Cow Geek

There's no business like "Goat" business

2009-05-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Ever since I was a kid I have raised or helped to raise some sort of livestock. From chickens and turkeys to pigs and cows, there was always an animal or two to take care of. It helped to give me a sense of purpose. About a month ago I was visiting with my buddy Jean Bosco and he mentioned that his wife Macelenne wasn't happy. Jean Bosco has a good job and is going to college. Macelenne quit her job before the first child was born and now they have two children and she was wishing that she could contribute to the family in other ways than raising children. Basically, she was getting bored.

I asked Jean Bosco what she enjoyed doing and he mentioned that she preferred taking care of animals. They have two pigs in a pen but that wasn't a whole lot of fun for her. He said that she really liked goats. As for me, I have been trying to figure out how to have some livestock again. I don't have the place for them so if I were going to be involved, I would need to have a partner. After a few conversations, Macelenne and I had struck a deal.

We picked up two goats on the first of May and have since gotten a third. One of the goats was pregnant when we got her and we are anxiously awaiting our first kid together. The second goat is now pregnant thanks to a neighborhood billy. The stud fee was 300 Rwandan Franks ($0.53).

Our partnership should be good. The plan is that they will eventually buy me out. Basically, it is a no-interest loan. To protect my investment, I will work with them on various animal husbandry practices. We have a budget and a marketing plan which will allow for expansion of the group of breeding females and marketing of the males. I also have made arrangements to get a billy of our own for crossbreeding and to lease out for the stud fee. I stopped in to see them today and they are doing very well and Macelenne is very happy. Her only request has been for a book so that she can learn more about goats. My buddy Mike will be here on Tuesday and is bringing two with him.

My banana buddy Ellie lives near my goat partner so I stopped in there for a quick visit since I was in the neighborhood. He has one tree that is just beginning the reproductive phase. We have a native banana tree here at the house so I set up a way to collect pollen. Ellie's son will stop by the house twice a week. He will take the pollen from my tree to his dad's tree. I googled it a bit and decided just to hang some material on my tree for the pollen to transfer to. Ellie's son will take that material to the improved tree and attach it to the bud and we'll let the ants and bees do the rest. Ellie's son will keep swapping the material around every 3-4 days until the stalk of bananas is well on it's way. We have about a one in a million chances of getting a new banana. I like those odds.

National Day of Rememberance

2009-04-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

I write this entry on the 7th of April, 2009. This day is the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. It amazes me to see how quickly this country moves forward. The war that followed the genocide ended in 1998, only 11 years ago. This country is rebuilding an economy, has rebuilt a tourism industry and the schools and hospitals have been going strong for some time. Still, every time that I walk down the main street, I see the reminders of the evil that prevailed no so long ago.

Nearly every utility pole along the main road through town has at least one bullet hole. I am not talking about bullet holes like we see at home where some drunk guy vandalized a sign. Oh no, these are bullet holes from war. These holes are all within the range of the height of a human being. These holes were made when one person was attempting to kill another.

I also often find tarnished brass on the ground when I walk. The brass that is expelled from a machine gun when it fires. Most are from the all too popular AK-47 while others are from the big gun, the .50 caliber. I have picked up a few but have left most. I actually found an old bullet once. The town now is very peaceful and it is hard to imagine the horrors that once filled the streets.

You see other reminders as well. You see the remains of buildings. You see people that are missing parts of limbs. You see people unable to walk because tendons were cut when they were left for dead. Today you could also see the deeper scars, the ones that are normally hidden deep within.

When the genocide took place, I was working on my master's degree at MSU. Where were you in April of 1994? Do you remember hearing about it in the news? There wasn't much in the news at the time. Over 1,000,000 people died because of their tribal ancestry. There were 800,000 people murdered in the first 100 days that followed this day in 1994. How can events like this happen in such a global society?

In the weeks leading up to today, many of the foreigners that have been here longer than I advised me to go to Uganda. "Either get out of the country or just stay in your home" they would say. "Leave this day, this week of remembrance to those who have the memories." I thought about doing that. I gave a lecture on the 6th and after class was visiting with some of my Rwandan friends. I told them what I had been advised. They told me that they were often disappointed by the foreigners who come here and work along side them, laugh along side them and even share meals with them, then leave on the most important day in Rwandan history. So, I decided that I would join in the ceremonies and that is what I did.

Walking to the bus stop this morning was very different. There were very few people in the street. Normally, the people that I met would cross the street to my side and speak, they typically greet me in either French or English and I greet them back in the local language. Today, people moved to the opposite side of the street and nobody made eye contact. As I walked passed homes, I could hear weeping coming from within.

We met on campus this morning and I joined the students and other faculty as we walked in silence past the genocide memorial to the town center and listened to a speech. After that, we all went back to the memorial. Similar to most memorials, the genocide memorials have some statues, are enclosed by a fence, there are small signs and markers. Unlike most other memorials, these are also mass graves. There is no way to know how many people are buried in such graves. Every town in Rwanda has one. They are full of the pieces that were collected. The weapon of choice at the time was the machete so bodies were not left intact.

After returning to the town center, people were given the chance to share their experiences. Many of the stories described the events carried out by independent groups of extremists in the years before the genocide. A co-worker discussed how his family fled to Uganda before he was born, back in 1959 after his grandparents were stoned to death. One woman from the community described how homes in the rural villages were burned back in 1972, the year that she was married. Then, in 1991, her husband was taken away. She followed the truck and saw how all of the prisoners were removed, beaten, and then murdered. The bodies were never recovered. She spoke of forgiveness and how her salvation has taken the hate and the anger away, then she begged that if any person knew what happened to those bodies to please tell her, her only wish now was to bring her husband home for a proper burial. There were other stories, like how the national radio at the time would broadcast live from the mass killings like reporting from a sporting event. Stories that told how the extremist government officials had the community dig giant holes that were to be used as new community toilets, only to be used as mass graves. And stories that described how families would give their life savings so that the children could be shot instead of chopped to pieces. Many families were a mix of the two tribal ancestries so some family members would survive after having watched the rest of the family be butchered.

