Busia and FOC-REV (Friends of Christ Revival) Ministries

7.28.06

I am still in Busia and am leaving to Kenya tonight. I should arrive there around 4 or 5 AM.

For the past couple of days I have been learning about an organization in Busia, Uganda, which is the located in the Eastern most part of the country bordering Kenya. Contrary to their name, the CBO does has no real religious affiliation but was founded by “a group of Christians who wanted to administer love and compassion” to marginalized communities. The name turned me off before because I would rather not work with religious affiliated groups, but this is a great organization doing great community work.

They started about 10 years ago with the goal of providing support to disenfranchised communities in Busia District mainly in the form of support to OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children), of which there is an abundance in Uganda. They have secured funding for a few hundred OVCs in the area to pay for their school fees and through the world food program, they feed many of these children in school as well.

The most impressive aspect of their work, to me, was that they have formed over 20 co-op groups in the District and in neighboring districts. Groups consist of 15-20 people and are made up of the beneficiaries of FOC-REV programs - mostly the adult caretakers of the OVCs but also some of the older OVCs as well. These groups are given capital, in the form of bean and maize seeds and goats and cattle, and group members are trained in group management, modern farming techniques, business/entrepreneurial skills and given the necessary resources, such as farming tools, to utilize what they’ve received. Each group member yields their own crops and takes care of their own animals, which supplements both their household income and increases nutrition in the household. They are required to return what they borrowed from FOC-REV once they start to yield produce and depending on what their individual group has decided as its terms, they also contribute income to a group bank account. So, after a while, each group is economically empowered to give loans to groups members or invest in more projects. It is a very interesting model.

Of course there are many challenges in the way as well. Because this system takes time to produce results, some group members get disillusioned and lose faith. According to group members from one of the more successful co-ops I talked to, a strong constitution has kept them strong and united.

Jen and I met with one of these co-op groups, most of the members of which are HIV positive. They were very open about this fact, which is a result of FOC-REV community sensitization. According to them, there are less men involved in such co-ops because some co-ops are viewed as being associated with HIV patients, and men are more likely to avoid these types of stigmas here. I am not sure why.

Although I am here searching for potential internship sites in the hopes of giving UNC students an opportunity to learn about grassroots development and volunteer their time to help others, I wish that I was a rich man because I have found that start-up CAPITAL is ALWAYS the biggest hindrance to community work. The ideas and skills and desire is present everywhere and can be mobilized, but capital…capital is always a problem. Now that I know some very positive groups, I wish I could find a way to channel money to them and I would know that it’s in the right hands.

Maybe our internship program will be able to provide some sort of support in the future. After reading an earlier blog about these issues, someone close to me asked how I thought it would be possible to convince major funders and larger NGOs where their money should go, which I of course feel is straight to grassroots groups. Its not that this never happens, it just doesn’t happen as much as it should. So much money is squandered in development and humanitarian aid…maybe an organization that exists solely to examine grassroots groups to ensure they are efficient and find funding from those with money is what is needed. I am not sure if this exists, but if it does, I am unaware about it.

…Anyone interested in starting such a project?...Anyone have money to invest?...

7.28.06

Busia and FOC-REV (Friends of Christ – Revival) Ministries

I am still in Busia and am leaving to Kenya tonight. I should arrive there around 4 or 5 AM.

For the past couple of days I have been learning about an organization in Busia, Uganda, which is the located in the Eastern most part of the country bordering Kenya. Contrary to their name, the CBO does has no real religious affiliation but was founded by “a group of Christians who wanted to administer love and compassion” to marginalized communities. The name turned me off before because I would rather not work with religious affiliated groups, but this is a great organization doing great community work.

They started about 10 years ago with the goal of providing support to disenfranchised communities in Busia District mainly in the form of support to OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children), of which there is an abundance in Uganda. They have secured funding for a few hundred OVCs in the area to pay for their school fees and through the world food program, they feed many of these children in school as well.

