• Odysseys;                                              • An Irish Odyssey;

• An African Vision;                                 • An African Odyssey – Light the Darkness;

• The BioPod – A Condensed History;   • Why Uganda?

• A Project Stalls;                                     • Uganda – Pearl of Africa & Garden of Eden;

• For Richer – For Poorer;                        • Cometh the Hour;

•  Cometh the Man;                                  • Cometh NaCRRI Namulonge;

• The African Odyssey Begins;              • The Voyage of the BioPod;

• The BioPod Arrives;                              • Operation Florian Delivers.

All Odysseys begin with a dream; then an idea; and somewhere along the highways and by ways of the wonderful mind, the idea transmutes into a reality…

All men dream but seldom equally. Those who dream by twilight in the drifting dusty recesses of their tired minds wake at dawn to find it was just an unfulfilled vanity. But the Men who dream by daylight, these are the dangerous men, for they will act upon their dreams with eyes and mind wide open to accomplish their dreams…

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a boy he was a shy, gentle, and kindly boy, he loved his family and his native land and when in the inevitability of life, his youth with all its golden dreams ebbed away, he grew older and a little wiser in the ways of Men…

His was twenty years a growin’; twenty years a bloomin’; twenty years a stoopin’; and twenty years a dyin’- but splendidly…

He came from the ancient Men of the West , the East, and then the Men of the North, on the island of Ireland; and perhaps once in a union in the fastnesses of the Wicklow Mountains in Shillelagh a co-joining of Viking blood occurred which attested, once upon a time, to his blonde hair, his blue eyes, and his warlike ways…

The Brons(The Viking Ravens), the O’Brins, the O’Byrnes and the Burnses are familiar with the transient evils of the would be conquerors and their vassals’ work of the garrotte, the dungeon, the fire, and the sword, …but still they are…

The Irish know about  thieving Oppressors and Brigands and have witnessed the Darkness and have heard the hoof beats of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on their own native land.

These Horsemen brought no great Revelations from their Book only the duplicity of those who stole the land and then, because these thieves write the history, they allowed these peasants to ‘rent’ the poorest of the poor lands back from them.

War was just another accomplished manipulation, where brother was set against brother, and the baying for blood from the ‘planters’ was set against the indigenous warriors  all underpinning the tyrants’ torment.

Famines, the greatest iniquity of all, an Gortas Mors agus an Gortas Beags, became the progenitors of ethnic cleansing; and the natural pestilence of starvation visited upon this ancient green island of Saints and Scholars accomplished the greedy task of the imperialist despots…but still we are…    

The Irish know about  such tribulations and anguish and perhaps their natural reactions to the evils of colonisation  is now so deeply etched in their individual Souls and collective psyche that when others in far off lands are similarly afflicted with such historical catastrophes, both man-made and natural, their vocation to help supersedes all other emotions…

My African vision developed in the ‘Light the Darkness’ project was an evolutionary process born of my Irish heritage and my life’s Fire Service vocation.

To Light a Candle and bring Light into the Despair of Darkness is the supreme act of human Compassion and it is what all good human beings do best…

And thus was born this particular Uganda Odyssey… which is but part of the story of yet another wild Irishman and his golden dreams….

Paul P Burns GradIFireE  – October 2017.

Give an African lady a seed and she tills, irrigates, and grows the seed crop; she harvests it, and captures its bountiful liquid energy; she feeds her animals from its residual fodder and she electrifies her world and Lights her children’s Darkness…

You give her hope for herself, her family, and her children; that was why we were put on God’s good Earth…

I believe my simple idea which I have demonstrated works will permanently address the infrastructure need for electricity at rural village level in this ‘Light the Darkness’ initiative.

     ♦

African Odyssey.

This particular odyssey did not commence with those horrific visions which have always been with us of Africa, because the colonisers of the so called ‘developed’ world caused them, but on a rather more pragmatic level of necessity which the people of Africa for generations have understood and endured.

Much of my life has been spent in human rescue in all its forms culminating in mobilisation and rescue on an International stage but one of the regretful recurring emotions was when we left a country in ruinous despair knowing that we ought to have done more and eventually with post disaster operations we commenced to heal that regret.

But even then it was not enough…

Persons far more perceptive than I had already identified that while the world could rescue and feed a person for a few days these survivors would need much more to rebuild or to advance their lives to some degree of quality of life, and so began the concept of providing animals and seeds as the first step in rural rejuvenation and the advancement to the dawning of a brighter, more hopeful day.

But still it is not enough…

Still much more is needed to advance a rural society to a tipping point beyond where it is not only tolerable to live but to the point where a dignified human being ceases to be a beast of burden and becomes the dignified creation of a Deity none of us yet fully understands.

It was with these thoughts that my mind turned to the application of self-taught skills in design and engineering I had acquired during my own lifetime during which I also had applied this enjoyable ethic called work.

For a homesteader to take a seed and plant it is not enough.