It is impossible for me to understand what it was that these friends of mine suffered through. Many people in the international community view the annual remembrance as an inability to move on. Quite the opposite is true. The purpose of the ceremonies that take place throughout Rwanda is in part to educate the children. To show them that horrible things can happen if the people are divided. To show them that forgiveness and love triumphs over all else and that as a people united, they can accomplish anything. Another purpose was not to dwell in the past, but to be aware of the past. To know that the past is where your roots are, the platform from which to grow forward. A final purpose was to pay respects to those who died such horrible deaths and to show forgiveness for the ones who performed such acts. Those are the words from Rwanda's President Kigame.

It was a beautiful day. There were birds chirping, flowers blooming and butterflies. What I thought would be simply a day of mourning turned out to be a day of love, a day that recognized the power of the future. Unfortunately, events like these are happening now in other parts of Africa. We hear about Darfur in the news from time to time, but a genocide is currently taking place there. Nobody is stopping it.

Johnny Umuzungu Goes Bananas

2009-03-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

There was a really interesting article in the Smithsonian magazine a while back about bananas. Dr. Lucy gets the magazine and she thought that I would be interested. She was right. Turns out, the bananas that we eat are an ancient mutant. The original banana is inedible and full of seeds. I always ate bananas and thought that those little black specs in the middle were seeds. Oh no. Those are the traces of where the seeds should be. Turns out that about 2000 years B.C. a banana without seeds was discovered and every banana that we have ever eaten was a cousin or so from that original one.

Grafting took place that spread the edible banana all around the world. By the early 1900's, there were two main varieties. One was wiped out in the 50's. Since then, every banana in every store has been a clone of each other. Without cross-pollination, the genetic variation just doesn't exist. As a result, different plant diseases come along that cause big problems. Being clones, if one plant gets sick, they all can get sick. There was a fungus in the 50's the not only wiped out an entire line of bananas, but still contaminates the soil of many tropical regions making it impossible for some old banana plantations to ever grow bananas again.

Now there seems to be a new fungus that is threatening the current tasty treat. Evidently, scientists around the world are on a quest to cross pollinate ancient wild bananas with the modern edible variety and come up with a new hybrid that has the edible characteristics of the modern commercial banana and retains the fungus resistance of the original inedible one. Who knew?

The other day while looking for four-leaf clovers in the back yard, I noticed a banana on the ground that was full of seeds.

These things are the size of marbles. I picked up all of the bananas that had fallen from our old lawn ornament and washed out 868 seeds just for kicks. I now have a pile in my office that I am not sure what to do with.

Anyway, I got to thinking. I have a buddy that grows some bananas on his land up by the volcanoes. We have 10 old banana trees that are the hearty inedible kind. I have learned when they produce pollen and when pollination takes place. My buddy is going to let me rent a few of his trees that are of the improved variety. The next time that one of our traditional trees produces pollen, we are going to collect the pollen and use it on some of his trees. I will buy all of the bananas that are produced and eat until I bust or find a seed. It won't be easy. One plantation in Central America searched through 40 tons of cross-pollinated bananas and found 8 seeds. They produced a hearty banana that isn't tasty enough to market. I can't let those odds stop me. I am optimistic that someday, instead of a "Chiquita" you'll be in the Piggly Wigggly buying a bunch of "Johnny Umuzungu's" and the rest, as they say, will be history. Or not.

Johnny Umuzungu Takes A Hike

2009-02-22T08:54:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-15T02:40:00.000-08:00

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.

Johnny Umuzungu Does Umuganda

2008-12-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

I wanted to mention one more thing about the caves. Last week talked about the bats but there is another side. There is a social aspect to the caves of this region. During the genocide, some caves were used by rebel forces for hiding in. Some caves were used by villagers. There's one cave in particular that a village hid in for two years. The women and children never left, the men snuck out at night for food and didn't always return. Some caves are littered with human remains while others are simply littered. Some are considered to be sacred places. There's a rumor of carvings in one from the last King of Rwanda. The caves are an important piece of the history of the region and tell the story of the human experience as well as the geological past. I wanted to include this information last week but I wasn't quite sure how to put it. In this picture, my job was to block the hole in the net that spanned the entrance. Why do I get all of the weird jobs?

Umuganda is a national work day. On the last Saturday of each month, people are to return to their home village or community and work. The task will be determined by community leaders. It might be picking up trash or it might be sweeping the streets. The November Umuganda was planting trees. The night before, I was at the Murabura hotel for dinner. The crew there all know me well by now. We were talking about Umuganda and I asked them what they would be doing. They said that they would be along the road near the border with Uganda towards Kisoro planting trees. I said "sounds like fun, I think that I will join you."

They all erupted with laughter at the thought of some Umuzungu doing manual labor. I reminded them that I am not just some Umuzungu, I am Johnny Umuzungu. I told them about planting trees with the 4-H club back in Ohio, working for Pancake's Nursery and planting thousands of Christmas trees one summer just outside of Rogers. They didn't believe me. The next morning, bright and early, I piled into the bus with over a dozen employees of the hotel and we headed out.

Being the only Umuzungu working, I attracted quite a crowd. It was a lot of fun and I met Dean, the Dean of travel. He snapped these pictures. He is a professional traveler/photo journalist. He is currently working with a local conservation and research group and just happened to be on the road that day. Dean is originally from Nebraska and worked for Pfizer so we have had many interesting conversations since then.

The guy that I am talking to is Justice. He lives in Uganda and commutes. He lives with his 65 year old mother and 2 nephews, one 7 and one 3. The nephews were orphaned when his sister and her husband died in a bus crash. The rest of his family (dad, 3 brothers and 2 sisters) were killed during the genocide. The guy in the picture with me swinging the pick is Pacifique. He is the guy I mentioned a few weeks ago with the full ride scholarship to the National University at Butari. He starts on January 5th.

The kids were just from the neighborhood and wanted to talk to the Umuzungu. It was a really fun day and we planted a bunch of trees. I don't know what kind they were, other than the fact that they were native trees. I will be learning the trees as we develop plans for Gishwati where reforestation will be an area of emphasis.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Johnny Umuzungu

Johnny Umuzungu - Bat Boy

2008-12-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

Tourism is one of the leading industries in Rwanda. Naturally, the various organizations that are involved are trying to expand this industry in a variety of directions. My buddy Doug is looking to create a rafting experience. He wants to start exploring various rivers starting around March. As you might suspect, I have volunteered to help. ORTPN, the Rwandan wildlife and parks folks are interested in offering cave trekking as an opportunity to do other things in this region besides going to see gorillas.