The most impressive aspect of their work, to me, was that they have formed over 20 co-op groups in the District and in neighboring districts. Groups consist of 15-20 people and are made up of the beneficiaries of FOC-REV programs - mostly the adult caretakers of the OVCs but also some of the older OVCs as well. These groups are given capital, in the form of bean and maize seeds and goats and cattle, and group members are trained in group management, modern farming techniques, business/entrepreneurial skills and given the necessary resources, such as farming tools, to utilize what they’ve received. Each group member yields their own crops and takes care of their own animals, which supplements both their household income and increases nutrition in the household. They are required to return what they borrowed from FOC-REV once they start to yield produce and depending on what their individual group has decided as its terms, they also contribute income to a group bank account. So, after a while, each group is economically empowered to give loans to groups members or invest in more projects. It is a very interesting model.

Of course there are many challenges in the way as well. Because this system takes time to produce results, some group members get disillusioned and lose faith. According to group members from one of the more successful co-ops I talked to, a strong constitution has kept them strong and united.

Jen and I met with one of these co-op groups, most of the members of which are HIV positive. They were very open about this fact, which is a result of FOC-REV community sensitization. According to them, there are less men involved in such co-ops because some co-ops are viewed as being associated with HIV patients, and men are more likely to avoid these types of stigmas here. I am not sure why.

Although I am here searching for potential internship sites in the hopes of giving UNC students an opportunity to learn about grassroots development and volunteer their time to help others, I wish that I was a rich man because I have found that start-up CAPITAL is ALWAYS the biggest hindrance to community work. The ideas and skills and desire is present everywhere and can be mobilized, but capital…capital is always a problem. Now that I know some very positive groups, I wish I could find a way to channel money to them and I would know that it’s in the right hands.

Maybe our internship program will be able to provide some sort of support in the future. After reading an earlier blog about these issues, someone close to me asked how I thought it would be possible to convince major funders and larger NGOs where their money should go, which I of course feel is straight to grassroots groups. Its not that this never happens, it just doesn’t happen as much as it should. So much money is squandered in development and humanitarian aid…maybe an organization that exists solely to examine grassroots groups to ensure they are efficient and find funding from those with money is what is needed. I am not sure if this exists, but if it does, I am unaware about it.

…Anyone interested in starting such a project?...Anyone have money to invest?...

Uganda's natural beauty in people and land, Mukono, and Kytume Community Based Health Care

7.27.06

Jen and I are now in Busia, which is in the far most East part of Uganda bordering Kenya. The organization we are to meet with seems great and we plan to see a lot tomorrow, so I will write about it then.

On Monday, we met with a CBO called Kytume CBHC (Community Based Health Care), which is located about 20 outside of Kampala, near a town called Mukono. CBHC started about 10 years ago providing medical services to the village of Kytume, but has grown and now provides much more support and to a much larger area.

One of the best parts of the visit was traveling to do home visits to their beneficiaries and to see their various programs. We interviewed elected community mobilizers who are the heart and soul of these types of programs. Without their organizing, nothing can be accomplished in a sufficient amount of time. Consider the fact that organizing here equates to walking (or biking, CBHC has provided bikes to all of its community mobilizers) home by home to inform and organize meetings. THIS is what grassroots is…it makes me wonder why the hell we can’t organize community based programs in more US neighorhoods when communication is so much easier…we ALL have cell phones in the US for goodness sake. I think it’s due partly to the fact that the notion of ‘community’ is much more inherent here. Although there are still disputes between regions here, etc., the sense of belonging to a community is more part of the culture. In the US, we are taught dog eat dog, take or be taken over…its sad. It is really dehumanizing.

The area is mountainous and there is one narrow, bumpy, pothole filled dirt road shared by pedestrians and bikes for the most part that we used. On it, CBHC members drove us to the different villages they support and to their various medical offices. The landscape there was breathtaking…I already fell in love with Uganda’s beautiful green land but this was amazing. And if someone were not taking us around, we would have been utterly lost because houses are off on different paths and seem isolated from each other. The villages are located almost in a forest, which again, was beautiful and seemed almost surreal because it was so peaceful. But I can see why they need community based healthcare so much. I imagine it is extremely difficult and time consuming to seek medical services in town if one is moving by foot or even bicycle and if one has many family obligations, it becomes a major problem.

