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The Community Churches for Christ in N. Uganda send their greetings, love and prayers to all of you.  We continue to see and experience how the love of God knits us together and that the differences of culture, skin color, status, or financial condition do not divide us. 

For the past week, we have joined with Medical Teams International mobile medical units both for training staff in some physical therapy concepts for low back pain, and experiencing their methods of providing medical care whether in the remaining refugee camps to the far North, or the villages where people are returning home after years in the camps.  Seeing a woman who has had Elephantiasis for 20 years, people with open wounds covered with flies, babies listless with fever from Malaria, amputees from land mine explosions, and people so sick they couldn’t even sit up broke our hearts as we watched them patiently wait their turn to be seen in the hope of some relief from their misery.   Someone once said to pay attention to what makes you cry, and what makes your heart sing and both happened during those visits.  We cried as we witnessed such poverty and pain, but our hearts sang as we took part in sharing our knowledge and experience which will hopefully help improve their condition.  Carolyn joined the staff in evaluating and treating patients needing physical therapy while Keith interacted with the refugees at the camp.  Each person has a story to tell, something that grips you, and holds you, that you’ll never forget.  The one that stands out for both of us is the woman with Elephantiasis in the photo above.  She has had it for over 20 years.  At first we couldn’t see that she had any toes, but on closer inspection, we could see all of them folded underneath the swollen foot, to where she had to walk on the tops of all except her big toe.  Even though the parasite that caused the swelling had been treated and was no longer at work, the damage to the drainage system remains and the swelling will continue to increase.  A massage technique she learned that day is to be repeated at home to reduce the swelling to a level where she can more easily do her daily work. 

Keith befriended the old gentleman who was industriously using both hands and a foot to braid a rope in the second photo above, and was introduced to the various ways to construct a hut using different materials.  He’s intrigued by the tools used for farming, metal work and woodworking and is soaking in the culture at break neck speed.  He’s used local tools to construct an elevated wash table for dishes and clothing as a testing ground for the Omodi family.   We hope that they will find standing upright while washing comfortable and back pain will be a thing of the past. Then, they will spread the word about the changes to others in the villages.  

Another experience that made us cry and our hearts sing was attending a worship service in a mud hut church in a small village where our friend Richard is the pastor.  This was “assembly day” where the 4 churches in their assembly met together.  Some people traveled up to 3 hours by scooter to get there!  The message was about using our time wisely, because once it’s passed, it can never be used again, and the time for certain things to be done will never come again.  I (Carolyn) struggle with being on time, and was really convicted by it. But in another sense, I am living every moment as if it was my last, squeezing each one to get the most out of it. Keith connected heart to heart with all of the pastors and has received a letter from them to be delivered to the churches in the US.  He’s sensing that developing deep friendships with these men and coming along side of them to encourage and build into their lives is what God is leading him to do.   He’s already made so many friends and been given the honor of eating the chicken gizzard enough times that he’s starting to wake us up in the morning with a little cock a doodle doing!!

The crop projects continue with soy beans, onions, eggplant, red beans and cabbages taking hold.  Oh how we wish we could be here for the harvest!!  The trees at Lango College are growing well but the vegetable seeds have not yet been planted and it’s getting late – timeliness – it matters.  We’ve come to see ourselves as Jesus described – part of a huge vineyard.  Christ is the Vine, we are the branches and God tends the vineyard.  No branch is more important than any other, and the branches can’t do anything without being connected to the vine.  The branches in the US are as important and critical to God’s plans as those in Uganda, and none of us can do anything of eternal value without being connected to the Giver of Life.   We continue to be so thankful for all of the stateside branches who have supported what is going on here in whatever way God has led you to do.  We’re unbelievably fortunate to be the ones here, allowing the Lord to direct our steps each day, giving whatever we have as he directs, and receiving huge blessings as a result.  What could be better?? 

There are so many ways that any of you could also have the joy of taking part by being here for a few weeks.  So if your heart is beginning to be pulled to Uganda, please consider coming with us next year.