Thanks to the ring of volcanos and the previous lava flows, there are caves all over these hillsides. Where there's caves, there's bats. We all know that bats are our friends. They consume huge quantities of insects and are required for many plant species to exist due to there assistance with pollination and germination. They are all very unique to specific regions and food sources.

Being a mammal, bats can be susceptible to similar disease that we deal with. In the states, we understand that bats can have rabies just like we can have rabies. Here, the concern is Marburg. Marburg might not sound familiar but it was referred to as an Ebola or a type of Ebola. Does that ring any bells? Back in August, a tourist experienced a cave trek in Uganda and became infected with Marburg.

There is one bat that has been recorded as being a carrier to Marburg and also can die from the disease. That particular bat was in the cave that was part of the trekking experience in Uganda. Before cave trekking is to be offered here, the survey work needs to be done here. I was able to provide some assistance with this work.

Remember, you can click on the picture for a larger view

The survey work included a bat survey as well as a virus survey. It will take a while for the diagnostics to reveal the viruses that these little fuzzy guys had, but we did identify some interesting species. One of which was the Egyptian Fruit Bat (the one with the big nose) that is the one that can have Marburg. Another interesting one was a Horseshoe bat. This particular Rhinolophus had measurements outside of the normal range and could be a unique sub-species. This particular bat has a nick-name, the horseshoe bat because it's nose is shaped like a horseshoe and helps to create a bit of a satellite dish with its ears. It echo locates insects. Also, it has a horn like a rhinoceros, like the center piece in a satellite dish. Very cool.

For me, the creepiest looking one was the Otomops Martienseai. It has a really long nose and can open its mouth really wide. This bat is the moth specialist. It is endangered in some African countries and the bat team was excited about finding so many here.

After processing, the bats would need to be warmed up before being released. I was the bat warmer. We kept them in little cloth bags. After processing, they went back in the bag then I dropped the bag down my shirt. In this picture, I had 13 Egyptian Fruit Bats, the Rousettus aegyptiaca, the Marburg/Ebola one down my shirt. They are a very active bat and all of their squirming around tickled like you wouldn't believe.

There is a complete other issue about these caves that I will discuss next week. for now, I need to run. I want to get some tennis in on such a sunny day. Today will be a different sort of lesson, it will be my first game. Wish me luck (and hope that I don't get Marburg).

The Shrunken Forest of Gishwati

2008-12-07T03:19:00.000-08:00

Greetings everybody, hope that you are all finding ways to stay warm. It's nice and sunny here. In fact, my only concern at the moment is that it will be too warm for my tennis lesson later this afternoon. I appreciate the opportunity to write to everybody. It does get lonely over here. I have made many friends but it's not the same as visiting with people that have known me for a while. Knowing that you all are reading this helps me feel just a little bit closer to home.

A month or so ago we had a faculty meeting on campus and discussed a partnership between us and the Minister of Agriculture. It seemed that there is some property that is owned by the Rwandan government and they want us to manage it. They want us to develop the concept of research and demonstration farms. The property is in 2 chunks. One will be transformed into a dairy facility. The other it seems will be under my direction in an attempt to create a beef cattle industry for this country. As you might imagine, that has me excited.

The property is part of what was once the Gishwati forest. Up until about 30 years ago it was approximately 250,000 acres. Now, the forest part is about 2,500. Due to the wars that have taken place in the region and the resulting mass migrations of refuges, the majority of the forest had been cleared for homesteads and small farms, most of which were abandoned during the genocide. The trees in these pictures are planted pines or eucalyptus, neither of which is a native species. I was unable to locate the actual remaining original portion of forest, but I will.

As the various political situations have become more stable, the government has resumed ownership of large portions of the property and are interested in community development. There is some international attention to this place from a conservation standpoint because it once had 13 species of non-human primates. You can read some of the history at http://www.greatapetrust.org/save/rwanda.php. I was down there this past Wednesday and took these pictures.

As the infrastructure improves and electricity reaches the more rural areas, it won't be long before the refrigeration capacity expands, maybe even to the point where rural residents actually have refrigerators in their homes. Currently, recipes start with statements like "boil the milk for 3 minutes" or "boil the meat for 10 minutes then..." because the likelihood for contamination is high. Because of this public health concern; goat, chicken or fish will be the meats of choice. They are more likely to be consumed in a timely fashion post-harvest to minimize the pathogen load. Large animals like cattle are difficult to utilize in a timely fashion and therefore are less desirable.

For the moment, the market for quality meats has expanded along with the booming tourist industry. As we develop our beef demonstration farm, we hope to provide a steady supply for the hotels in the area that cater to the Umuzungus that are here to see gorillas. By the way, on a sad note, there was another gorilla that died yesterday. That's 5 since I have arrived. There was a set of twins that suffered infanticide at birth. The mother was new to the group and was only with them for a month when she gave birth. The silverback knew that the babies weren't his so he killed them. The new mother will cycle back quicker since she is not lactating. The animal kingdom can be cruel at times. There was a mature silverback that died 2 weeks ago. An infant was killed last week when two groups mingled, then the mature female yesterday. You can read more about the gorillas at a site that is managed by Dr. Lucy Spelman. She is the head veterinarian for MGVP and lists the details at http://gorilladoctors.wildlifedirect.org/.

On a lighter note, one of the two pineapples that I have been trying to start has developed some roots so I put it in some dirt today. Being an optimist, I haven't given up on the second one and started a third one in water. Next weekend I will claim a garden spot around the house some where. Once the pineapples are up and running, I will try coffee!

