Gouda Times

There is nothing like being woken up at 4am by the crack of a gunshot nearby your hut to remind you that you're living in Karamoja. Fortunately, it was just some soldiers scaring off a hyena or two. No big deal. :)

Life is fairly uneventful right now, other than the tremendous amount of rain we've been getting. Today it felt as if a hurricane passed by the house. Rain was even coming in through the cracks in the windows. Last week we tried to drive into Kotido only to be stopped short by a very swollen river. We had to turn around and attempt the trip the next day. After several days of rain and no way to get to Kotido, we were living off of just beans and rice and maize porridge. Thankfully, that's what we eat every day, so we had plenty on hand! I must say, with the roads the way they are around here, I am very thankful God made four-wheel drive.


Two weeks ago we enjoyed having a mission team visit from Louisiana. They worked all week building a literacy center on Kristi and Kenneth's property for training villagers to read the Bible. Andrew and I even got to try our hand at laying some brick. I have to admit the little bit that I helped with was pretty fun! I think Andrew was inspired by the experience as well because he's now planning to build our very own huts in Kotido. We've found a friend of Kenneth's in Kotido who is willing to let us build our huts on his property. He already has a tap for water on his property and a security fence (and enough room for chickens and a garden!), so it saves us a lot of hassle. We've crunched the numbers and we should be able to build two nice stone huts (one for sleeping and one for cooking) for less than the total cost of renting a place in town for the next 2-3 years. Now all we have to do is learn how to build! Should be easy enough, right? :)


We took the team down to Kampala to catch their flight back to the states and on the way back, we stayed the night at a Dutch man's dairy farm. He served us fresh milk and Gouda with breakfast and it was soooo nice! I found out from him that I can get everything I need for cheese making in Kampala. What an exciting discovery! Now I just need to figure out how to build a root cellar for aging my cheese. Anyone want to send me some good plans?


In other news, Mary had her little lamb in under 10 minutes. I'm pretty sure that's some kind of record in the lambing world. Her name is Clara Bell and she is very cute. 


Also this past week I've enjoyed discovering gluten-free grains growing in our yard. Apparently, amaranth grows wild here. Exciting! We also tasted my first attempt at home-made kombucha and I'd call it a success except for Kristi's allergic reaction to it. Needless to say, I now have to figure out how to drink a half gallon of it all by myself before the next batch is ready. 


All in all, it's been a fun few weeks. 
-Kerri