Overdue Update

Hello again!

It has been far too long since my last post, but I have finally managed to get online when there is power in the internet cafe AND when the internet is fast enough to load blogger. (Just kidding.) Google has changed the template of their blogging platform, which has been reluctant to load on these slow Ugandan internet cafe computers. But, here I am. (NB: I wrote this on Monday, and the power died at the internet cafe before I could upload it. So I've escaped to a very very slow computer in Kayunga town to put it up.)

The last couple months have flown by, and I have been keeping busy. The rainy season started (late), but that meant that we could start planting. As a livelihoods volunteer, one of my tasks is to train people in small-scale organic farming. So my team has been doing just that. Since May, we started a seedbed behind our house for kale, which we transplanted to a few "sack mounds" at our house and where our youth groups meet. We have also planted eggplants at our primary school and more kale at the health centre, with the hope that these seedlings will be transplanted to the homes of those in the "positive living" group we work with for people who are HIV+. Even though it is my job to train other people, I feel like I am really learning a lot as I have never really been a big gardener. Most people in Busaana (and Uganda as well) are subsistence farmers, so sometimes it feels strange to teach them about what they do all the time. For instance, my "digging" skills are clearly lacking. I've learned to use a hoe, but everyone in the village thinks that it is hysterical when I do it, so it is a bit hard to concentrate on the task at hand. But, people really seem to like our demonstrations, so I think that we are doing well.

Besides work, I have been having some fun as well. Along with some of the other international volunteers, I discovered a great hostel in Bujagali, just outside of Jinja. It has an amazing view of the Nile and great nightlife. We have been coming here for the past couple weekends off, and yesterday, I decided to take the plunge and go rafting! The Nile is one of the best spots in the world for white water rafting and kayaking, and the hostel in Bujagali is actually part of the same company that runs the rafting (called Nile River Explorers, if anybody ever decides to visit Uganda). I spent the whole day on the river, paddling down the calm parts and flying into the water when we hit the rapids. On the stretch that we covered, we went through 8 rapids, most of which were "Grade 5". We flipped our boat 3 times, which was actually a lot of fun! You wear a life-jacket and so if you fall in, you come right up, and there are kayakers nearby to bring you back to the raft if you don't manage to hold on. This was definitely one of the highlights of my weekends off in Uganda, and I'm really glad to have done it.

My time in Uganda is coming to an end - this next week will be my last week in Busaana. After that, I'm in Jinja for debrief and then I will have finished my time with Restless Development. Although I have not been posting a lot in the past little while, I have been making some notes so that I can do a couple follow-up posts once I am finished the program and back at home. I have been learning a lot here about the development system in general - both good and bad things, and I want to reflect on those a bit more and share them with all of you. One of the reasons that I came to Uganda was to see how development works on the ground, and I want to be very honest about the highlights AND the challenges of working here. Be sure to check back as I reflect on my experiences.

Thanks for reading. I miss you all!

L

P.S. Photos to come. The power went out just as I was trying to get them uploaded. What can you do?

April Holidays

Hi again!

April has been great so far. The first week, I spent in placement. We held a voluntary counselling and testing event so that people could find out their HIV status. The event went really well - we coordinated with the health centre staff in Busaana and tested about 100 people. It is really important for people to know their status as it can affect their long term health and that of their loved ones, so throughout all of our regular sessions we encourage young people to get tested and stay healthy.

In the second week of April, I had the mid-placement holiday. Mike came to visit! It was really lucky that his break between terms coordinated with my holiday and I was really happy to see him. I picked him up at Entebbe International Airport, and we spent the first couple days at a hotel outside the centre of Kampala recuperating from work and school. The place we stayed had a great view of Lake Victoria and Kampala. After resting, we set off to explore Kampala for a day. I took Mike to Owino Market, which is the busiest and biggest market in Kampala centre. It is pretty chaotic and we unsucessfully attempted to find jackfruit for him to try.

