June

I’m sorry this post is so late and we missed blogging about the 2^nd part of our trip! Tess and I just got so caught up with doing workshops and being with our new friends that we completely forgot to blog. So here is how the rest of our trip went and what we have done since we got back!

Workshops

The workshops continued to go extremely well! Everyone was learning so fast and they all continued to want to learn more. For a lot of our final workshops we let everyone have free time to practice what they wanted and we would stay close to help them out and answer questions

Rwanda attempt #2

So we successfully received our Visas for Rwanda and finally managed to go. Unfortunately the trip to the boarder was not as smooth as the first time. We got to the bus stop very early to make sure we did not miss the bus, but for some reason, the bus didn’t stop there! The ticket seller was on the phone yelling at someone (probably trying to figure out what was happening) and he told all of us (including the other people at the bus stop) to get on bodabodas (motorcycle taxis) and follow the bus. After a nice long ride, we finally caught up with the bus. And then there was fighting between the bodaboda drivers and the bus ticket seller over who should pay for the ride…it got pretty intense!

After an extremely tiring 8 hour bus ride, we finally make it to Kigali! Kigali is an absolutely amazing city! The infrastructure was so modern, the streets were extremely clean, the roads were maintained, the bodaboda drivers wore helmets, and the people are very friendly! If I didn’t know I was in Rwanda, I might have mistaken if for a city in North America!

We spent the night at a very nice guesthouse. First thing the next morning we went to the National Genocide Memorial Museum. This was the most emotional museum tour I have every done in my life. I cried harder than I have in very long time and felt feelings that I have never felt before. I left the museum feeling very depressed, but I am glad we did that first, because the rest of the trip was extremely inspiring because I knew the details of the horror that had happened in the country just 17 years before.

That afternoon we walked around the city to see the sights. We were both very excited when we found North American food! After pigging out on pizza and pastries, we went to a market to do some souvenir shopping.

The next day we went to go meet a woman from Vancouver, Cathy, that Tess had been connected with. Cathy works street children and runs a nursery school in Northern Rwanda. She is a very inspiring woman and has done some amazing things!

Unfortunately that was the end of our trip. The next day we bused back to Uganda. Rwanda was a very emotional and inspiring trip. I know that I will go back there, hopefully for much longer than 4 days! Everyone can learn so much from Rwanda and their history.

Final Goodbyes

As the end of our trip neared, we had to start saying goodbye to everyone. We had dinner with Victor and the rest of the board from Ankole Secondary one night, and we had dinner with Laboire from Kimunyu as well. Victor and Christine also invited us over for lunch with their families on the weekend.

We went to Ankole Secondary one last time to say goodbye to the students. We showed some movies on the laptops and took lots of pictures. The students at Kimunyu did a little show for us to say goodbye the next day. All the classes sang songs and danced. It was very nice, but sad. I do admit that I cried when I was saying goodbye to the students.

Jinja!

After we left Ibanda, we did an “End of Trip Adventure” to Jinja in Eastern Uganda. In Jinja we did white water rafting on the Nile!!! And we did a horseback-riding trip along the Nile as well!! It was absolutely amazing!!

The flight home

The 2 months past so quickly! On June 28^th we had the long trip back home. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time in London like we did on the trip to Uganda, but that was probably a good thing.

Back to Reality

Being back in Vancouver was kind of weird at first. It kind of felt like Uganda was all just a dream. I started appreciating the things that I missed while I was in Uganda, for example; fast internet, a large variety of flavourful food, and reliable electricity! While I was glad to see my family again, I really didn’t want to be back. Being back meant having to be back in the reality of school, work, and money…Eventually I started to accept the fact that I was not going back to Uganda, at least not for a couple of years, and that I had to get back to my life here in Vancouver.

Update From Ibanda!

We started the workshops with the Ankole Secondary students two weeks ago and they have been going really well! It has been a little hard because we have been teaching with an average ratio of 11 students to one computer and with that many students it is hard to give each student time to practice what we are teaching them. But we have been doing our best to work it out and it seems as though the students are really enjoying the workshops.

We started by teaching the students basic computer skills (how to use a mouse, how to create a folder, etc.) and we moved on to Microsoft Word. Yesterday we started Microsoft Powerpoint with them because Powerpoint is a fun program to work with and we thought that they would like to know how to use it. The students have expressed the wish to learn how to record on the computers, so Tess downloaded a free recording program on to the computers for them to use. They are also very interested in music and like to listen to a CD at the end of each workshop.