It must be carefully thought through. What type of seed? For what type of land? With what type of fertiliser? For what eventual purpose will it be used when Mother Nature produces her golden harvest bounty? Will it provide simple nourishing food for a few days or will it provide so much more?

♦

Enhancing the Dignity of Mankind.

And so to an African concept…a rural vision of tomorrow…a co-operative of Man and Mother Earth to enhance the dignity of Mankind and provide a dawn of opportunity.

Take the soil-fertilise it; Plant the seed; Water it; Protect it from the birds of the air and other pests; Nurture the crop and care for it until one fine day it is harvested, winnowed, and threshed.

This completes the first bio-circle…

But what then?

Take the seed and press it; collect the oil-the liquid gold; and separate out the husk and feed the residual fodder to the animals to fatten them; to provide more milk; to provide more eggs; to provide more fertiliser; and ultimately to provide more food.

This completes the second bio-circle…

But what of this virgin oil? Should it be used in lamps or for cooking? Is there a much better way than this?

Most of the villages in Africa and in other Nations worldwide need a new irreversible inspired infrastructure implanted within them to advance villagers to an agrarian idyll from the depressingly bleak poverty of opportunity which requires them to work as daily beasts of burden within the most basic quality of life.

At the first break of dawn for a child to walk barefoot and hungry for miles to collect impure water and then, still hungry, to walk the same distance again to school to get the single meal it promises, is an abomination that is simply not tolerable in this 21^st Century.

What if, with the slightest use of imagination, the oil was converted into fuel and other by-products, and then served different and better functions?

What if, as we have seen, the oil bearing seed husk residue is fed back to the breeding stock which provide food and fertiliser and what if the other by-products of this oil conversion process were converted into emergency candles for light, or soap for village hygiene, or into burnable briquettes mixed with sawdust or straw for open range cooking fires; what then?

Is it possible for a rural village to grow its way from this poverty of opportunity to simple opportunity?

Indeed it is, but to do so it requires, as ever, the most basic of investment, the correct tools with training, and the will power and pragmatic determination to put these talents to work.

Look at me! I am a small holder I grow my own food and I have a little spare uncultivated land upon which I can grow extra but what am I going to grow and what will I do with this new seed harvest? Can it be made to change my life? To improve its quality?

We must advance to this third bio circle…on this beautiful Earth.

♦

Envisioned Cooperative Hubs-Satellites & Operation.

Once  more  a  visionary  plan  is  required  using  a  new

nomenclature which will be used in the future.

• A large sized (Hub)village in Africa with no modern infrastructure is chosen which will act as the ‘Hub’ for other smaller ‘Satellite’ villages. It should have a good strong tribal base with well organised village elders who can understand the concept of a co-operative;

• In this village will be placed a mobile BioPod which consists of 2 interdependent Mobile Production Modules, each Module consists of 5 or more processing Units;

♦ Module-01(operational) is principally the BioDiesel production processor;

♦ Module-02(planned) provides the ancillary support services such as a VAC generator/a pellet producing seed press/a water pump/ an oil centrifuge or hydrocyclone, but with reserve or transferable electrical output for other life/village enhancing functions;

• This village has a good growing season with one or more harvests with a few well husbanded animals, the soil may be poor and the rainfall erratic so if need be a well/borehole with an electrical submersible pump will be required in conjunction with a water specialist NGO;

• The Village has young trainable inhabitants both female and male because this village will, in time, act as the co-operative Hub for other smaller Satellite villages and thus an ab initio bio circle is formed;

• Initially this hosting Hub Village will, in united family co-operatives with its own Satellite villages, grow and irrigate its own oil seed production from foreign aid supplied seed ranging from Jatropha(highest oil yield-residue but not bovine edible) to sunflower seed; soya, etc; and when the crops are harvested it will yield pressable oil bearing seed and then winnowed husk containing up to 30% residual oil; the latter finding its uses at individual family level for those purposes including, animal fodder, candles, soap, open fire briquettes/pellettes, etc;

• The seed is collected locally and delivered centrally to the Hub village BioPods for processing and the grower receives a recorded co-operative credit for his/her contribution;

• Module-02(planned) uses ‘start up’ BD, or initially, local fossil diesel – the BD engined VAC generator generates the power to drive Module-01 and the additional required ancillaries such as a combination pelletising seed press – or a press which uses its own small independent BD ‘donkey’ diesel engine as motive power – the harvested seed is pressed- the virgin oil recovered and electrically centrifuged to remove more seed husk – and then the residual pelletize feedstock fodder goes back to the farmer if he requires it for animal consumption(hens and pigs like it too!), or, when dried, to burn as sawdust/glycerol mixed briquettes;

• The farmer’s original credit is adjusted on the fodder or other by-products s/he takes away, or s/he is paid out for her produce or held in government guaranteed credit;

• The virgin/recyclable oil is then processed by Module-01. This produces BD for the 240VAC generator engine and all other secondary BD engined applications(transport/water pumping for irrigation for the next growing crop/pelletising seed press~and the residual by-product glycerol(which is bio degradable) is then, in a village project, converted to crude wax for emergency candles, or soap for general hygiene purposes, or into sawdust/straw based briquettes/pellets for open hearth cooking fires;

