Ensi News

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A caring brother
Ensi interviewed Asaba, a 21 year old student who despite studying full time, works every day after school to support his 14 year old sister. Since this interview, Ensi has trained Asaba in basic book-keeping and Microsoft Excel. He now maintains Ensis financial records; in return Ensi pays his school fees. What is your name? My name is Asaba Robert (Asaba means he who asks) Where are your parents? Our father died. After that, our mother remarried and went to live in a place called Kyenjojo around 40 km away from here (Kyenjojo means a place with elephants). Where does your sister go to school? My sister, Kyomuhendo Gorretti (Kyomuhendo means of great value) attends Omukahinju a government -supported secondary school. Se is in Senior 1. Because the school has many students, they study in shifts. My sister attends class from 1 to 6 pm. Last term, her position was 206 out of 385 children. Her best subjects are Biology and Geography. Why does she go so far to study? Because the schools nearby are private and so more expensive. Other schools require high entry grades. It takes Kyomuhendo 2 hours to get to school and another 2 hours to get back home. After school she helps with the house work and fetches water from the well. How do you support yourself and your sister? After school, I find jobs in the evening, such as digging peoples gardens or working on building sites. When I get money, I use it to pay my school fees and my sisters Parent Teach Association fee. I also have to pay rent and buy food. Where do you go to school? I go to Fort Portal Senior Secondary school. I am in Senior 5. I am studying History, Geography, Economics and Entrepreneurship. I leave for school at exactly at 7am and finish at 5pm. How well are you doing at school? I performed quite well in my Ordinary Level exams. But in my first term of Senior 5 I did not do so well, I only got 7 points (you need at least 14 points to enter University). I am sure that I will increase those to 15 points or more next term.

Page 2 Waiting for the hen to lay! Koi Koi Villagean update

Entendigwaa traditional bean now becoming rare. Ensi will create a garden of indigenous foods at Koi Koi Village, a cultural centre under development.

Ensi is a womens community based organization whose goal is to improve the welfare of women and their families. In 2011, kind supporters from Germany, Kenya, The Netherlands, Switzerland and United States contributed, through Ensi, school fees for over 20 needy children, many of whom are orphans living with elderly relatives.

Asaba Robert, Kyomuhendo Gorretti and Ngonzi Felicity who helped with this interview

2 | Ensi News
Waiting for the hen to lay! by Wandia Kagondu Seaforth
In the rural areas of East Africa, people are very conscious about hospitality. Visitors including family, friends and even acquaintances have to be received and entertained. Food is a very important part of hospitality. Guests whether expected or arriving unannounced must be given something to drink or eat. The quality and quantity of the meal offered depends on whether the guest was expected - and therefore preparations have been made, the economic status of the receiving family and the status of the guest. I grew up in rural Central Kenya at a time when nobody in my neighborhood had too much of anything to spare. We had our family shamba (small-scale farm) where we grew our food. Then as today, food availability in rural areas also depended on what season it was. A family might have cows, chickens, a maize field, banana trees and a sweet potato patch. Cows and chicken produced all year round, expect when they were taking a break Sweet potatoes and bananas could be available all year if the family had managed their staggered planting well. Where I grew up, maize became ready for roasting on the fire around July August. So let us imagine a visitor arriving in a homestead in August. She/he might be offered tea accompanied by fresh roasted maize, sweet potato or banana. If the visitor arrived at the normal meal times, the family would offer whatever meal had been prepared for the family. Often the family might go without in order to feed visitors. Depending on the status of the visitor, the family might want to give something special. If there were chickens and the visitor was staying long enough, some poor chicken would lose its head and end up in the pot. If the visitor was not staying for long, a fried egg would be the next best food for a special guest. Now, a normal hen lays one egg a day and usually around the same time in the morning. Picture this scene: Five visitors arrive around eleven in the morning and my mother looks in her food store to find just three eggs. She would like to have two more eggs so that she can offer each visitor one individually fried egg. She promptly dispatches one of us to see if any of the hens have laid any eggs. We go to the chicken pen and find no eggs in sight. However, there are two or three hens looking promising in their sitting pose. We tiptoe, lift each hen gently by the tail feathers and check under too bad, no eggs yet. Ten minutes pass, we repeat the hen-lifting procedure and still no eggs Now my mother is calling and we know she would like us to deliver the eggs. Unfortunately the hen

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lifting tended to interrupt the egg production process. In the end my mother would give up, beat the three eggs and make an omelet that would be shared among the five visitors. When an omelet was served there was an unspoken understanding that there had not been enough eggs to give everyone a whole egg. I should add that very often, just when the visitors were departing, we would hear the hens making that cackling noise that announced that they had finally laid some eggs! This kind of story repeats itself in varying formats to this day. Rural East Africans always look for something to give visitors, even when they can ill afford it. Farm produce to eat on the spot or take home is almost always offered it is the most readily available, but it also represents the fruit of the givers labour.

Koi Koi Village development on course

Construction of Koi Koi Village in Fort Portal is moving forward. Four round cottages, made with local stone, will offer stunning views of the Rwenzori mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition to accommodation, Koi Koi will offer natural, historical, cultural and community tourism. This joint venture of Ensi and Koi Koi Ltd. will create opportunities for the local community.
Architect Vetle Jorgensen, Project Manager Samuel Omach and journalist Ngonzi Felicity!