Scrapbook of a Restless Soul

Troy Davis: Political Prisoner on Death Row

2008-10-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

Troy Davis: Political Prisoner on Death Row

We contend that but for the racist bigotry, and the insensitivity of the government in Georgia, Troy Davis would not be in prison or on Death Row today…
-Thomas Ruffin, Jr., Legal Counsel for DC Black August Planning Organization

Troy Anthony Davis has been a political prisoner on Death Row for more than half his life. His death by lethal injection sentence, which has been scheduled and stayed (put on hold) three times in the last year and a half, has most recently been stayed by the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

His plight has not been in vain. The fight to save his life is far from over, thanks to his sister, Martina Davis-Correia, and others, who have listened and acted. The Campaign to Save Troy Davis, a nationwide conglomerate of groups interested in social justice, has spread awareness about Davis and demanded his retrial. In DC, grassroots organizations, such as the Black August Planning Organization (BAPO) and Nat Turner Rebellion, have played an integral role.

And yes, Davis is a political prisoner. His political crime? Being a young, educated Black Man in the state of Georgia who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If political and social dynamics, as well as racist state institutions, contribute to the wrongful incarceration of an individual, then that individual should be classified accordingly.

These dynamics are apparent in Davis’ twenty year legal battle without even considering the proven nationwide racist and classist sentencing of the death penalty. In this case, as many Davis supporters have said,

“The evidence speaks for itself.”

BACKGROUND
In 1989 Davis was accused of murdering a white police officer, Mark MacPhail, in Savannah, GA. He was convicted and sentenced to Death Row in trial court in 1991.

There was no physical evidence, such as a gun, ever found linking Davis to the crime and his public defender apparently did very little to help his case. Seven of the original nine witnesses who testified against Davis in trial court recanted their testimonies, which they claim were made under pressure and threats by the police who were angry about MacPhail’s death. In an affidavit, Jeffrey Sapp stated,

“I got tired of them harassing me, and they made it clear that the only way they would leave me alone is if I told them what they wanted to hear. I told them that Troy told me he did it, but it wasn't true.” (Amnesty International) The other witnesses gave similar statements in their recantations.

Chatham Co., GA District Attorney Spencer Lawton was the prosecutor in Davis’ 1991 murder trial. In a recent interview with ABC News, he outlandishly attributed the similarities in the seven witness’s reasons for recanting their testimonies as an “uncanny coincidence.”

In addition, new affidavits suggest that the actual killer was one of the only two original witnesses who did not recant his original testimony, Sylvester “Red” Coles. In an affidavit Joseph Washington said,

“I saw Sylvester Coles – I know him by the name Red – shoot the police officer. I am positive that it was Red who shot the police officer ...” (AI)

Since his conviction, Davis has tried various legal maneuvers in order to receive a new trial and present new evidence. Both the Georgia State Supreme Court, as well as the US Supreme Court as recently as October 14, 2008, have reviewed and denied (without providing reason) his appeals for clemency. The US Supreme Court’s decision ended its stay of execution, and on October 15, 2008, the Georgia State Department of Corrections issued a new execution order for Monday, October 27, 2008 at 7 pm.

On Wednesday, October 22, the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit stayed the execution in order to give both Davis’ defense attorneys and the prosecution time to present their arguments about whether or not Davis should be granted a new trial. A large part of the court’s decision will depend on the ability of Davis’ lawyers to prove that it was impossible to present the new evidence until recently.

Davis’ difficulty in being granted a new trial has been due in part to the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which makes it extremely difficult for Death Row inmates to appeal their convictions. The only entity in Georgia with clemency granting power, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP), is made up of a five member panel, three with a background in law enforcement. Some would say that in Davis’ case, their ability to make objective decisions is consequently severely impaired.

ACTION & ADVOCACY
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, several hundred of Davis’ supporters were holding a mock funeral for him, while carrying a coffin and petitions with over 140,000 signatures, in front of the state capitol building when the court issued the stay. In Georgia, a state that is known for deep-seated racism and allowing the execution of Death Row inmates of questionable convictions (many which have been tainted with similar racial and economic dynamics), this type of action is unprecedented.