Johnny Umuzungu Giving Thanks

2008-11-29T11:38:00.000-08:00

I have had many emails this week from friends who were curious as to how I celebrated Thanksgiving. Here, it is just another day. Celebrating a feast that the Pilgrims had in Massachusetts is a novel concept on this continent. One friend of mine from the D.R. Congo did know that it was the day when Americans eat turkey. My friends from various European countries assume that it's just like America to have a harvest festival so far after harvest. Then, I explain to them that it is not simply a harvest festival, but began as two events. Originally, it was a religious day of thanks that had combined with the harvest festival for one celebration. As for me, I went to work as usual. After work, I met a friend at the prison.

Part of the program for prisoners to pay back their debt to society involves the able prisoners to perform various duties for the community. For the educated prisoners, they teach. I am making arrangements to study the local language. Heidi, the public health specialist who manages the human health component of the MGVP "One Health" concept has been taking lessons for quite some time so she made the introductions for me to begin. I have been trying to learn kinyarwandan on my own, but it is tough. A guy from town did teach me to say "Umuzungu ni Nyoko." Basically, when you walk around town, young children and drunk men will yell out "Umuzungu" meaning "white guy!" What I learned to reply with is the Rwandan version of "Yo Mamma." It literally translates to "Umuzumgu is your mother." I'll save that one for special occasions.

After the prison, we walked to the Murabura hotel for Thanksgiving dinner. Heidi had a toasted cheese sandwich with french fries and I had a big platter of pineapple. We had many items to discuss for work but our conversation kept coming back to how thankful we were to have been born in the United States of America.

The "One Health" idea includes a priority for capacity building within the community. The idea is that if you can improve the livelihood of a community, you improve the health of the community. If you can improve the health of the community, it is easier to protect the health of the gorillas who live in the park that is surrounded by the community.

For those in severe poverty, health care is a luxury. Capacity building can elevate the livelihoods so that health care is less of a luxury and more of a standard practice. Capacity building can be the coordination of a new milk processing facility that will promote commerce as well as public health. Capacity building can also be as simple as making sure that a bright person has an opportunity for an education. One such person, Pacifique, works at the Murabura hotel in the restaurant and makes 20,000 Rwandan franks each month, that's $35.71. He is 23 years old, single, no children, lives at home with his parents and they depend upon his paycheck for their survival. His father is 72 and handicapped, his mother is 69 and takes care of his father. He just completed a national exam which earned him a full ride scholarship to the National University of Rwanda. If he goes, his parents don't eat. The neat thing about it is that he isn't looking for a handout. What he is looking for is an opportunity to earn enough money so that he can go to school and feed his parents.

The worst news that I heard this week involves HIV. The level of support from around the world for helping children that are born with HIV has sharply risen. There are many people doing wonderful things to improve the lives of these unfortunate souls. The trouble is, in communities where poverty is severe, individuals are intentionally becoming HIV positive just so they will receive the food, clothing and health care that the charitable programs provide. I am talking about children in the 8-12 year old age range who are heads of households because their parents have died. These kids live on the streets and are responsible for their younger siblings. I just can't comprehend that level of desperation.

Just being born in America has been a huge blessing for me. In fact, I think that I am the most fortunate person that I know.

Johnny Umuzungu in a Perpetual Summer

2008-11-21T23:31:00.000-08:00

One of the unique things about living here is that the seasons don't really change. I have mentioned this before but during this past week I began to realize just what that means to me. At home, the changing of the seasons provide reference points for your life. You plan your garden around the last frost, you swim and fish in the summer, football is in the fall and so on. You are either putting away the summer clothes and getting out the winter clothes or doing your spring cleaning or looking for a winter project, so much of what you do is seasonal.

Here, when every day is the same, it's like time stands still. The days can just fly by. I have heard from Heather and Paul about the snow at home and it is hard for me to even imagine. The other day, a friend asked me when Thanksgiving was and I had to stop and realize that this is November. It is very strange actually.

Another fun thing about living here is all of the people that you meet. For example, there's this guy from Seattle that is just crazy about gorillas. He works like a mad man, volunteering his time to raise funds for MGVP, he even put this web site together http://www.gorilladoctors.com/ . This year he has raised over $30,000 for us. He was here back in October and finally had the chance to go and see the gorillas and meet everybody. He even put this little slide show together to use for fund raising events http://www.vimeo.com/2301443.

Then there is a veterinarian who has a clinic in Baltimore. He provides a tremendous amount of support. During his most recent visit, he brought along a documentary film maker to try and capture all of the positive things taking place in this region. He has actually put together a group of donors who want to support the local community by providing the equipment necessary for small scale cheese production. I am working with some local folks who have cows and are interested in making cheese so maybe we can start moving some of these capacity building ideas forward.

We also get to work with some really great students. The MGVP internship program is taking off. This past year there was a veterinary student here from Yale, a second from Tufts, and a third from Italy. Thus far we have been in contact with a student from Cornell and one from Scotland. The neat thing is that they are not just attracted to the gorillas, they are interested in the livestock work as well.

And to top it all off, I will be planting my very first pineapple in the garden later today.

Johnny Umuzungu Visits Neptune

2008-11-16T08:17:00.000-08:00

I went to Uganda last Monday. Benard, one of the MGVP veterinarians in Uganda picked me up at the border and gave me a lift to Kisoro, which is in the south west corner of Uganda. He convinced me to stay at the Tourist Hotel because they have TV in the rooms. I actually was excited because I hadn't had many opportunities to watch TV. The rooms there were named after planets, I stayed in Neptune, which also happened to be room 7. Fortunately for me, the rooms were not named in the same order as the actual planets themselves, think about it.

So, I get all settled in for the evening, turn on the TV and find that I only have 1 channel, international CNN. If you watch CNN, you know that they repeat the same stories about every 20 minutes, so it wasn't long before TV lost its charm. At breakfast, I was discussing this fact with the waitress and she explained that there are more channels, I just need to call the front desk if I want to watch a different one. Turns out, they only had one receiver. When you want to change channels, you call down to the bar and they change the channel for you. So, Tuesday night, once we returned from out meetings, I settled in for the night. I turned on the TV, then called the bar to have the channel changed from CNN. Then, I learned that when the channel was changed, it was changed for everybody. They wouldn't change it because the guys in the bar wanted to watch CNN. It was like being in the twilight zone. So, Wednesday night, I was the only guest in the whole place. There were two locals in the bar and once they left, I called the bar. Come to find out, there were only 3 channels to choose from; CNN, Passport (24-7 soccer from all around the globe) and the Hallmark channel. Interesting.