Sharing the Love of Christ in Practical Ways,

Keith and Carolyn

One older lady, Beatrice, the leader for the Anyangopuc group is losing her eyesight though she is otherwise healthy and strong, so she cared for two of the babies while the others worked in the garden. (I’ve attached her photo)  God willing, I would like to find a way for her to have cataract surgery to restore her sight.  In Kampala, one hospital is specifically dedicated to treatment of eye problems, so the treatment is available.  Without sight, Beatrice will be severely limited in her ability to take care of herself let alone help others.  She has been a Godly role model for other women and even in her disability, has remained cheerful and positive.  

The Bala group had been explaining that one of the oxen we purchased last fall was not working out and in fact would not work at all.  He had interest only in grazing on the lush grasses and was growing quite chubby and healthy but was not only lazy, but would lie down and play dead when they tried to make him plow!  This week they demonstrated his behavior which was absolutely comical and reminded me of the children’s story about Ferdinand the bull, not wanting to fight in the bull ring even though he was big and strong.   But this was another story – during the demonstration, this ox ran off when yoked together with his partner, dragging the plow and the farmer holding onto it helter skelter across the field until he’d broken the yoke.  As we came up to him, he laid his head on the ground, backside in the air and then rolled over on his side and gave a completely believable performance of being dead.  Pastor Solomon lifted the back leg and dropped it without the ox giving even a glimmer of response!  He would do well in Hollywood but the cost of transporting him there is prohibitive!  So, when the mad-cow quarantine for the area is lifted, he will be sold for a good price for beef, and his acting days will be over.   We decided to name him Ferdinand BA (Bad Attitude).  The Bible has a Proverb that loosely paraphrased says, “He who does not work should not eat.”   It was referring to people who can work but are lazy and don’t, but we think it applies to beasts as well, so Ferdinand BA’s days are numbered, and he won’t be spending his days eating for much longer.   The video footage I have of the whole experience might just win HAN a prize on America’s Funniest Home Videos!

Scary Movie 3 film Also this week I began training staff at Ayira Nursing Home, a private hospital which began as a home being built for Dr. Opio and his family.  Before it was completed, he and his wife Semi turned it into a hospital where he performs general surgery.  I will be teaching them basic physical therapy techniques which can be used to strengthen post-op patients, along with how to retrain them to walk, move and balance better.  A very big part of the training is in taking care of their low backs and how to teach back care to their patients and the patient’s families.  The way women work for most of their day is standing, bent forward as in the planting photo above.  They cook, clean, wash clothes and dishes, and plant their fields in this position.  Pain is a good motivator, and it is an unwelcome companion to most Ugandan men and women.  So we are starting with those who will listen, teaching some changes to their methods and the tools used, and hopefully, they will teach others who will pass it on as well. 

While visiting Uganda last fall, my friend Livia and I were invited to observe a day of surgeries.  We made it through three procedures then could not continue due to the extreme heat while wearing full scrubs, and rubber boots.  You can’t observe too well  while sitting down with your head between your knees to keep from fainting.  It was then and there that the decision was made to find a way to purchase an air conditioner for the operating room.   Through staff members at N. E. Washington Health Programs and another generous donor, the funds were raised to provide a high quality air conditioner with all the surge protection which will allow it to function for years to come.   It now feels more like Washington State in the O.R. rather than Africa, and there are some very happy people who are thanking God and the people he used to bring them such a huge gift.   

Today is Easter and Mother’s Day combined, so the women of Faith Mission Church were in charge of the services which were 2 ½ hours each.  Dancing, singing and congregational prayer are all a part of the interactive way Ugandans worship God.  I was given the privilege of giving a short message at two of the services and also sang a song with the women’s choir.  Esther had made me a special dress for the occasion, so I blended in well with my Ugandan sisters.  What a joy to celebrate the most important day in the lives of Christians with brothers and sisters in the family of God even so far from home. 

