Johnny Umuzungu Takes A Hike

This past week I was able to finalize my schedule as to what I will be teaching and when. It is great to finally know what I will be doing but things are going to get real busy in a hurry. Knowing this, I wanted to enjoy this weekend before work takes over.

Saturday I put in a new flower bed in the back yard and a small patch of sweet corn. Saturday afternoon I played tennis and then Saturday night was movie night here at the house. Sunday afternoon some friends and I went for a hike at one of the nearby water falls.

We made the drive towards Uganda then headed east along the north side of Lake Burera to Rusumo falls. We knew that we needed to check this place out because there is a project underway to construct a hydro-electric facility which will divert the water. In about a year, these falls will be different and the top one will be gone.

From the top, you look south out across the valley towards the lake and where construction has begun which will divert the water. To the north, you can easily see the impact of poor farming practices that are common in this region.

The stream on the right comes out of the marsh while the stream on the left comes from an agricultural area. Big difference. The combination of steep slopes and constant cultivation results in a severe loss of top soil. It's not really gone I guess, it's just all relocated to the bottom of the lake.

Conservation is often called a western luxury. It will be sad to see the falls go, but, this 23.5 million dollar project will supply electricity to a bunch of people who have never had it before. That's the thing with developing countries, trying to find the balance between progress and things like conservation and scenic beauty. At least this way, they are not creating a lake where there wasn't one or creating a place where fish are no longer able to swim up stream. Most importantly, there won't be any smoke stacks.

The first drop (2 pictures up)is over 250 feet, the second drop (the above picture) is about 30 but the third is nearly 350. This picture is from the cliff at the top of the third fall. The last picture is the view of the third fall from the bottom. Don't forget that you can click on the picture to get a larger view.

Overall, it was a great weekend. Now it is down to business. I have about 2 weeks to finish putting my lecture material together for the five courses that I will be teaching. Starting in mid-March, I will be teaching every day until the end of May, then for the month of July. I am sure that I will find some time for an adventure or maybe two. I'll keep you posted.

Johnny Umuzungu - Back on the radar

Time has just been flying by and it hardly seems as if I have been doing anything. I was gone for three weeks for my trip back to the states to visit with family, check on the cows and go to the Gelbvieh meeting in Denver. Upon returning, I have been just trying to get up to speed on being Rwanda once again. I did get my pineapples transferred into real flower pots.

I have also been working with my buddy Justice on developing a management plan for his new land. This is the view from the property in Uganda looking back south at Mt. Muhabura.

He initially wanted to plant potatoes. I had to call on Uncle Bob for a little advice because I hadn't grown potatoes in a while. I put the budget together and it didn't seem too profitable to me. After reviewing the budget with Justice, it didn't hardly seem worth the effort to him either, so we switched gears. There is a milk processing plant in Kisoro, near his home, so Justice is going to get a cow and plant the property to forages. With a good dairy cow that is well managed, he will have milk to consume for him and his family plus milk to sell. We will pattern his small farm after the one here in town that I have developed a budget for. Getting the cow will be an issue. Good cows are hard to find and expensive. The groups like Heifer International and Send A Cow only work with producer groups, not individuals, but we'll find one if it is meant to be.

The farmers here have always farmed for survival and are new to realizing farming as a business. As marketing opportunities are discovered, it is important to incorporate accounting principles and understand profitability. I didn't care for all of the budgeting and accounting when I worked for MSU, but working with these guys makes it fun.

Most of my time lately has been spent reading journal articles for my dissertation and preparing lecture material for the courses that I will be teaching this year. Creating course material is a challenge. For four courses without access to reference material is an even bigger challenge. Life is different every where you go. One unique thing about here is that in these courses, the students will only get what I give them. In coursers that I have had, we had access to text books, handouts, the Internet, and a variety of other resources. Here, there are no text books. Internet access for the students is very expensive and very limited (it has taken me over 4 hours to post this blog today) and the only information that they will get is what I give them.

I have also been helping to develop projects for the student interns that will be joining us for the summer. There are a few things really taking shape that should be pretty good. We will see if the funding is available and go from there.

On a lighter note, we started Umuzungu movie night at my place. If you are in the neighborhood, come on by around 7pm on Saturday. Bring a movie and the group will pick which one we watch.