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.

Ibanda: A welcoming introduction to our new home

On Sunday evening, Jess, Jane and I arrived in Ibanda from our incredible weekend at Queen Elizabeth Park. This past week has been great as we have started to orient ourselves with Ugandan culture, seen examples of effective community development in Kitengesa, and experienced the beauty of Uganda’s geography and wildlife. We now begin the most important part of our trip, that being working with the Ibandan community and starting the computer literacy workshops.

Jess and I are in Ibanda for two main purposes. First, we will be seeking out local organizations involved in community development that CASA can partner with. This phase of CASA’s development is exciting as the partnerships we form while in Ibanda are designed to be long term, locally driven, and follow a development (rather than charity) model. These partnerships will form the base of future volunteer programs for Canadian students wishing to volunteer abroad. Second, for the next seven weeks we will be teaching computer literacy workshops to teachers, secondary school students, and a mico-financing business co-operative.

Since arriving in Ibanda on Sunday, we have been fortunate to meet with inspiring individuals and potential partnering organizations that are focusing their energy and time on improving their community. On Monday we visited the Kimunyu Memorial Primary School in Ibanda. 300 students from Baby School (the equivalent of our pre-school) and Primary 1 – 7 (the equivalent of Grade 1 – 7) attend the school (although they are on break until May 28^th). Kimunyu Memorial has very basic resources, such as textbooks and teaching materials – as of now, there are only two or three textbooks per class of more than 30 students. What impressed me the most was the administration and Board of Kimunyu Memorial. The school is operated by individuals who are committed and extremely passionate about improving its standards. The first thing I noticed about the school was how dedicated the principal and teachers were to create a better community by improving the primary school.

Jess and I are going to be working with ten teachers at Kimunyu Memorial Primary School, as well as the Principal, teaching them how to use computers. They are very interesting in learning these skills to improve their record keeping, keep track of student progress, and possibly create a website. Also, by having knowledge of how to use the internet, the teachers are able to access a vast amount of information online. In the past, Kimunyu Memorial has incorporated educational DVD’s and TV programs. This shows the commitment from the principal and teachers in giving the students a good education, as they see the value in different modes of teaching.

This morning we sat down with Leboire, the principal of Kimunyu Memorial Primary School, and taught him how to use Microsoft Word and create simple text documents. Originally designed to be taught in a group setting, I actually found that the workshops we prepared work better one on one, as Leboire could practice typing and creating documents as we progressed through the workshop.  He was extremely excited about learning better computer skills – he is planning on utilizing them to help his school organize and record student data to better keep track of their educational progress.

Through the very generous donations from our friends, families, and supporters, CASA was able to purchase three laptops, mice, USB sticks, and power bars before leaving for Uganda. When we first decided to teach computer workshops for this specific trip, we struggled with whether to bring computers to donate to the schools, as we don’t want to create the expectation that CASA will be providing technological equipment on a regular basis. We decided that this contribution would be beneficial to the community as long as they were given to the appropriate people, security issues around where to keep them were sorted out, that teachers would continue to have access to them after Jess and I left, and finally that the focus remained on the computer workshops as a tool for teachers and community members, rather than the computers themselves.  

I am inspired by Ibanda – the community has been so welcoming, friendly, and most important, the members we have interacted with are dedicated to improving their community! Look for our upcoming post on some other organizations we have met with!

A Gongshow Weekend!!

I know this is a long post, but bare with me because this past weekend was pretty crazy and eventful!

So for our first weekend off of our CASA business, we decided to do a safari in Queen Elizabeth Park before we headed to Ibanda.

So this weekend was a completely amazing gong show! Here was our original plan:

1) On Friday Morning we would leave Kitengesa around 7am and drive to Lake Mburo so that we can pick up some more information on Queen Elizabeth Park (where we were headed for our safari)

2) From Lake Mburo we would head to Mbarara where Jane had a quick 30 minute meeting with the organization TASO.

3) After eating lunch we would make our way to the south end of Queen Elizabeth Park and arrive in Ishasha around 3pm so that we could see the tree climbing lions at sun set around 6:30pm.

