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

Creativity

I just returned to Uganda after a brief trip home to Canada where I had the opportunity to visit with family and friends. My departure from Uganda was affected by the volcanic ash situation over Europe, but I managed to find a (very long!) way home, for which I was very grateful! It was a great holiday and now I’m back in Masaka and re-adjusting to life around here.

The Timothy Centre site has changed a lot in my absence—there are now plants in the beds in front of my house; roofing the administration building has begun; the exterior of the houses have been painted by a visiting team; there is now a gate for our housing compound and the brick retaining walls in front are in the process of being covered with slate. Everything is looking great!

Yesterday, the workers took some creative initiative and added some flair to the retaining wall (see below) I’m definitely back in Africa!

(map of Uganda....not to scale!)

Heavy Equipment

This morning, Arleen and I went out to meet with the District Education Officer, because we had some questions regarding the licensing process for the school. When we left, there was a truck that had come to dig a well on the property that was too heavy for the soft wetland and had sunk to its axles in the mud. We managed to squeeze by them and get out of our driveway, but when we arrived home again, this is what we saw blocking our way:



Yes, that is a tow truck with its front wheels off the ground. We parked our car right there, and walked the rest of the way. Here's why:


It was trying to pull a well-drilling truck out of the mud. How stuck was this truck? See below:


The above photo was taken after about an hour and a half of trying to dig the wheels out. Here's another view of the scene:

And a closer look (when we left for the DEO's office, there had been no digging, so that tire was barely visible.)

We left this morning at about 9:45. It is now 1:30 and the scene doesn't look that much different now. They're going to have to basically build a rough road to be able to get it out of there. Just another day really...

Cheese

I almost couldn’t believe my eyes, was I seeing what I thought I was seeing? How could it be true? It was April 1^st, this must be someone’s idea of a joke. There it was, just sitting in the freezer case looking as innocent as can be, like it had always been there and nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Yes, there it was... a wheel of gouda cheese AND it was selling for 18000 Uganda shillings! A mere $9.00! Here I was picking up a few things at Smartshopper, (Masaka’s largest supermarket) never suspecting that I’d see such an amazing thing on such an ordinary day. Will wonders never cease?

Let me provide some background in order to help you understand why I was so stunned. Here are some basic facts:

1. Ugandans don’t eat cheese in their regular diet.

2. check it out in a cookbook if you don’t believe me, but Westerners eat cheese in some form or other probably every day. We like it particularly in many of our favourite comfort foods—pizza, mac and cheese, TexMex, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. We also use it in countless other meals, appetizers and desserts.

3. Being far from home makes you crave comfort food...a lot!

4. until fairly recently one couldn’t buy cheese in Uganda

5. nowadays you can buy a variety of cheeses (feta, cream, cheddar, processed) in Kampala, but it is expensive

6. cheese is not an item that Smartshopper usually stocks

7. we normally have to travel to Kampala-a 2 ½ hour drive away- to replenish our cheese supply as needed and we are very willing to pay 25 000 Uganda shillings there for the privilege. (that’s about $12.00)

So perhaps you can begin to see why I was so delighted with this discovery. If Smartshopper begins to stock cheap(er) cheese here in Masaka, it means we might be able to live an almost Kampala-free existence here. And that means fewer trips on that dodgy highway, less time spent in the crazy Kampala traffic and a lower petrol bill. Sweet!

Actually, that’s not exactly true. We may have scored cheese in Masaka, but if we don’t go to Kampala, we can’t stock lettuce, broccoli, Kraft dinner, chicken that has been skinned, boned and conveniently packaged, red peppers or sour cream in our fridges! I guess Kampala continues to be a necessary inconvenience from time to time. That’s ok, Kampala also has shopping malls, movie theatres and guesthouses where I can blow dry my hair; it’s not so bad!

P.S. Think of me when you open your lunch bag and unwrap that cheese sandwich you have every day. Don’t take cheese for granted!