It happened again, the same thing that happens every year... We had to leave Uganda and go home.
This post was supposed to be my re-cap of how this years AIM Programme has been carried out, challenges met and challenges overcome etc., but if you don’t mind, I think I'll instead let my thoughts wander on some of the things seen and some of the questions asked over the past month in Uganda.
1. When we meet people in insane situations, like a teacher teaching 250 kids without desks on the dirt floor with her own 1 year old kid strapped on the back, or a ten year old lifting buckets of cement up and down a ten meter high scaffolding all day long, the beggars without neither legs or a pot to piss in, a pregnant lady in a region without water who has to bring and boil her own water to the hospital when she’ll be giving birth in two weeks – the only way we are able to cope with stuff like that is because some minutes, hours or days later, we can have a sit down with a full stomach, a beer, some music, a coke, a piece of chocolate or a cigarette and contemplate it. The only way we are able to stand the crazy things in Uganda, is because we have the opportunity to get it at a distance and think about it. So how the hell are the people teaching 250 students at once for 100 dollars a month or a beggar without legs able to cope, when they seemingly do not have that luxury?
I have no idea, but my guess is that it’s because of this, because people are so insanely occupied with just getting through one day after the other, that things like planning way ahead, reflection over progress and innovating shit is something you basically don’t do in Uganda. You don’t have time for it. (And this doesn't exactly reek of development is my point).
2. Sustainability and doing stuff from the inside out
This is something frequently discussed by some of this year’s AIM participant’s, and it’s some of the most important stuff to discuss when you’re involved in aid work in development countries, no matter how small your projects are. Because if the sustainability of the aid projects are lacking, this means you just have to keep on coming back and coming back, and very little gets developed or goes forward. But does this mean aid work is ridiculous? Of course not. But aid work that makes people dependent on it, without possibilities to get up and away, that’s pretty lame. Aid work that is the equivalent of giving a guy a fish hook to fish for himself however, rather than just keep giving him fish - that is pretty smart.
3. Not that this is the goal of the Aid In Meeting Programme, but how do you manage to get a country to develop and grow from within? Another deadly important question, with a ton of aspects within, and one frequently discussed at Bushenyi Guest House with its owner Arinda Gordon. Education and innovation seemed to be the key words to that one.
I could go on and on, but I think it's time to wrap this whole blog up. I can just say first that the above mentioned stuff is what first came to mind, so maybe that means it is the most important. I don’t know.
Anyway. I will end by saying this years Aid In Meeting Programme has been the most successful so far. A piggery has been opened in Bushenyi, school buildings will be built in Arua and buckets of other aid contributions have been carried out because of AIM 2009. Besides this, cultural understanding, cultural exchange, learning about aid work and friendships formed is just some of the side effects of AIM 2009.
Thank you so very much much to all the contributors of AIM, and thank you to the readers of this blog!
Lion Terry out!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Piggery Grand Opening and Leaving Uganda (for now)
Since 2007, Lions Club Bergen Student have, in great collaboration with a number of other Lions Clubs in Norway and LCIF, been working towards building a piggery in Bushenyi. This is to increase the income of the Community Based Organization “Silent Voices”, an organization consisting of parents and carers of deaf children in the Bushenyi district. Silent Voices is raising awareness about deaf children and enhancing the education of deaf children. The piggery we’re building will both provide an income for the organization, but also raise each individual household of the members of Silent Voices. Because the pig farm will be run by the parents in Silent Voices, where they will learn how to look after pigs, feed them etc, etc, and when they’re done with that, they will get a piglet home, to have in their own household. Pretty sweet deal.
And last Saturday, on the 18. of July, something pretty awesome took place in Bushenyi. Silent Voices had their annual meeting on the site where the piggery will be built, and at the same time we also had The Grand Opening of The Piggery.