• When the BioPod 240VAC generator/solar panels are not working to produce BD they both feed electricity into the local Hub village electricity grid/infrastructure for the Hub village to develop a pumped water supply/irrigation; an electrified school and/or health clinic; eventually extending to domestic properties. The intended applications limited only by imagination… but  once more a third bio circle is completed;

• With time each of the Satellite village communities will have a proportionally sized BD engine generators(240 VAC) with water pumps tailored to the size of the village with its own local electrical infrastructure; buying its BD supplies from its Hub Village using its own self-generated community co-op credits;

• And once more, and finally, the farmer’s original credit at the Hub Village co-operative is adjusted (down) for her/his uptake of all the different benefits s/he chooses to take and in what form for her/himself and/or their own community;

• The BioPods will initially be produced in the donor Nation and with time in the host nation bringing the usual benefits to its local economy, with its employment, new skills, and essential training and education, contributing directly to the host Nation;

• BioPod maintenance and training will always be required and must be educated into specialist BioPod Operators who may well move from BioPod to BioPod on a regular maintenance/BD production cycle bringing refresher training to local operators and essential maintenance;

• There are 2 common chemicals used in volume in the BD process, methanol/ethanol and caustic soda(Sodium or Potassium Hydroxide) these will have to be sourced locally/regionally/nationally; with time a new more effective more economical catalytic process must be developed;

Research on the feedstock supply of recycled oil, if not known, will be required;

• Long term logistical planning will be required on the ground to establish supply chains which regularly supply  BioPods and their BD production with these essential and critical supplies which will require careful safety training and regular re-training for the transporting employees involved, including air crews;

• BioPod operating training initially will require externally supplied free of charge personnel but it is usual to provide their transport both external and internal with suitable basic hosting in order to achieve this initial transfer of specialist skills and knowledge; 

• A comprehensive BioPod operators’ Manual has been drafted for this purpose, a Manual which will continue to evolve and advance with new Editions which will include new experiences and applications.

♦

The Final Bio Circle.

The following is my practical vision and its practical application though I imagine by now if you have read my thoughts thus far then you should be well ahead of me.

From my practical experience in the field in leading long range rescue and post disaster missions I have learned one vital lesson in the support of rural communities.

Whilst it is possible to ship in emergency food for immediate consumption it does not change in the long term the lives of those in permanent need and if I believe my vision is correct then there is a conjunction of achievable visions which all lead from the animal’s manure to the plough; to the seed; to the water; and back to the animals and more food.

This is where the BioPod comes into focus which supports the third and final bio circle…

Working single handedly at my own expense(in the region of £50,000.0.GBP) almost 7 days a week utilising much of my self-taught engineering skills acquired from building a yacht(14.5mtrs), my Irish ‘Golden Harp’(The National Emblem of Ireland) it took 5 months to design and construct BioPod01(Module-01) on a local farm.

This was the simple part.

Earlier the outline research and planning took much more effort which required establishing where BD production had been developed from, and where it ought to go in the future, and with what applied and developing chemical and engineering technology?

All this was very satisfying and I researched and acquired considerable theoretical  knowledge of BD production aided academically by my brother Donal an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and Atomic Physics who also happened to be the head of Nebraska University(retired now) which had a world leading track record in BD research work.

Because of an inability to source good used cooking oil – the feedstock – and other family matters this experimental BioPod01(Module-01) remained part commissioned for quite some time, but it was fun and by now I knew it would work.

In August 2012 I had the opportunity to move forward with the final commissioning of BioPod01(Module-01).  

By this time Module-01 was set up in another barn with solar panel electricity drawn from the roof and I took on an ‘apprentice’ (the farmer’s grandson)who was a student at a local agricultural college to teach how to run Module-01.

Later using my work he was to achieve his Agricultural Honours Degree.

The objective was simple-to produce BD of a higher quality than that provided in retail by the petroleum giants.

After fully commissioning Module-01 was operated in full production for 18 months producing quality(< 5 Micron) BD from combined recycled cooking oil and virgin rape seed oil sufficient to run a farm fleet of 7 vehicles(Range Rovers, tractors, farm vehicles, cement mixers etc,) with a potential output of 1500+ lts per week from this Module-01 using back to back batching(250lts per batch).

This saved the farm an average of £250.0(GBP) per week in fuel expenditure.

The automotive deployment of BD was particularly valuable in vehicle application terms from old diesel engine systems to modern diesel digital engine management systems.

It had all been done before in the laboratory, but not by me, and not in the field, quite literally, with no lab support and the use of this range of diesel engines provided essential practical maintenance feedback experience in BD production particularly through sub-zero temperatures.

This learning curve must remain unpublished for another day.

All of this was achieved with the designed maximum input of energy for Module-01 which is designed to work with a maximum single electrical input of single phase 3Kw. The intended key is that the managed energy input follows the production cycle step by step never exceeding at any stage the designed 3Kw which it was also designed could be produced in the field using a small hand portable generator(240VAC).