One image sticks in my mind…the site where vaccines were being administered to young children whom were brought by community mothers. It was done on a few benches by a small church on top of a hill. It seems very provincial when I explain it like this but there was something very nice about it. I mean…these services are being provided in what seemed like a very remote area, but it works and people there recognize the value of CHC in their lives…I think we can learn so much from this type of scenario. For now, I can’t articulate the feeling I got from this experience until I figure it out for myself, but I can at least say that it was like…finding a rare and beautiful flower in a thorn-bush in the backyard of an abandoned building, as if people forgot it existed…and then finding small flower buds growing with a closer look. One may get pricked in the search but the mere sight of the flower makes it worthwhile and fulfilling. I say this because these communities are marginalized and suffering, but as in any situation where there is human compassion, hope exists.

As I am seeing more and more during this trip, communities seem to benefit the most when they are empowered with skills and given autonomy to work in small collectives.

This was the case with CBHC…in addition to giving medical services including vaccines to children and ARVs to HIV/AIDS victims, they have organized three 30 members co-op groups on the parish level. All members of the groups are beneficiaries of programs and are those who are caring for 3 or more OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children). The programs are geared towards helping the caretakers of orphans, so in turn orphans can benefit. Groups started by being given cattle and goats which were bred consistently and now all groups members own animals (which is a major asset here and can help with income generation and nutrition for a family) and the group as a whole sells animals. After accumulating capital, they have organized some microfinance projects as well in order to start other small businesses.

Well….thats all for now. Thanks for reading!

Encouragement

7.25.06

I am more encouraged everyday that we not only can organize a successful and sustainable internship at UNC, but also help the displaced communities of Masese and Kakira. At times when I have dwelled on the issue of being able to assist those communities and simultaneously put together an internship, it has seemed very difficult in light of the fact that our school is on the other side of the world and sustainable development takes work ON THE GROUND. But after realizing that there was someone right under my nose all along who can be trusted to do groundwork for us when we leave, I think it can be done.

So, as I’ve said before, in both communities there are tailoring projects, which have been stopped because of a lack of funding and we hope to be able to assist them. However, to mobilize at home to get enough money for this will take time and that will mean that they may just be waiting for us and we are not 100% sure we will be able to work with them as of yet. It would be great if those groups started with something now.

I met a woman named Claire here last year who works for the Salvation Army in Uganda. She is Ugandan, and was once an orphan but was able get through college…so she is very adamant about getting children who roam the slums into school. Lack of schooling for young children in Uganda, due to lack of school fees, might definitely be the biggest internal setback to this society next to AIDS and malaria. She now cares for 9 orphans and pays for some of their schooling, while she has found sponsorship for the rest from other sources. She has even started a primary school through the Salvation Army and assists in teaching.

She has extensive experience in community organizing and feels strongly that funding must be met internally. Her opinion is that if money comes from outside sources, it is more likely to be used inefficiently or squandered. When she does community work, she starts by having a “community conversation” in which members discuss their problems AS WELL AS the assets in the community which can be utilized. This is important because when a group simply discusses their problems it can be very disempowering. It can also encourage dependency because psychologically, if promoting your problems to others brings benefits, then why not do it all the time to all who will listen instead of doing for yourself?

So, after a leadership (chairperson, treasurer, secretary) are elected, the group (usually of women since they the primary family caretakers) meets once a week and EVERYONE, whether one has a job or not, must contribute 1000 Shillings (about 60 cents) each meeting. Self-sacrifice will bring a true feeling of ownership as well as a well thought out plan for using the funds.

Eventually, members can take loans from the pool and people’s turns rotate. During this time, other services are given to the group such as business skills and improved literacy. Although this is a small start, I think this approach has potential to grow very large within a year or two.

Claire is soon losing her job at the Salvation Army because they want to move her to a new location. So it would be great to get her on board to start these things immediately if the internship could secure some money ASAP. We will see what happens…she is preparing some reports about how these programs work for me to bring back to UNC.

Pader District and FRO (Friends of Orphans)

7.21.06

We are now in Gulu Town of Gulu District in Northern Uganda. We spent yesterday traveling and unfortunately didn’t get here until the evening. So we have only one day to meet with groups here – we plan to meet with the director of the peace studies program at Gulu University and possibly a couple of other groups.

