I think this week I have finally reached a stage of comfort with Uganda. I’ve finally got my taxi route to school down pat. I’ve learned along the way that to get places faster you need to choose the taxi’s that are already full so that you don’t stop every 5 seconds to gather more people. I’ve managed to cut my transportation time by half! Also this week, in the span of 5 minutes I managed to figure out my practicum!! For those of you who don’t know, as part of our program each student has 6 weeks to do either an independent study or a practicum/internship in whatever you are interested in. During that time we also write a paper, and present it at the end to different supporters of our program, and sometimes even government officials.
So, yesterday our guest speaker was a man named Celestine who is a professor of entrepreneurship at Makerere University in Kampala. He is currently getting his PHD in community development. He bought some land in a village about an hour from Kampala for a garden, and as he was going to his garden he realized how devastated the community was. The community was suffering from severe poverty and HIV/AIDS. Also, surrounding the community are 3 large tea companies who do not even employ the community members. If they do employ community members they end up paying them “50,000” Uganda Shillings per week. That is the equivalent of $20. Oh, and on top of that the companies provide beans and cassava for the families… but of course that is going to cost money out of their paychecks. The only reason that families have to take the food is because the workday is too long for them to go out to the market and buy food, so they are forced to get it through their paychecks. Some people end up working a full week for no pay at all just to survive and provide food and shelter for their families.
Sorry to get carried away, but back to the main point of this blog post. Amongst the many problems this community suffers, Celestine decided he wanted to help them. As an outsider of the community, he felt that he had the tools and skills to make this community an efficient and growing community. Because he is a teacher, he started with gathering the community and asking them what they believed the main source of the problems facing their community were. After blaming food security, ignorance, the tea companies, lack of resources, an old man finally said poverty. From there, the community along with the assistance of Celestine, was able to come up with solutions to alleviate poverty in their community. Celestine implemented the idea of “clustering”, which involves gathering groups of people to produce one thing so that the group has more capacity to sell in the market. Celestine has also used his own money and connections with the university to bring teachers with technical skills such as soap making, piggery, craft making, and farming practices, to come and show the community members to produce more. This has benefitted the community in so many ways, and is enabling the community to generate an income outside their everyday domestic selling. He is also doing this all by himself, and funding this community himself. He says that he is waiting for the community planning to be implemented and more legitimate before he gets outside funding. He especially wants to keep government funding out in fear of political corruption and possible tensions coming from the community. Basically this man is an amazing caring man. At the end of the presentation he asked us if we had any ideas that might have an impact on the community, and I found myself just as enthusiastic about this community as he was. My head was churning with idea generation, and I felt I might actually be useful in a community development start up like this!
After the presentation I went up to him and told him about our practicum, and I offered to volunteer for him, and in return I would learn from him and the community. His excitement was so warming that I was drawn right in. He was so excited to hear my ideas and was so open to whatever help I could bring to the community. All in all, I think that this is the best possible opportunity, and the experience I get from this is going to go with me in whatever career I decide to pursue. Considering he is just beginning to benefit the community, getting the opportunity to work with a startup community project rather than an already developed project is fantastic. Though I know it will at times be frustrating and irritating, I think what it will teach me is worth it. :) Oh yeah, and on Saturday I'm going to the Uganda Cranes vs. Kenya Futball game!!! I'll keep a play by play in my head to share with all of you.
Maya, please don't go to the game, there are many warnings by the us department ""American citizens are urged to avoid public venues, such as sports bars, night clubs, and restaurants, which will be broadcasting these games, as well as public transportation, such as buses, to and from the events,"
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