During our first workshop, I was blown away by how perceptive the students are. After the workshop we like to give the students some free time on the computer to be able to practice and explore. After having only taught them the basics of how to use a mouse, I left the room to talk to Tess, and when I came back I saw that the students had found the games on the computer and wanted me to show them how to play them. After showing them Pinball, I left the room again, and when I came back they were playing Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 on the computer because that was one of the sample songs that were on the computer. They then asked if we had any other music on the computer and we told that we didn’t, but we told them that they could bring a CD or we could bring a CD to have them listen to at the end of the next workshop. I found it amazing how after only learning how to use a mouse, they were able to navigate the computer and they found the things that interested them the most without any help from us.

Last night we decided to do something nice for the students so we went up after classes were finished around 7pm and we did a movie screening at the school. We showed two movies (one on each computer), Bad Boys 2 and a Nigerian movie called Butterfly. The students seemed to really enjoy it and we are hoping to be able to do it again next week.

The workshops with the teachers at Kimunyu Memorial Primary School have also been going very well! A new group of teachers arrived for the start of the term, so Tess started with the basics with them while I continued teaching more programs with the other teachers. It is amazing how fast everyone is learning, we are teaching programs, like Powerpoint, that we didn’t think they would be interested in or that we would have time to teach! But everyone is just flying through the workshops we have prepared and are going into new programs.

On Sunday we went to go play at the local soccer field with some of the boarding students at Kimunyu. It was so much fun! We played a ball game with the girls and then we showed them some games and they showed us some as well. Monday was Tess’ birthday, so we went out with some friends we had made. It was a fund night!

Last weekend we tried to do a trip down to Rwanda. We got up nice and early on Thursday morning to get to Mbarara where we caught a bus down to the boarder. When we got to the border, we found out that we were not able to buy a Visa at the border like we had been told by a number of people. Apparently we had to apply for it on the internet and wait for a couple of days to see if we are accepted, print off the Visa and then bring it to the border with us. So we turned around and made the long trip back to Ibanda. We have applied online and have been accepted, so we will be leaving again for Rwanda tomorrow morning…let’s hope it works this time!

I hope everyone is enjoying the amazing Canucks spirit in Vancouver right now! I have been waking up at 3am to watch the games…it’s tiring but so worth it!!

That’s all for now!

Update From Ibanda!

We started the workshops with the Ankole Secondary students two weeks ago and they have been going really well! It has been a little hard because we have been teaching with an average ratio of 11 students to one computer and with that many students it is hard to give each student time to practice what we are teaching them. But we have been doing our best to work it out and it seems as though the students are really enjoying the workshops.

We started by teaching the students basic computer skills (how to use a mouse, how to create a folder, etc.) and we moved on to Microsoft Word. Yesterday we started Microsoft Powerpoint with them because Powerpoint is a fun program to work with and we thought that they would like to know how to use it. The students have expressed the wish to learn how to record on the computers, so Tess downloaded a free recording program on to the computers for them to use. They are also very interested in music and like to listen to a CD at the end of each workshop.

During our first workshop, I was blown away by how perceptive the students are. After the workshop we like to give the students some free time on the computer to be able to practice and explore. After having only taught them the basics of how to use a mouse, I left the room to talk to Tess, and when I came back I saw that the students had found the games on the computer and wanted me to show them how to play them. After showing them Pinball, I left the room again, and when I came back they were playing Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 on the computer because that was one of the sample songs that were on the computer. They then asked if we had any other music on the computer and we told that we didn’t, but we told them that they could bring a CD or we could bring a CD to have them listen to at the end of the next workshop. I found it amazing how after only learning how to use a mouse, they were able to navigate the computer and they found the things that interested them the most without any help from us.

Last night we decided to do something nice for the students so we went up after classes were finished around 7pm and we did a movie screening at the school. We showed two movies (one on each computer), Bad Boys 2 and a Nigerian movie called Butterfly. The students seemed to really enjoy it and we are hoping to be able to do it again next week.

The workshops with the teachers at Kimunyu Memorial Primary School have also been going very well! A new group of teachers arrived for the start of the term, so Tess started with the basics with them while I continued teaching more programs with the other teachers. It is amazing how fast everyone is learning, we are teaching programs, like Powerpoint, that we didn’t think they would be interested in or that we would have time to teach! But everyone is just flying through the workshops we have prepared and are going into new programs.

On Sunday we went to go play at the local soccer field with some of the boarding students at Kimunyu. It was so much fun! We played a ball game with the girls and then we showed them some games and they showed us some as well. Monday was Tess’ birthday, so we went out with some friends we had made. It was a fund night!