We spent 3 days in Pader Town of Pader District - Pader District and town were created in 2001 and they used to be a part of Kitgum District. Pader Town was at one time considered the epicenter of violence in the conflict so since its creation, until recently, the district has been unable to develop very much. The town is more of a township and is surrounded by Pader Town IDP (internally displaced person) camp. In fact, we were staying behind FRO’s office in Pader Town in a motel of sorts, and directly behind us was part of the camp. I think the camp’s population is around 28,000.

The camps are a sad place but not too different from the displaced communities of Jinja except for the building structures. People are idle but many are conducting some economic activity, mostly in the form of selling agricultural produce, which includes production and sale of local gin. There are many children with potbellies from malnutrition and who WAIL when they are upset. This to me was the saddest part. However, people are still living their lives and trying to maintain – there may be more hope than you’d expect. These people are the epitome of resilience, especially the women.

We also visited Lira Palwe Camp, about 20 minutes from town, and met with beneficiaries of FRO’s programs there.

The road to Pader alone tells you that the District has been marginalized – only a skilled driver could manage it. It is covered with potholes and there are whole chunks of the road missing, so while driving on it FRO’s driver was constantly swerving and shifting gears. The truck didn’t have the best shocks, so needless to say this leaves on soar, especially since half the people traveling there are in the back of pickup trucks.

FRO was the first group to use the roads leading to Pader in 2004 when it was till very dangerous and its staff all has stories of near ambushes from the LRA. All of FRO’s staff is from Pader because they are the only ones who have been unafraid from the start to work there. Fortunately, it is much safer there now, although there is still not running water or electricity there although other Northern Districts have it.

Through discussions with FRO and what they showed us we learned a lot of the latest developments about the situation. One example is that the World Food Program (who has been the only org. providing foodstuffs in mass) is continuously reducing its supply of food provided to the camps to encourage people to move out of the camps to farm – the policy of beginning to move away from the camps, ‘decongestion’, is a policy that many NGOs and groups have been advocating but it is a slow process since people are still afraid of the LRA (which is now much weaker than its ever been).

I was very impressed by FRO’s work in the North – Jen and I learned a lot about grassroots organizing. FRO has an elected committee in each camp in Pader District which is made up of 5 camp members who do the ground work for them. For instance, the committees identify the most vulnerable people in the camps, such as orphans living in child headed households or HIV/AIDS victims, to become the beneficiaries of various sponsorship and empowerment programs. Also, FRO is planning to train the committees in human rights monitoring (something largely ignored during this conflict) and in HIV/AIDS care. The committees, along with local government reps, have identified families in the camps which are most heavily affected by HIV/AIDS and which it will train in how to care for family members that are HIV positive. In this way, families are empowered to care for their own more effectively. THIS is grassroots development.

FRO also has a vocational training center in Pader Town Camp where it conducts tailoring training for child mothers (mostly former abductees) and carpentry training for formerly abducted men and boys. The projects are supported by the European Union. So far, the first group of people trained has graduated and were given start up kits which included equipment to help them start their own businesses. The biggest challenge is funding to provide a sufficient amount of materials in order to get beneficiaries started though.

FRO is adamant about empowering people to help themselves – they say they give people 25% and they have to do the rest, which makes sense in order to truly make people self sufficient.

The problem that FRO has found is that international NGOs, although doing some good work in the North, sometimes make it harder for smaller CBOs to do their work. For example, intl NGOs have paid the committee to do ground work for them and this sets expectations for FRO to do the same when it does not have the capacity to do so.

This is only some of their work – they also do peace building exercises, sports and games programs for the children they sponsor, they plan to help some people start piggeries and poultry farms, and help identify the most vulnerable IDP camp members for other groups. They work closely with many other CBOs in Pader and there is a strong CBO network there in which groups support each other and work together.

Conclusion
Being in the North has only strengthened my conviction that grassroots groups are the ones doing the best work. Only they truly know how to benefit their communities in a sustainable or even entrepreneurial way. They and their families have been affected by the war and they are major stakeholders in their work. International NGOs and groups should support their work rather than trying to come in with their own ideas and projects.