The different partners involved in the project and a Member of Parliament (!) all dug into the ground with a shovel as a ceremonial start of the project. The different partners also signed the Project Plan which states what each party is responsible for, what needs to be done when, etc etc. (The students from Norway situated in Bushenyi have been tirelessly working on finishing that plan over the last weeks).
The day was long and hot in the blazing sun, but it was also an exceptionally good day, with speeches, dancing, singing, a drama play and to great acclaim - four manly men from Norway dancing the traditional “halling”-dance.
In the evening on the same Saturday we attended Lions Club Busenyi’s (an important partner in the piggery project) Installation Ceremony where the new chair members got their new positions, and it looks like this Lionistic Year will be a good one!
Next morning, on Sunday we all left for Kampala where we are currently tying up loose ends and finishing up part II of evaluating this years AIM Programme. Today is in fact our last day in Uganda, we’re all leaving for Entebbe tomorrow and by Wednesday morning, we’ll all be back home. Sadly.
And last Saturday, on the 18. of July, something pretty awesome took place in Bushenyi. Silent Voices had their annual meeting on the site where the piggery will be built, and at the same time we also had The Grand Opening of The Piggery.
The different partners involved in the project and a Member of Parliament (!) all dug into the ground with a shovel as a ceremonial start of the project. The different partners also signed the Project Plan which states what each party is responsible for, what needs to be done when, etc etc. (The students from Norway situated in Bushenyi have been tirelessly working on finishing that plan over the last weeks).
The day was long and hot in the blazing sun, but it was also an exceptionally good day, with speeches, dancing, singing, a drama play and to great acclaim - four manly men from Norway dancing the traditional “halling”-dance.
In the evening on the same Saturday we attended Lions Club Busenyi’s (an important partner in the piggery project) Installation Ceremony where the new chair members got their new positions, and it looks like this Lionistic Year will be a good one!
Next morning, on Sunday we all left for Kampala where we are currently tying up loose ends and finishing up part II of evaluating this years AIM Programme. Today is in fact our last day in Uganda, we’re all leaving for Entebbe tomorrow and by Wednesday morning, we’ll all be back home. Sadly.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Evaluation time, happy times. Great success!
The Aid in Meeting Program is coming to a halt and the group has now moved from their worksites to other parts of Uganda in order to relax and evaluate the work that has been done during the last two weeks. This includes comparing this year's experiences with last year's, assessing what has been done right and whether or not there are areas where there still is room for improvement.
Some have left for Jinja in order to try rafting on the Nile, while others have moved south to Lake Bunyoni, said by some to be the true gem of Uganda. This area is decidedly more rural, something which is evident in the fact that the night watchman at the hotel carries a spear instead of a gun, and that there is a tribe of pygmes living just across the lake.
Yet some work still remains. On July 18 there will be a grand opening of the piggery project in Bushenyi, where some 180 guests and dignitaries are expected. We are hoping to have a member of the Ugandan Parliament make a cere,monial gesture by putting the first shovel in the ground. Later in the evening we'll be celebrating the new Lionistic year together with Lions Club Bushenyi and other Lions from all over Western Uganda.
And by the way, our work in Arua received a small but very positive mentioning in yesterday's New Vision, one of the biggest and most important newspapers in Uganda. We are also expecting radio and print coverage of the opening ceremony in Bushenyi. A radio station which broadcasts all over Western Uganda, including Kampala, already mentioned the project two weeks ago and did an interview with Gordon Arinda of Lions Club Bushenyi as the students from LCBS were not available at the time. D'oh!
Some have left for Jinja in order to try rafting on the Nile, while others have moved south to Lake Bunyoni, said by some to be the true gem of Uganda. This area is decidedly more rural, something which is evident in the fact that the night watchman at the hotel carries a spear instead of a gun, and that there is a tribe of pygmes living just across the lake.