Last weekend we tried to do a trip down to Rwanda. We got up nice and early on Thursday morning to get to Mbarara where we caught a bus down to the boarder. When we got to the border, we found out that we were not able to buy a Visa at the border like we had been told by a number of people. Apparently we had to apply for it on the internet and wait for a couple of days to see if we are accepted, print off the Visa and then bring it to the border with us. So we turned around and made the long trip back to Ibanda. We have applied online and have been accepted, so we will be leaving again for Rwanda tomorrow morning…let’s hope it works this time!

I hope everyone is enjoying the amazing Canucks spirit in Vancouver right now! I have been waking up at 3am to watch the games…it’s tiring but so worth it!!

That’s all for now!

Computer Literacy and Increasing Innovation

We are reaching our three week mark in Ibanda. The progress of the Computer Literacy Program has already become apparent.  Jess and I have completed the computer workshops with the teachers at Ankole Secondary School – with a total of 7 teachers and 6 hours, we are very proud of the teachers ability to use a computer, Microsoft word, and Microsoft Excel. We are now moving into the next phase of our program, which involves working with the Ankole secondary students. They trickled into school as term two resumed this past week, and we began the workshops. 

The Ugandan educational system operates differently than the Canadian. Students entering a new level (grade) must write an exam at the end of the school year that will determine whether they move onto the next level. If they pass, they enter into the next level when school resumes. If the student fails, they must repeat that level. The students are organized into levels by their recall of the year’s knowledge rather than their age. Due to a variety of reasons (financial, personal, or other obligations) some students are unable to finish a term and may end up repeating a level.  We therefore see students of a variety of ages in each level. 

On Tuesday, Jess and I had the immense pleasure of starting the Computer Literacy Program with the Ankole Secondary School students. The school consists of 50 students, all in Senior Five and Six (the equivalent of Grades Eleven and Twelve), many of which are between 16 -22 years old. It usually takes a couple of days after the term starts for all the students to arrive. We therefore only taught 21 students, mainly Senior 5, on Tuesday, and had more complete attendance during our second workshop on Thursday. 

I was very curious as to how many students had used a computer before. When the workshop began, the first question I asked was who had used a computer? In both workshops, a total of two individuals had previous experience on computers prior to a CASA workshop (this being out of a total of 24 participants). This contrasts sharply with the overwhelming presence of computer literacy in Canada. Most children growing up in Canada over the past 10 years, most likely longer, are exposed to and taught how to use a computer. They are a vital part of our educational system and social life (a shout out to Facebook and Twitter). I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know how to use a computer, a common experience of most children in Canada. I was therefore surprised at the lack of computer literacy at Ankole – not surprised in a condemning, judgmental way, for if we unpack some of the reasons as to why this is (lack of access to computers, no previous incentive, unable to afford the internet café, never being taught how to use them) the lack of computer literacy makes sense in this particular context. I was surprised by how many fell under these unfortunate circumstances, and the resulting implications. 

I am currently reading The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs, a prominent and insightful economist that has worked with restructuring developing economies for the past 20 years. His book contains a holistic diagnosis and multifaceted treatment of poverty in developing nations, mainly extreme poverty that afflicts 1/6^th of the world’s population (as determined by the World Bank). 

Sachs presents innovation and invention as being main contributors to a countries economic growth in rich countries. Conversely, the lack of such innovation in developing countries prevents, and in some cases causes decline, in economic growth. This is not due to reduced innovative capacity on the citizen’s part within developing states, but rather the size and scale of the market. Currently, 98% of all patents worldwide are held by 20 countries, all high income and mostly residing in North America and Western Europe. These countries have environments conducive to support innovation. They all contain larger markets that can both invest in new developments and support products new to the market. In turn, this encourages innovators to create new products, for they will gain their invested capital back, plus some. A culture of creating and inventing develops if there are individuals or companies that can fund and purchase technological and medical advancements. To sum this up, the size and scale of the market greatly determines the level of innovation within a country.

Citizens of developing nations do not have access to the same capital as those living in high income nations – there is less money to conduct research, develop, and market innovations. More importantly, many developing nations do not have the same market size as high income countries. The market in many developing nations is compromised and unable to support new developments due to poverty and lack of financial surplus. We therefore see a stunting of innovative growth in some developing nations, which acts to further inhibit economic growth. 