4) We would stay in a B&B there overnight and the next day we would drive 2 hours to the north end of the park, where over the course of Saturday and Sunday we would do a boat safari, a driving safari, and do Chimp trekking.

5) Sunday night we would head to Ibanda where we would be staying for the next 7 weeks.

Now that sounded like a great plan! Unfortunately, that is not what ended up happening…

Early Thursday morning around 3 am I woke up with food poisoning, it was not pretty and let’s just say that I did not fall back asleep. Luckily by the time my alarm went off at 6am I was feeling much better, but I was really tired and weak and it took me much longer to pack and eat than it would have normally taken me, meaning that we didn’t get on the road until closer to 8am. We felt that we were ok because it would only take a couple of hours to get to Lake Mburo (where we would only be for a few minutes) and then it was a short drive to Mbarara so Jane would not be late for her meeting at 11am.

We got to Lake Mburo, we got the information we needed and headed back up to the highway. As we were on the bumpy road heading to the highway, we encountered a giant herd of cattle…unfortunately they were in the middle of the road walking very slowly in the direction we were trying to go in. With bushes on both sides of the car and the cattle herders not willing to move the cattle on to the side of the road, we just had to drive 5km/h behind them until they finally turned off onto another road…which took 45 minutes! By the time we were free, Jane was 20 minutes late for her meeting and we still had to get to Mbarara.

Even though we were late the meeting when very well, but I have no idea what was talked about because by the time we got to Mbarara I was feeling horrible again seeing as I had been awake since 3am and was hungry but I could not stomach any food. So instead of going into the meeting with Jane and Tess, I napped in the back seat :). Now the meeting that was supposed to take 30 minutes took one and a half hours, which put us a little behind schedule but we were still going to make it in time to see the lions.

We quickly stopped for lunch at a restaurant in a hotel. Now there is something that has to be understood about these restaurants and that is that it is impossible to have a quick meal! Even though there was only one other group of people in the restaurant, our food still took 45 minutes to be made. This is because they make everything from scratch in a little kitchen. So unfortunately, our quick lunch turned in to a two hour affair, putting us really behind schedule. But we still figured that we would get there on time because it was 3pm by the time we left and we were pretty sure it was only going to take 2-2.5 hours to get to Ishasha.

Now this is where the fun part starts! We were using the maps in our Ugandan guide book, which seemed to be pretty accurate, and we were aware that the roads were not in really good condition, but we figured that the vehicle we had could handle it. We had our plan of how to get from Mbarara to Ishasha, and it seemed pretty straightforward: leave from Mbarara, get to Ishaka, and then follow the road until we get to Bwambara and continue from there into the park. So we get to Ishaka alright and we find the road that we have to take to get to Bwambara. We start going through different towns and every once and a while we would stop to make sure we were on the right road. The road was pretty bad, we bottomed out the car a few times, but our driver seemed to be able to handle it. After about an hour or two of driving, we ask someone at a crossroad which road to take to get to Bwambara. The man told us that we could not get to Bwambara in the way we planned because the roads were much too bad and we would not make it, so he tells us to go through Rukungiri. We figured that it was ok, it would take a little longer to get to the park than we planned, but we thought we would make it in time…ya, didn’t happen!
After two hours of driving and no sign of Rukungiri we realized that we are not going to make it in time and we were even starting to get worried that we had gotten lost. In the guide book the root to Rukungiri from where we were seemed relatively short, but the road wound back and forth around the mountains and it was slow going because of the road. We passed town after town hoping that it would be Rukungiri and time after time we would continue on. Now on this length of the journey we realized how rural the area was…you know that you are in the middle of nowhere when even adults see white people and stare with wide eyes and their jaws dropped! We also found possibly the most fashionable town in rural Uganda. We honestly thought that everyone was heading to a party because they all seemed to be dressed in their nicest outfits, but eventually we realized that they were all just heading home from a normal day of work…it was amazing to see! Finally we get to Rukungiri around 6pm. We figured that from there it would only be about 2 or three more hours until we got to the park and that we would go to sleep when we got there and see the lions at sun rise. So we head out from Rukungiri with high hopes that we would get there. After over 2 hours of driving we are hoping to see Bwambara soon. It is dark by this time and we really do not want to be driving too long in the dark. We come to a larger town and look for a sign saying Bwambara. As we come up to one we stain our eyes to read it, and what does it say? ISHAKA!!! We actually spend 6 hours driving around in a huge circle in rural Uganda…So after holding back our screams we decide just to head to the north end of the park and find a B&B there to stay and give up on the idea of seeing the tree climbing lions that weekend.