Alegi gum aber Easter!  (I pray you have great blessings this Easter)
Sharing the Love of Christ in Practical Ways,

Carolyn

One of the Hands Across Nations projects which drew the student’s attention was the village crop planting project which I spoke about in the second HAN newsletter.  Mr. McLain donated some funds for the project and I intended to use them for one of the villages.  I had also requested that interested students write pen-pal letters to Ugandan High School students, getting an around-the-world dialog going for the mutual benefit of each group in understanding another country and its culture. 

My Rotarian friend, Levi, is an English teacher at a boys boarding High School in Lira called Lango College, so I asked if he had any students who might like to practice their English by becoming pen-pals.  It occurred to me that the school had a lot of land around it, and nothing had been done with it for a number of years due to the war (in fact it had been ransacked by the rebels and their library completely destroyed).  The vision became a US/Ugandan pen-pal, tree and vegetable planting project where the students could be in contact through letters and emails, photos and videos.  It quickly became a reality as it was OK’d by the headmaster.  The Interact Club on the campus, a youth arm of the Rotary Club, took responsibility for planting the trees and vegetables and overseeing the watering, weeding and harvesting over the next several months.   Last week, the students prepared the ground and planted 10 mango trees, 10 orange trees, 5 Jack fruit trees, and 50 pine trees Next week beds of tomatoes, egg plant (they actually LIKE them!), onions and cabbages will be planted.  Our village crop project trainer, Laban, has agreed to speak to the students about managing and grafting trees so they can start their own trees without much expense.  The enthusiasm was over-the-top as I had to limit the number of young men in each tree planting photo, and the numbers in the group kept swelling.  The plan is to be able to harvest veggies and fruit which can supplement the posho (corn flour, water and salt boiled together into a large pasty type ball that is cut off in chunks), beans and tea which is their usual daily fare for the two meals a day they eat.

Originally there were 18 pen-pal letters written from Chewelah students, but so far there are over 100 Ugandan students who have written letters and want to be part of the cross-cultural dialog.  Each one has had a photo taken which will be attached to their letters.  (I’m sooooo grateful for digital cameras and computers!!  My children have dragged me into the high tech age, thankfully)

When Americans think of boarding school it is entirely a different picture than the reality of many N. Ugandan boarding schools where students live in dormitories with triple decker bunk beds, their tea cooked in huge pots over open fires, and the posho and beans served out the kitchen window to the waiting bowls of hungry students.  They have one well with a hand pump for water for the 1,000 students studying there.  Each student has a 5 gallon jug to be filled each day or so for drinking, bathing and hand washing their own clothes.  This is not a posh set up. 

Young people may have different traditions and beliefs depending on their culture and history, but they all have an enthusiasm, energy and optimism that is infectious.  Over the next several years, hopefully a lasting bond and friendship between the two schools will develop and deepen with increasing understanding of each others’ country.  The possibility exists for a team of students from the US to visit their partner school sometime in the future to see the orchard and gardens started by their pen-pal letter exchange, and help with a joint project in person. 

Another side project will be a letter writing campaign by the Lango College students, teachers, headmaster and myself to the Kennedy family asking for assistance to restore their library named after John F Kennedy.  Hopefully the Chewelah students and their teacher will add their voices through letters as well.

This project thrills my soul as the possibilities for it are almost endless.  These students have suffered much.  Some of them were themselves abducted and were forced to kill or be killed – something you never forget and is not an easy thing from which to recover.  But they are resilient, and bright and hopeful and it will a pleasure working with them. 

Thank you, to Matt and his honor students for venturing out of your comfort zone and into something which has the potential to be life changing for all of us.  Just think, in 3 years the trees should be producing fruit, and if we plant a group each year for the next 5 years, possibly adding other types they will have quite a large orchard which would help fund their school, lower their food costs, and be a great training ground for the students! 

Several group photos have been attached, with labels.  In the group photo, to my left is Esther, then Levi, and with the glasses is Alfred the Head Master.  There is also a photo of Favor, Esther’s daughter carrying the Jack fruit tree she planted in the village at Anyangopuc. 

Truly, only God knows where this initial project will be in 5 or 10 years, but I am prayerful that He will use it for good for many people. 

