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.