Yet some work still remains. On July 18 there will be a grand opening of the piggery project in Bushenyi, where some 180 guests and dignitaries are expected. We are hoping to have a member of the Ugandan Parliament make a cere,monial gesture by putting the first shovel in the ground. Later in the evening we'll be celebrating the new Lionistic year together with Lions Club Bushenyi and other Lions from all over Western Uganda.
And by the way, our work in Arua received a small but very positive mentioning in yesterday's New Vision, one of the biggest and most important newspapers in Uganda. We are also expecting radio and print coverage of the opening ceremony in Bushenyi. A radio station which broadcasts all over Western Uganda, including Kampala, already mentioned the project two weeks ago and did an interview with Gordon Arinda of Lions Club Bushenyi as the students from LCBS were not available at the time. D'oh!
Friday, July 10, 2009
AIM:art
Over the last few days three schools in various parts of the Bushenyi district in south western Uganda have received visitors from Norway and Denmark, carrying gifts. The Aid In Meeting participating students have carried out the AIM:art project (read older posts if you’re scratching your head) and with great help from the teachers, staff and our driver Robert the pupils, both deaf and “ordinary” made some pretty awesome cards we’ll sell back home, come Christmas time. (100 kroners pr card = 32.000 UGSH or roughly 15 Dollars). We asked the kids to write what their future dreams were (in addition to the drawing on front, name etc) and although doctor, nurse, teacher and lawyer seemed to be most common, some of the kids also wanted to be vice president, minister of agriculture and driver.
However, what’s more interesting to notice than what the kids want to be when they grow up, is the response the teachers give you when they hear of the AIM:art project. You would think that when they hear that just one card will generate one sixth of a teachers monthly salary, they’d be kind of amazed, but it seems like a combination of not really grasping it, not really believing it and not being used to plan that far ahead (six months) usually results in them just going “oh, ok”. And this is interesting, because so many of the people I’ve talked to over the last weeks have told me just how beneficiaries are used to big words and huge promises, but also not getting shit of it. When time passes, all those fancy words falls apart and nothing comes out of it. So I guess that visits from some random mzungo students promising millions of shillings for some weird looking Christmas cards warrants some skepticism. But what’s most important isn’t getting the “holy crap!” response we (or at least I thought we’d get), but getting the kids to know that it’s them that’s actually creating a vast income for their school, that, and being sure that we have the right people on the ground to receive the money and distribute it in the right way. Hopefully though, I think we’ve succeeded in doing just that.
On a side note, what I’ve learned since last time: Getting rid of the feathers and stuff from a chicken, hen or some other feathery creature − is best achieved if you first dip the animal in hot water. Then the feathers just rolls off.
However, what’s more interesting to notice than what the kids want to be when they grow up, is the response the teachers give you when they hear of the AIM:art project. You would think that when they hear that just one card will generate one sixth of a teachers monthly salary, they’d be kind of amazed, but it seems like a combination of not really grasping it, not really believing it and not being used to plan that far ahead (six months) usually results in them just going “oh, ok”. And this is interesting, because so many of the people I’ve talked to over the last weeks have told me just how beneficiaries are used to big words and huge promises, but also not getting shit of it. When time passes, all those fancy words falls apart and nothing comes out of it. So I guess that visits from some random mzungo students promising millions of shillings for some weird looking Christmas cards warrants some skepticism. But what’s most important isn’t getting the “holy crap!” response we (or at least I thought we’d get), but getting the kids to know that it’s them that’s actually creating a vast income for their school, that, and being sure that we have the right people on the ground to receive the money and distribute it in the right way. Hopefully though, I think we’ve succeeded in doing just that.
