The final count on Saturday was 33 villagers and Amnon expanded upon my rules; respect our privacy and property, no hunting and no cutting of trees. He added cutting of poles, gathering of firewood, shooting baboons, snaring, and other transgressions. I guess it went over OK with only a few areas for compromise. Personally I don’t have a problem with them harvesting downed trees for firewood and I realize they require poles for their bandas. Maybe Vincent, Amnon, Ben and the NFA can sort it out. My big gripe occurs outside the protected preserve where they cut and burn the small connecting strips of forest to clear more fields.
So we went to Kara’s for dinner, showers and a sleep over. It was a nice evening, fish pie and red wine and ice cream, but Richard wasn’t quite himself. By morning he was pretty ill so we scrapped the Rhino Sanctuary outing and Connie and I went into Masindi on our last or at least next-to-last supply run. Now that Vincent is riding, he can take care of official business. We have survived the motorcycle trips so far and have no desire to press our luck. We had lunch at New Court View and talked to some orphanage managers from North Carolina who know about the Welcome Home Orphanage in Jinja, and started home under threatening skies. The inter-rainy season seemed pretty short.
As the skies darkened and the thunder grew nearer we opted for a sheltering stop at Kinyara and rather than bother Richard and Kara we parked at Chris and Roses’ and waited for clearing skies. This turned out to be a good move. The gullies along the road home were rapids, the ruts were filled with running water and the settlement yards were flooded. We stayed dry but were chilled to the bone despite long trousers and our rain gear. The locals in their torn shirts and dresses looked half frozen.
Kara had planned to pick us up this morning to visit a R&S project at Karongo. Mostly they wanted us to take photos so we hoped to use Kara’s digital since both of ours have new rolls and won’t get developed until Zanzibar or Cairo. She called to cancel early today. Richard is no better – an infection, not malaria as we suspected – but that’s not why she can’t come. It seems the Kinyara workers have called a strike and have locked down the compound imprisoning everyone.
Supported by the area tribal king they are protesting the Indian takeover of the Sugar Works. They don’t like Indians generally and fear their wages will be reduced and their pensions and benefits will no longer be guaranteed. True or not this again demonstrates how quickly racism, tribalism, and ignorance can mobilize a people.
Vincent believes that many of the out growers will stop growing cane in protest an may even burn the Kinyara fields. Since nearly half of the cane comes from out growers this will greatly affect the profit picture. Maybe Booker-Tate has another breath or two left and our friends’ jobs may be secure. Or not. Vincent also thinks many of the Uganda managers may refuse to work for the Indians and will take their skills elsewhere. We will have to follow the developments.