The trip was awesome though. I hung out with folks from Heifer International. We were assessing the area around the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We wanted to see the opportunity for rural development improvements among the agricultural community. This place was so unique, it's the Nkuringo region. Imagine a ridge that is about 10 miles long. When you drop off the ridge to the east, it's the national park. To the west, Congo. The ridge dead ends on the Congo border. And not just any part of Congo, it's the southern end of the Rift Vally ( http://www.albertinerift.org/ ). To stand there looking out across the Albertine Rift, the home of one of the greatest amounts of bio-diversity and exotic species, plus the home of some of the coolest diseases in the world. It was inspiring to say the least. Here's a picture looking across the valley.

The time spent there was very productive, and getting there was half the fun. Normally, the road there from Kisoro is about 20 miles long and takes around an hour. It's dirt and rocks and little more than one lane through the mountains. It's actually quite beautiful. However, it is the rainy season. A mud slide had closed the road. And, a creek crossing was under about 3 feet of water, so we took the long way around. A similar style road, but the mud slides hadn't completely closed it off. It was a bit longer, about 80 miles and took 3 hours. It was beautiful though. From one spot, you could see the backside of the entire volcanic chain that joins the three countries.

Here's a shot of the valley that we passed through along the way.

It was a very informative trip about the limitations of the region. There's no electric, no phone, and you are at the end of a dead end road that isn't always passable. The opportunities for producing a perishable crop are extremely limited. Everybody there wants to be in the dairy business because there is a milk plant in Kisoro and the dairy business near the plant is quite profitable, but these folks wouldn't be certain to have consistent market access. It's a challenge for sure.

Friday I met with a policy person for the Minister of Agriculture while in Kigali. We are going to be developing two research protocols. Both will be big "umbrella" projects that will consist of multiple smaller segments as individual projects. One of the big concepts is to understand the potential pathogen flow through the region. The concept will be to identify the parasite loads of various species of livestock, wildlife and primates. Then, funding permitted, we'll do the DNA work to see if the parasites are the same sub-species. If the interaction among the animals is such that they share parasites, not just types of parasites but genetically the same families of parasites, then you have a model for disease transmission.

The second concept is to investigate the prevalence of the various diseases that prevent international trade of livestock products like cheese. We want to add the spacial component to see if the prevalence varies across the geographical regions of the country.

The ideas are starting to take shape on the project side. I'll talk more about the other directions we head in at a later time. These bird and chameleon pictures were from out on the ridge. I wish that I could have gotten pictures of half of the cool birds that I saw. These will do for now.

Johnny Umuzungu gets proposal for marriage

2008-11-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

An interesting thing just happened, thought that I would share it with all of you. First, for the background, just to get you up to speed, the guys at work have been talking about this local joint called La Volcanica. It's a dive, but the rumor is that they have the best grilled pork in town. Even the Dean was talking about it at the faculty meeting the other day. It came up when Bhebhe and I were talking about good food from America.

So last night, I am walking back from the bus stop. It had just turned dark and was starting to rain. I was about half way home and less than a block from La Volcanica, so I thought that I would pop in for a bite. Naturally, I was the only Umuzungu in the place and it was packed. Being obvious in the crowd, the owner came over and introduced himself. I got the pork and some fried potatoes (everything here comes with potatoes) and it was awesome. I ate, the rain quit and I headed home. End of story? Not hardly.

Today, I had my second tennis lesson. It's a lot to remember. The coach is very strict when it comes to form and my form stinks from all of those years playing racket ball at MSU when I should have been studying. Long reach and fast hands made up for slow feet. Slow feet with Tony the Tennis Pro is not an option. Naturally, when the hour was up, I was exhausted (because of my soft middle). Now, we are up to speed, all on the same page because the tennis court just happens to be right next to La Volcanica, so I went in for an ice cold coke.

Being mid-day, there wasn't much going on. The manager came over to talk and told me that his sister, a waitress there, talked about me after I left last night. She thought that I was cute. She's only about 18, if that. The custom here is for girls to marry young and to marry older guys. He told me that their father was dead and he looked after her. Then, he told me that for 2 cows and some cash, I could have her for my wife. I thanked him for the lovely offer, but declined.

This gets me thinking though; Paul, I gave you and Johnny 3 cows. I will be up at your place in January, we'll need to do some negotiating.

Now, for Mackenzie, who didn't like the last entry because there were no pictures, here's a picture just for her. I took it in Gysengi on October 26th, the day that the rebels took the park headquarters in Congo, (just 20 miles north of where we were) and two days before they marched to Goma. Goma just happens to be the sister city to Gysengi, it's like one big town with a border right through the middle of it. The second picture is looking across part of Lake Kivu at Goma (these towns are on the north end of the lake).

Enjoy,
Johnny Umuzungu

Becoming Rwandan

2008-11-07T23:14:00.000-08:00

Over the past two weeks I have begun to settle in to life in Rwanda. I haven't done anything worth taking a picture of so this update will be a little dry. I'll do better I promise. I have been going to Kigali each Friday. There are many people based there that I need to meet with, plus there's the issue of trying to get my work visa, so I just plan on the weekly trip. I take the bus, it is 2 hours each way and costs 3,000 Rwandan franks (about $5.50). In Kigali, there are the little mini-vans that will take you all the way across town for 150 Rf, which is little more than a quarter.

Going on Fridays tricks me into thinking that I have a 3-day weekend and taking the bus helps me to develop language skills. I have my vocabulary sheets, but it seems like the right word is never there. It's the same way when the locals try to talk to me, their English vocabulary is limited so what they say might not be what they intend to say. For example, I started taking tennis lessons because tennis is the only opportunity for recreation here in town. The tennis instructor is a really nice guy who is Rwandan and also speaks French. At the end of the lesson last Saturday, he pointed to his stomach and said "it is because you are soft here that you chase your breath." I thanked him for pointing that out to me.

