Bureaucracy

I knew it was inevitable—as an administrator of a new school, I would be obligated eventually to visit government offices in Kampala and somehow try to navigate the red tape involved in getting the school licensed etc. I’ve been able to put it off for a while, but this week the time came to start the process in earnest. Fortunately, I don’t have to start right from scratch as people here have already made contacts in the Ministry of Education and Sports and are familiar with the basic process. Arleen took Evacy (the Ugandan Headmistress) and me to Kampala to introduce us to people who could be of assistance and to show us how to find the appropriate offices.

Many of the things I expected of a trip to visit a government office occurred:

1. We had to go through an inefficient security process before entering the building.

2. We opted to take the stairs (since taking an elevator would require more trust in Kampala’s power supply than we were willing to give) and the offices we needed to visit were on the top floor.

3. The offices were off a very narrow, dark hallway packed with people waiting to see various officials, and when peeking into open doors, I saw offices with the entire desk and shelves covered in random piles of (no doubt) very official and important papers

4. We had to interrupt the secretary of one bureaucrat as she was eating her lunch at her desk only to find out that the man we came to see was not available. She did help us by giving us his contact info so we could make another appointment on another trip to Kampala

5. In order to pick up copies of some pertinent documents, we had to visit the “photocopy room” located in a 6’X8’ room in the basement of the building equipped with a single photocopier. There was another security routine to endure here as well, and Evacy had to sift through a large stack of dog-eared papers to determine the ones we needed. Then the lady (who'd also had her lunch interupted by us) had to photocopy the ones we’d chosen on a slow machine that didn’t automatically photocopy double-sided copies so each sheet had to be fed through manually. Then a receipt had to be prepared by hand for the $1.50 we’d spent.

6. We discovered that another office we’d intended to visit had moved to another building and the man that we needed to see there was away at a course.

7. Just as we arrived at another office to pick up old copies of exams, we learned that the woman who could help us had just driven off, leaving the room locked. In fact, she passed us in a car as we entered the parking lot.

It was actually not a total waste of time. We made some new contacts that could be useful; I now know where to find these places and what to expect when I go, and we picked up some helpful documents. Despite the bureaucratic hassles that we experienced we were encouraged by a sign we saw posted on the stairwell of one of the buildings we visited. It was a photocopied piece of paper hung beneath the No Smoking sign, and another urging people to “use a low voice when speaking on cellular phones” and the message typed on a computer notified readers that they were “entering a zero corruption zone.” Good to know!

Football

It's June 11, which means the long anticipated "Africa's World Cup" has begun in South Africa. I was in Kampala today and you could tell people are getting very excited--wearing team jerseys, lining up to get connected to digital satellite tv, and poring over the schedule in the newspaper. It will be very interesting to see how the tournament progresses, and as Uganda isn't in the World Cup it's also interesting to see which teams Ugandans support. Today, I heard Argentina, England, South Africa and Cote D'ivoire to name a few.



Ugandans don't leave it all up to the professionals, however. The workers here play a daily game of very lively football during their break. It doesn't appear that they are following the exact rules of the sport, but it sure looks like they are having fun. You haven't seen a challenge until you see guys playing soccer on uneven, sloped ground wearing gum boots on their feet; somehow they make it work. Here's what lunchtime looks like around here:

the line up at the mall in Kampala to get hooked up to satellite TV

Savings

It is clear to see that people here live hand to mouth, and few people have extra money saved for when some kind of emergency occurs. A member of the family gets sick, and they don’t have money for treatment. They have to travel to the burial of a relative and they don’t have money for transport. They need to make repairs to their houses and don’t have the funds to buy materials. The list goes on and on and the needs are great.

In order to enable our workers address some of these issues, we have a savings program that they can choose to participate in. It is a very simple system that makes a huge difference for people. If they want to get involved, we put aside a pre-determined amount from their salary in an envelope and keep it for them until they need it. The men are amazed at how their savings add up and they are able to use that money for a variety of things. Some have bought livestock with their money which further increases their family income; some have made improvements to their houses and many have been able to pay emergency medical or travel expenses with their own money.

Last week, I was fortunate to see firsthand how this savings program empowers our workers. The rest of my team was away for a few days, so I was the sole muzungu on site; therefore I was the one the workers came to with questions or issues (this is not my normal role—usually they go to Paul or Karl.) One of the landscapers approached me along with another worker who acted as translator and told me that the other man needed money to go to a clinic to have some stitches removed. Apparently, the man had been robbed and the thieves had slashed his arm in the process leaving a gash all the way down the inside of his forearm. The wound had healed enough that they stitches could be taken out. They told me that he had savings with us and he would pay me back once Karl (who had his envelope) was back. I happily gave him the 10 000 shillings (about $5) knowing that he was good for it.

The next day he came to my door to pay me back. The look of pride on his face as he handed me the money really touched me. He seemed so happy to be able to pay his debt so promptly. In a place where people often ask us for money or have to borrow money from relatives or friends, it was so encouraging to see someone who was able to afford to pay for medical care with his own money. It’s just another example of how a small action can make such a huge difference for people. Merely putting aside a few dollars a month of their own money allows these men to improve their lives in significant ways.

a 10 000 Uganda shilling note, worth about five dollars

Gardening

One of the aims of the Timothy Centre is to train local farmers in sustainable farming methods. To that end we have a demonstration plot on our property where we grow some local crops using these methods. Most Ugandans subsist on the produce they grow in small gardens, and these plots are very important as the crops they grow are what keep people alive. More effective farming methods designed to minimize the need for chemical pesticides or fertilizers as well as using seed from the harvest will allow these farmers to increase their crop yields and provide food for their families and maybe even a surplus.

We are currently growing maize and beans in the demonstration garden, since a staple of the Ugandan diet is made from these crops. They grind the maize into flour, steam it in banana leaves in order to make posho (a starchy substance similar to mashed potatoes) which is served with boiled beans. Eating posho and beans together make complete protein, so it is a fairly nutritious meal for people who don’t have a lot of variety in their diets. It is also VERY filling and we muzungus can never eat much of it!

So far our garden has been growing well. We have already had one harvest and we’re looking forward to a second successful harvest in a few weeks.

the demonstration garden

healthy maize

the beans are coming along nicely

the fate of the crop--our cook preparing posho and beans for the workers' lunch