Visit of President's Wife

First Lady Mama Janet Visited the University on 25th and allthough at fairly short notice everyone really got down to it and the day was a great success. We really wanted to get accross the message that we are a new sort of Unversity in Uganda. In particular that we take our lead from the needs of local communities, that there is a strong emphasis on the applied/practical end, i.e. that knowledge is not much use unless it can be used, the staff are recruited from those with real work experience and then we invest in their higher academic qualifications so that they can progress to the highest levels in academic life. She was really interested and when talking to the students told them how lucky they are to be at MMU and that if she was starting to study again she would want to come to MMU rather than Makerere. So we were delighted and just hope it translates into something tangible in the way of support. Saturday is our open day really for the benefit of the Horticulture section and our efforts to reach out to the local farmers and others. I learned today that if you plant a Mango seed convex side up you may get as many as seven shoots/plants but if the other way only 1, could make or break one's business knowing that.
Some pictures of the visit.

The Wild East

Last week I was up in Karamoja for a day to help finish up a training course for senior Education staff in the schools and the District Administrations. It all went very well. We won the tender against most of the major Universities in Uganda. Some of the others were not best pleased as they see themselves as the experinced experts. The school which was acting as host is able to harvest vegetables all the year round because all the rain from the roofs is collected in underground tanks. We visited a Manyatta, a fortified groups of dwellings. The rains, which finished in June, were weak and the harvest is not good, their stores are empty as far as we could see and they do not expect rains again until April next year, what a contrast with our green and fertile Kabarole, here in the west under the mountains.
They do recognise that they are a difficult lot of people as their habits are so different from the rest of the country, The men at least seem to be completely naked, except perhaps for a blanket round the shoulders and down towards the knees. Their sport is cattle raiding from each other which was probably comparatively harmless when the weopens were spears and bows and arrows but now they use AK47s, and when the army come and take them they simply go up to Sudan or Ethiopia and buy new ones at about $14. The Manyatta is a group of dwellings with a space in the centre for the animals and a double stockade of thorn bushes to keep out intruders.

This picture of a dwelling shows the entrance to the left of the policeman, so low that you have to crawl to get in, all for security of course. The ppoliceman was there because I was travelling with the Irish Ambassador who was the local sponsor of the project. How much easier to fly and be taken around rather than going by bus and possibly spending fournights on the road if the bus breaks down. Very sadly the previous week one of the 'students' sponsored to go to Ireland and do his Masters had just flown out while his wife and 7 year old child returned home. On they way they were ambushed [for sport?] and the child was killed, she was shot in the thigh but was OK. It is a savage part. When I was speaking I said that education would bring changes and change in culture and that they being leaders had better thinbk how they would handle it. In a way they are proud of their culture and change will not be universally popular.

Power

Some weeks ago the power to the house went off, this at a time when it was actually meant to be on and our neighbours still had light. The photograph helps to explain, this is the connection to the house from the mains and it had simply shaken loose with the wind.
Developments for the University: An Austrian consultant has done a major study for us and it looks as if we will need to plant 1000 acres of forest so that we can generate 1Mw of power, largely to keep the anticipated numbers of computers going. If we can afford to put in the highest quality control systems we MAY be safe to connect to the national system and sell the excess which we will not need for the first year or two.