Finally it was then a question of how I could advance to my ultimate vision in Africa and elsewhere and as expected I had thoughts about that too. I am comfortable on farms.

Family hard times forced me to leave school at 13 to single handedly run our 75 acre dairy farm in Armagh Ireland. I know about agriculture, animal husbandry, and personal hard times, but I digress.

Following discussions with the farmer, who wished to invest in his grandson’s agricultural education, he bought a large screw seed crusher and 10 tonnes of the necessary rapeseed and we set up two control groups of his beef animals.

Operating the screw crusher brought another host of lessons drawing the conclusion that this type of crusher was old technology which required a new approach oddly enough provided for in an original design concept by the Greeks and Romans for seed presses not crushers.

We crushed the seed, though I now consider that pressing would always be a better option, and saved the virgin oil, the residual crushed seed husk contained about 30% oil was then fed back to one of the control groups which gained body weight faster than the other ordinary diet fed animals.

There were some dietary issues because this fodder is very rich but the diet was adjusted with the inclusion of more roughage(hay) and the trial continued to a discernable success.

With time the remaining virgin rape seed oil, on its own or as a blend with recycled cooking oils was easily converted to BD and as a consequence the complete theory had been proven and demonstrated-quad erat demonstransdum (QED) the theory is proven and demonstrated.

So as the UK field trials reached a certain point I knew I could use a BioPod(which consists of 2 Mobile Modules) in a hostile rural environment to produce BioDiesel(BD) with portable, limited, and controlled energy input(3Kw), including supplementary solar energy, which would benefit all.

The question remained to which African country, which had demonstrated its inclination to democratic political stability, allied with a will to advance by success, should I take this experimental field project, and how might it work there?

In addition, I set myself a series of key questions which every African Nation I thought should also ‘qualify’ under to be considered.

The Nations considered were generally those in the equatorial band across Africa principally because their climate could potentially produce up to 4 harvests annually which would help reduce the harvest turn round period thus quickly and repetitively producing the raw feedstock oil bearing seeds for Biodiesel production at rural level.

Inevitably politics rears its head and a stable democracy/autocracy would provide the background against which all efforts of concentrated dissemination of the concept could be developed.

A look at international funding was a prerequisite though not directly for the funds which might be available in the future but simply as performance indicators of political stability.

The big lenders, including organisations like the World Bank, do not normally put money directly into the hands on known hard line corrupt political regimes.

From my angle looking at where Ireland puts its modest foreign aid budgets might be a helpful indicator also because as it has demonstrated  from time to time if it suspects its budgets have been misappropriated it is prepared to take robust action to get its money back.

It is not so easy come by and it will not be easily handed over.

In the past Uganda ‘entrepreneurs’ had learned a harsh  lesson  in leaving Irish aid well alone.

Another aspect to be considered was who the original coloniser was in a particular country and in this respect Ireland had no baggage and had a well established reputation under the United Nations Flag for being prepared to pay the sad price with the lives of our military personnel in defending the defenceless without fear or favour.

If the common language was English so much the better but Swahili is a common language in Africa too.

Any Nation to be considered should have a well educated young population who were prepared to entertain new initiatives within which they could apply their newly acquired university education and in the process be prepared to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty because although theory is fine in its place only practical application will ultimately win the day on the project I was engaged in.

Studying who was doing what in biodiesel terms in Africa attracted me to a particularly interesting Paper written by an Associate Professor William Kyamuhangire at Kampala Makerere University in bio engineering in Uganda and this led me to  his colleague Professor Noble Banadda PhD and thus taken overall Uganda rose in interest.

The problem with pure Universities as opposed to research driven universities is simply money. Budgets in a word.

Prof Noble had done some admirable work in producing a 3 wheeled single pot diesel engined tractor for rural small holding use but unless sponsorship arrives most initiatives will stall.

Indeed my project frustratingly stalled in the UK before even getting to Uganda for similar reasons though I still felt on balance that Uganda had those essential qualities which would coalesce to advance my ideas if it was given the opportunity to do so.

By now it was 29^th April 2017 and the BioPod(value USD $65K-a gift to Uganda) continued to languish in storage in the UK in spite of the Bugler’s best efforts to raise the necessary USD $5000.0 to ship the BioPod by sea container to Mombasa and thence by truck transport to Kampala Uganda. Note, the use of the USD will become clear shortly…

This modest sum of money included a provision to fly out 2 personnel(unpaid volunteers) to instruct the students of Makerere University in the operation and application of the BioPod in its intended  rural setting.

It was intended that the 20ft ISO container was to include a generous donation of Fire Service clothing and equipment intended for the use by the Ugandan Fire Service. The first of many such donations from Operation Florian a UK based aid organisation which sends recycled/refurbished former UK Fire Service equipment worldwide and which is supported by both private voluntary donations and occasional UK government financial assistance.