So what does this have to do with computer literacy? It is unrealistic and egotistical to assume that by teaching students to use computers the innovative capacity of the nation will be increased – there are too many other factors that influence this type of growth. But reading Sachs’ book has encouraged me that we are moving in the right direction. The students and teachers have learned the basic necessities for operating within the world of technology, a small step towards increasing innovation. Increasing the market size in Uganda will also greatly contribute to increasing innovation and development of new technologies. Such is true development – a multifaceted approach that brings together different forces to contribute to economic growth. 

Working with Ankole students has been such a rewarding experience. The students are curious and enthusiastic about learning how to use a computer. Their intelligence and speed at picking up the computer basics has us moving far faster than expected! With three weeks left, they will probably be teaching me a few things about computers by the end!

First Two in Ibanda!!!

I am currently having trouble uploading the pics so I will do that as soon as our internet connection gets a little better. For now enjoy the rest of the post!

Pic #1: Me cooking the Sweet Potato Pancakes on a fire stove in the Hotel’s kitchen.

Pic #2: Tess cooking the Sweet Potato Pancakes on a fire stove in the Hotel’s kitchen.

Pic #3: Tess and I when we visited Laboyre’s (the headmaster of the Kimunyu Primary school) mother.

Pic #4: Tess and I after we got our brand new tailored dresses. The tailor put the extra fabric on our heads in the traditional way.

Pic #5: Me wearing my new dress during the picnic at our friend Roy’s farm.

Ibanda has been amazing!! Both Tess and I have been so busy with computer workshops and meeting new people that we have barely felt these past two weeks go by. Just now we totaled all the statistics of our workshops to date and we were so surprised by the numbers. We have held 22 hours’ worth of workshops, totaling 11 workshops, and taught 17 participants.

Everyone in Ibanda has been extremely accommodating! The ladies at the hotel are so nice, and while they think our food orders are weird, they don’t complain. The other day Tess and I went to buy some sweet potatoes and we made sweet potato pancakes in their kitchen…which is not the kind of kitchen you are probably thinking of. I have posted a picture of us cooking on the fire stove! We are still a little weary of buying things from places that don’t have set prices because we are pretty sure that most of the time they will give us the “mzungu price” and we would pay more than an average citizen. We are slowly learning what things cost and we are starting to catch people who do that, but we are still working on it.

The workshops have been going extremely well. As I mentioned earlier, we have held many more workshops than we had thought. All of the teachers that we have been teaching have picked everything up very fast. One thing that I really like is seeing them all work together to figure what we have asked them to do. They have also really enjoyed the typing program that we have provided for them to improve their typing. The headmasters at both the Kimunyu Primary School and Ankole Secondary School are very happy that we there and they have been very helpful in getting us settled in the town. Students go back to school on Monday and we have been invited to Kimunyu for their opening ceremony as well as to read a story to the students! We are very excited to do this, but I believe the students may possibly be even more excited than us because a lot of them have seen us walking around town and they really want to meet us. Also, starting Tuesday we will be starting workshops with the 50 secondary students at Ankole Secondary School. We will be teaching the secondary students every Tuesday and Thursday until we leave. We are very excited to meet these students (whose age ranges from 17-22 years) and learn of their ambitions for the future.

This trip has been a very big learning experience, especially around culture. Before we arrived we were told some of the cultural differences to expect, but being told is nothing compared to experiencing it and trying to get used to it. One thing that we have definitely started to notice is “African Time”. In North America time is everything…here not so much! People have shown up one hour late for things and not even phoned to say they will be late or to apologize. It is just expected that people will arrive when they arrive. We have also noticed this with our food. We will order it for 6pm and it won’t come out until 7 or 7:30. We are definitely learning patience, as hard as it is we are learning to accept it. Another thing we have noticed is how blunt everyone is when talking about people. In North America we would consider calling someone “the fat one” to be extremely mean. We would also take being called “chunky” as an insult! Here, they are very straight forward with describing people and it is not at all meant to be mean or an insult. The other day the headmaster of the primary school was talking about a women we had met and he started his sentence with “do you remember the women you met the other day, the fat one?” at first I was taken aback, but then I remembered that when they describe people, they say what they see. One thing that I really like here is how body image does not mean anything. Being skinny actually makes people believe that someone is not being well fed! Being on the larger side is considered healthy and beautiful and no one cares! It is such a nice change from the North American culture where everything seems to be about being skinny and looking “beautiful”. Here, beauty is who you are, not what you look like.

For the first little while, we were the only white people in town. But a few days ago, we bumped into two guys from England who will be working in one of the local secondary schools for 2 months. And yesterday, I met two guys from France who were from the European military base 15km away and I saw 3 other guys who I also think were from the military base. They were stopping in on their way to Queen Elizabeth Park. It’s funny, after being the only white people in a town for a couple of weeks, when we see other “mzungus” even we do a double take!