I hope that our internship program can accomplish this. I have been thinking about sending interns to the North as well – hopefully the security situation there will continue to improve, because if you want to learn about sincere grassroots development, this is where it is. FRO’s biggest challenge is capacity building – there is not even an internet café close to town and they don’t have updated computers, equipment, etc. If we could find interns to assist which some of this, they would greatly improve their capacity to find funding for projects.

But again, interns would only assist in grassroots projects and learn from them. People here are more than capable of improving their situation, they just need a little assistance.

I have been thinking about a name for the program as well – ‘Uganda Grassroots Development Internship Program’ – I think it’s a unique concept and now that we have many sites all over Uganda to potentially send interns, it could attract a wide array of students in different fields of study.

I know this was long. Thanks for reading. Take care.

Community meetings

These are the seeds of development. Community members organizing and speaking about their concerns. Community members wanting support but not charity. Community members genuinely seeking to assist each other. THIS is the root of development.

We have found that in both Masese and Kakira there are tailoring projects that were originally set up by FRO about a year ago. Women in the communities identified as those who are the most in need of a sustainable income are trained in tailoring suits, dresses, etc. They are especially in need because they have children and other orphans to care for (which seems to apply to everyone…after the war and displacement, many have orphaned nieces and nephews). Because of a lack of funding and other complications, the projects were cut short only a few months into the training and there was also no funding for materials, rent and to pay a teacher to train the women. So for the last few months, they have been just waiting to find a way to renew funding.

The reason I am encouraged by finding these projects is that it may give us the base we need to build on in terms of helping to building community programs. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, a multi-faceted approach to a community based program seems to work the best and be the most beneficial. So, helping with providing some funding to resume the tailoring projects would just be a first step (if we decide to take that route), hopefully coupled with business management training and once capital accumulates, a microfinance scheme and some kind of psychosocial support to address other community needs are possibilities.

I was reminded today that the biggest concern of people in the community is school fees for their children. At least 5-6 people stressed this during our meeting in Masese today. And to me, empowering people with a way to make a sustainable income is the first step to addressing this issue, although it will not get immediate results. I’d much rather have parents be able to pay then for fees than for outsiders to send money which might not last. But it is understandable…I mean there are so many kids who are idle all day because they cannot afford an education.

The meeting with Masese was still very encouraging though. About 25-30 people came and told us all about the project and its expenses, etc. and what they wanted. Many men from the community showed up as well and were very interested and committed in seeing this project resume. They plan to elect members into leadership positions during this next week so that we can stay in touch with them. We plan to meet with the leadership next week to discuss the next steps.

The meeting in Kakira two days ago was Ok as well. The best part was we met a guy named Donald who works for the community development branch of the government and what he was saying about that issue was exactly what I wanted to hear. He helps community based groups in capacity building and is adamant that community building comes from the grassroots up. And I agree wholeheartedly. We plan to meet with him alone soon.

Well, we are off the North tomorrow. Can’t wait…might be a little nervous, but still can’t wait. It is most likely that this will be my last blog for at least a week since there isn’t running water and electricity there (for the most part).

So…until then take care and Peace be with you…

Community Dynamics - always remain concious of them

7.16.06

I haven’t been able to post anything lately because we’ve been pretty busy…being back in Jinja Town (the main town in Jinja District), I’ve been catching up with a lot of friends and other people I met last year which has been fun. Its weird…it seems like nothing has changed here.

In terms of Jen and my work though, I can definitely say that things have become more complex as we’ve discovered new developments in the relations of FRO and the Jinja communities. You couldn’t know it until you’ve seen it first hand, but here, just like any other relationship or community, there are interesting power dynamics, which can include loyalty and therefore a certain amount of competition, and which can result in a retrogression of progress in development. I of course saw some of this last year but now certain unprecedented splits between people that used to work together have left Jen and I wondering how or better yet, who, we will work with most closely.

This of course will not hold us back, but will make us more critical of the effects of our work and the dynamics it creates. Another unfortunate reality is that whatever we decide eventually (which won’t be until well after we’ve arrived home…we want to plan this carefully with our steering committee at school), we inevitably create community dynamics by just stepping foot in the communities. For example, if we walk around with one individual, others might see it as us making a commitment to that individual and therefore it could discourage them from being open with us. Its not always that extreme but it can be.