Sharing the love of Christ in practical ways,

Carolyn

As we started off to inspect and document the recent spring projects, dark clouds loomed and the wind picked up – no worries, we had 4 wheel drive.  Wellllllll……..let me tell you, my Rotary friend Sam Okello had his 4-wheeling skills sharpened as he maneuvered through huts and bushes on the slurry of red mud out in the bush.  Levi Abongo, his sidekick, who struggles with post back surgery neurological damage to his nerves to his legs, got a work out in his balance and coordination training hopping over rushing rivers of run off as we made our way to the isolated springs.  I just slogged my way through, happily drenched to the skin, chilly for the first time since touch down in Uganda.  I actually enjoyed shivering.  Levi had been fasting and praying for the delayed rain to come so people could plant and the long drought would be over. God answered his prayer in a major way and we’ve had a good soaking rain each day since then!

The two springs visited were sponsored by two Colville families, and were quite different.  The first was well kept by a villager named Esther, (standing in front of me in the group photo, Nance Spring) who asked that we bring her a brush so she could scrub it better.  The run off canal was open and running well, but there was just a small stream of water coming from the pipe.  The drought had lowered the flow to almost nothing, and yet this is the life blood of 300 families who typically have 7 – 10 members.  The school across the street, which has over 200 children, also uses the spring. So this trickle of water serves over 2000 people a day.  They value every drop and were intent on taking care of the precious flow.  Spring number 2 was a very productive spring, which allowed for 2 pipes which were pouring abundantly.  In fact the outflow had provided irrigation for a field of greens which were ready for harvest, and corn – now, at the very end of the dry season when most people don’t grow anything.   They had successfully learned to use this life giving, precious commodity to feed their families fresh produce during a time when most are struggling to provide anything to eat.  You can see the parched ground surrounding the lush green garden provided by the spring.  However, the run off canal had been overgrown by grass and shrubs, and it had backed up into both chambers of the protective structure and water was mid-calf deep under the flowing pipes.  This harbors all those microscopic things that cause diseases, so the people responsible for the upkeep of the spring were strongly encouraged to clear out the ditch and drain the water out of the jug filling chamber.  There seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm from the caretaker though he agreed to get a team and clear it out.  We will make another surprise visit in the near future to ensure this is done.

Prior to the joint HAN/ Rotary collaboration, the number of springs protected had been about 7 per year so protecting 33 in just over 2 years is viewed as a miracle for many people in those villages who had been waiting for clean water.  I am indebted to the Colville and Lira Rotarians who personify the Rotary motto, “Service above Self”.  The club is international and has people of the highest caliber of heart who not only volunteer their time, talents and resources free of charge in attempting to change the world around them for the better, but they pay yearly dues for the privilege!  I’ve been honored to become one of them.  The Lira Rotary, which has fewer than 20 members, will have completed 3 major projects since their establishment in mid 2006 and they are ready to partner with us again for another project which is yet to be chosen.  I’m humbled by those men and women, many of whom are raising families and up to 5 or 6 orphans as well on salaries which are less per month than many of us make in a day, and some of us, in an hour!

I’m struck with the fact that each of us is given only so much time, talent, health, money and all of it is a gift which we can use or squander.  As I see these men and women living out a life of significance even though they are ordinary to the world at large, their efforts have not gone unnoticed by those they’ve served or the God that created them.  It makes me even more motivated to use what I have for such a time as this.

Stay tuned for a surprise project that suddenly dropped in my lap this week.   Chewelah High School”s 10th grade honors English class, headed by Matt McClain,  had written pen pal letters to Ugandan students in the hopes of setting up a “round the world dialog”  It has mushroomed into something unexpected but should be a great youth project in the coming years.

I’m grateful to all of you who are praying for God’s work to be accomplished in His way, and for sending notes of encouragement.  The impact on my spirit can’t be measured, especially on the days where it seems I’m not accomplishing much except moving forward in learning the language.  Discouragement is always knocking at the door, but your support through the letters keeps it from coming in.  Thank you, from deep in my soul, I do appreciate it.