Our time in the park was absolutely amazing!!!! We got to see everyday animals like zebras, elephants, buffalo, hippos, worthogs, kobs, waterbucks, crocodiles, lots of birds, and lizards. We also were probably the luckiest group the park has had in a very long time! On Saturday afternoon we did a driving safari with a guide in our car. We were looking for leopards, which we unfortunately did not find. We did however find two sets of a female and male lion. Male lions are very rare to see because they hide in the bushes while the females are out hunting. We got to see two!!! Now I said that we were able to find the leopards during the safari, but I also said we were the luckiest people in the park. Right after we dropped off the guide we were driving on the highway back to our B&B. All of a sudden we saw something move on the side of the road. We slowed down and looked into the grass and we saw a leopard!!!!!!!!! It was just sitting there like 20 feet in front of us. It started walking straight along the road and we slowly drove along with it. We sat there and watched it for like 20 minutes before we had to leave because it was so dark we could no longer see it. So we drive off and about 5 minutes later we see another figure standing in the middle of the road. We slow down again and it’s another leopard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We only got to see it for a few seconds, but it was long enough to see that it was a leopard. The next day we told our guide and he said that we were the first to see a leopard in the park in about 6 months. He figured that we saw the two so close together because they were looking for each other to mate. It was absolutely amazing!!! The next day we did chimpanzee trekking at the bottom of the gorge. It took a while to find them, but eventually we got to see them high up in the trees. People normally only see males up close because females and their young are usually really shy and they hide in the trees, but I said that we were lucky! We found one mother and her two young sitting low down in a tree. As we got closer we thought that they would get scared and run, but they just stayed there! They were adorable!!! They were so close we probably would have been able to just barely touch one of them if we reached our hands up. There was a little baby who was so curious and playful! It kept on swinging back and forth on a vine and looking down at us! After about 15 minutes, they started to slowly make their way up the tree.

So we were lucky in the park, but as soon as we tried to leave, our bad luck came back. We had stopped at a gas station to fill up so that we could get to Ibanda, but what we didn’t realize was that we had been given bad gas, so our car kept on stalling. We finally managed to get to a mechanic. Now once again the fun starts! There was a big communication barrier and we were afraid that we were going to get ripped off. We told them what was wrong and that the gas needed to be sucked out and good gas put in. All of a sudden there were men under our car and they are saying that they need to take the engine off the car (at least that’s what we think they are saying). We honestly must have looked so funny in that garage! Three white “muzungus” (that’s what they call us) all yelling at the men to stop what they were doing and to listen to us! I’m guessing they have never seen that before. We are actually very proud of how we handled the situation. We managed to get them to stop what they were doing and to get them to put the tube into the gas tank and suck it out. I don’t think they were used to women telling them what to do, but we did it and the car worked fine once we did that and got new gas in. We probably saved a lot of money by not letting them take the car apart!

Finally we were on our way to Ibanda. Even though we were two hours late, we managed to get there!

Lessons from Kitengese Library

Jess and I are fortunate to be in a program at Capilano University that has exposed us to the world of international and community development. We learnt about many different organizations and theoretical perspectives related to community and international development. Afripads was one such organization – it is a social enterprise that employs local adult women who sew reusable pads. A main theme that runs through successful community development initiatives is local ownership and participation in the development initiative. Learning about this concept in a class room is one thing – seeing it being played out in reality is an entirely different experience.

Yesterday, Jess, Jane and I were fortunate to learn about the Kitengesa Community Library, an initiative started by a Professor Kate Perry from the USA and Dan, our Ugandan Project Manager. Dan spent time talking to us about the history and evolution of this library and creating a culture of reading and literacy in Uganda. Starting as just a box of books, the Kitengesa Library has evolved over the past ten years to be much more than just a library. It has grown to include many spin off projects started by community members. Dan has expressed that what has made this initiative so successful was that community members were interested in the library and became involved in its progress from the beginning. Community ownership has played an important role in the success of the library. He also expressed that it has taken time to grow – over 10 years. The library didn’t start out like it is today.