We spent the night in Kampala, and then set out early to head west for gorilla tracking! This is apparently the #1 thing to do while visiting Uganda, so I couldn't miss the opportunity. Uganda is home to almost all of the world's population of mountain gorillas. There are only about 710 mountain gorillas in the world - half live in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, and the other half live in the Virunga volcano range which spans the borders of Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC. The drive to Bwindi is very long, so made some stops along the way. We took the requisite touristy photos at the Equator, stopped in Mbarara (the biggest city in Western Uganda, and one of the fastest growing in the country) for lunch, and then at a fruit market to taste some pineapple on the way to Kabale. While the pineapples were pretty good, I think that I've tasted better ones in Busaana (grown by Alex, who is one of my team members). After driving for a day, Mike and I had an early night in Kisoro as we had to get up really early to get to the gorillas. We drove an hour from Kisoro on a winding dirt road (4x4 required) and got to Bwindi at about 8:30 AM. We were joined by a five other tourists, as only one small group is allowed to visit the gorillas a day, and set off into the forest. Bwindi is a really dense forest (hence being called 'the Impenetrable Forest') and is one of the oldest surviving forests in the world. After about an hour's walk, we found the gorillas! This was very lucky - all of the travel advice says it can take much longer. We got to spend an hour observing them before heading back. Gorillas are quite peaceful animals - they weren't doing much when we saw them except eating and sunbathing. We were able to get really close (about 2m away), which was pretty incredible. There are six gorilla families in Bwindi that are 'habituated' - meaning they have gotten used to human presence over time. The group we saw is called the Nshongi family, and I think we saw about 15 of them (although there are more), including the big male silverback and a tiny two month old baby.

After a half day of hiking, Mike and I returned to Kisoro. We spent the afternoon in a coffee shop drinking 'African tea' and catching up. We spent the night there before making the drive back to central Uganda the next day. For the rest of Mike's time in Uganda, we were in Jinja, which so far is my favorite city in Uganda. We stayed at a great little place with a few of my friends from training and their boyfriends, who were also visiting. We had a lot of fun meeting each other and just relaxing.

Since Mike left, I have been in Jinja for mid-placement training. Everybody is back together at the Jinja YMCA to share our experiences so far in placement. It has been good to see everybody again, but I am really looking forward to going back to Busaana. May is looking like it will be really busy - we have tons of events to run and lots of work to do on our demonstration garden.

Stay tuned for another update - my next weekend off is in mid-May.

Cheers,
Lauren

P.S. Apologies yet again for the lack of photos. I promise to put them up soon!

Photos

As promised, here are some more photos of my experience in Uganda.

The team leading a session with one of our out-of-school groups.



Me, at session.



Globalization makes it to Kasana. Fyi, this is someone's house, and there is no juicy fruit.

Fernanda, me, and Sophia at Sipi Falls.

Our lodgings in Sipi Falls. A great weekend off!

Enjoy! Another blog post to come soon.

Love, Lauren

March Update

Hello again. It has been quite awhile since my last post, due to a lack of internet connectivity at the last place I went for the mid-March weekend off. For the 'long weekend' of March 8-11 (March 8, International Women's Day, is a public holiday in Uganda), I went to Sipi Falls, in the very east of the country. The waterfalls were very beautiful and it was nice to see a new part of Uganda.

I can't believe that March is almost over. I have had a very busy month! Things started out really well as we continued to hold our sessions with in-school and out-of-school youth. One of my favourite days was when we discussed gender with our out-of-school groups. The boys actually got into quite a debate over whether or not men and women should be equal, and to my surprise there were about an equal number of supporters for each position. With my still limited understanding of Luganda and the help of my team members' translations, I can say that I think that those who believe in equality did actually have a stronger argument. We also helped move the discussion in this direction by pointing out the positive benefits to relationships when everybody is treated with respect and kindness. Overall, it was a great session, and it reminded me of why I am here. Not every discussion is this good, but I think that providing a space for these conversations to happen is really important.