On a positive note, we’ve been meeting the right people, have a pretty good schedule planned for the rest of our trip and are encouraged that after a LOT of brainstorming, we will have a program here in the future.

New info about war

7.12.06

Today we met with a representative of NUPI – Northern Uganda Peace Initiative – a group that works on peace building in Northern Uganda – specifically preparing the nation for the national reconciliation process. It was a very informative meeting in terms of furthering our understanding of the conflict and its dynamics as well as in getting more contacts to get in touch with both in Jinja and in the North.
According to him, Uganda has seen some 25 armed conflicts since its independence, which was in 1962 (I think). The reason for this is the same that many other African countries suffer from instability and insecurity – that the notion of a ‘nation’ is arbitrary in the first place. For those unfamiliar with this - in 1885, at the Berlin Conference in Europe, the European imperial powers divided Africa amongst themselves without knowing a damn thing continent. So of course different ethnic groups were grouped in the same country without their consent. Throughout the period of colonialism, which technically ended in 1950s, 60s and 70s (although for the most part economic control was never relinquished by the white imperialists so Africa’s economy is now in a state of ‘neocolonialism’ under foreign corporate control), the imperial powers exploited African people’s ethnic and geographical differences, thereby exacerbating potential conflicts. This is the cause of conflict in many of Africa’s wars today and even most of its modern problems in general. The point is, the lack of peace in Uganda is much deeper than just this war. It is rooted in social and other differences which were caused by British colonialism and the practice of each government regime since then. So, there is no sense of Ugandan nationalism or unity.
What was very interesting about our conversation is that we learned that as of now, Ugandan president (or strongman…whichever you prefer) Museveni has no interest in prolonging this war any longer than he has. It is obvious that for a long time it was very much in his interest because as long as he could claim that there was a war, he received Western aid which he invested in building up the government military (UPDF), as well as the fact that the war was destroying his historical enemy – the Acholi Tribe in the North. Now, Museveni is not receiving as much aid and his military has been built up so he is interested in bringing peace to Northern Uganda – at least more so.
In the last 1 or 2 weeks, there has been a lot of talk in the Ugandan news about so called peace talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government, which are supposed to be being mediated by the vice president of the Sudan (borders Northern Uganda), who is a member of the SPLA. The newspapers here write about a new development in that process everyday but its hard to know what to believe and what is being sensationalized.
Apparently, these talks are really just a show. The origin of the idea of the talks is not even certain. As in any conflict, every party has their own interest in mind and the situation is very complex. The SPLA, who was an ally of the Ugandan government and fought the LRA for many years, now wants stability in Southern Sudan in order to develop its destitute economy and society. This of course is just a very short description of this situation though.
My point is that the “war” in the North is not so much of a war now, but more a series of isolated incidents. The current lack of security in the North is now more caused by incidents committed by individuals and individual groups which whom claim to be part of the LRA but are really not.
For more info about this conflict please check my first blog or this website – http://www.ugandacan.org/.
There are more than 400 NGOs working in Uganda and unfortunately this fact has not resulted in a substantial improvement in the lives of most Ugandans suffering from the wars effects. As before, the fear factor that 20 years of death and destruction perpetrated by the LRA remains a key factor in the lack of sustainable development in the North. Until security for the indigenous population is sincerely felt by those people, this situation will remain a one of the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Many more people are dying from living in the decrepit IDP camps in the North from disease and overcrowding than from any armed conflict there.
Jennifer and I will soon see this for ourselves.