I am also learning to adjust to "Rwanda Time." It is a time zone like none other. I learned about Rwanda time this past week when I went to my first faculty meeting. The meeting was scheduled for 9am. I was there at 8:55. Two other faculty members were on time and they both brought their computers with them. I thought that it was odd to bring your computer to a meeting. By the time that the meeting finally started at 10:45, they had gotten much work done. I'll take mine next time.

I share an office with a great guy, Dr. Bhebhe from Zimbabwe. He has a PhD. in Animal Breeding from Texas A&M so we have lots to talk about. While he and I were waiting for the faculty meeting to start, I asked him if there would be doughnuts. We laughed and throughout the day would mention other foods from home that are unique to the states, like hot wings, pit bar-b-q, a backyard fish fry and cheeseburgers.

On Wednesday morning I learned a few things from Bhebhe. I was late to work because I went to town to watch the election coverage on the TV at the local hotel. There was a huge crowd there and they were all cheering. When I got to the office, Bhebhe was watching the election coverage on his computer. We talked a bit about the election. I won't bother you with all of the trouble in Zimbabwe since their previous election, but with that history on his mind, he watched ours in amazement. He saw the large crowds that were not violent, he saw the mixing of races celebrating together and not killing each other, he saw one party transfer power to the other without military intervention and he discussed how these things have never happened in Africa. Here, the national boundaries cross many tribal boundaries. It sounds strange at first but imagine America without ever having European settlers, now overlay the states and force the tribes to get along. I realized that the world is so interested in US politics because it functions as it is intended to. We actually pull it off. Only about half of us are ever happy with the results and we argue and debate the issues, I always tell myself that the whole thing is a waste of time, but it isn't a waste of time. In most countries, people die if they oppose the ruling party. People get beaten, houses burned down and families murdered as examples to any neighbor who thinks of voting for the challenger. The world watches America and cheers because we vote without violence, they watch in amazement and dream that it could happen in their country some day.

On Monday I am going back to Uganda. A guy there that I will be working with told me the other night that he voted once but never will again. He talked about the corruption and the violence, the threats and the bribes, he commented on how fortunate we were to have that opportunity and for the process to occur peacefully.

At MGVP I work with a guy from Congo, he too praises our system. Monday night he asked me if I had voted. I told him that initially I wasn't going to but I eventually did at the US Embassy in Kigali. He told me that it was good, regardless of who I voted for. He explained how things have gone in his country, that the elections never matter, about how people never allow democracy to take place. He told me that the system is there, but that when a person becomes frustrated, they don't discuss things and wait for the next election and use the system, instead they assemble an army and take control of a region, like Nkunda is doing now.

I was in Nairobi, Kenya last year just before there election and there was much tension around the town. After the election, whole communities were burned, murder and mayhem prevailed. They celebrated this past week because a descendant from that country is now the President of the greatest nation on earth, they also celebrated the fact that it was even a possibility, that it occurred peacefully, it's an amazing concept that we all just assume but the folks here can only dream of.

On a lighter note, I had a different conversation with Benerd, my friend from Uganda, trying to explain daylight savings time. The Equator goes through Uganda so for him, where he lives, over the course of a year the sunrise will vary by 10 minutes. On the longest period of daylight, the sun rises at 6:55am and on the shortest, 7:05am. There have been other interesting conversations this past week like explaining time zones when discussing why the election results come in at different times across the country. I also had fun explaining about swing states and why the focus was different for different states by the campaigns. It is really fun to see how unique our country is through the eyes of the people here.

Where in the world is Johnny Umuzungu

2008-10-25T00:04:00.000-07:00

So, I finally confirmed the way to spell my name in the local language, Kinyarwandan. It sounds like MooZoonGoo when you say it, I guess the first U is silent. I also made a map which shows my little corner of the world. You can make it bigger or smaller, zoom in or out, or not. Some of the peaks are not visible in the clouds.

View Larger Map

I have had a picture of Murabura, the mountain peak that is the upper right peak of the chain, on a previous post. Gahinga is the second one as you move counter clockwise. These two are on the border between Rwanda and Uganda.

Over the roof of the house you can see Sabinyo, the third one in the chain which sits on the border with Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

Here's a picture of Sabinyo from the town of Kinigi, due west of Ruhengeri closer to the park boundary.

The peaks are not always clear. Our weather comes in from the east and brings moisture off of the Indian ocean. Clouds form as the moisture rises in elevation to cross the mountains. You get these really cool half-halos around the eastern peaks like rings around Saturn. It's cool to watch some times. The fourth peak, and the first to share the border between Congo and Rwanda is Visoke.

Looking west down are avenue is a nice view of the fifth peak, Mikeno, which lies in Congo. The final peak is Karisimbi which is on the border between Congo and Rwanda.

Living here has been an adjustment and there are many things that help me to realize how great things are back in the states. I read about the economy and the whole world can't stop talking about the election, but there's plenty to be thankful for. Every day that I have been here, I have seen at least one person use a cup to dip water from a puddle, only to pour it into a larger container and take it home. I can never remember a time in my life when I didn't have access to clean water. For the rural communities here, there are many who have never had that luxury. Wow, to think of a simple thing like water as a luxury.

Part of my job here with ISAE and MGVP is to organize and implement various community projects that support agriculture as an economy. That can range from education and extension programs all the way to trying to get a milk processing facility. This past week, anew friend of mine took me to see Roz Carr's orphanage at Imbabazi. The story of Roz Carr is amazing. You should google it when you get the chance. Basically, she was in her 80's when the genocide erupted. As a result, she turned her flower plantation into a home for 102 children left as orphans from the violence. Turns out, it's not technically an orphanage because she has adopted all of them. It's a tremendous legacy. She has recently passed but through the love and support from her dear friends, the facility continues to operate.

These children are mostly teenagers now. Half of them go off to school while there are still over 50 residing at the place. There is a school there and a variety of wonderful opportunities provided by groups around the world like Partner's in Conservation which happens to be based at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. So how do I fit into all of this? Well, they have a small herd of cattle for the purpose of providing milk for the residents. It's a nice herd of Brown Swiss with a young holstein bull.

