for most of the game and came up with some great stops and some breathtaking (literally) collisions. Needless to say, after the work in the garden and today's futbol match Luke and I will both have trouble walking tomorrow.

After the match we headed into the center 'downtown' to see if Luke's bag had arrived (its coming on a random truck) but it had not. Someone gave us a live chicken, tied at the feet and obviously destraught, as a gift that we can eat for dinner tomorrow. :) Completely soaked, covered in mud and carrying a chicken we rode back on the bodaboda to check in for tonight.

That is life in Africa and it is really very incredible.

Peace and Love,

Adam