Unpacking

The trick to getting water is to be up at 04:30 before everyone else is and get the water that has been pumped overnight. A very slow pump apparently as once 7 comes around the tank is empty. I did get my 3 litres of water pumped and purified and I will have to clean up in a basin again.

We found out that they had power for just over an hour this morning so the wood made it through a planer once and most were cut close to size. We had to get the carpenter in the next shop to hand plane all the edges of the 60 - 5' boards - that cost another 20,000 shillings. Once they were all delivered by bicycle we cut them all to the proper length much to the delight and wonder of many as the battery power saw kept on trucking without power anywhere else and the batteries were charging as fast as required. Putting them together was a challenge as I had one real hammer and a kids one that I was going to let them play with but once again improvise and it was much better than using a brick!  We will get about 8 - 8' high shelves out of this wood which will make a great dent in the piles. The girls have taken interest in arranging the novels by author - so far Danielle Steele wins the most donated book prize.

We have a section on Project Management, Accounting, Geography and Ecology, Canada, French, Arts and Crafts,Religion, kids books and novels. Some of the sections keep getting bigger so we have to move books a few times to keep it organized. Note to anyone contemplating another such event - sort in Canada with people who know the subject matter!

We had a visit from a teacher in another town that heard what was going on and he wants to get his school involved. Another minister came by and he was interested in the religion section and being able to direct his congregation here. The story in Uganda is if you want to hide money put it a book as no one knows what it is for. He agreed that our resource was the start for the people to gain knowledge and begin  the change. A Kampala radio announcer came up and he praised the resource and wanted us to autograph a soccer ball for him to take back to the station. (Not sure how far that contact will go but he did say he wished he had been at customs with us once he heard the computers were missing!)

We have looked at our inventory of books and decided that we have enough to give each school a set of encyclopedias and a dictionary. We don't think we will be able to get the school sets together before I leave so we will present these items when Sue is booking appointments for them to come and see and work out the logistics including our head librarian Ms. Pross. Sue is returning in July so she should be able to get an idea of how it is going and fine tune the process before we expand the service.

We had a visit from the town Councillor, sort of a ward Councillor by job description, so over morning break we spoke about the subject of garbage and environment, Sue and I had talked about some solutions as that is her next endeavor for Uganda which is well on the way. I suggested that since their garbage collectors drive around and pick up stuff with shovels they should give everyone a garbage can which the guys could dump quicker and easier - okay it isn't original back home! We were discussing how everything is blowing around and how a the collection could be turned into energy - I will have to speak to Plastco. The discussion continued to the poor soil and since it dries out so quickly it stays dusty. Plan B, how about a community wide compost pile which could be mixed with the sand to make soil, plant some grass along the road and dust problem solved. We have a meeting with the mayor at 5pm Monday (he wanted 7am but we declined).

Well tomorrow is market day so it will be interesting to see how the basketball net is incorporated into the sales out front of the house. The kids were here all day playing basketball and enjoying the building of shelves, helping by holding up the shelves as we nailed the supports. Even the delivery guy was smiling after his third bike trip in the middle of the day. I think you could say our plan is a hit.

Speaking of garbage we now have one of the kids cutting the bottoms off the water bottles and we will use then for seedlings to sell - our tomato plants are over 2" high now.

Things that I forget to mention:
- when we came back from the Internet on Thursday one of the girls said that a friend of Sue's dropped over some cassava and chicken. I walked into the back and found the chicken tied up to the water container. I am not quite a local yet as I did get a bit of a start. It was a good dinner on Friday night.
- Maximum number of kids on a boda boda (100cc motorcycle) 5 - age 20
- Maximum number on a bicycle - 4 - Mom Dad and 2 kids headed to church Sunday morning

Saturday Feb 11

I was up early so headed to Kasana to get money and nails for today. Too early, as the stores were closed. Back for breakfast then off to the house. Sue met me at the woodworkers but they had not had power since before we placed our order so no shelving material. We negotiated for some 2x4's and  had them delivered by bike. This wood enabled us to create shelves in the storage room so we could get stuff out of the way. Sue's "sister" Becca arrived to help sort and we were off fixing the shelves and getting everything we had on shelves straightened up. Paper backs are 3 deep in some sections and we have a whole section of National Geographics 3 feet wide and 8 feet high of shelving stuffed. Reference and religious sections, reader's digest and novels. We only need the wood to get it finished but there has not been power all day.