This month, our team also held several larger (read: funded) events. The largest of these was a football tournament, where teams from schools and communities in the area competed. The aim was to attract a lot of young people, so that we could raise awareness about Restless Development and the work we are doing. To help bring in teams, we chose to buy a goat as the prize for the first place team. This worked - we had over 12 teams register for the event! However, the goat seemed to understand that we were giving him up to be eaten, so on our first night looking after him, he managed to untie himself and attempted an escape. Picture this: the boys on our team buy a goat, tie it up to a tree near our house, and then leave for the night. It is getting dusky and dark. Somebody notices that the goat is gone, and points to something running towards the playing field opposite our room. In the near darkness, the police officers, Clare, and myself all run after the goat. I give up after it gets too far away as it is getting dark. As I walked back, I was thinking about how we would pay for another prize with our limited event budget if our first place trophy actually does manage to run away. But, luckily, after about 20 minutes, Clare and the police officer finally return - with the goat. The winning team was very happy, and I think that the sports event was a success.

Besides the goat, we have recently had other special visitors in Busaana. On Friday, Yoweri Museveni, the President of Uganda, paid a visit to our subcounty. His speech was given on the same playing field where we had our sports event, and his soldiers camped out literally outside our door for the night before the event. The event was supposed to start at noon, and it kicked off with dancers, singers and other local entertainment. People poured into the field, although not all managed to make it through the one metal detector that was set up on one side of the (not-so-fenced) field. This went on for quite some time, until His Excellency arrived at 4:30 pm in a parade of black SUVs for a short speech before departing. He brought a tractor to the area for locals to use, and promised that the power would soon be extended to neighbouring areas. People seemed happy with his visit, but from an outsiders' perspective it seemed very highly orchestrated. I was not allowed to take pictures, and had to return my camera to my house after being told that I needed a permit 'from Kampala'. This visit came shortly after a session that I did in school on 'Civic Rights and Responsibilities', where the students told me that their most important civic duty was to 'respect the government'. It is definitely interesting to be in a country where democracy is viewed so differently, especially after a year of uprisings and Occupying in the news at home.

I hope that you have enjoyed this latest installment of my adventures in Uganda. In two weeks, we have a mid-placement holiday followed by some training, so I will likely have much more internet access in April. I am planning to explore more of the country and will be taking lots of pictures.

Cheers,
Lauren

P.S. The internet cafe I am using is being realllllllly slow at uploading pictures. It has been half an hour and not even one has loaded. I will try again soon and promise to put up a lot for my next post!

It's a small world after all...

Greetings from Kampala! I am in town for my second weekend off, this time in the capital. I forgot how overwhelming Kampala can be after spending a month in a rural community and then Jinja, which is not nearly as busy. In any case, I am happy to have a day or two to relax and reflect on the last month. I am now 1/3 through with the program, and have four months of work to go, although we have a holiday and five days training in April so it won't be as busy.

Work is proceeding well. The last two weeks were more or less the same as the first. We still had baseline surveys to complete, although we started to do some more activities as well. As a livelihoods volunteer, I spend a little bit of time in schools, but a lot more time with our out-of-school youth groups. We have done some sessions on club development and management as well as entrepreneurship. I think that things will really pick up in March. We have a ton of targets to work towards, and will be doing a session almost daily. As well, the rainy season is starting, which means that people start planting their crops. Our team is planning a demonstration garden near the house, where we can instruct people on how to use different techniques for organic farming. My team partners have promised to teach me to dig like a Ugandan, and I even bought rainboots this weekend so that I will be well prepared for garden work. I'm a bit nervous but really willing to learn, so I hope that it goes well.

I am also starting to get used to day-to-day living in Busaana. I have been making friends with some of the locals. The kids near our house help me to pump water sometimes, and I have been getting better at cooking some Ugandan food. There is no electricity in the village, but the government has recently been putting up the wires to get it started. The main source of electricity in Uganda is hydropower from the Nile, and it is really starting to expand into the more rural areas.The community volunteers that it may even be switched on sometime in the next month or so, and I am really interested to see how this changes things, if at all. I am getting really used to reading by oil lamp and head torch, and I doubt that this will change as Restless Development volunteers are not the first priority for service delivery!

