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In the SpyPics? today you will see the source of the Nile that begins on the north shores of Lake Victoria. This is where the Nile will make its journey to the Mediterranian Sea. It takes 4 months for the waters of the Nile to traverse its journey. That may not be quite right because the Aswan Dam built for Egypt by the Soviets holds the water back for miles. But you get the idea.

Another group of pictures shows our delegation attending a meeting of a village cooperative. We had a long discussion about their dire needs to make their farms more than a subsistence. A good many of the farmers were women and in fact the Chief was a woman. These Ugandans were very soft spoken  and kept  referring to the US where everyone and everything was perfect. I don't know very many Americans that could survive under the circumstances they are in. Their priority needs are credit, agronomic information, tillage equipment, storage facilities, and advice on how their organization should function. That about covers everything and one wonders how they get the job done. But they seem to survive and raise large families. Uganda has the highest fertility rate in the world with an average of 6.5 children per woman with average age of the population at 15 and a life expectancy of 46. AIDS is a very big problem and the farm associations regularly get tested, given information, and monthly supplies of condums.

Diet is generally chicken, fish, goat, or beef (poor quality) and peanuts for protein and rice, bananas, and white corn meal for carbohydrates. Then for cooking, seasoning, and source of fat they consume sunflower, peanut, and sesame oil. One of the pictures you will see today is the breakfast being consumed by our Country Director, George, made up of bananas and tripe cooked as a stew. At lunch I asked if I could give that a try but he said it is only eaten for breakfast.

I do find Ugandans to be quite interesting. It must be a haven for anthropolgists. The population is made up of several tribes all with different dialects though most speak Uganda and some English. Also, they have a slightly different appearance, i.e. people from the southeast appear different that the people in the west and the native language is entirely different. The British Empire ruled this country for decades. Since independence the Ugandans  have invested heavily in tea and sugar cane plantations. Commercial rose growers supply roses to the Netherlands where they are distributed throughout Europe. The Israelis invested in 3 large citrus orchards but abandoned them after the Idi Amin/hostage event.

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