Sharing the love of Christ in practical ways,

Carolyn

Esther Omodi, God’s talented facilitator of women had some insightful words I want to share with you.  She said “I see God bringing His people from far away to join His people in Uganda as One People.  What is happening here is a real change of life with the skills you are bringing to them.  The people see God’s hand moving to help them through you.  And because of what is now changing in the lives of the people in the villages, it will be a testimony to many people of what God has done.  The lives of the sewing students are changing so much.  They are now able to make clothes for their children so they are changing how they are dressing. (many of them had only rags to wear) They think they are doing it themselves, but they are fulfilling God’s plans.”   

Three village crop projects in Bala, Alito and Anyangapuc, are preparing for the planting season with the rains soon to come.  Each village has a group of women (and men have now joined) who meet together weekly to study the Bible, pray for each other, and then work in their community garden.  Each village has 3 large gardens of approximately an acre each where they raise a crop to sell as a group.  10% of their profit is given to their local church, a portion saved for seeds for the next season and veterinary care for their oxen, and the rest is divided among the members and/or spent on a community project.  The Bala group has built a mud hut church and nursery school and hired 2 teachers for the school.  Alito group has started a nursery school. In the Anyangapuc group each week members bring 1,000 shillings, equal to 50 cents and it is combined and given to one of the members who has a need that week.  Every member is helped at least once a year. They also go and help one member each week in their family garden.  They are learning to live in unity, caring for each other, even in their poverty.  This has not been an easy lesson after living in the refugee camps where food might be delivered once a month – it was insufficient and yet it had to last.  Hoarding and fighting to protect their small amount of food was a way of life for years in the camps.  Now that the war is over, people are finding it difficult to change that mind set. 

One of the challenges of the village crop projects has been planning for the future and for expansion of their production.  They’ve run out of food for themselves before they harvest the next crop and are suffering malnutrition even though they are farmers.  I found myself being somewhat frustrated that they could not see farther ahead and plan better.  Then the realization struck that given the same circumstances I would be no different.  In fact often times I don’t plan well, and am caught scrambling to make up for my poor planning.  They are doing the best they can with the knowledge and skills they have currently.  Most of the women are illiterate and do not speak English, but they are willing and able learners.  A local organic farming specialist, Laban Oquir, has braved my driving the pot holed roads and almost inaccessible foot paths with Esther, to use his understanding of their culture and history to bring the knowledge and skills needed to improve their

o   Seed selection

o   Crop rotation

o   Organic pest control

o   Land revitalization and preparation

o   Food preservation

o   Group dynamics for project success

o   Goal setting

I’m now versed on several organic ways to handle the large termite mounds you see everywhere in Uganda, some of them taller than a full grown man.  One involves using pig intestines after slaughter, opening the mound, putting the intestines inside and closing it back up allowing the material to rot.  Another one involves humans eating hot chilis, and when they start to feel the effects, opening the top of the mound, and disposing of the digested chilis inside.  I’m not sure whether these methods kill the termites or they move somewhere else, but I’d be more than willing to move if I were a termite inside!

Each group was given the opportunity to choose what crops they would plant, and each will also have another additional project.  Each village chose different crops:  Yellow beans and onions for Bala, red beans and soy beans for Alito, and eggplant, cabbages and soy beans for Anyangapuc.    Bala will be given a cow to be able to reproduce oxen for future use and sale, and they will be given 5 robust roosters to be available to the entire village’s hens to begin a high quality poultry production project.  Alito has chosen bee keeping – each member is to purchase 2 bee hives and HAN will match those with 2 more.  The members will keep them at their homes, and will plant very inexpensive Marenga trees which produce blossoms for excellent honey.  Anyangapuc has not yet chosen a project. 

Laban will visit each village at least twice a month, some taking more than 1 ½ hours to reach, following up on their land preparation, seed planting, weeding and harvesting practices and their extra cash producing projects.  He started a chili growing program in his home village with his own limited resources, and will join Hands Across Nations next year in expanding the crop project to his village.  By 2010, the 3 villages now being strengthened and supported, should be self sufficient in their funding.  They will continue to be supported with training in farming skills as God directs for the foreseeable future. 