On a side note, what I’ve learned since last time: Getting rid of the feathers and stuff from a chicken, hen or some other feathery creature − is best achieved if you first dip the animal in hot water. Then the feathers just rolls off.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sports galla and schools
Outside Entebbe, at Nsumba Orphanage, some of the students participating in the Aid In Meeting programme, are located. And on Saturday and Sunday, the students organized a massive sports galla for the kids - to great success. I was not present myself, but from what I've heard, the spirit went through the roof. Especially when the winning football team ran rounds around the football field, carrying the grand prize on their backs - a live goat. They basically all went nuts, the girls cheering with palm leaves, the other teams shouting and waving their shirts around their heads, and the poor goat being tossed around between the members of the winning team. And the football was just one of three diciplines, they also competed in volleyball and netball.
In other news, the guys in Arua went back to Kamapala during the weekend and left behind them some pretty awesome work. In collaboration with Lions Club Sandnes/Riska in Norway, Lions Club Arua and Lions Aid Norway - Eruba Primary School will get a spanking new school building, which they sorely need. Oliba Seeds, another school in Arua have now got cement floor in all the dormatories, thanks to swift action and collaborative efforts between the norwegian students, the Oliba Seeds school board and again Lions Club Arua. They also had time to hand over magazines, playing cards and games in braille, for 12 blind children at another school, in addition to really get to know some of LC Arua's key members.
I also bumbed into Merethe which is working in the Kamwokya slum with KCCC yesterday, and she told me things were going pretty great. Today, for instance, they are organizing a youth health day for the kids/youth in Kamwokya, having work shops and free medical treatment. The group also brought with them 2000 condoms from Norway (I think they got them from the Red Cross) to distribute, but one of the not so fortunate things about KCCC is that they promote abstinence, not condoms, to prevent Aids and HIV (long story, catholic church etc.). So those condoms have yet to be put to good use, but they were confident they'd get them out to someone who wants them somehow.
I see my time is up, so that's it for now!
In other news, the guys in Arua went back to Kamapala during the weekend and left behind them some pretty awesome work. In collaboration with Lions Club Sandnes/Riska in Norway, Lions Club Arua and Lions Aid Norway - Eruba Primary School will get a spanking new school building, which they sorely need. Oliba Seeds, another school in Arua have now got cement floor in all the dormatories, thanks to swift action and collaborative efforts between the norwegian students, the Oliba Seeds school board and again Lions Club Arua. They also had time to hand over magazines, playing cards and games in braille, for 12 blind children at another school, in addition to really get to know some of LC Arua's key members.
I also bumbed into Merethe which is working in the Kamwokya slum with KCCC yesterday, and she told me things were going pretty great. Today, for instance, they are organizing a youth health day for the kids/youth in Kamwokya, having work shops and free medical treatment. The group also brought with them 2000 condoms from Norway (I think they got them from the Red Cross) to distribute, but one of the not so fortunate things about KCCC is that they promote abstinence, not condoms, to prevent Aids and HIV (long story, catholic church etc.). So those condoms have yet to be put to good use, but they were confident they'd get them out to someone who wants them somehow.
I see my time is up, so that's it for now!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Chicken and cars
I have to tell you about what happened the other day in Bushenyi. It was just all kinds of awesome, bizarre etc.
I went to Bushenyi a couple of days ago to interview people and shoot some footage of what the Norwegians are doing there (working on the piggery project and what not)… And last night, we were all having dinner at Bushenyi Guest house, in the garden, under a tree, right next to Gordon’s (the owner of guest house) brand new car.
And as we are sitting there, eating and laughing, some guys show up, opening the hood on Gordon’s car and are seemingly checking out the engine or something. I at least didn’t pay any attention to this, this being a new car and all, they were probably just curious on the new engine. Or not. Because then a chicken entered the picture, or rather a hen, it was pretty big.
The guys started to wrestle a bit with the hen, but I just thought, they’re not going to kill that here are they? Surely, they would do that somewhere nearer to the kitchen? But no, a knife the size of a golf club was pulled out and all of a sudden the hen was headless AND THEY POURED THE HEN’S BLOOD OVER THE CAR’S ENGINE.
