Roasting Coffee

One of the activities Suzy got to do at Sipi Falls was to tour a coffee farm. She learned about how they cultivate the beans, how and when to pick them, and the process for removing the outer skin from the bean. Then she was able to take some fresh beans and roast them over an open fire. After grinding the roasted beans (by pounding them with a piece of wood), she was able to enjoy a delicious cup of coffee.



She liked it so much that she decided she wanted to start roasting her own beans at home. So we purchased over 4 pounds of beans (for about $8!) to bring home with us. The other day she roasted her first batch. It wasn’t long before our house was filled with that distinct coffee aroma (and lots of smoke- good thing we don’t have smoke alarms here!). The final product was incredible and something that even a very sporadic coffee drinker like me can enjoy!

Trip to Sipi Falls, 10 January, 2012

After a few hot days in Soroti, we headed back to Mbale and then wound our way up Mt. Elgon to Sipi Falls. Mt. Elgon is a HUGE dormant volcano almost 14,000 feet high. The Sipi River (it’s more like a stream) flows down the northern slope of the mountain. About half-way down it tumbles over 3 different cliffs. The upper falls is about 250 feet high, the middle falls is about 200 feet, and the lower falls is about 350 feet high. In between them the river winds its way through small plots of land dotted with mud huts, matoke and banana trees, cassava, and coffee. It’s one of the most enchanting places I have ever been to.


We stayed at the Sipi River Lodge. Our cottage was small, but was located just a couple hundred feet from the middle falls offering us a spectacular view from our living room and porch. We spent our days trekking up and down the river exploring the waterfalls. On our first trek, a 10-year-old boy named Peter asked me if he could show me some things at the top of the middle falls. I knew he was hoping for a small payment for his services, but I said OK, and we headed off. Before I knew it we had a dozen other boys “helping” us. They were actually very helpful. They held Elise’s and Brody’s hands on the steep parts and one boy gave Milenia a higgy-back (Milenia’s version of piggy-back) ride. We later found out that it’s a bad idea to use the local boys for guides because they end up skipping school to try to earn money from the mzungus (white people). Should have know better, but lesson learned!

So the next morning we decided to hire a real guide named George to take us to the lower falls. He was great. He taught us some of the local language which is called Kupsabiny. We learned about the local culture. I was shocked to find out that George is the 8th best distance runner in Uganda running 10 km in less than 30 minutes! All of the other top runners come from this area as well, which makes sense given the incredibly steep terrain and high elevation. The trek down to the lower falls was steep and treacherous. At one point we had to go down a 40 foot ladder. As we struggled to keep our footing on the way down, we passed several women barefoot with a walking stick in one hand and a bag in the other yet somehow perfectly balancing banana bunches and logs on their heads as they climbed the steep slope. Absolutely amazing!


At the lower falls, Milenia and I decided to take a swim. I got in up to my waist, but the water was so frigid that my legs got numb. I decided to stop there. The climb back up was difficult, but we stopped at a cave along the way and explored it for a while as we dodged the bats that we disturbed along the way.

That night we climbed to the top of a hill and watched the sunset over the plains below. It also offered a spectacular view of all three falls as well as the top of Mt. Elgon. All in all it was great way to unplug from city life for a few days, and we all feel very refreshed as a result!

Trip to Soroti, Uganda, 7 January, 2012

A couple of weeks ago we traveled to Soroti, which is north and east of Kampala. The drive there was pretty easy except for the stretch between Mbale and Soroti. It took nearly 3 hours to drive 100 km on a road that was full of potholes and ruts. Once in Soroti we met up with our friend Pastor Richard Otim. We enjoyed a traditional Teso (the tribe that lives in and around Soroti) dinner with Pastor Richard’s lovely family under a beautiful starlit sky- chicken, rice, beef in peanut sauce and my personal favorite atap, which is a dough-like mixture of millet and cassava. Sunday we enjoyed worshipping at Rockview Baptist Church. That afternoon we drove out to Lake Kyoga. Along the way we stopped a village church in a place called Lale. The people in this village are from the Kumam tribe. They welcomed us with much celebration and shouting. We shared a time of prayer and fellowship in their mud-walled and thatch-roofed church. Then they invited us to the pastor’s compound for supper- more chicken, rice, and atap! The compound was made up of several mud huts and it was clean, neat, and very well-organized. We left Lale and continued on the Lake Kyoga reaching it just before sunset. It was very beautiful. Pastor Richard had been given a fishing pole a few years back, but he never could figure out how to use it. So we rigged it up and squeezed in a quick lesson before darkness fell. Then it was back to our hotel. Monday we went to the Soroti market, the East Africa pilot school, and toured the rest of the town. It was a really great time. I can’t get over how much Soroti and especially the villages surrounding it remind me of being in South Sudan. The people are similar, and I even found out that the Kumam language is very similar to the two main languages of South Sudan, Dinka and Nuer. That certainly has some interesting implications for ministry and missions in South Sudan!

A Bunny Story

We decided to get our youngest daughter Milenia an early Christmas present- two bunnies, a male and female. (And yes, I know why that is not such a good idea.) When we got them home, Milenia was thrilled as were our other two kids. On our compound, we have a fenced area for the dog that we've never used. We thought it would make a good home for our bunnies. We took out Mrs. Bunny to see how she would do in the dog pen. After a minute or so our black lab Roxy crashed through the door of the dog pen. Mrs. Bunny screeched in terror and bolted toward the fence. Somehow she managed to squeeze through the wire, and we managed to get the dog away from Mrs. Bunny.
A short while later we noticed that Mrs. Bunny's left leg was not doing so well. That's an understatement- it was completely broken. We felt terrible and called the vet. They sent someone to have a look and determined that Mrs. Bunny needed to go to their clinic for further consultation. A while later, they called, and we concluded that our best option was to put Mrs. Bunny down. Our kids were sad, but it was the only thing to do under the circumstances.

So then we were left with only Mr. Bunny. He's doing quite well. We've managed to keep him away from the dog. He's been hopping around our house and enjoying himself immensely. However, we started to get a little tired of bunny droppings all over our floors. We decided a cage was in order. Suzy went to see our favorite craftsman, made a deposit, and the work began. Just today we went to pick up the cage. It turns out that our cage is more like a bunny house. It was quite obvious that it wasn't going to fit in our SUV. So we did what all good Africans do- we hired a boda boda to carry it to our house for us. In case you've never been to Uganda, a boda boda is a motorcycle that is used to transport people and things all over town. Last week I saw one carrying a full size refrigerator. Our bunny house is a little smaller than that, so we figured it could work. As they moved the bunny house over to the boda boda, people started to gather around to watch. A few guys jumped in to help load the bunny house on the bike . It was quite tricky for them to get it secured and balanced just right, but after about 20 minutes they had it all ready to go. It was quite a sight as I looked in my rearview mirror and watched a boda boda driver weave through traffic with our bunny house. As I chuckled to myself, I couldn't help but think about what a crazy, unique, and special place Uganda is!