Some Quick Updates from Uganda

I know a lot of you are very keen to learn what has been happening on the ground on Uganda, so here are some quick updates:

• Solar panels have all arrived safely and we have power at the guest house
  
  
  
• We also have internet at the guest house
  
  
  
• Interviews have begun to find the new district manager for Uganda
  
  
  
• The land has been acquired for the school
  
  
  
• A security guard has been employed
  
  
  
• The village police have been informed of our presence and know what to do in the unlikely event of something bad happening.
  
  
  
• A builder has been employed to help us build the school.
  
  
  
• And in the most amazing update of all: I have yet to acquire malaria for the fifth time...
  

A Great Way to Watch Football

Early days before the bigger
crowd arrived

Where were you for the 2008 World Cup final?  I was watching the game on a 14 inch TV with about 50 or so other people in a small village in Togo.

What about the 2011 Champions League final?  Once again, I watched it with 50 or so others on a small 14 inch TV, but this time in the small rural parish of Buyaya.

I was talking to the locals about the game and they said there was a beat-up old TV up the hill.  If I could provide the power, they could get the TV.

One enthusiastic lad bolted up the hill and returned an hour later with the TV.  I did some jiggery-pokery with the solar setup and Bam!  We were away!

Apparently some teams played and some goals were scored. All of which were purely secondary to the experience itself.

Where was I for the 2004 World Cup final?  Or the 2008 Champions League final?  No idea.  But I guess I was watching on some flat 40 inch flat-screen TV at someone's house.

*yawn*

Gimme a 14 inch screen and fifty or so Africans to watch the game with. Much more memorable and much more exciting.

The Most Beautiful Thing in the World

The long awaited solar panels on the conveyor belt at Entebbe airport

The Walk of the Damned: Transit Hell in Ethiopia

A corner store in Ethiopia inadvertently
sums up my Ethiopian experience

Would you be comfortable if you had confirmed a flight to Uganda?

What if you had merely booked a flight to Uganda?
Is there a difference?  Turns out there is.  I had booked my flight, but hadn’t confirmed my flight to Uganda. 

What this meant in practice was that I was one of four poor bastards left behind to watch our booked (but not confirmed) flight disappear into the difference. 

This meant I was in some sort of transit limbo in Ethiopia.

What was even more concerning was what had happened to the solar panels I was transporting?  I harassed and re-harassed many airline staff and they ensured me that the panels would be on the flight I would be on. 

But, ya know…. *shrugs*

The four of us left did the walk of the damned through the airport as we were shuffled between various checkpoints before being carted off to the Pacific Hotel.  I was woken after six hours of comatose sleep before being carted off back to the airport.

I know have a boarding pass.  I’ll probably be on the 10 o’clock flight to Uganda and pick up my luggage and solar panels.

But, ya know…. *shrugs*

Post script: Happy ending!

Getting Paranoid About Safety

Signs of war:
A bullet ridden wall in Kitgum

Back in November '06 I headed up to Kitgum in Northern Uganda.

At the time, the war between the LRA and the government was under ceasefire conditions as the opposing factions attempted peace talks (they failed).  It felt like I was almost sneaking in before hostilities broke out again.

Kitgum was messed up.  Death and violence seemed to be everywhere:

• Bullet holes surrounded the walls World Food Program headquarters
  
• So many funerals due to malaria and HIV were happening at the internally displaced people (IDP) camps
  
• Bullet wounds and mutilations were not hard to spot

I could go on, but I won't.

I was there to set up Grassroots Uganda: a non-profit organisation that empowers Ugandan women via jewellery made from paper beads.  Grassroots Uganda has proved to be quite successful making over $45,000 in 2010.

As I look back on Kitgum, I can't help but think what a bloody stupid thing it was to do!

The arrogance of it was amazing.  I was entering into a very dangerous area almost looking for trouble.  Heck, there were even government troops lining the roads into Kitgum armed with RPGs!

Stupid.  Stupid.  Stupid.  

As I write this, I am about eight hours away from boarding a flight to Uganda.  

There is some unrest in Uganda at the moment. The government is cracking down on peaceful protests with tear gas and rubber bullets.  At last count, nine people have died.