The managers of the facility do a great job caring for the children and providing health care and educational opportunities, but they are not comfortable with managing cattle so I am going to consult with them a bit and help the herd meet the goals that they have for it. I am gong to try and utilize this opportunity to make the herd a demonstration project for the local community as well. That way we can get the support of ISAE and hopefully some students from the school. The university is trying to establish the concept of agricultural extension services like we have back in the US and this will hopefully be the first step in that direction. The location is south west of here, off the southern slope of Karisimbi. From the pastures, I could see Nyiragongo, the active volcano in Congo. It's not currently spewing lava, it hasn't for 7 or so years, but in the picture you can see the steam rising out of the crater.

Now, as I promised mom, here are some pictures from where I live. First, is a picture from the street.

The next view is from my room looking towards the kitchen.

Here's one from the kitchen back towards my room and finally, my room. That's for you mom!

Johnny Muzungo goes to town

2008-10-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

This past week has been rather boring. I guess that's what happens when you go to work. Actually, I didn't go every day. I skipped work on Wednesday because I needed to go to the hospital and get a physical. It was in my contract as a requirement for work at the university. Fortunately for me, the MGVP employee health program began this past week so I as able to have the exam, blood work, chest x-ray and the whole nine yards for free. On Thursday, I bumped into the head of the university and told him that I had the physical and that everything was fine. He then told me that I am the first person to actually get the physical and that he did not understand why it was a requirement. It was worth it though just for the experience of hanging out at a hospital in a developing country. Between mom's nursing background and my many trips to various emergency rooms across the country, I think that I am familiar with hospitals. To see this one and notice things like how limited their supplies were, the fact that being in a waiting room meant sitting on a bench outside because space in buildings was a precious commodity, and all the while the service and care is very good.

The pelican was successfully released on Thursday. It was turned lose at a lake on a golf course in Kigali. It should be safe there until he gets his strength back. It did make one short flight, circling the lake so it should be just a matter of time before it joins up with a flock. Having it around was fun, but messy. Fortunately, there are two bathrooms. I wish that there was a way to have smell on this video clip.

On Friday, I took the bus to Kigali in an attempt to finally get my work visa. As an American, I can be here for 90 days without it, but for staying longer, I need my green card.I thought that all of the paperwork was in order but that was not the case. The folks at the immigration office would not accept my application because it is to be completed via computer and then printed off and submitted. They no longer accept the forms completed by hand.And, I need a letter of police clearance stating that I am not a fugitive of any kind.So, off I go to the US Embassy to see if they can help me out with that one.After about a 15 minute lecture for not being registered on the embassy web site, it became clear that there would be no visa for Johnny Umusungo any time soon. I actually have spent some time looking at it but did not notice the information about police clearance. Plus, I had emailed several people asking for what all I needed before coming and it was never mentioned. It's not a block, just a bump, and just another task for Heather to help me with. Now, every cloud does have a silver lining and while at the embassy, I was able to vote so just so you know, I have done my part.Every year I vote and every year, it doesn’t seem to matter but I just do it anyway.

On the road to Kigali, traffic was stopped while the president and his motorcade passed by.He was headed to the border with Congo for a meeting. There’s a bunch of odd things going on in the Congo and the UN is right in the middle of it and not in a good way, but I won’t post those stories here. The trip to Kigali is worth taking, over mountains and through valleys, the scenery is just amazing.The only bummer is the absence of the national bird.The valleys once were full of grey crowned cranes but now to see one is very rare. I saw a bunch in Uganda last week, which is where I took this picture.

There is a big difference between the two countries in regards to agricultural practices which impact wildlife habitat. I have heard many times that conservation is a luxury. I see the truth of that statement every day that I am here.I did see many other birds on the trip like the sacred ibis and some cool looking storks that I can’t positively identify in my bird book. They might have been yellow-billed, but I can’t say for sure and I didn’t have my camera. Not that I could have gotten a clear shot from the bus anyway.

For me, one of the exciting things about traveling around is that there are differences in everything, not just the obvious things like food and language, but everything you see. The vegetation, the bugs, the birds, I wish that I had a picture of the worm that I caught while in the jungle. It was shaped exactly like every worm that I ever fished with, just bigger. Actually, about 12-14 inches in length and ¾ to 1 inch in diameter. It was really cool! There were 3 Germans on the hike with us that day and they all assumed that I had caught a snake and they weren't cool with it at all.

Mom wants to see some pictures of where I live so I will get some for next week's update. In the mean time, mom, here's a bit of a description. The facility has a wall around it, like most facilities here in town. There are three buildings. The main building is U-shaped with a courtyard in the middle. This is a picture of the courtyard. The main building has two bathrooms, 5 offices, 4 bedrooms, a library, kitchen, dining room, living room and laboratory facilities. There are two small storage buildings out back and a small house where Dr. Spelman lives. There are two gardens and tons of flowers, countless flowering shrubs, some trees and a huge type of cactus.

It might be hard to notice in the above picture, but there are plants like poinsettias that grow in the yard. They actually become large bushes like this one. I will be putting in a small patch of pineapples at some point. They are very cheap to buy, but I just want to do it because I can.

Being on the equator, the growing season never ends. Weather wise, every day is the same. If it is cloudy, then it will be a little cooler and if the sky is clear, it will be warmer but other than that, the day length doesn’t change and there is always a chance of rain. There are always flowers blooming and birds chirping.

It’s great except for one thing, there are many hadada ibis that roost in the tree just outside my window. They are an interesting bird with metallic color that shines in the sun and the funky shaped bill. They also have a call that is incredibly annoying and they start with the first bit of light on the horizon, around 5:20am.

The only real surprise thus far has been the earth quake that we had a while back. It wasn’t hard enough for things to come off of the shelves, but it did shake things around a bit. Again, every cloud has a silver lining. I just happened to be brushing my teeth at the time and I do believe that it helped me out some.

Just another day in the life of Johnny Umuzungo

2008-10-11T03:25:00.000-07:00

So, here I am, after three weeks and I finally figured out how to switch the language of this web site from French to English. French is common here so most often, when you access the internet, even google comes up in French. French just happens to be one of the many languages that I don't speak, but I fumble through it.