Davis’ freedom has become an international cause. As displayed on his website, he has garnered moral support from the European Union, Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu, just to name a few.

Just as important as the big name endorsements have been the efforts of grassroots organizers and activists across the nation. Some have suggested that just as in the widespread support the JENA 6 enjoyed last year, this is due to the capacity of the internet to spread awareness and organize. In the case of the JENA 6, consciousness and subsequent support from traditional civil rights leaders and groups came only after the blogosphere and other internet networks had already begun to take action.

During a September 23rd rally for Davis in front of the US Supreme Court, Thomas Ruffin, legal counsel to the BAPO and Chair of the Nat Turner Rebellion, said,

“There are some people who don’t think this [protesting] is the best way to do things…I happen to disagree.” He said that such actions display that the people are watching the courts.

During the same rally, which was organized by BAPO and the Nat Turner Rebellion, BAPO Chair Naji Mujahid said the action was in defense of civil rights and fairness, but not to appeal to the conscientious objectors of the death penalty.

“We’re not appealing to anybody’s moral conscious right now…innocence matters in this case.”

He also said the BPP tried hard to move forward with the death sentence in the face of mounting opposing pressure and a weak legal case because of a philosophy of “finality over fairness,” meaning it would rather kill an innocent person than “second guess” its authority or legitimacy in the face of the media and international attention. He said that the “legal lynching” sentence was a result of corrupt legal proceedings. He also mentioned that state of Georgia holds the second highest number of recorded lynchings of Blacks in US history.
The BAPO recently called for a boycott of Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola, both of which are multinational corporations based in Georgia. According to Ruffin,
“If there is an effective boycott, the companies’ income taxes will decrease, and this will put pressure on the state to step in and save Davis’ life.”

“I am Troy Davis” has become a popular mantra of Davis’ supporters. This is reminiscent of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous quote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

That being said, I am Troy Davis, a political prisoner on Death Row. I have been locked up for the majority of my life, but I remain hopeful.

I do not deserve to die for a crime I did not commit.

2nd Entry - Only 2 weeks left in Beijing

2007-07-31T05:37:00.000-07:00

A note about Internet in China

Only through usage of proxy servers have I been able to post on this blog, and even check some email accounts here. In fact, I wasn’t even able to view my own blog for a while because of what some call “the great firewall of China” (Wikipedia). There is extensive government censorship of the internet, which fluctuates in severity content targeted and can become a major pain at times.

My internship

I have been working at my internship for several week now, and I have been very happy with it. I am doing graphic design work for a start-up company called renmenbi.com, a market insights company that provides market information for foreign companies about the burgeoning business climate in China. Renmenbi (which literally means Chinese local money) was founded in 2007 by two brothers, Lac and Ken Tran, who are of Chinese decent but grew up in Canada. Each has extensive experience with technology and the internet. Through observation of their daily entrepreneur work and struggle to make Renmenbi succeed, I have been able to see and experience business entrepreneurship close up for first time; I have learned a lot, most important of which, is starting a business requires a vast amount of sweat and time.

Although it seems to become something that engulfs one’s life, I do think it’s very much worth it when things get off the ground, and based on what type of people they are and the market niche they are in, I believe they will succeed. Some of the services they providing are unique to the industry (such as an extensive bilingual business term translation – coming soon). In fact, they just moved into a new office and just launched an improved website – it’s very exciting to see concrete progress!

I actually appreciate them a lot because although I study visual communication (graphic design), my internship with them is the first time I have been able to use those skills in a real world setting. I am by no means a professional designer yet and therefore am not yet very fast with design, but the projects they have given me are allowing me to practice and develop those skills. As an intern, I am also interviewing foreign companies in China in order to produce case studies about the hardships and other important aspects of business in China.