I am going to go out of my way to avoid these hotspots.  No protest photography. No pictures of tear gas, tear gas canisters, riot police, or shotgun shells.  I am just gonna stay the hell away.

Why the change of heart?  

When I first went to Kitgum, I only had myself to worry about.  If something bad happened, it would have been my own stupid fault.

There are two reasons why I will be more careful this time.  

Firstly, I am fan of martyrdom.  The trick is to do it sacrifice your life for a cause one day at time, and not go out in a single blaze of glory.

Secondly, there are some very important people in my life.  It wouldn't be fair on them if I disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Heading off to Uganda

Max Trevena - Meaningful Volunteer's
oldest volunteer, and my dad!

May 24th will see me head off to Uganda for a third time.  I can't wait!

A further nine or so volunteers will be joining me, including my 68 year old dad!  We've got many awesome projects to do:

• Build a solar powered school
  
• Start a fair trade fashion label
  
• Distribute $U 1,500 worth of mosquito nets and educate people in their use
  
• Start English and computer literacy programs

As I sit back and look at that list, it all looks quite daunting.  But I know that we will have an awesome group of volunteers coming and nigh on one years worth of planning has gone into this.  

We plan to nail all of these projects, but even if we only nail one of them, then we are going to have a long term and positive impact of the people of Buyaya.

Watch this space to see what happens!

Why all this focus on the women?

Alaisa built a house with the money she
 made from Grassroots Uganda

I often said that while it is hard to be a rurally poor African man, it is even harder to be a rurally poor African women.

This is why the bulk of Meaningful Volunteer's program target women.

A report recently released from Oxfam looked into the practise of cash transfers.  Cash transfers (CTs) are small amounts of money given to people in disaster situations.  The report looked at CTs in Zimbabwe and Kenya.

90% of the CTs were given to women, while only 10% were given to men.  The men - contrary to all stereotypes - actually spent the money quite wisely.

I especially like Maxine Molyneux's comment on these findings:

"Men are usually completely marginalised from the activities of the cash transfer programmes, which sends the message that they have no responsibility for care in the family," Molyneux said. "I would recommend men are integrated into these programmes and encouraged to think of their role in the family in more positive ways."

This is something we try very hard to do with our Project Lifecycle project in the Philippines: Get the men involved as well.  Family planning is just as much their responsibility!  But - alas - we have had very little success getting men involved.

I'm off to Uganda in about two weeks, and not long after Mama Pamba will finally launch.  What lessons can we learn from the above findings?

If we specifically exclude men from Mama Pamba initiative - as we are planning to do - aren't we sending a subtle message to men that they aren't responsible for their family needs?  And - yet another thing - falls under the responsibility of the females giving the men plenty of time to drink the local brew (a very common activity in Buyaya).

I don't know the answer.  Any feedback and thoughts most welcome.

Schooling the World

Interviews Galore

Way back in November '06, I interviewed a bunch of ladies for Grassroots Uganda.  At the end of each interview I asked the ladies if they could wish for one thing in the world, what would it be?

Everyone of them - without exception - said that they would send their children off to school so that their children would get an education.

Pretty cool, huh? That's some together-ladies talkin'!

We all know that going to school is the way forward. Right? Right?!

Have a look at this trailer from the Schooling the World movie

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The last quote from the wise old woman was a good one:

It was happier when we were all together.  But they said we had to send them to school.

Who is this we she is referring to?  It's the those do-it-our-way modern day colonists.

Who says that going to school is better than teaching children at home using - for example - the traditional teaching of Buddha?

Well, I for one. But I come from an fantastic education system in New Zealand that took me all the way through to a university level degree.

But would this system work just as well in a country where the family is much more central than the me-centred culture of many developed countries?

The film examines the hidden assumption of cultural superiority behind education aid projects, which overtly aim to help children “escape” to a “better life".

This movie is worth a watch.  If nothing else, it challenges ideas about aid and development, which is always a good thing.

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Arghh!  I just noticed there is a screening in Vancouver on the 24th of May. The day I leave for Uganda