Kasese and the Center for Environmental Technology and Rural Development (CETRUD)

7.10.06

Development. It means different things to different people and its meaning is often used in the wrong context. Well, sometimes development means something that looks very small to us in the West, but it makes a huge difference to people elsewhere. And I am definitely not talking about opening McDonalds and spreading American pop culture.
On Sunday afternoon we arrived in Kasese, a district that less than 10 years ago was affected by the massive war in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. This was a massive conflict that many people haven’t even heard about although 4 million Africans were killed because of it. 4 million!!!! That is definitely not development nor progress, but it definitely benefited someone, because 6 of the 7 sides fighting in that war were supplied by the American government with arms. Interesting how we claim to encourage development but advocate self-destruction. If you haven’t read about this before please look it up.
We are here learning from a community based organization called CETRUD – Center for Environmental Technology and Rural Development. We have been visiting their programs, etc. with their coordinator, Godfrey, who is great. He is very experienced and informed about sustainable agriculture as well as in managing his organization. CETRUD trains people and helps them to establish small businesses. The communities they assist are largely made up of people who’ve been moved their due to various social conditions, and so, they are marginalized just like the communities we aim to help in Jina.
It has been very encouraging to see the people that owe their success to CETRUD. We visited small general stores which sell soap, salt, sugar and other essentials, as well as farms growing pineapple and many other fruits and vegetables. The owners of those businesses received both vocational and business management training from CETRUD and some have managed to invest their accumulated capital in other businesses such as restaurants and cafes. When I say restaurants, it is probably not what first comes to mind to us in the West. These are smaller and in a rural area but probably more inviting that you’d expect. I will post pictures later.
The best part was seeing the huge pineapple plantations – so beautiful…
Godfrey showed us the center where they train people in organic agriculture. They grow plants which are natural pesticides so that they don’t need to use chemicals. Many of the techniques they teach encourage coexistence of different types of plants because they help each other grow. One of the plants (I forget the name) extracts oil, which is used in the bug spray we use and it keeps bugs from eating the fruit. There were also many plants that serve medicinal purposes.
At the center, they also sponsor orphans to go to school. These young children also learn about agriculture so they will have those skills when they grow up.
After someone has received some sort of vocational training from CETRUD, he or she (usually she since woman are the primary family caretakers here) plan what type of business would be the best for them to start with CETRUD depending upon their condition and skills. CETRUD has tried doing micro-finance but has not yet done it at a large scale because it only works when people have enough capital. I never understood that notion until now and here is why that is – if you give someone that has nothing $50 to invest in business, you’d expect them to invest in business. But if that person has sick children or other emergency needs, naturally, they will use some of that money for that need before starting the business. With whatever money they may have left, they probably cannot make enough in time to pay the interest on the loan, and, eventually, they will lose their property or other assets as a result. Because of this, CETRUD is committed to first helping people to establish themselves, and only after to encourage investment and diversification.
In the Jinja communities last summer, I had heard of many people running away from their home because they could not pay back microfinance loans, and I am now beginning to understand how that happens.
We visited one woman today who is a perfect example of success through investment and microfinance. She started with growing different crops by her home, then to cooking and eventually opening a restaurant next to her home. She basically has a self-sustaining vertically integrated business – right at home! And she also allows her house to be used for some of CETRUD’s training programs.
Development. It takes a lot more than just a simple loan or donation. Development – it doesn’t necessarily globalizing the world for the benefit of a few. The word means a lot more to me now.

I will post more soon. Take care.

1st week - delayed blog

7.8.06 - This is getting posted late because of difficulties in getting to the internet (power outages, etc.)




