Praise God, it rained all night. While it was heavy at times, it was mostly a steady soaking rain – just the kind that Arua needed. At last the drought has broken, and people were busy planting in their fields today. But, with rain comes mud! Not just any mud, but a slippery clay-based substance that acts as a cross between snow and ice for pedestrians and drivers alike. This was, of course, the day we planned to head north to Yumbe. Timing is everything! As we headed out of Arua at first light, I realized how difficult this was going to be and wondered whether we should abandon our trip. 5 miles down the road, we found a convoy of lorries literally stuck in the mud and unable to move. The lead lorry was beautifully positioned at a narrow section of the road and blocked the road to all but pedestrians and bicycles. Our driver Eric skillfully backed up, but I was afraid that we were in danger of falling into the substantial ditch on the side of the road. For the second time I wondered about abandonment. Eric had a short cut in mind to circumvent the blockage. This entailed travelling on a very narrow dirt (thick mud) road for some 4 – 5 Kms. We were doing well till we came to the river – normally a stream with a natural fording point, which was now 30 feet wide across the road and with no sense of how deep. I assumed we had come to the end of our journey, but Eric was unphased and drove straight into the water. Quickly the water was lapping over the hood. A remarkable sight! But low and behold we drove right though and out the other side. But now the fun really began as we had a 100 meter hill ahead of us. 25 minutes later we crested the hill, after several failed attempts and the assistance of about 40 – 50 young men most of whom wanted to instruct rather than push. We paid them for their help, and I was ready to abandon again! But Eric seemed unaffected and pushed on. We arrived at our destination – some 60Kms after 2 ½ hours. I would have abandoned – thanks Eric!
And I am so glad we made it because we had a wonderful time with our old friend Mophart who owns Blessed Bee for Life, the honey processor in Yumbe. Mophart has long worked in the honey business and began to expand his activities with the help of Dick Turanski of Glory Bee Foods in Washington State. In the last year Mophart and his board have decided to expand aggressively and we are helping by providing a loan for him to purchase increased quantities of honey from the farms. In yesterdays blog I described how there are so few activities in West Nile that create value and bring money into the region. BBL is one of those organizations – gathering honey from the farms and selling most of it into Kampala. This year they are on track for sales of 100million Ugandan Shillings (UGX) – approximately $40,000. We agreed the target for BBL should be 1 Billion UGX or $400,000. It is hard to express how important it would be to have that level of money coming in to the region. It would be transformational. Now to found other opportunities like this! BBL is also in the business of manufacturing hives and with new power equipment they are in a position to supply large government and NGO contracts. But recognizing that these sources of funds are under pressure, and that farmers can’t afford to buy the all-wood hives, BBL is also beginning to pioneer hives that have bamboo exterior boxes. We’ll see how that goes, but I love the approach. Mophart is a dedicated Christian who has a passion to help his community and to share Christ with his largely Moslem neighbors. He is a joy to be with and a real inspiration. This visit was worth the whole trip.
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