Training in Bidi Bidi and Rhino Refugee Camps 2018 10 27

Update from Jim Mixson: I am still in the land of the living!  It has been another busy, busy week.  Fatigue, along with writer's block have held me back from posting an update.  I have been working with Empower One since Monday.  We made 2 trips to the Rhino Refugee camp and 2 trips to the Bidi Bidi Refugee camp this week.  The drive to Rhino is 1.5 hours one way and Bidi Bidi is 2 hours one way.  Hence the fatigue.  I am posting several pictures and will put some more detail on each, so please click through and read.  It has been an amazing week.  Monday was spent at the Empower One compound getting supplies ready for our training.  On Tuesday, I got to teach while 2 people interpreted my teaching into 2 different languages - Arabic and Lingala.  It's hard enough for me to hold my train of thought when I'm talking normally, but having to wait for 2 other people to talk in between my thoughts was sometimes a challenge!  Sometimes that train of thought left me standing on the platform with a confused look on my face!  But at the end of the day, it seems that my message got across.  The special thing about this location was that there were some refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo at the training.  This is our first interaction with DRC folks and I'm excited that they will be taking this training home with them when they go.  DRC is experiencing civil unrest and people are fleeing to Uganda.  On Thursday and Friday at Bidi Bidi I trained at Empower One's seminary.  There were 68 seminary students there from all over the area.  They mostly know English, so I didn't have to use a translator there.  The dean of the seminary said they were having a little trouble understanding my English accent!  Ha!  Tomorrow I head to Nairobi to check on a couple ministry partners and look at some new opportunities.  Will try to keep you updated and share some more stories!

Planting okra after installing a bucket drip irrigation system. You can see the wet spots where the water comes out of the drip lines:

The older gentleman on the left told me he was 70 years old. But he was most excited to learn about the drip irrigation! I want you to see the soccer ball that the young boy is holding....homemade out of plastic bags! Love it!!

This is the Empower One seminary at Bidi Bidi. My laptop (on the table to the right) was running off of its battery and the projector was being charged by a solar mat outside the church:

We partner with quite a few ministry partners to accomplish what we do. This shot is at the Empower One compound in Arua, Uganda. GAiN USA (UNTO) provided us with the winding machine on the table to wind up small rolls of the drip tape. It is a game changer! The drip tape comes in 1250 meter rolls and we distribute 30 meters when we give out kits. So that large roll gets broken down into about 40 kits. Rolling the drip tape up sounds simple but is far from it. Think trying to wrap up 30 meters of limp spaghetti! With the machine, we were able to break down a big roll of the drip tape in less than 30 minutes. As I said, game changer!