We began the third and final leg of our three country, Africa journey on Tuesday by landing at Entebbe airport in Uganda. Although we were tired and feeling the effects of all the travel, we were also very excited to be in Uganda, the first country PacMoore began working in 6 years ago.
On Tuesday we visited Jakana Foods in Kampala. Jakana packages and distributes fruit juices in the local markets and exports dried fruit such as pineapple and mango. It was quite encouraging to see the work Jakana was doing and the success they were having. Visits like this inspire and encourage us in our quest to do food processing and packaging here in Uganda.
Wednesday we made the three hour drive from Kampala out to Masindi to visit our amaranth farm. The harvest was just finishing but we were able to meet and encourage some of the workers who were doing the tedious task of cleaning and winnowing the grain. Their spirits were great and it was wonderful to be able to shake hands and look them in the eye and thank them for their work.
We finished our time in Uganda on Thursday with some meetings with our project manager, Innocent, along with a member of the Uganda Export Authority to discuss exporting chia seeds. Our time with Innocent is always one of the highlights of our trips to Africa. He works so hard and has such a deep desire to see our amaranth project succeed. It’s a joy to spend time with him, encourage him and help him grow. While we certainly want to see the amaranth project grow to an improved level of success, it is ultimately the growth in people and the relationships we are blessed to be a part of that make these long trips worth every minute. That said, we are ready to be heading home!