Kids dropped by while we were working and asked for a basketball to play and more men stopped to see when we would be opened. It just gets better and we wont let the loss of the computers destroy the mood as the interest in reading is fantastic and we also found some little kids dresses and shoes to give out. Soccer jerseys have been divided for the different schools and we will start that process before I leave.

The clock purchased by Sam (my son) now hangs prominently on the wall inside the library and it is the only clock I have seen in Luweero.
   

Let there be light

Okay a little Sappy but! We started Friday out with shelf building and then 5 of Moses' classmates arrived by taxi-bus from Kampala to get the power up. A quick overview and ideas and off we went, they wanted to work as a team on each segment of the task so started off with getting the panels on the roof. Roofs here are corrugated tin that is so light they roll it up and take it to the site on their bicycles. Support is 4 foot on centre top to bottom and trusses spaced between 6 and 8 feet apart. Now put 6 - 22 year olds and one 50+ up there and you can imagine the sounds. Not to mention the ladder is 2 tree trunks about 3 " in diameter with whatever for rungs. So I pointed gave the plan then got down to assist in cutting the wood etc for the braces. About an hour later panels were installed, wires run through the roof, caulked and sealed. Sue and I left as they were finishing up to order wood for more shelves. Upon return they were all over the attic and walls following wire runs and testing switches. I asked that they install the controls first so we could get the inverter installed and charge the batteries. So the "team" got to it, all of us in a storage room that is 5 feet wide and 12 feet long. A little cramped as everyone wanted to see! All connected I found a problem with the panels not charging the system so Moses got to it as I was on the phone with the company. Moses was quicker than the rep as he found the panel had been wired wrong from the factory, not bad for a guy that has never seen one before. Fixed and the panels were charging at 5.4 amps. The lights were a bit of a problem as we had one major problem - we cannot locate the tool box with all the pliers and electrical connectors so our solution was once again the multi-tool (thanks Chris). Six worker bees and one pair of pliers, one hammer, and a pairing knife. It was very humorous as we are saying it is in the box instead of the container.  Unfortunately the tools and computers are missing so far and we are not holding out much hope of finding them. I guess they were found at customs and not only did we have to pay extra because they were on the packing slip but they were taken to be sold. - I really hope I can retract this comment once every box is unpacked there are only a few left and definitely no tool box.

After the electrical was all done we had a little 3 on 3 basketball game to the delight of all the kids and parents watching. Pictures handshakes and everyone leaving with a book for themselves and one for their families it was another great day but it wasn't over. I wandered out to the adult section and there were 3 - 4 men at any time reading books before they even made it on the shelves. One child came by and said he was supposed to ask when he could sign up to learn here, and Henry our contact with the district health council, was all set to send his staff down to sort and he wants to get going on the lecture/presentation series as it is just what he needs. We ate dinner under our new outdoor courtyard light and after I headed home the girls stayed up watching the lights (not the stars) imagining the power of the sun. Apparently they saw 1 am which was quite a novelty, they even went and got water as a reason to stay up. However, they were a little tired for school and church Saturday morning.

I was really looking forward to my shower but once I got to the guest house apparently 20+ women drained the tank before me so I had to use a Jerry can and bucket.

I forgot to mention yesterday as we were unloading the container a 8 - 9 year old boy stopped to help and he was quite the trooper for almost an hour. When he said he had to go Sue offered to buy him a drink or food, he said he would rather have a book! Can it get any better than that? I asked Sue who he was - she didn't know and no one else did apparently he lives outside town and was passing through.

 

It is real

I was at at 5:30 - not too excited- but I decided it was a little early. I went over to the restaurant and they were preparing a buffet breakfast as 20 + women have arrived for a workshop on family planning training. So much for quiet breakfast anymore. However, breakfast was a treat starting with fresh bananas and tea.Then the buffet of matoke (cooked bananas) beef stew and an egg omelet (this was special for me). Over to the house with the photo op of Sue and I cutting the seal. The door opened and of course stuff fell out but off we went. 4 teenage girls, 1 teenage boy, 2 - 20 year old men, Sue and I. Just over 1.5 hours later the boxes were sorted between kids, adult and reference,  and the container was empty. We bought a case of pop to celebrate. Sue wouldn't let anyone have a break until it was done!