The Bugler’s philanthropic thoughts on all such matters are driven by an old Irish saying … “the Lord helps those who helps themselves”…

The Uganda High Commissioner for the UK and Ireland in London Her Excellency Professor Joyce Kikafunda PhD (now in Australia)who has supported this project from the outset seems unable to persuade her government to provide the petty cash necessary to ship this invaluable cargo to Uganda.

It seemed that patriotism was insufficient to make the President of Uganda His Excellency Yoweri Museveni  or his Ministers listen to her representations.

Recently in an interesting footnote the young King of Uganda Rukirabasaija Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, King Oyo, who is the reigning Omukama of Toro a tribal region in Uganda was seen on  international television staying at the most expensive hotel in the world in Dubai where the Royal Suite is billed at USD $24k per night.

One is drawn to wonder how this squares with the critical essential food, accommodation, and self sufficiency needs of the Uganda people in rural areas when the national government is declaring famine in east Uganda;with the Light the Darkness project; and with the per diem cost of such sumptuous accommodation in Dubai for two people or more?

Perhaps Ugandan Patriotism has yet to reach the upper echelon of the elite in Uganda though Queen Best Kemigisa (born 1967), the Queen Mother of the reigning King who are both based in Toro Kingdom based in Fort Portal, Uganda says when speaking of hunger and poverty in Uganda from the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai…  

“Those are things we need help with from other people, to come and give a hand to the king, and empower those people to come out of poverty,” she adds.

Really, looks what happens when the Bugler tried?

Why bother? Because the Irish know all about Famine or as it was known , An Gortha Mor(The Big Hunger), and famine in this 21st century should be unacceptable and abhorrent to us all as indeed is the obscenity of such largesse in Dubai when the Uganda King’s people are starving.

At that point it seemed in frustration wise to prepare a fall back optional host Nation in Africa…

Uganda, a land locked roughly rectangular country, sits on the Equator on a 1500mtr altitude sloping plateau running North to South in the South-East corner of which is Lake Victoria the source by volume of the mighty Nile though the actual Nile source is rightly claimed by Uganda’s neighbour Burundi to the South-West.

As a consequence it has a tropical climate which hardly changes temperature throughout the growing year always in the 22-29 C range with moderate to high humidity supporting the potential for 4 harvests per year.

It certainly does Uganda no favours to recall the activities, almost half a century ago, of President Idi Amin and the Entebbe/Israeli hostage raid but unfortunately no one can yet re-write their history.

But it simply serves to remind us all what happens when a dictator is allowed to run amok among their own peoples.

However, President Amin did set agriculture on a different more successful path for Uganda’s future as we shall see.

Uganda has all the beautiful trappings which attract safari tourists to a country which describes itself as the ‘Pearl of Africa’ but which I am sure as Uganda continues its own development can with confidence also describe itself agriculturally as the original ‘Garden of Eden’.

A conservative nation of young people who are clearly enthusiastically grasping its future. A future which is well served by an aggressive and at times amusing democratic press which puts some of the UK press to shame though constantly under ‘establishment’ oppression.

In particular the activities of the Judiciary are well reported. An independent Judiciary which pointedly calls senior ranking leaders to account with quite refreshing and at times penetrating  questioning which is reported line by line of the exchanges in court.

The misappropriation of land is the current large question as the greedy and sleight of hand juggle for a position in agriculture based Uganda of the future.

Principally a Christian nation with well integrated peoples of other faiths which is well served educationally by faith

based schools enthusiastically supporting the need for young peoples’ general and specialist education.

Well served by Universities the leading of which is Makerere in Kampala.

A country with great potential much admired by other African States, up to a point, but like many another struggling economically.

As an agriculture based economy much like Ireland in the days of the Bugler’s dairy farming youth it is attacking its agricultural deficiency with vigour under the well structured independent National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) supported by its impressive 16 semi-autonomous agricultural Institutes and Laboratories specialising in plant engineering husbandry through the spectrum to animal progeny breeding.

It is from such thoughtful investment supported by the national Uganda government, the World Bank based in Washington DC USA and other funding nations including Ireland and the UK that Uganda proposes to move forward to an independent economy by 2040.

Indeed, it was from one such Institute, the largest, the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) at Namulonge 25kms North of Kampala that Cometh the Hour Cameth the Man, Doctor Ephraim Nuwamanya PhD, a biochemist,  (2^nd L). 

The above rather unique photograph captures in a moment all those Uganda agricultural boards, organisations, institutes, and the actual workers in the proverbial ‘vineyard of life’, represented by the recently created appointment of Uganda Minister for Scientific Research and Innovation initially filled by the Honourable Elloda Tumwesigye M.P., a research medical Doctor of international repute in the AIDS field.

He is accompanied by some of those patriotically committed scientists determined to alter the internal social status and quality of life of the 35 million Uganda Citizens(with their 1 million refugee guests from Sudan) all of whom they represent and care about.