The subject of the first case study is about the Chinese term guanxi – which basically meaning relationship/network cultivation. It is essential for any small to medium, and even large corporate foreign businesses, to understand this complex concept before doing business here. Believe me, it is more complex than it sounds. For more, check http://renmenbi.com/effective-ways-cultivate-guanxi

One must be able to tap into guanxi networks to get many things done. This requires fostering trust with potential business partners before one can really get into business.

Business in China

Through class and interactions with people involved in the Chinese business world, I have a few thoughts about this subject. Business in China, similar to everything else here, is expanding at an astonishing pace. According to a UNC economy professor, the Chinese economy is growing at about 9-10% a year.* The issue to many Chinese is how to maintain this expansion and prosperity (though not for all) without losing traditional culture, which of course is so old here. Business in China is by no means a new concept – China is one of, if not the most, oldest nations and cultures. Historically, people from all over the world came here to trade and China, whose aristorcratic and merchants classes were very rich and successful as a result. This changed with Western foreign invasion and conquest of the 1800s onward – something Chinese people are still very resentful of. And damn well justified to be so. It is refreshing to see a nation, that although is extremely capitalist and economy unbalanced, at least largely owns and control its own economy. We all know most non-European or Non-Western countries don’t have such power. All the same, because of its capitalist nature, China is also one of the biggest producers of trash in the world, and wastes a lot of resources and everyday packaging; it is also a major contributor to pollution – the air in Beijing is heavily polluted, but is supposed to get better for the Olympics.

Back to history - Conforming to ‘Western’ business practices, which were technologically more advanced and imperialistic by nature, China was no longer the great power it had been until recently. It has regained its economic superiority only by conforming to the world’s economic order – I guess if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. And this, I think (though I don’t much about this), is where the contradiction between China’s political and economic system begins.

The first question on my mind before arriving, and even now, is how is it possible for this very capitalist economic powerhouse to have a communist political system? Well…I still really don’t know. Maybe its for the sake of stability after many years of domestic turmoil and political movements. One extreme breeds another. Maybe. I have more insight on this…but that will go in the next blog when it is more developed…you expected some profound conclusion? Haha…

Last thing – check out the picture in the third to last blog – I took it on the great wall and I feel like it captures the essence of the title of this blog.

*One can witness it everywhere, from the physical landscape of the city – new sky scrapers are built within one year’s time – to the media attention China is given in US media. Some say they believe things are moving too fast, and after the 2008 Olympics, things could be out of hand. Others say that based on how much money foreign companies are investing here, they plan to stay here for a long time and business will only continue to grow, though at a slower pace.

About Renmenbi.com

For anyone interested, Renmnebi.com has articles about very interesting aspects of China – from which I have learned a lot. Because their website’s information is geared toward those being introduced to China’s very different culture, it is perfect for anyone just beginning to learn about it. I know many people are just getting interested in China for the sake of its expanding economic power, but without understanding its history and culture, one can really not make too much sense of why and how this phenomena is occurring. This applies to a foreign company as well – which is what makes renmenbi such a good idea. Below are links to a couple of good articles from the site:

http://renmenbi.com/pale-beautiful

http://renmenbi.com/face-and-guanxi-beginners

2007-07-08T22:48:00.000-07:00

For my China culture/business class, we were assigned several readings. One of them, entitled, ‘China’s Many Faces’ was very fascinating. As with many things that are foreign to us, we in the West* definitely have a homogeneous picture of China – its people, culture and history. I bet when the average American thinks of China, or even of the Far East in general, they just think of Samurais and kung fu. For those who keep up on world affairs, all we really hear about is the burgeoning Chinese economy and the communist government’s suppression of human rights. As the article states, our limited understanding of China, which is close to being the world’s economic power, is a result of the Western media’s depiction of China, although this in itself is not unique. What is different about the case of China is that it is likely to be the oldest remaining nation on Earth, and only because of its recent economic successes do we begin to take it seriously. A testament to Western arrogance.

According the article, China is in fact extremely diverse. We always describe (and take pride in) the US being a ‘melting pot’, when in fact China has been so for centuries.