It should be specified that all this happened really quick without any of us really paying any attention to it, because it was kind of dark, and it all happened so matter-of-factly, but the moment that hen’s inner fluids were poured over Gordon’s new car, a united “what the HELL just happened?” was heard across the table.
Now, of course, this was neither an elaborate scheme to sabotage the car or a way to startle some mzungos (at least not deliberate), it all was a little ritual to make sure the car never crashes. Good luck with that.
Gordon and the car-baptizers ate the hen a few hours later and, at least to my knowledge, the car runs smoothly.
I went to Bushenyi a couple of days ago to interview people and shoot some footage of what the Norwegians are doing there (working on the piggery project and what not)… And last night, we were all having dinner at Bushenyi Guest house, in the garden, under a tree, right next to Gordon’s (the owner of guest house) brand new car.
And as we are sitting there, eating and laughing, some guys show up, opening the hood on Gordon’s car and are seemingly checking out the engine or something. I at least didn’t pay any attention to this, this being a new car and all, they were probably just curious on the new engine. Or not. Because then a chicken entered the picture, or rather a hen, it was pretty big.
The guys started to wrestle a bit with the hen, but I just thought, they’re not going to kill that here are they? Surely, they would do that somewhere nearer to the kitchen? But no, a knife the size of a golf club was pulled out and all of a sudden the hen was headless AND THEY POURED THE HEN’S BLOOD OVER THE CAR’S ENGINE.
It should be specified that all this happened really quick without any of us really paying any attention to it, because it was kind of dark, and it all happened so matter-of-factly, but the moment that hen’s inner fluids were poured over Gordon’s new car, a united “what the HELL just happened?” was heard across the table.
Now, of course, this was neither an elaborate scheme to sabotage the car or a way to startle some mzungos (at least not deliberate), it all was a little ritual to make sure the car never crashes. Good luck with that.
Gordon and the car-baptizers ate the hen a few hours later and, at least to my knowledge, the car runs smoothly.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Of schools and pigs
There have been some terrifyingly interesting days of late, and I haven’t been able to find Internet since Sunday, I think − but finally I’m hacking hard at Bushenyi Internet Centre.
I traveled to Arua last Saturday, with Øyvind, Magnus and Siri, and arrived at awesome Heritage Park Guest House in the afternoon. We met some of the members of Lions Club Arua, but they were off to their installation ceremony 60 km away, and although they invited us to join, we were too tired after the trip from Kampala. And considering they held it going till around noon the next day, I think that was a pretty healthy decision.
Next day, Sunday, we met with Lion Tom from LC Arua, and discussed our involvement in the three school projects to be carried out in Arua, what they are about etc, and the next day, on Monday, we went to Eruba Primary School where we met and discussed with the teachers and chair members of the school − of just how exactly we are going forward with building a new class room and dormitory. Later that afternoon we began what’s called AIM:Art, where pupils are making Christmas cards to be sold in Norway, and the money generated goes straight back to the school. One card will generate almost 35.000 Uganda shillings, we are aiming at selling two thousand cards from ten different schools − and to put things in perspective, 35.000 UGSH in Uganda is a hell of a lot of money. The kids and teachers were pretty enthusiastic (it was the 50+ kids at The Unit for the Deaf that made the cards at Eruba Primary) and from what I saw, it looked like some pretty cool cards will be sold to students in Norway this Christmas.
Øyvind, Magnus and Siri are still hard at work in Arua, together with LC Arua and the different schools; I however left the fair city on Tuesday. I got up at 3.30 am, went by bus to Kampala, arrived around noon and went off to Bushenyi with David Mutayisa from Lions Aid Norway around 2 pm. We arrived in Bushenyi around 8 pm, just in time to join Lions Club Bushenyi in their club meeting, were Maria, Andreas, Anette and Sofie from LC Bergen Student were also present. The reason for my going to Bushenyi is because of the documentary I’m making, and a very interesting two day seminar about our club’s Piggery Project was to be held in Bushenyi over the next two days. So today and yesterday representatives from Lions Club Bergen Student, Lions Club Bushenyi, Lions Aid Norway and of course Silent Voices, the organization consisting of parents of deaf children in the Bushenyi district (the ones that will ultimately run the piggery and receive the income generated), met to discuss the piggery project, how to go forward, who will play what role etc. It was hugely satisfying and elements of the project one never could think of back home came into light and were solved. Brilliant.
