EarthWise spent 10 months building its first ferry aimed at restoring transportation and trade to Africa's largest lake. Now it's time to cut it all apart.

I wrote a story describing the unusual venture and its founders, Rob Smith and Calvin Echodu, in today's paper.

EarthWise will unveil the ferry in a celebration tomorrow before dismantling it and packing it inside four 40-foot containers bound for Kampala, Uganda, where local workers will begin the process of reassembling it.

JOHN LOK/SEATTLE TIMES

Rob Smith is heading an effort to build ferries for a new passenger service in Africa from his small boat building company in Everett.

At one time 30 percent of the Ugandan economy depended on the ferry system and the trade and travel it made possible. If some of that can be restored, Smith and his partners believe it will create jobs, increased tourism and other benefits to the region.

EarthWise will be collaborating with Columbia University and with Jeffrey Sachs' Millennium Villages project to process Jatropha, a plant used to make biofuel, as an alternative to diesel for the ferries.

EarthWise, Thain Boatworks and the Pacific Northwest African Chamber of Commerce are hosting the farewell event August 18 from 4 p.m. at Thain Boatworks, 1420 West Marine View Drive in Everett. The event is open to the public. To attend send RSVP to darcy@earthwiseventures.com.

As for the name, EarthWise plans to hold a contest among elementary schools in Uganda to name the boat after a prominent person in the country's history.