As the article states, only 8 percent of China’s population is considered minority; however, this equates to 96 million people and 55 distinct ethnic groups (although this number is disputed – it could possibly be more like 400-500). Most of the minority ethnic groups reside near the borders of China, and are made up of many different religions, such as Buddhist and Islam, and claim Iranian, Turkish and Mongolian ancestries (and many more). This reality paints a much different picture of China than I was ever exposed to. Because of this great diversity, there have historically been many independence movements within China, which is still a great concern of the Chinese Government, the most famous example being Tibet. Reading this made me reflect upon the notion of nation building.

I recently returned from Cuba where I learned about its history. Cuban nationalists struggled to promote national unity throughout its history in order to gain independence from imperialism/colonialism. This inevitably equated to diminishing the importance of distinct racial and/or cultural attachments, to strengthen national Cuban identity. This was understandably necessary to fight external control of the island, but unfortunately at times, it meant the island’s great complexities were downplayed; although nowadays, this diversity is something in which Cubans take great pride. Similarly, in China, the national government has tried to promote national unity in order to build a strong nation, and this has equated, at times, to suppression of ethnic minority groups’ right to be different from what is supposed to be the ‘normal’ Chinese culture.

It is an interesting dilemma. I have not studied nearly enough about Chinese history to have an opinion, but the fact that the government has been able to maintain its nationhood in the face of domestic turmoil is part of the reason that it has become an economic powerhouse growing at a fantastic pace. The irony about its economy, which I have many questions about, is that in a country with one of the only remaining communist political systems (whatever that means…), is also home to what might be the most capitalist system in the world. If not more so than the US, it may be on its way to being so.

Being here now, I am constantly reminded of this fact. Simply by existing in the US, it is nearly impossible for one not to support the corporate power structure unless they do not buy anything, or do not at all engage in entertainment/informational media. So far, at least in Beijing (and I would assume in all of China’s big cities) I don’t think China is very different. For example, communication technology has taken over our lives in the US – cell phones, text messaging, IMs, etc. Walking around my college campus in the US, I constantly see people using their cell phones. Similarly, my Chinese roommate is always sending and receiving text messages just like many other Chinese people I have seen walking around – especially students. In the US, we also are constantly bombarded by corporate advertisements – billboards, commercials, etc. In China, it is no different, and maybe even worse –there are even TVs airing ads for Chinese products in the grocery stores here. Bottled water, which may be the biggest hustle I have ever heard of (3/4 of the Earth’s surface is water…why do we need to buy it in bottles?) is a Western phenomenon which is prospering in China! Tap water is not potable in China (it is full of chemicals that kill the bacteria), so either one must boil it or buy it in bottles. I recently read an article about how bad this mass plastic bottle production is for the environment, and how it is causing the mass privatization of water in the US and Europe, and I am sure that this trend is taking place in China as well.