I don’t really have any more news from the students in Kamwokya, working with KCCC and the guys at Nsumba Orphanage outside Entebbe, but I guess no news is good news. Last I heard was what Tuva (part 2 of Terrys Film Crew) wrote in the previous post, that the grand prize of the sports tournament to be held at Nsumba was a goat. (Although I heard three goats, one for each discipline)… But how awesome is that? I want a goat! By the way, since I mentioned that each Cristmas Card sold through AIM:Art will generate almost 35.000 UGSH: one goat costs 60.000 UGHS. Don’t know how much the knife needed to slaughter the little fellow costs, though.
I traveled to Arua last Saturday, with Øyvind, Magnus and Siri, and arrived at awesome Heritage Park Guest House in the afternoon. We met some of the members of Lions Club Arua, but they were off to their installation ceremony 60 km away, and although they invited us to join, we were too tired after the trip from Kampala. And considering they held it going till around noon the next day, I think that was a pretty healthy decision.
Next day, Sunday, we met with Lion Tom from LC Arua, and discussed our involvement in the three school projects to be carried out in Arua, what they are about etc, and the next day, on Monday, we went to Eruba Primary School where we met and discussed with the teachers and chair members of the school − of just how exactly we are going forward with building a new class room and dormitory. Later that afternoon we began what’s called AIM:Art, where pupils are making Christmas cards to be sold in Norway, and the money generated goes straight back to the school. One card will generate almost 35.000 Uganda shillings, we are aiming at selling two thousand cards from ten different schools − and to put things in perspective, 35.000 UGSH in Uganda is a hell of a lot of money. The kids and teachers were pretty enthusiastic (it was the 50+ kids at The Unit for the Deaf that made the cards at Eruba Primary) and from what I saw, it looked like some pretty cool cards will be sold to students in Norway this Christmas.
Øyvind, Magnus and Siri are still hard at work in Arua, together with LC Arua and the different schools; I however left the fair city on Tuesday. I got up at 3.30 am, went by bus to Kampala, arrived around noon and went off to Bushenyi with David Mutayisa from Lions Aid Norway around 2 pm. We arrived in Bushenyi around 8 pm, just in time to join Lions Club Bushenyi in their club meeting, were Maria, Andreas, Anette and Sofie from LC Bergen Student were also present. The reason for my going to Bushenyi is because of the documentary I’m making, and a very interesting two day seminar about our club’s Piggery Project was to be held in Bushenyi over the next two days. So today and yesterday representatives from Lions Club Bergen Student, Lions Club Bushenyi, Lions Aid Norway and of course Silent Voices, the organization consisting of parents of deaf children in the Bushenyi district (the ones that will ultimately run the piggery and receive the income generated), met to discuss the piggery project, how to go forward, who will play what role etc. It was hugely satisfying and elements of the project one never could think of back home came into light and were solved. Brilliant.
I don’t really have any more news from the students in Kamwokya, working with KCCC and the guys at Nsumba Orphanage outside Entebbe, but I guess no news is good news. Last I heard was what Tuva (part 2 of Terrys Film Crew) wrote in the previous post, that the grand prize of the sports tournament to be held at Nsumba was a goat. (Although I heard three goats, one for each discipline)… But how awesome is that? I want a goat! By the way, since I mentioned that each Cristmas Card sold through AIM:Art will generate almost 35.000 UGSH: one goat costs 60.000 UGHS. Don’t know how much the knife needed to slaughter the little fellow costs, though.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)