Another thing that I have to get used to is the teamwork. Things move a lot more slowly in Uganda, even though we have a lot to do, and communication is sometimes difficult as things get lost in translation between cultures. I feel like this is one of the most interesting parts of development - I know that I could get a lot more done by myself, but I feel that we really need to do things as a team if the work is going to be sustainable, especially where the community volunteers are involved. This can be frustrating at times but throughout the month we have improved, so I am still optimistic. Change is really slow and difficult to achieve, especially when it comes to more abstract subjects like 'empowerment'. I think that sometimes all we can do is give people information, so that a few people can act on it. One of the questions we had to ask in our focus group discussion (one of the baseline tools) was about gender-based violence, and the participants turned the question on us by asking what we thought they could do to prevent it. This came after a really discouraging discussion about the persistence of gender inequality, and made me feel like we are getting somewhere, if only little by little. The more I talk to people in the community, the more I see that there is so much false information out there, mostly because there is nowhere to get any accurate story. Knowledge in this case really is power.

March is going to be really busy, but I hope to get a couple more blog posts up to let you know how the real work is going. I am planning another weekend in Jinja at least, so stay tuned.

Cheers,
Lauren

P.S. The title of this blog post refers to the disney song of the same name, which is played constantly in Busaana by the "ice cream truck", which is a motorcycle with a box on the back. I am not brave enough to try the ice cream (the travel health guide says no to dairy!), but I am serenaded almost daily. The only other song they play is "My Heart Will Go On", but I didn't think that one would make as good a title... lol.

P.P.S. As promised, here are some pictures.



My placement team. Left-to-right: Alex, Clare, Agnes, Fred, and Me!

 

My friends in Busaana.



Where we live... only we have a little room at the back.

The kitchen.



The bedroom - where Clare and I stay.



First two weeks in Busaana

Hi again. I am writing from Jinja, on my first weekend off from placement. It is really nice to have a bit of a break from bucket showers and latrines, and to see some people from other placements. However, now that I have started work, I think I should tell you all about it.

We arrived in Busaana on January 31st, in the afternoon. There are no paved roads beyond Kayunga town, so the last part of the drive was really dusty. That is one constant in Uganda, and especially in rural communities - the dust is everywhere. I'm sure that I will come back with red dust coming out of my pores. Busaana is no exception - we sweep our room all the time, and somehow the dust just gets back in every day. The place we are staying is alright. We have one room at the back of the police station, so it is very safe. The room served as last year's youth resource centre when Restless Development was working in Busaana, but since they couldn't find another place for us to stay, we are living in it for the time being. This means that our room is decorated with posters having to do with sexual reproductive health! On our walls you can learn about how to use a condom, or even some relationship advice for young people - "show your girlfriend love by helping her carry a jerry can".

The toughest part of living in Busaana has been adjusting to the day-to-day routine. I shower using a bucket, and have to carry my own water to do it. We cook on a small charcoal stove, eating mostly rice, plantains, and beans. The latrines are probably the least enjoyable part, and I know that I will not miss them at all. There are also some improvements from training. I am eating a lot of fruit - every day we have jackfruit, sugar cane, or the occasional pineapple. My placement partners are continually surprised when I tell them that these things do not grow in Canada, and they don't really get it when I explain that Canada has no national cuisine. It's a hard thing to explain.

Work has also been going pretty well. So far, we have been doing a lot of surveys and assessments, so that we can get to know the community and plan our work around what is most needed. We have been going to various schools, local government officials, youth groups, and religious institutions to introduce ourselves and the organization. This is the second year that Restless Development has worked in Busaana, so we still have some groundwork to do.  I am one of the only 'muzungus' in Busaana (so far the only other is an American missionary named John, who is based in Jinja), so people are really interested in talking to me. Some have asked for things or money, but as a volunteer representing Restless Development, I can't do anything about that because it would set a bad precedent for future volunteers and also sends mixed messages to the community about what we are there to do.