Well that is it for now!! Have a good last week of May!!

Managing Expectations

Ibanda Town is saturated with individuals who are taking the reins on good community development. We have been interacting with principals, teachers, government officials and entrepreneurs who are focusing their energy to improve their community and increase the quality of life in Ibanda. We are very fortunate to be volunteering in such an atmosphere – vital to sustainable development is local participation and ownership over development initiatives. Even though there are many locally driven initiatives, Jess and I are still faced with the challenge of managing certain expectations surrounding development that have resulted from years of western-lead projects in Uganda. 

Expectations, the preconceived hopes for what will be accomplished or achieved, must be managed in all aspects of life. Here in Uganda, the history of mzungo (Swahili for ‘foreigner’) interactions with Ugandans specifically and Africans in general has increased the importance of managing such expectations. Managing expectations must happen on two fronts. First, our own expectations of what CASA can accomplish as an organization must remain realistic, and second, we must be conscious of the local expectations of mzungos.  

CASA has come remarkably far in the short time we have been established. With thanks to all our supporters and volunteers, Jess and I are in now in a position to set up a project in Ibanda with community partners. A major part of our role is to be realistic with what we as an organization and as individuals can accomplish. It does not help anyone to make promises that we can’t keep. Yesterday, for example, we were approached by a teacher from a rapidly growing city in Uganda. He asked, politely yet persistently, if Jess and I could come to his community after we were finished the computer literacy workshops in Ibanda to implement similar workshops at the primary school he works at. While this may be a project Jess and I have the time and resources to do at the end of our time in Ibanda, we cannot say yes to people’s requests without considering the resources we have available, and the reasons as to why we are being asked to assist in a particular situation. In addition, teaching computer literacy sounds great on the surface, but is it a practical and useful project within this other community? I naturally want to say “YES, we will come!” but of course this would be making promises that I may not be able to keep, nor may be effective in the long term. As a representative of CASA, I must remain realistic and approach any potential project with pragmatism. 

The second, and more impactful aspect of managing expectations, is our increasing awareness of what is expected of mzungos. There is obviously varying expectations held by those within the Ibandan community, but we have noticed some general trends in the past couple weeks. The most obvious, and relatively true, expectation is that all mzungos are rich. In comparison with the GDP per capita, Canadians are vastly wealthier than the average Ugandan. Even being students, Jess and I lead comfortable lives in Canada that exceeds many Ugandans. It is undeniable that we have more money, yet this does not lead to the conclusion that we should fund all requests made by those we meet. 

In the past, many non-profits and development agencies have approached development from a charity perspective. This differs from a development perspective, as the concept of charity is allocating resources or services to meet an immediate and pressing end, such as food relief after the devastation of a natural disaster. Effective development, on the other hand, focuses on projects that do not create dependency between the donor and receiver, involves local participation and ownership, and is sustainable in the long-term. The charitable activities by many organizations in Uganda has contributed to the expectations that mzungo’s role in development is to give money. Being two of a small number of mzungos in Ibanda (so far, we have met two other gentlemen from England, and a small handful of people from India), we have encountered this expectation in the form of having children hold their hand out and ask us for money, as well as adults share with us their struggles in paying for their children’s medication in the hope that we will pay for it. Are we to blame these individuals for holding these expectations of mzungos? Of course not, for many have grown up in a society where wealthy westerners and organizations operate from a charity perspective and do give money for such things. 

A deeper current which runs through all these observations is the idea that many people, both here and at home in Canada, seem to believe that more money will be the solution to problems encountered by those in the developing world. If we just gave the poor more money, paid for their medicines, paid for their children’s school fees, paid for their housing, then the problems would be solved. In some instances there is a need to provision resources and give charity, but this approach needs to be coupled with empowering individuals and helping to create situations where individuals have more opportunities in their lives to provide for themselves. Using charity as a form of development will not lead to sustained improvement of quality of life, but rather create a cycle of dependency and disempowerment. If the west were to constantly give money, the message we send is that those in the developing world are not capable of providing for themselves.

From my observations thus far, money invested in community development projects should not just be a means to an end, but rather a tool so further capital, whether it be capital in the form of knowledge, skills, or money, is created. Ibanda consists of individuals who understand this, but we have also encountered those asking for handouts. I am very interested in challenging some of the expectations which we have encountered through dialogue that unpacks the reasons and truth behind sustainable development, as well as the types of projects CASA becomes involved with.