These updates seem to be too long to me and yet, there’s no way to adequately give you a picture without using sufficient words to describe what I’m seeing.  A wise man once said that words are the means by which I allow you more deeply into my heart than any other way.  My hope and desire is that you all know to your core that your prayers and generous donations matter, to me, to God and to the people here.  They are making a lasting difference in lives that have been touched indelibly by your sacrifices for them.  They will not be forgotten.

Sharing the love of Christ in practical ways,

Carolyn

Yesterday was a day of awe and celebration – seeing the Hands Across Nations  (HAN) Women’s Tailoring School in full operation with 40 ladies hard at work on their machines.  Through the leadership of Pastor Martin Ogwal’s wife Rose, and Esther Omodi, it began as a dream and a prayer of the Faith Mission, Uganda Church Women’s Bible study group in 2006.  This is Esther’s description:  “We thought about doing a sewing school, but didn’t know how we could do it.  We just prayed for God’s help”.  For 2 years, they prayed.   In the fall of 2008, Hands Across Nations and Faith Mission joined together in God’s vision for providing sewing training to women in Lira and surrounding villages.  Forty women signed up for the first class.  Many of the women are from distant villages, but came to Lira for safety because of the rebel attacks on their villages over the past 20 years.  With the rebel leader on the run in the Congo, people will be returning to their villages in the near future.  With funds donated through Hands Across Nations, the school purchased 20 treadle sewing machines (there is no electricity in most villages and it is unreliable in town), along with cutting tables, stools, and other equipment.

In January this year, the school doors opened at the Faith Mission Church, and training began with 5 instructors and a repairman who is always available during class.  Instruction began using old paper bags, progressing to learning to take measurements, cutting out patterns and sewing using the machines.  Each lady must also learn how to diagnose and repair problems on her own machine. Two students share each machine, with classes for 4 hours, 5 days a week for 6 months.  Only after they show they are competent on paper, do they start using fabric to make first a child’s dress, then a skirt, boy’s shorts and shirt, women’s shirt and dress, men’s fashions and finally the more complex Goma dress used for special occasions such as weddings.

I was struck by the student’s dedication, seriousness and perseverance in working in a crowded, hot room, and sharing a machine, often with a child on their lap or back.  Their joy and pride in being able to make a dress for their daughter or themselves was unmistakable.  I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of workmanship after just over 2 months of training.  To help become a self-sustaining school, the students will soon be producing children’s clothing for sale to the community.  Esther states that they will have no difficulty selling their creations.  This class of 40 students, our pilot program, is attending classes free of charge and each will be given their own sewing machine at graduation.  The funds for most of the 40 machines have been donated through the kindness of many people, mostly from Stevens County, in Washington State.   The next class of 50 students, who are already signed up, will have a small monthly fee to pay which will help defray the cost of the instructors and facility rent.  Each graduate will also be encouraged to give back to the school to help the incoming students, once they are established in their sewing business.  Learning to give after they have received, sowing (sewing) and reaping are good lessons for all of us.  How much more blessed it is to give than to receive.

The dream of a vocational trade school for adults, with others skills taught, is on our hearts as there are many adults who were unable to attend school due to poverty and the war.  Consequently, they have little ability to make a living to take care of their families and educate their children.  Trade schools for youth are available, but not one for older adults in the Lira district.

If this project touches your heart, and you would like to become a part of sponsoring a machine for a graduate ($130), you may make a donation online at the HAN website, www.handsacrossnations.com, or contact me at ckurowski@handsacrossnations.com.

The saying goes:  “Give a man a fish and you’ve fed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you’ve fed him for a lifetime”.  We are teaching them to “fish” and providing the “fishing poles” as well.  Thank you, to the many of you reading this update who donated hundreds of dollars toward the more than $5,000 needed for the first graduates’ sewing machines.  I pray you will receive God’s blessing for your generosity.

Sharing the love of Christ  in practical ways,

Carolyn

• Perkins 14 trailer

website, though it might take a couple of days.
 