2007-07-08T22:29:00.002-07:00

Carolina For Kibera (CFK) and Nairobi, Kenya

2006-08-02T01:43:00.000-07:00

CFK (http://cfk.unc.edu/ )is an effective community based program with an entity both at UNC and in Kenya, which has seen a rapid rate in growth since its inception in 2000. I believe that this is because its origins are unusually bold and people both in Kenya and at UNC work very hard to see the fruition of its goals; I am very impressed by CFK after spending a few days in Nairobi and seeing it firsthand, as well as discussions its members and volunteers, have given me valuable insight to supplement my own thoughts about developing an internship program at Carolina.
I am staying here with my good friend from Carolina, Aaron Charlop-Powers, who has been working here the last two summers.
I arrived here at 6 AM on Saturday after traveling from Uganda by bus overnight. At 9 AM, Aaron and I went to a village in Kibera to help with a morning cleanup – which consists of cleaning a FILTHY flow of greenish water streaming through the neighborhood. It is filled with all kinds of trash and waste. The goal is to unclog the stream as much as possible and then bag the trash and get rid of it. This is done every Saturday by different CFK affiliate community youth groups from Kibera, although its effectiveness is questionable because the trash seems endless. I was still very happy to see community youth organizing to help their community.
Kibera is the largest slum in East Africa and there are about 1 million people living there (more than ¼ of Nairobi’s total population). As described in a CFK sponsored book called Lightbox (available for purchase at http://bintipamoja.org/ ), which is about a CFK young women’s empowerment project, Emily Verellen describes the dichotomy of Kibera, the “The joy and suffering. Beauty and filth. Purity and disease.” In other words, there are so many inherent problems in a slum, however you easily find the inherent beauty in the people living there.
Kibera is a rough place where even residents get robbed (not too different from some neighborhoods in the US) and it has seen a high level of ethnic violence until the past couple years.
CFK officially registered as an NGO in 2001 after UNC alum Rye Barcott spent a couple of summers doing research in Kibera slums. When I say spent time here, I mean he actually rented a house in the community as thought he’d grown up here. For those of you who don’t realize the significance of this...for an American or any other complete foreigner this is unheard of because you become a target because you are assumed to be rich and much than likely, you are in relation to members of an East African slum. That move took guts to say the least. While living there, he got to know community members who were interested in helping the community and the organization took off from there. People attribute CFK’s growth to Rye, who apparently campaigned tirelessly to raise funding after returning to Carolina, as well as other former UNC students such as Kim Chapman (who has also been a great help to my internship program development) and the original CFK members efforts on the ground. Rye didn’t originally intend to start a program, but while here people told him that it was what they wanted to do.
CFK has a very strong Kenyan staff, an office next to Kibera slums, and the largest free clinic in Kibera which serves all of Kibera. CFK has four main components – the Binti Pamoja girls’ group, the clinic, a Kibera youth soccer league, and Taki Ni Pato (Cash is trash) youth group. Before reading about them, please note that these programs are much more intricate than I will describe – I just want to convey a general picture.
Binti Pamoja consists of 60 Kibera girls between 13 and 18 who have become very informed about reproductive health and sexual education through the program. They have become the educators because they organize community forums for youth to lead discussions and perform drama and musical acts to raise awareness about these issues. A typical community audience is about 200. One unfortunate aspect I have noticed in Uganda is that most women in the communities who I hear speak at meetings, etc. do not speak with confidence and act shy, as I would assume is true of Africa in general which is EXTREMELY unfortunate. I have noticed a huge different between how the men and women talk and act during community meetings in Uganda and the general difference is distrubing The culture is not one which encourages females to have strong opinions or to often say what they believe. The Binti Pamoja girls are just the opposite. (Empowered young women are great!) There are high rates of HIV/AIDS and sexual abuse and rape in Kibera which makes empowering women with appropriate knowledge and confidence all the more important.
The clinic was started a few years ago and is now assisted by the CDC (Center for Disease Control), the program manager for East Africa of which Aaron and I met with a couple days ago. Side note – meeting with important people with high profiles has been MUCH easier here. (example – last year I met the EU head representative and the US ambassador to Uganda). The funds to rent the clinic were raised by a couple of women from the community, Tabitha and Jane, who used money they earned from involvement in co-op groups to rent the offices. I think that Rye’s efforts in fundraising helped to sustain it. Tabitha died a couple years back so it is now called ‘Tabitha Clinic’, and Jane, who is GREAT, acts as the CFK ‘mother’, taking care of a lot of things. She seems to know everyone in Kibera as well. Just for an example of the amount of people they serve, I was told they saw 140 patients yesterday between the hours of 8 AM and 4 PM.
The futbol league has grown tremendously since it started. It was the pilot CFK program which was started to address 3 community issues - ethnic violence, youth unemployment, and public health. There are now over 5,000 members, between the ages of 10 and 30, who are involved in the league (the older men and women are trainers and coaches).
Youth are organized into teams, which are required to be ethnically diverse, and the members are required to help clean up the communities in shifts every week. They are also required to participate in reproductive health class a couple times a week and have more direct access to medical care through Kibera’s clinic.
‘Trash is Cash’ is a community youth group (age 18+) which started as an income generating activity as well as to address the environmental degradation of Kibera. Kibera actually means ‘forest’ and the land here was all forest until urbanization increased dramatically a few decades ago. In Uganda and Kenya, in the poorer areas, trash disposal consists of just burning the trash in large piles. There is not a sophisticated public system for waste management as there is in the US.
The group conducts the Saturday morning clean-ups in different parts of Kibera and conducts home sanitation visits in Kibera in which they collect trash and ‘sanitize’ the house. In other words, they fill cracks and do small repairs to upkeep homes and also do fumigations, etc. They buy cleaning products wholesale from SE Johnson, who is a partner in the project. This component is a very recent addition to their group and is part of a pilot program between a coalition of corporations. With the trash collected, they sort it and are given some money after turning in plastic and other recyclables to the private recycling companies. Food waste becomes compost and paper products are used to patch ceilings, etc. So, trash becomes a sustainable business.
CFK hosts UNC interns every summer whom pick a project that they think they can assist in based on their own unique abilities, etc. From what I’ve heard from people both on the Kenyan and American staff, it has been a challenge to find concrete work for interns to do that truly helps. This is the same issue which Jen and I have struggled with and we plan to do some serious brainstorming before returning home in the hopes that we think of some unique ideas. One possible scenario is that if we develop comprehensive descriptions of all of our potential intern hosts for potential interns, we could ask potential interns to come up with ways that they think they could assist those specific activities. For example, one volunteer with CFK decided to conduct creative writing workshops with the Binti Pamoja girls because she had experience with creative writing. Such a model is something to think about but any answers will take a lot of contemplation, discussion and reflection.