I have also been doing some more informal assessments on my own, trying to observe and learn from what is around me. The most shocking thing that I learned was that child sacrifice still occurs in Uganda - this was from an NGO poster in the headmaster's office at the primary school. I'm not sure what work is being done to stop this, but it is definitely something that needs attention. The other main thing that I have noticed is gender inequality. This has shown up in our official assessments as well, as we have done some testing with young people in and out of school. Some manifestations of gender inequality are quite obvious. For instance, women here will sometimes kneel to greet men, even in the dusty roads. While I knew that polygamy was common in Africa, I was quite surprised to learn that some of my colleagues are polygamous themselves. One of the volunteers on my team has three wives! It has been difficult to hold my tongue in some circumstances, but I am trying my best to be respectful and learn more about cultural practices in the community, and also explain that this is not the case in Canada. I'm really interested to see how the community will react to some of the sessions we will be holding on things like gender and relationships, and I will make sure to write more about this as I continue working.

I have to catch my bus back to Busaana (there are only a couple each day), but I will be back in two weeks with another update.

Cheers,
L

P.S. Will post photos the next time, as the internet is too slow this time around.

Training comes to an end...

Time has flown by since my last post. Today was the very last day of training, and tomorrow I am headed out to my placement. I have a lot to share about the training experience.

Training has been very intensive. As a "Livelihoods" volunteer, my focus is to give young people skills and knowledge so that they are able to start their own businesses and become self-sustaining. Youth unemployment in Uganda is as high as 80%! In a country where over 75% of the population is under the age of 30, this is a huge problem. So, in training, we learned to conduct sessions in basic entrepreneurship skills and life skills, project proposal writing (so that young people are able to access loans and funds from banks, government programs, and savings and credit cooperatives), and even things like group management. As part of livelihoods training, we also got to practice some organic farming methods, and we visited a local organic farm to see just how it is done. The farmer we met, Dorothy, even generates her own electricity using biogas from cow manure! It was really really cool.

Beyond supporting youth livelihoods, another one of of Restless Development's goals is to increase young people's civic participation. To this end, we discussed things like gender and advocacy, and learned how to manage the youth resource centres we will be setting up and supporting in our communities. Finally, our training included some sessions more relevant to the administration part of our work, like finance or monitoring and evaluation. These things are really important, because they provide the organization with data so that they can show impact and further advocate for young people based on our results. As part of this, we learned about Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques, which allow us to collect information from our communities so that we are using people's existing knowledge and skills to design our sessions and programs. I know that I am getting into the more technical side of things - so I promise to dedicate a whole post to this at a later point. (For those interested in PRA, look up Robert Chambers from the University of Sussex' Institute for Development Studies. While I was at LSE, my department was lucky enough to have a whole day's workshop with him, learning about PRA and rural development work).

An amazing session we had with the TASO Drama Group. (TASO = The Aids Support Organization. All of the performers are living with HIV).

Besides training, I have also been having some fun. So far, I have been to Kampala twice on the weekends. The city is unlike anything I've ever seen before, but is really cool. We went to Owino market, which is much like the rural trading centres but on a massive scale. There are people everywhere, selling goods of all kinds. I also had the chance to try some Indian food in Kampala, which was really amazing. There is a very large Indian community in Uganda, and they have a long and tumultuous history here as Idi Amin (Uganda's infamous dictator who ruled in the early 1980s) forced them out of the country and appropriated many of their assets. Ugandan cuisine itself has been partly influenced by Indian food - you can get a chapati at any street market, for instance. Overall, it has been really fun to see Kampala, as it is quite different from rural life. I hope to be back on some of my weekends off.

Kampala.

The Ugandan Parliament building, in Kampala.