Hopefully I will be able to send photos once I head North to the Lira district.    No promises on exact timing of updates as electricity and internet access are iffy at times in Lira.  Just know that I’m so grateful for you, and will keep you informed as often as is possible.
 
Sharing the Love of Christ in Practical Ways,
Carolyn

Commercial reserves of oil have been discovered in Uganda and early production is slated to start around June 2009. Oil revenues may lead to employment, infrastructural development and improve people’s standards of living, as is the case with countries such as Norway and Indonesia.

On the other hand, experiences from country to country demonstrate that poor oil revenue management is a recipe for conflict and poverty (Dutch disease).

I often get ecstatic when I hear His Excellency President Museveni assert that oil revenues will be put to capital investments for the benefit of future generations.

Being one of those Ugandans that long to see that oil becomes a blessing to today’s and tomorrow’s generation, a lot of questions always linger: Firstly any venture requires a regulatory framework but there is not yet a law to regulate how these oil revenues will be managed.

Will such law have come into place within this short period left before early production starts? Basing on the long periods involved in consultation processes, debating of Bills and eventual enactment of laws; a revenue management law will not be in place by June 2009.

Secondly, just like the Government has suspended issuing out oil exploration licences until the Government gets competent staff, why then wouldn’t the early oil production scheme be put to a halt until a law on sound fiscal management is in place?

Thirdly, there are no indicators that the Oil and Gas Policy will soon be put into practice. For example, objective number six of the policy resolves to adopt the extractive industries transparency initiative (EITI) and to regularly publicise revenues from oil and gas.

The puzzle is that there are no indications that such parametres will soon be put in place yet oil production is soon.

Uganda has always handled its revenues and oil revenue will not pose any challenge.

I should like to point out that: oil and gas wealth are different from other kinds of natural resources wealth in the following respects:

Oil and gas are non-renewable, any consumption of revenues from sales is a consumption of capital rather than consumption of income.

Oil does not have to be produced, it simply needs to be extracted and can be produced independently of other economic and political processes. A government can thus access oil wealth regardless of whether it commands the cooperation of its citizens or it effectively controls institutions of state.

Oil and gas extraction are both capital and technologically intensive that foreign multinationals will always be involved, in contrast with ordinary contracts, in oil extraction, the buyer (oil company) knows more about the value of the good being sold than the seller.

Further still, governments whose countries are endowed with natural resources often take this endowment as a ticket to borrow against the promise of future production (mortgaging the future).

For example due to over borrowing, around 50% of Gabon’s budget goes towards paying off the country’s external debts and approximately two-thirds of all food is imported, much of it from France, this justifies the high cost of living in Libreville. Moreover unless fresh oil deposits are discovered, it might run out of oil production within the next decade.

Unregulated oil revenues will necessarily lead to the oil curse. The oil curse takes the following pattern: As John Ghazvinian (the Scramble for Africa’s Oil) puts it, when a developing country suddenly finds itself selling a highly priced natural commodity on the international market, the money it receives from buyers will be in dollars and pounds.

The country finds itself flooded with foreign currency, this artificially inflates the value of the country’s own currency, imported products therefore become much cheaper and everyone rushes out to buy foreign goods which are perceived to be of better quality than domestic products.

To avoid the oil curse, Ugandans need to answer the following questions: Is Uganda ready to implement the EITI and also to publish revenues received from oil and gas? Will fiscal authority over oil revenue and borrowing be clearly specified in the new law? Are law enforcement agencies such as the Police, Judiciary and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions well equipped and independent enough to handle oil revenue mismanagement cases? Is the Uganda Revenue Authority ready to formulate tax measures necessary to regulate the collection of right oil revenues?

Is the National Planning Authority prepared to spearhead strategic national planning for effective incorporation of oil and gas activities into the national economy?

Are the central bank and Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning set to diligently advise government on the utilisation of revenues collected from oil and ensure that oil and gas activities do not impact negatively on monetary policy and macro-economic stability of Uganda?

Are civil society organisations ready to contribute and engage the authorities in the oil governance process? If such questions were answered affirmatively, Uganda would become a shining beacon to her African neighbours.