It is now day 6 of Jen and my trip – we have gotten in touch with some genuinely helpful and knowledgeable people already and I am optimistic that we will accomplish all we set out to do this summer.
I won’t go into much detail but please take this advice – never ever travel on Ethiopian Airlines! The bag I checked in Washington arrived in Uganda 3 days after I did, and because our first flight was delayed by 3 hours (for no apparent reason) we stayed a night in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and arrived in Uganda one day late. No big deal, but their operations just seem to be extremely inefficient.
After arriving in Uganda, we first met with the program coordinator of Friends of Orphans, the Community based organization (CBO) that will be hosting our internship program in the years to come. We discussed our plans and the logistics of the internship and our stay here. Between then and now, we’ve been making many calls and sending many emails in order to meet with groups and individuals around the country.
Tomorrow morning, we plan to visit a CBO in Kasese, which is in the most Western part of Uganda (a 7 hour drive). A few days later, we will travel to Jinja, where we will speak with the communities that we aim to help in order to become familiar with any new developments there. From there, we will visit two communities in Eastern and Southeastern Uganda called Mbale and Busia as well as a community outside of Kampala called Mukono. In each place we have contacted CBOs that do community advocacy that we can learn a good deal from. After that, we will visit a friend of mine in Nairobi, Kenya who is working with another Carolina program called Carolina for Kibera, and then we plan to visit several districts in Northern Uganda for a few days to see the empowerment programs that Friend of Orphans is running (apparently, it is much safer now in the North than it has been for many years)*. Afterwards, we should have a couple of days in Kampala to wrap things up and meet with anyone we didn’t have time to see. Throughout these travels, we will be meeting with various other contacts such as the coordinator of NUPI – Northern Uganda Peace Initiative, and the Red Cross.
We are currently staying in Kampala with an extraordinary woman named Mahnaz who directs a Johns Hopkins – Makerere University (Kampala) partnership program here called MuJhu. I met her last summer here and she happened to be back the same time as us. Her hospitality and insight about the health and economic situation in Uganda is amazing. She has in fact led an amazing life herself is a source of strength and positivity to many people, including myself. For example, her 14 daughter plans to start her own organization called Income Generation Across Borders to provide a market for MuJhu craft making projects.
Today, Jen and I visited the very organized MuJhu program and were very excited to see how they operate. They started as a clinic addition to Mulago hospital providing ARVs and psychosocial support to HIV/AIDS orphans and families affected by the disease. Eventually, they adopted a more holistic approach and began craft making projects for women who were treated at the hospital. As I’m sure many of you have heard me say before, it is much better to teach one what is necessary to help themselves sustainably rather than to simply help them for a limited time period. Something I heard a couple of times from MuJhu members was “treat the people, not the disease.” This approach of first providing services and through that avenue organizing income generation activities is definitely something to think about for the internship program. A good friend once told me that anything that is to be sustainable and create self sufficiency in a community must “organically develop.” Makes sense.
One of the most striking and encouraging parts of the program was the resulting awareness in the children (I think ages 5-15). These kids are extremely educated about HIV/AIDS and its dynamics…I mean they know a lot more than the average American OR Ugandan citizen. They sang songs about it and even did poetry! One 13 year old girl, a leader of the children….man, she could spit! Apparently, she was even invited by the US Congress before and testified about the situation many people face here.
Women who join the MuJhu crafts program are trained to make crafts from local materials such as banana leaves, paper and another dry leaf. The handbags, baskets, jewelry (picture) and other items they produce are of amazing quality, especially considering the low cost of input and relatively small amount of training needed.
The craft collective started with only 20,000 Ugandan Shillings (about $11), and their collective saving now stands at about 500,000 Ush (about $300), which of course only includes what’s been saved. Pretty amazing. They have even been able to start a microfinance scheme through their savings which has been successful.
One of the most interesting parts of their program is the ‘organic gardening’ which is ideal for the Jinja communities that the internship program will seek to assist. After being trained, one can grow cabbage, onion and many other produce out of a rice sack filled with soil. This means that owning land is not needed for one to produce their own food. This is ideal for Jinja communities because most people living there have a background in agriculture, however lost their land in the war and do not have enough land to farm where they now live.
Jen and I plan to meet with the committee chairs of the MuJhu program soon to discuss in depth how their programs have found success and the logistics involved. We can learn so much from them because the people in the program have truly become the driving force behind their success.
One last thought – this being my second trip here, I feel much more at home and it is easier to get along. However, when observing projects in communities and considering how we can help, I cannot shake the feeling of being an outsider. Of course I knew that I am an outsider, and although I know we are approaching our work with the right attitude in recognizing that any success must come from the motivation and ideas of community members, I still hate coming in from the outside as if I know something they do not. Truth be told – I simply am lucky enough to have the capacity and time to devote to studying what can be done and trying to spread and organize those ideas.

Thanks for reading and feel free to respond. Peace be with you.

*according to several sources, it is now common for people traveling to the North to ride without military protection, which used to be necessary. In fact, if you check the news (check Uganda – CAN website), the LRA and Ugandan Government are supposed to be starting “peace talks” in Southern Sudan soon, which are to be mediated by officials from the Sudanese government. Everyday, there is a new headline in the Ugandan newspapers about the latest developments in the conflict/negotiations.