A main challenge the Kitengesa library faces is sustainable funding – they rely heavily on donations from abroad. In the past they have also received funding from the UN for specific projects, such as building a bigger building for the library. Relying heavily on external funding can be tricky as it can be unreliable and inconsistent. To meet the challenge of the funding issue, some income generating projects have been started in conjunction with the library. Growing a community garden is one such project, as produce can be sold for a profit. Also, the library charges people to charge their cell phones – the equivalent of about 20 cents. The third project in the works is finalizing a part of the library that can be used as a community hall – people can rent out the space for weddings or ceremonies. The community room is not quite complete – it still needs windows, chairs and tables. But once the income generating projects are creating an income for the library, it will be a more sustainable project.

Kitengesa Library has been a great success and model for other libraries. In ibanda, Jess and I will keep in mind the lessons we earned from the Kitengesa Library – mainly the importance of community ownership in the project, as well as the project being able to be sustained by the community once we leave. Engaging community members from the beginning will be critical for the success of initiatives we participate in. I'm excited to hear what the community members of Ibanda have to say, for they will be driving the Ibandan Project!

May 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th - Arriving in Uganda

Hello Everyone!

Tess and I had a good trip from Vancouver to Uganda. The flight from Vancouver to London was completely full and very uncomfortable and as a result we did not sleep at all. But even though we were tired, when we got to London we went out to see the city. In 4 hours we saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Bridge, Westminster Abby, and a big square where the National Museum is (I can’t remember the name). Having been awake for 26 hours straight, we then headed back to the airport to have a nap before our next flight.

The flight from London to Uganda was much nicer because it was almost empty. We each had 3 seats to ourselves and both of us slept pretty much the entire way. Dan (our project manager) came to pick us up at the airport and we headed to Kampala to pick up Jane (one of our trip coordinators). Kampala was an interesting place. Luckily there were no protests going on while we were there, but the streets were still really busy (but I’m pretty sure they always are!). The only way I can describe Kampala is “organized chaos” - everything looks so chaotic, but everyone is comfortable with it and it works for them.

Once Jane was on board we headed out for Kitengesa (I think that is how you spell it) where Dan lives and were we would be staying in his Volunteer House. After a nice lunch at Dan’s house we headed over to see the Afripads Factory (http://www.afripads.com) to see how everything is run. It is an amazing project, check out their website!

We then went back to Dan’s for dinner. After dinner we went straight to bed because it had been
such a long day and jet leg was really starting to kick in!

This morning we woke up around 9am after having slept for 12 hours and had breakfast. We then headed out to Tekera (http://ugandavillage.org) to check out the elementary school, clinic, and resource center to see how everything works (Another amazing project, check out their website as well!). Then we went into Mesaka to get our cell phones and our internet stick. We also tried to get our nails done at a spa, but they were too busy and we had to head back to Kitengesa before it got dark.

All of our road traveling has been very bumpy and interesting. The roads are bumpy and slippery and a trip that should only take 20 minutes was taking us up to an hour! We got the car into a few situations that I would not have been able to get out of, but Dan is a good driver and we managed to get out no problem.

There is a lot to get used to here, but I don’t think Tess and I will have too much trouble with it. We have already gotten used to “African Time”, pretty much no one seems to be in a rush, they will get there when they get there – and the food is good too!

So far it hasn’t been too hot, we have been very comfortable! The sun was out today and it made everything look even more beautiful than it was yesterday when it was overcast.
The landscape here is beautiful!! Everything is so lush and green. So far every time we have driven somewhere I have not been able to take my eyes off the landscape because I just can’t get enough of how beautiful it is!

I’m not sure what we will be doing tomorrow, but on Friday Tess, Jane, and I will be heading to Queen Elizabeth Park to do a Safari over the weekend. I’m so excited!!

Tomorrow I’m going to see if I can upload some pictures onto the blog to give you an idea of what everything is like.

I still haven’t gotten over jet leg, so I’m heading to bed!!

Bye!