Dr.Yona Baguma PhD, a molecular biologist, and Director General of NARO represents the practical moving force behind a carefully determined political strategy of agricultural policies advancing Uganda’s future.

Dr Godfrey Asea PhD., a maize and rice GM specialist, and Director of NaCRRI Namulonge which provides the practical implementation of national policies in his Institute.

Dr.Babara Zaweddi Mugwanya PhD, a GM specialist on sweet potato, and Coordinator of Uganda Biotech and Bio Safety Consortium.

Dr.Peter Ndemere Executive Secretary of Uganda National Council for Science and Technology who always ends his letters with the encouragement of … “For God and my Country” …the ages old ‘Pro Deo et Patria’.

These internationally recognised key scientists  with established individual bona fides in medicine, GM engineering, crop and animal husbandry represent all that is impressive and excellent  in their individual disciplines ranging from GM maize and rice; to Irish potatoes; to sweet potatoes; to cassava; to banana; to soya; and so on…

It was to these key Scientists that Dr. Ephraim Nuwamanya PhD, a biochemist and multi talented young man(a part time lecturer at Makerere University who was aware of the stalled Biopod project at Makerere) made his approaches.

Within in one month of TMB publishing the fact that it was considering other Host nations in Africa for its Project Ephraim achieved the remarkable (in a story yet to be told), by persuading those holding the purse strings at NARO(funded in part by the World Bank) to pay the cost of shipping a 20ft container with its BioPod and Fire Service equipment  contents from the UK to Kampala, in what transpired to be an almost a 3 month odyssey of its own.

In a world filled with corrupt pension fraudsters as we well know in Lancashire UK and with the Lancashire County Council run by a Conservative politician CC G.Driver CBE, who remains on bail on holding charges of ‘perverting the course of justice’ and’ intimidation of witnesses’ it was a huge leap of faith by Ephraim and those who believed in him in faraway Africa to support him in his work for the future of Uganda, whilst collectively knowing little, if anything, about the integrity and honesty of the Bugler and his BioPod project.

Collective courage indeed, and a great honour to have such faith placed in a complete Irish stranger…

The year prior, unknown to the Bugler, following an initiative by the new Uganda Ministry for Scientific Research and Innovation headed by the Honourable Elloda  Tumwesigye M.P. had decided in 2016 to spearhead the development of biodegradable plastic and ultimately the development of Uganda based biodiesel production.

The specifics of the thrust of the Biodiesel element of this initative are as follows:

1. To perfect biodiesel production processes that utilise used vegetable oil as a raw material.

2. To undertake large scale application of biodiesel from used vegetable oil for commercial energy production.

3. To develop and operate a marketing strategy for biodiesel commercialisation among selected energy requiring commercial sectors in Uganda.

Previously Ephraim and others were engaged in a one year project in a new field(for them) of researching the production of BD at  the NaCRRInstitute Namulonge where he is based.

Ms. Brenda Oshaba an NaCRRI Field Technician with a Makerere BSc in Agricultural Engineering, was now  officially  attached to this work and to the BioPod Project  after working with the Double Haploid GM project associated with cassava which resulted in the halving of its growth period to maturity.

At the end of this BD research work in April 2017 which not only included the laboratory production of BD it also produced a government policy which recommended that all cooking oil(which presently is imported) ought not to be used more than twice in food preparation because of the resultant toxins that further reheating produces.

This in turn produced an environmental disposal problem which it is envisaged can be alleviated by the turning this waste cooking oil in to BioDiesel for local consumption initially at the Institute and then further afield as the Hub Village Cooperative concept takes effect.

It should be borne in mind that every single drop of fossil fuel has to be transported the 500kms from Mombasa in Kenya.

Sometimes Lady Luck strikes at an opportune time, but nevertheless it still takes collective and individual courage to seize the moment…

NaCRRI Namulonge is the largest of 6 Institutes controlled directly by NARO sitting on 2200 acres of prime agricultural land 25kms North of Kampala or at least it did until early 2015 when the President decided to lease 900 acres of these invaluable lands, belonging to the peoples of Uganda, to a local ‘entrepreneur’ to grow flowers; and though a French ‘Princess’ is reputed to have said about the people … ‘let them eat cake’…the Bugler has yet to see a nation surviving on growing frangipani…

It is a greedy fact of life that when an ambitious strategy backed with carefully husbanded financial resources, such as NaCRRRI Namulonge reflects starts to literally bear the fruits of the earth, the financial predators usually arrive like the Greeks bearing basketfuls of gifts which they have not the slightest intentions of honouring.

The self-same predators-entrepreneurs-investors call them what you will who all ran a mile when asked to support such Institutes when they were still struggling on their knees at the seed corn stage.

Currently this same ‘entrepreneur’ who owned a local bank, now under receivership, has been accused by the Uganda government of embezzling his own bank and in the process syphoning off from the Uganda nation $100m USD which they, not unnaturally, want back.

Fortunately due to what has been described as ‘activism’ NaCRRRI Namulonge got its precious land back for food production to enhance its established reputation as Africa’s regional leading Institute in GM skills often rightly described as the food crop nucleus of Uganda.