Ok Ok...one last story that I cannot leave out, although it’s not about CFK specifically...but amazing nonetheless.

When Aaron was here last summer, he just happened to be in the CFK clinic when a women from Kibera was about to give birth. He ended up in the clinic room and was giving the women moral support during the birth (holding her hand, encouraging her, etc.). He held the baby immediately after it was born – an experience I’m sure has become a major part of his life. (I’ve never witnessed birth, but I’ve often thought it must be like witnessing God). He asked what the baby’s name was, and they told him Aaron. Wow. Baby Aaron celebrated his 1st birthday yesterday and Big Aaron and I went the gathering at his house in Kibera. We ate some delicious homemade food and chilled with baby Aaron’ family. Both the parents are HIV positive but seem completely healthy (the father now works for the CDC at the clinic) however all of their 6 six children have tested negative. I feel very lucky to have had the chance to experience some of what Aaron has become a part of. You can check the full story at his last blog entry; you can find the link under my favorite links on the top of this web page.

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

2006-07-28T07:38:00.001-07:00

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?...

2006-07-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-27T12:10:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

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)

2006-07-21T02:34:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

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)

2006-07-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-06-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! This was started to communicate to friends, family, colleagues, etc. while during my stay in Uganda from July 3-August 6, 2006.

For those who are not aware, a 20 year war has ravaged Northern Uganda, and as a result, 2 million people have been displaced. About ¾ now live in Internally Displaced Persons IDP) Camps in the North, and a few hundred thousand have migrated elsewhere. Some now live in communities of Jinja District in Southern Uganda (near the source of the Nile River), two of which are called Masese and Kakira.

This summer, fellow UNC student Jennifer Monroe will be laying the groundwork for the internship program, for now called UNC – Uganda Internship Program, we are in the process of developing at our school. We will be visiting organizations whose programs and projects have been successful in helping people affected by conflict, poverty, disease and other challenges to empower themselves, resulting in improved family and community life. We are specifically interested in visiting programs and projects which have resulted in improved living conditions for families. In this way, we will learn what methodology has yielded the most consistent results in improving community self-efficacy and sustainability. We will apply our research to the projects we want to help establish in Masese and Kakira as part of the internship program.