Then we started the organization. Moses and I built the first 3 shelving units with "his tools" including cordless drill, saw and hand tools. After that Mama Kyanji decided she wanted to get involved so she took my place and I started building a basketball net. It couldn't have gone better if planned, the neighbourhood kids were over helping build and filling the base with sand . Once the net was up even the adults were interested and everyone laughed as I lifted kids up to "dunk" their first one.

We started to fill the bookshelves as they were being built but even though we had sorted the boxes we still couldn't find the "right ones". We began filling the bottoms with the heavy encyclopedias, but could only find partial sets of all  four series we brought. Maama Kyanja has taken a remarkable interest in the library she is in total control of where things should go and even though we wanted to call it a day after 8 hard hours she said that the kids had to keep working as she wanted a certain section done. It sounds so familiar!

Sue and I left to go to the internet and left them to put together "their library" you cannot buy commitment like we saw today and to make your heart even warmer, every once in a while one of them would stop to glance at a book or even the pictures in some of the larger reference ones. This is what we have all waited for, a true library that lets kids explore what they could only have imagined. We found electronic books for Moses, sewing and quilting for Mama Kyanja, cooking for Maureen and Ellen was presented with her long prayed for chemistry book when she came home from school.

All of you out there created this and I have the fortune of being the emissary, on the ground to witness something so special. To complete the day the younger kids were outside riding tricycles, using a bulldozer and kicking soccer balls as we worked inside. I watched kids laugh and run after balls as parents watched from a distance with their own delight.

I thank all of you for making Sue and my dreams come to light.

It continues

Wednesday morning I slept in believing that the container was on its way. Sitting at the breakfast table I received a call from Sue. Jackson was on his way to pick me up as she figured I should come in. When she arrived the agent advised there was more to pay. I think I was visibly angry this time and by the time we were 1/3 of the way Sue called to say there were storage, handling, and other charges we had to pay. I now had over an hour to stew. Sue was also required to get a stamp for Maama Watali so the documents could be stamped as her passport and ID were not enough. We picked up the stamp from Sue and I advised I was going to deal with it, she was waiting on other documents to bring. When we arrived, Jackson and I were met by the agent who I promptly told I did not want to deal with and told him to get me the guy in charge! If you don't know know me the wrath of Brad is interesting to watch. The receptionist started to try and deal with it and the agent was trying to play me. I asked if the receptionist was the person in charge - No she is the person you pay the money to. He didn't get it! I told the receptionist I wanted to the guy in charge! she took Jackson and I to a large table in the middle of the open concept office and asked us to sit (ya right!) She brought over another man who started and I excused myself and said " are you the guy in charge?" Nope. Then I want him as this will not stop with you. Off we went to a corner and met Emmanuel- General Manger and top guy. I laid out the chain of events and highlighted the lies over the past 6 weeks. He was obviously  well schooled in customer relations as he took each one and dealt with them recognizing that there were several problems to be addressed, the worst one being his agent!

By the time we were done Emmanuel had covered the cost of the second truck we hired to transport the extra items, reduced storage costs to zero, adjusted shipping costs and guaranteed to refund any items that were covered in the original contract that were improperly accounted for. We also obtained a guarantee for any broken or damaged items upon opening the container. He also acknowledged the administrative faults which he would address and report back to me. Topping it all off with a cold glass of fresh passion fruit juice for both Jackson and I.  As a side bar Sue called Jackson 2-3 times to see if I was being good! Unfortunately the agent still managed to get it messed up in the shipping yard that required me to visit Emmanuel a few more times.

We stopped to eat on our way home after watching the truck leave the yard and even after a 1 hour break we managed to catch the truck 1/2 way to Luweero, the hills are so steep that you hold your breath hoping the truck will make it over the crest. We followed until it crested the 2 largest hills then past it and headed to Luweero. It will be a busy day unloading for all, even Moses was pulled out of school to help.