In case you are wondering, a Umuzungo is the local slang term for a white person. When you travel around, kids will see you and yell out "Umuzungo." Also, the kids know just a few phrases in English and they all know "what is your name?" When they ask me, I just say "Johnny Umuzungo." It has been a nice ice breaker even with the adults. And thus begins my alter ego, Johnny Umuzungo.

The term "Umuzungo" dates back to when the first white people came to Africa to explore. The locals had never known people to travel so much for no particular reason. Umuzungo means to travel in circles for no purpose. That's pretty much how the first three weeks have gone. It has been allot of fun so far, not very productive, but fun. And, fun should never be underestimated. Muzungo also works into local folk lore. Mothers will tell their children that if they don't behave, the Muzungo will come and eat them. It makes for allot of laughs.

The first week, I helped the Italian veterinary student who was here on an internship with MGVP. She was doing a disease surveillance study on cattle, goats and sheep for Brucellosis, Tuberculosis and Q-Fever. I helped with some of the study design, then with the sample collection in Kinigi sector of Musanze district (think of it as a county).

It was really challenging because they don't have working facilities here like they do in the states, so we first catch the cow by hand. This is actually easier if she has really big horns. Then, while 5 or 6 people hold her, I slip in and get a blood sample. You just need to trust your guys and hang in there because the cow will jump when you stick her. The next time your veterinarian complains about your facilities, show this picture.

Doing this project was very fun, not only for the "Rodeo" aspect of bleeding 60 cows that were free standing, but walking through all of the villages and getting to see the communities. One day we saw a chameleon, that was cool.

Another day, once we were done, we were heading home and there was a group of people carrying a woman in a large basket. Turns out, they were headed to a local health clinic that was about a 15 minute drive away. It seemed urgent so we loaded them up into the truck and gave them a lift. Turns out, the woman was in labor. We got to the clinic and the baby was born about 5 minutes later. They named the little girl Steffi after the Italian veterinary student who was leading the project.
The second week, a group of MGVP supporters were in town to create a promotional video for fund raising. We spent allot of time doing interviews and explaining what it is that we do. Then, I got to go up on the mountain in the Virunga Massif to see a group of mountain gorillas, group 13.

Hiking in the forest is amazing. This particular group was low on the mountain so we spent most of the hike in bamboo forest. One unique thing about this group is that the original silver back died a few years ago. A silver back that had been living in isolation came in and took over. He keeps sneaking over the mountains to the Congo side and coming back with a few more females. It is the fastest growing group with the most babies. It was fun to see all of those little gorillas running around and playing. One particular female had a broken finger. At first I just thought that she wasn't very fond of us being there, then I realized, it was nothing personal.

The third week began with a meeting in Uganda with the MGVP veterinarians. One topic was the first attempt at a buffer zone around one of the national parks. The thought is to create a space where you can minimize the interactions between livestock and wildlife. Typically, a park will have an abrupt edge, like the edge in this picture.

Unfortunately, animals don't recognize the boundary. Wildlife come out of the park and livestock wander in. This mingling can facilitate disease transmission (the livestock to serve as a potential vector for diseases of human and non-human primates). The idea of a buffer zone to minimize this mingling is an effort for bio-security.

This aspect of bio-security is critical because the mountain gorillas are very few in number and very susceptible to the diseases of humans. The human population around the park lives in extreme poverty, which means that they are a more likely group to have disease and illness. The government can't just go in and move the people who live around the park because there is no place to go. For Example, Rwanda is one of the more densely populated countries in Africa. Creating a buffer here would displace around 80,000 people. Currently, there are around 60,000 Rwandan citizens living in Tanzania that fled the genocide 14 years ago and are not allowed to return because the country is so over-populated. It helps to put things into perspective.

On Tuesday, we hiked in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a park in Uganda with the first ever attempt at such a buffer zone. In doing this, we were able to visit another gorilla group, Nkuringo.

This forest is very different than the forest in the Virungas. The variety of trees were different and I actually saw two silver backs (not what you are thinking Josh) up in a tall tree eating figs. The one in this picture weighs over400 pounds and was about 40 feet off the ground. It was pretty cool.

Unfortunately, the buffer zone has not been managed for about 4 years. The result is an unofficial extension of the park boundary. This seems nice from an ecology and re-forestation standpoint, but in actuality, this group of gorillas now live entirely outside of the park, on a hillside with unlimited human activity, creating an opportunity for disease transmission. If some negative disease event were to happen to these gorillas, they would likely retreat to the safety of the park and have a high likelihood of spreading the particular disease rather rapidly in a naive population.

In the mean time, I have been getting re-acquainted with those that I have met in the past, plus meeting many new people. There are allot of people like me from countries around the world who are here to work on various projects. It has been allot of fun, but there's no place like home and I look forward to seeing you all again some time soon.

There are things about living here that you just can't get any place else. For example, some body found an injured pelican and naturally, they brought it to us. Turns out, it had part of a fishing net stuck in its throat. We removed the net, but it was too weak and dehydrated to be released, so it hung out in the tub for a while. The neat thing about rehabilitating a pelican in the bath tub is that it can learn to eat on its own again (yes, we had fish swimming around in the tub with it). There's never a dull moment.

The motorcycle deal fell through because as it turns out, I need a permit. I will be able to get one the next time that they are offered, which will be in June or July. In the mean time, Heather is trying to sell my car so that I can buy one over here. Until then, I take the bus to work. Most of the university employees live here in Ruhengeri so there is a special route. Keep in mind, the buses her are Toyota mini-vans. Not just any mini-vans, but the interior has been gutted and replaced with bench seats. Now imagine, 4 bench seats plus the front seat. We sit 4 to a row, 3 in the front row, that's 19 people in a Toyota mini-van. It's quite intimate.

Things should begin to settle down now that I have started work at the university. Soon, life will become boring and dull. I do have a few things planned for the upcoming weeks that might end up interesting. Plus, there are a few hikes that I have planned between now and Christmas. I have been taking allot of pictures of birds and flowers that will end up on here at some point. Everything is just so interesting because it is so different, like watching the clouds form as the weather moves over a mountain The particular mountain here is Murabura, standing 13,540 feet tall. Anyway, it has been a ride and a half thus far, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Thanks for stopping by,
Johnny Umuzungo