The purpose of the UNC- UIP program is to help the communities of Masese and Kakira empower themselves. As a result of this displacement, IDPs face a vast array of negative dynamics (more below). UNC – UIP will send student interns from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to Masese and Kakira each summer, starting next year, to participate in the community programs which it establishes.

During the summer of 2005, I conducted research as a part of the TUIP (Tufts University Internship Program) which resulted in the development of community assessment reports for both Masese and Kakira. They outline the history, the current condition of and interests (in terms of community programs) of the communities. Pictures from last summer can be found below.

I worked with Friends of Orphans, a CBO (community-based organization) in Uganda in Pader District, Uganda, who is the host partner of the internship program. FRO’s knowledge and experience with IDPs and the communities of Jinja is extensive; it is an integral part of the development of the UNC – UIP program. FRO, based in Pader Dsitrict in the North, was founded and is run by former child soldiers and most of their efforts are directed towards empowering AIDS orphans and other former child soldiers with education and vocational training.

Background Info - the war and its specific effects on Acholi now living in Jinja:

A 20 year war in Northern Uganda has displaced approximately 2 million people, most of whom are from the Acholi Tribe. The war is between rebels in the North named the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government. The LRA recruits by abducting children between the ages of 8 and 14, exposing them to brutal violence in order to desensitize and brainwash them, and forcing them into child soldiering. Over 30,000 children have been abducted while the brutal war and dire situation in which the Acholi now live has drawn little international attention and support, even though innocent civilians are the main victims.

1.6 million IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) now live in squalid, over-crowded government camps in the three Northern districts where the conflict is located: Gulu, Pader and Kitgum. Although the government requires that Northerners stay in the camps, it does not offer any services within the camps. All food comes from the World Food Program which provides only 60% of the amount of food needed.

The Acholi were once a productive and prosperous people, as I learned from FRO and other elder Acholi. Because they owned an abundance of land in the North, they have historically been agriculturalists. This was their major means of subsistence and economic activity. Some Acholis held various skill-based occupations, such as blacksmithing, but the majority were farmers. After being crowded into the IDP camps, they have ceased almost all economic activity because of a lack of land and motivation common to disenfranchised populations. Other IDPs have moved to different regions of Uganda and face similar troubles but different dynamics.

The slums in which we worked were largely disconnected from the rest of the Jinja district and somewhat neglected by local service organizations. The mistreatment and neglect that the IDPs encounter from the indigenous Jinja population may partly be a result of historical division between the North and the South in Uganda. This rivalry was exacerbated by British colonial rule (1898-1962), which favored Southern tribes such as the Baganda. In the South, the Acholi are generally viewed as a tribe of militants and warriors, although they are historically a rational and peaceful people. They have made many attempts to mediate in the government/LRA war. The Acholi do not want the ICC (international Criminal Court) to comply with President Museveni’s requests to prosecute the LRA, which is mostly made up of Acholi abducted children. They believe that the bloodshed is not likely to stop if the LRA is made to feel insecure about its status after the conflict. The Acholi are ready to reconcile and get on with their lives as I was told by almost all community members whom I interviewed as well leaders from an Acholi group called ARLPI (Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative).

When I asked people in Masese and Kakira what they needed most, the overwhelmingly prevalent response was "school fees" for their children. Lack of schools fees is a tremendous problem in the slums and a common dilemma in the overall Ugandan community as well. In Uganda, tuition is not free and there are extra costs such as uniforms and supplies. As a result, many children never receive an education, or discontinue their education, although the fees are minimal in American dollars. It seemed that this request for school fees reflected a dependency syndrome which will be discussed further in this proposal.

Unemployment is also a major problem. Many IDPs told us that they moved to Jinja in hopes of finding jobs but faced only more problems after arriving. Means of income generation include fishing, brewing gin called "waragi", small scale gardening, gathering firewood for sale and retailing produce. Some make small household crafts, cut and sell timber, coal, and small fish. Some even sell water by the jerry can (a commonly used container). Many men and women are casual laborers, such as security guards and gardeners, who make sixty cents to a dollar for an eight to ten-hour day of work.