The container saga has almost ended and I have to Feb 16 to do what I had planned to do in a month!

You can't beleive

We attended the shipping yard right at 10 for our morning appointment. They were supposed to be ready for us but somehow 4 containers were parked in front of ours. We waited for a hour for the other containers to be removed then we were asked to open it. It has been so long since I saw it I forgot the container was silver. Once I opened it - pictures courtesy of Sue- the workers came at it with a pair of bolt cutters. I asked what they were doing as they started cutting through the rope. I was advise they were verifying the contents - it was pretty obvious since you could see the boxes of books. Next they said they were looking for the computers. Off they went tossing boxes out and I yelled after a few were broken and they were about to throw the fragile (well marked) solar controls. They had worked there way well past 1/2 way and we tried to tell them they had past the computers but they were on a fishing trip. Boxes being opened and stuff looked at even though we told them if a box said books on it it was! Over 1/3 of the boxes and all the shelving solar and soccer balls were outside when the customs officer came by took a few details and told them to repack it. This was after she decided that she liked one of the soccer jackets, 2 balls and some books for her kids. I was happy thinking it was done so I gave the workers a ball each from the bag of used ones. As they were repacking I was trying to explain that they had to put it back a certain way or it wouldn't fit. Like trying to get the item back in a box from the manufacturer after it is opened. Sue headed out to another meeting and Jackson and I watched as they attempted to repack. At the same time we had to keep an eye on the stuff outside as other workers were coming by to help themselves to the open boxes of books. I even saw a guy trying to read a French-English dictionary ( lot of good here). I received a phone call from Sue asking how much money I had on me (not enough) so we had to make arrangements to pay the "nice" customs lady  300,000 shillings to get the container cleared (no receipt) And to think she asked me about coming to Ottawa for a visit and if I would tour her around. That won't be happening! Everyone was very interested in the tricycles and tractor and they needed special attention as I tried to explain they were for the kids of Luweero. The packers were unable to get all the items back in and coincidentally the 2 tricycles, tractor and other items were left out in a warehouse that was not secure. We could not get the agent to inventory the items so we were skeptical of their safety. After we paid the clearing agent said the documents had to go to another building and a messenger was taking them by motorcycle. As soon as he was done with that the container would be released 2:30pm. Jackson and I sat around waiting being reassured that the truck would be loaded to day. However, at 4:30 we saw the agent heading out for home. He decided to leave early with his words being we would be first out in the morning. Total frustrated we left at 5:15 but Sue decided to stay in town for the evening on a hunch. A 3 hour drive home due to traffic congestion topped off the day.

Well it was at least opened on the African continent and repacked !

The disappointment continues

After lunch at our favorite buffet in Kampala, its the only one we know of, Sue and I headed to the shopping district to kill some more time. The traffic(people , cars, taxis and boda bodas) was crazy with everyone fighting for an inch to move. Sue got the attention of one driver as we crossed the road and he stopped to let us through. A male teenager got between us and I noticed his hand going into Sue's purse. A quick grab of both of his arms and holding him dead in his tracks caught him off guard and he turned to show a look of terror. Sue also turned with his squeal and I promptly reminded him it was wrong and he took off like a shot. Discussing later with Jackson I guess there is a substantial amount of violence inflicted on them when caught as the locals are very displeased with this activity. Jackson recounted many stories of how these usually end up so I was rather soft.

We started calling the shipper at 3 since we were supposed to have it done today and we knew the yard closed at 5. Needless to say, the excuses started - the network went down right after we paid and we were in the queue but probably wouldn't get it today. I was rather mad and a phone call would have been a nice touch instead of letting wander the city for a day. We decided enough was enough and the senior personal of customs were contacted. We have been assured that if we attended at the custom yard tomorrow at 10 the container will be released to us as soon as it is opened. Robert has arranged for the truck to meet us there at the same time.  It always sounds like a good plan but I will wait till tomorrow before I celebrate.

We stopped at the cabinetmakers on the way home he wasn't there but he did answer the phone, at first he said he thought we were picking them up. Sue reminded him we paid for delivery so he then said he forgot where to deliver  - Who knows its Uganda