Nevertheless this is the place where 60% of the GM seeds of strategic food importance come from and are developed and multiplied for Uganda’s farmers which they plant in their gardens and plots.

Established in 1947 under the British Protectorate government, the Institute was until 1972 conducting research on cotton for its colonial master’s empire which benefitted countries in Africa and India but not Uganda .

When President Idi Amin’s regime took over the Institute, the principal role of cotton research shifted to include research in, and production of, animal pastures.

In 2005 the research tasks changed once more with the enactment of more revisionary legislation for  “food crops of strategic importance” because of their key roles for food, employment, and household incomes in Uganda…

A view from Google earth confirms that this research centre is laid out in strip sections of trial farmlands of mangoes, sweet potatoes, hay, cassava, and bananas, among other food crops.

Whilst the impression might be that part of the centre’s vast expanse of land, namely 500 acres is not utilised, Mr.Robert Kiggundu, the NaCRRI farm manager, explains that “All the green covers that look idle are actually animal pasture grasses, some of which have been imported from as far as US and Canada so that we improve these seeds to meet Uganda’s climatic conditions”.

Annually the Institute hosts at least 100 students doing research for their PhD’s and Master’s programmes from both international and local universities.

The quiet intention is clearly to make Uganda the bread basket of the African region allied with the well advanced ambition of becoming one of Africa’s centre’s for GM excellence.

It is not a question of if , but rather when…

Undoubtedly the Institute  has to run a small fleet of diesel engine tractors and cultivators with its attendant expenditure for fossil fuel. Would it not be a grand idea and hardly a leap of imagination to grow their own biofuel  seeds from which bio friendly fuel might come processed by the BioPod now in their possession?

In the event, in a matter of a few days, the required  upfront shipping money was transferred to the escrow of Mr. Colin Walmsley Managing Director of N W Forwarders Ltd in Preston Lancashire UK who regularly provides logistic support to ‘Operation Florian’ – formerly based at Leyland Fire Station – and now at Chorley FS.

An organisation under the direction of its current Chairman Micheál Ó Dochartaigh,

and Quartermaster Tony Burscough.

As you might imagine a race then ensued to get the  Biopod and the generous donation of Fire Service equipment  from Operation Florian ready and on its way to Uganda and the National Crops Resources Research Institute(NaCRRI) and to Fire Service HQ in Kampala in the care of Mr.Joseph Mugisha its Senior Fire Officer.

For those who do not know, shipping an ISO container around the World, whether 20ft(a unit) or 40ft(2 x Units),  is a well accomplished, almost art form, as the specialist ships with their associated ports get larger and larger by the day. The latest OOCL vessel the Hong Kong is capable of carrying over 21,413 such units.

Time is of the essence and this is how it works, or is meant to…

Anticipating loading day at Leyland Fire Station on Thursday 27^th July 2017 where the Bugler was Station Commander for 8 years whilst raising his young family and in the interim building a 45ft ocean going yacht the ‘Golden Harp’, considered the salutary lesson of forward planning which  always pays dividends.

Or, as it is put in the vernacular in the Fire Service, PPPPP= Poor Planning P**s Poor Performance!

The Biopod from initial design stage  was constructed to allow it to be shipped internationally in a standard 20ft ISO container which guarantees that the ‘box’ measurements, world-wide, are precisely the same within human

tolerances, and in spite of measuring and re-measuring the BioPod which confirmed it should load with all round clearance, the ‘proof of the pudding’ would always remain doubtful until the actual stowage on the day which is all rather late if it did not fit!

This forward planning threw up another challenge.

When a box is ordered it arrives empty at a precise time, or so it should, on the day and the box remains on the ‘skeleton’ trailer as it is called with the tractor (truck) part and the driver(who sits there) attached for the duration of 3 hours whence it departs or until, rather depressing time penalty clauses called demurrage,  kick in. The same loading rules apply to ships in dock.

The question arising was how was the BioPod to be lifted ‘end on’ the 1.5mtrs above ground level into the open box. There was a solution via former Firefighter John Jackson who worked for the C.W.Berry, renowned for its charity support  a Leyland based Building Supplies merchants  the largest in the North West of the UK, Go Here.

Without further ado Mr. Mike Jones, the Transport Manager of C&W Berry and Grandson of the Family owners visited Leyland Fire Station to examine the problem. Mike, Berry’s Transport Manager  is in addition a fully qualified and accomplished advanced fork lift operator.

Using his expertise he proposed the solution which was of  great assistance to the project which was the use of one of their specialist fork lifts, with hydraulically extendable forks, to accomplish the placing off the Biopod(from the end on approach) into the container with in addition the truck borne forklift being delivered to the Fire Station the afternoon before loading. It pays to know a man, or men, who can…

Problem solved, now to see if the BioPod would fit in the box on the day?