As training is winding to a close, I am getting more excited and a little nervous about placement. I will be going to Busaana sub-county, in Kayunga district. I am working in a team of five - it will be myself, Clare (a national volunteer), and Agnes, Alex, and Fred (all community volunteers). Clare and Agnes will be focusing on sexual and reproductive health, while Alex, Fred, and I are doing livelihoods. All of us will be working together on civic participation and ensuring that our events, lessons, and sessions are a success. I don't really know what to expect, but the community volunteers have told me that I will really enjoy living in Busaana. There will be some challenges for sure - continuing to learn Luganda, having to cook and fetch water - but I am really looking forward to the work. I think that we will make a good team!

I move out tomorrow! I will once again have to find the nearest place for internet access, but I promise to update as soon as possible. We all get two weekends off per month, so I will be able to go into town at least a bit regularly.

I hope that everybody is doing well, and that 2012 is off to a great start.

Cheers,
Lauren

Week 1 in Uganda

I made it!

After my last post, I met up with the other international volunteers in Heathrow. Together we flew to Nairobi and then to Entebbe. We landed in Uganda in the morning, cleared customs and were met by Restless Development staff, who drove us to a supermarket where we bought cellphones and some fruit. We then drove straight to where we will be living for the next month, which is the Kasenge Riverford Organic Training Centre near Mbalala. Normally the facility hosts people who come to learn about sustainable organic farming techniques, and there is a large garden. Some of the food we eat comes from there. This month, however, they are hosting 70 Restless Development volunteers as we train for our placement.

The training started right away. We arrived on Monday mid-day and started our sessions on Tuesday morning. We train 5 and a half days a week with only Saturday afternoons and Sundays off. There are 14 international volunteers (from Canada, the US, the UK, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand), and the rest are Ugandan. We are all roughly the same age and education level. The sessions have been a learning experience. On top of trying to get a hang of all the material we need to know to do good work in placement, we are learning more and more about Ugandan culture and the way that things work over here. The time not spent in session still involves learning, as I have to find out what the food is called (I am new to matoke and posho among other things), how to haggle over prices in the market down the road, and even how to wash my laundry (including sheets!) by hand! 

My first impressions of Uganda are good. The countryside is green and beautiful, and yesterday we even took a trip to see the source of the Nile. There are a lot of things which are much more difficult than in Canada - the power regularly goes out where we are staying so you have to plan when to charge your phone, for instance. Showers are very cold! However, I knew when I signed up for this program that I would be in for a challenge, and I am here to learn as much as I am to help.

Stay tuned for another update. Internet access is sparing and slow, but I am going to try to get to a cafe every couple weeks or so.

I hope you are all doing well. Thank you so much again for supporting me in this journey, and I miss you all!

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what I am up to: 

The training centre.

The market down the road from the training centre.

Some of the other volunteers at the market.

At the source of the Nile... (that's me on the left).

 Love, L

Departure

Hello and Happy New Year to all my wonderful friends and family,

I'm off!
... and this is in no small part due to your support throughout the fall. I feel very lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people. I would like to give a sincere thank you in particular to those who supported my fundraising efforts. Please remember to send me your addresses so that I can write you a letter from my placement.

Having spent New Year's Eve in the air, I am writing this from Heathrow. The next stop is Nairobi, followed by a very early morning flight to Entebbe. I meet up with the rest of the Restless Development group in a few hours, and it will be so great to finally meet everyone in person. While this is 'officially' the first leg of my journey, I have felt 'unofficially' on my way since early in the fall as I began the process of fundraising, preparing my supplies, getting injections, and studying up on Uganda and the work I will be doing. It seems so unreal to finally be on my way. I am feeling very excited to get there and I am also extremely proud of my packing and what I think is actually a fairly reasonable amount of luggage for 6+ months. I am not known for being a light traveller so this is a big achievement. I could hardly sleep at all on the flight to London and I am hoping that I can rest up on the next leg as I will be hitting the ground running. We start training after only a day's rest, and I feel like everything will move quickly from there. 

Please keep reading, and I will try to update this blog as often as I can. I hope that you all have a fantastic start to 2012.

Love,
Lauren