The proposal was to load the BioPod first, secure it, and then surround it with Fire Service Uniform equipment  which had to be hand loaded by the Operation Florian chain gang!
Let the pictures take up the story…the worried old man in the dirty green ‘lucky’ shamrock ‘T’shirt is the Bugler…
For close up –  click on the pictures.

A Contented Man

So on Thursday the 27^th July 2017 after a ‘clockwork’ Florian operation, with much thanks all around, the ISO Container Number: MSCU6596439 20’Dry Van stored with the BioPod and Fire Service uniform apparel with an all up weight of 4 tonnes was duly padlocked with a sealed lock, photographed by Colin Walmsley,the shipper, and off the truck trundled from Leyland Fire Station Drill yard at 11:20hrs BST within the demurrage period, bound for Widnes railhead container terminal where it was promptly loaded and on its way to Felixstowe to await the mighty container ship the MSC(Mediterranean Shipping Company) London which is capable of carrying 19,000 such containers .

The ‘box was scheduled to be delivered to Kampala Uganda in an estimated 41 days arriving on or mostly about the 8^th September 2017. Such are the best laid plans of mice and men…

At the moment of departure from Leyland the MSC London was part loaded and en route from Bremerhaven to Felixstowe. A quick glance at the marine internet told us so.

In the days that followed the MSC London was tracked from Felixstowe to Deurganckok dock at Antwerp Belgium on the River Scheldt where before entry the draught of the London was noted and subsequently after it left this dock, for those of a nautical bent, which gave an indication by the substantial increase of draught that several thousands of boxes had been loaded outbound for the Middle East.

A brief call at L’Havre with a slight increase in draught and the London headed out to sea once more turning the ‘corner’ into and across the Bay of Biscay down the western seaboard of Europe past Gibraltar eventually heading into the new container docking facility at Tangiers.

Generally the weather was kind throughout the voyage and the ship’s speed was more or less around 19knots  when it sailed off once more heading along the width of the Mediterranean through the Straits of Messina towards Alexandria and  Port Said at the entrance to the Suez Canal of de Lesseps fame.

As you might expect ships like aircraft have a ‘slot’ to make

both for docking(such is the pressure on commercial ports) and of course for convoy transiting the Canal which is reflected in the cruise speed variation as the next destination is planned well ahead these day by autopilot and shipping management systems.

So onward through the Suez Canal in convoy past Ismailia through the Great Bitter Lake towards the Gulf of Suez and on past Sharm el Sheik, the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba,  into the warm Red Sea down past Jeddah into the narrows at the entrance, turning to port (left), into the Tadjura Trough and into the Gulf of Aden and pirates.

Because of continuing pirate activity vessels carry armed guards from this point forward and the reporting of actual positions becomes deliberately vague which is to be expected because not only can modern day pirates read but they also have access to the internet and marine traffic websites…

But there are ways and means to know what is happening to the ‘box’ and in due course it arrived for offloading and trans-shipping on the 19^th August 2017 at Salalah in remote South West Oman another brand new port facility for containers though more for trans-shipping at this container cross roads as some head east then North to the Gulf or south to Pakistan/India or South to Mombasa.

After a lay-up for 10 days in the scorching heat which helped dry out the damp from Leyland Lancashire it was off once more on the 29^th August 2017 having made its connection to the MSC Lara outward bound for Mombasa in Kenya where it duly arrived on the 6^th September 2017 having passed the pirate colony of Mogadishu and locality with its high speed launches and having lain off a ‘packed to the gunwales’ Port of Mombasa for 2 days… the gateway to  East Central Africa.

Next to come was the offloading; the bureaucracy; the glad handing and the 5 day and truck journey to Kampala. A typical truck journeys has been published Go Here.

The box finally arrived in Kampala at the freight handlers for opening and customs clearance  on Friday 13^th October 2017 taking all in all about 43 days just outside the 41 estimated…

Once more the bureaucracy and the glad handing and the wrangle to have the donation ‘landed’ in Uganda with appropriate Customs waivers for import duty.
Believe it or not it has been the Bugler’s experience as catastrophes come and catastrophes go bureaucracy has to be paid its obeisance.

Until finally the Biopod is off loaded and transhipped to its very happy new home at NaCRRI at Namulonge…

The Uganda Fire & Rescue Service(UFRS) is part of the Police Service of Uganda and as ever in such relationships the UFRS always comes off second best when budget time come around.

Over many decades in UK Fire Service history this symbiotic relationship has been repeatedly demonstrated not to work here either, though it is proposed once more.

Currently little is known or published about the UFRS though it seems to have 10 FRStations and approximately 180 personnel whose post status is unconfirmed though it was upon an initial letter of request from the senior UFRS Officer SFC Mr. Joseph Mugisa that Operation Florian decided to send initial support to its personnel in the form of fire kit-uniform which was part of the BioPod delivery was received recently in Kampala Uganda.

The delivery was as ever subject to bureaucracy but recently this equipment has now been received on station at Kampala and the Bugler awaits formal acknowledgement and hopefully pictures of the actual delivery, at which point this narrative will be resumed.