But What Are You DOING There???

Yes – I know a long silence. I have returned from Kampala where I spent almost a week organizing PC headquarters after attending a Train-the-Trainer workshop.   Arranged the Country Director’s Office, Reception and the PCV lounge, where volunteers do research,  have access to computers, generally hang-out when they're here for medical or anything administrative.    Lots of hard and dirty work, but I really enjoyed working with PC staff I never get to see and getting the PCV lounge in a usable and friendly state. When I arrived,  there were three mostly empty book cases and three rooms of huge boxes filled with books.  The task was to unpack, organize all of the books into PC categories (functional categories, not Dewey decimal system), get shelves and furniture in and shelve or otherwise deal with about 10,000 books.   I know it sounds perverse, but it was very gratifying and concrete.  

So much of what we do on a daily basis is “seed planting,” both literally and metaphorically. It's often frustrating because it may be years (if ever) before our labor or indeed our contributions  bear fruit. We may never know the results and many of the benefits are not measurable or tangible.  But – as I said,  this was concrete work:  before – chaos, after – order and function.    Also, in our daily work, there is little feedback or gratitude expressed.  Not that that’s a requirement or even why we came, but it does feel good on those rare occasions when our work is acknowledged (as opposed to people just wanting more...) And the work seems to have been deeply appreciated, so, it was a real boost to my mood and sense of accomplishment.  This is work I’m not known for here, so it’s nice to have it discovered and be relevant after all.

Re-entry to Gulu was difficult.  After enjoying a week of water-on-demand (mostly, except for drinking water, which still has to be purchased) and electricity around the clock, it was a rude awakening to come back to no electricity and a house full of bugs, mouse/rat droppings, rotten food and mold. The geckos and lizards can stay, except for the big buggers know to arch their backs and hiss when confronted…   The up-side was "water is there."

Two trips to Umeme (power company – an oxymoron because there is seldom power) and I perhaps will get some response.  In addition to the usual lack of and off-and-on nature of power, it seems I have an intermittent problem with electricity EVEN when “It is there.”  As we were bumbling around in the dark, the tenant house in back had power.  Equally as often, we will be sitting with power in the evenings and it is all of a sudden “not there.”  We scramble for some form of light: a match, a phone, computer screen – something to go dig around and light a candle.  The flip side of that is sitting in the dark, reading by candlelight and the power comes on.  Everyone jumps up with shrieks of delight, plugs stuff in and 30 seconds later – power is gone – for the night.    To exacerbate a nasty mood, the other tenants have water at their outside tap, when – because of water pressure issues, we will have no water in the house. Such are the vagaries of daily life in Uganda. In that case we trek a couple of blocks up the dirt road and haul water back in the ubiquitous jerrycans.  The only plus to that  (diggin' deep here) is that I'm usually greeted with big smiles of surprise at the sight of a Mzungu hauling water.    

That is life in Uganda and it seriously interferes with getting anything done – even the most basic tasks.  For example: finally, our organization received approval for the funds to buy fuel for the generator, desperately needed to accommodate the nearly total lack of power during the workday for days on end. The generator didn’t work and was repaired Friday.  Little power over the weekend at the house meant that I arrived at work with two dead computer batteries and anticipated being able to plug in.   That was before realizing that, over the weekend, someone broke a panel in the glass door and cut the cord off the generator!  Still – some movement does happen against all odds and here are some of the projects that are are taking form. somehow. For those of you who wonder what I really DO here other than haul water and gripe, here is an update. I hope I don't bore you to death - read at your own risk.

1.  I do a lot of Organizational Development work:  looking at systems - when there are systems - and determining what’s working and what’s not,  then devise procedures and documents with the goal of creating order out of chaos.  (I'm an optimist). It’s basically what I’ve done for years with clients, but at an entirely different level.  PC has a term for this approach and it’s called a SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.    Who knew there was an acronym for what I’ve been doing all these years.  Gratifying in some ways.   Thus far, I’ve created Asset and Inventory  
Tracking Spreadsheets, Vehicle Tracking Systems, Excel spread sheets out the wazoo for Project Monitoring and Evaluation (big deal here for funding purposes) and various and sundry other documents and processes.

2.  Office organization:  analyzing, organizing and purging thousands of documents, creating a filing system, etc. ad infinitum,  and in the process doing inventory to enter into the Inventory System.

3.  Website editing and content creation is ongoing.

4.  Writing books for use in the Mother Tongue Language program. To date, I’ve written two children’s books: one on Malaria and another on sanitation (building a hand-washing station for the village to cut down on intestinal maladies).  The next is one on nutrition.  Right now they are in the draft stages, but the Malaria book is taking off and soon I will go to the field to participate in trainings and the collection of pictures for the book.

5. Early Childhood Reading Program: With the goal of contributing to developing a reading culture in Northern Uganda, I’ve spear-headed a local reading Program where we’ll do a much-publicized  story-hour with activities, games and reading aloud to give children the experience that reading can be fun.  Most have never held a book or seen a book with beautiful pictures.  To date we have over 200 hundred books, wonderful puzzles, art supplies etc.  to use in the program. (Thank you again everyone!)

One phase of this will be a lending library, but first the kids will be read to and get some instruction on how to care for a book.   When they are ready, books will be loaned for a week or two, and picked up later.  Think Mobile Library for people who have no hope of ever getting to a real one.  There is a library in Gulu and it has a good collection of children’s books but they are mixed in with adult history, law and accounting books!  The first step is to organize that collection and I’ll start that project in a few weeks.  I have to have permission from the Town Clerk even to volunteer…   and checking out books will be another hurtle.

6.  Pillow-case Dress Project: about 160  Pillow Cases have been donated (thanks to Welches Elementary School in Welches Oregon for 150 of those!) for a project that will feature teaching village women and women in prison how to sew.  Pillow Case dresses are easy to make (relatively) and will not only provide clothing for little girls (many of whom wear rags), but also teach a skill which might be turned into what PC likes to call an Income Generating Activity (IGA).      In the process of instruction, self-esteem is boosted and they will get practice in reading, following directions, numeracy and other aspects of functional literacy. 

7.  I am also participating in the training of the 46 new PC Trainees that arrived last Friday.  My sessions will be Marketing, Monitoring and Evaluation and a voluntary course that’s all my own called:  Keeping Sane in Peace Corps:  Boundary Setting and Survival Strategies.   (Fellow PCVs might take issue with the implication that I am sane however).  It’ve been requested to offer at at the All-Vol Gathering in August as well.  Now I’m having fun…

8.  Going back to Kampala in June to continue and wrap up the putting-in-order of PC HQ.

I walk to and from work everyday and home for lunch, walking a total of 4 – 6 miles every day.  Good exercise and another opportunity to “greet people”  and frustrate the Boda drivers.  Each day I walk by a group of Boda  drivers who know I don’t ride Bodas.  At first they were downright hostile about a Mzungu who refused to support their business.  Now, it’s become a good-natured joke and as I pass they all laugh and wave – shouting Boda-Boda?  Followed by Woto madwii-dwii  (walk fast-fast).  I guess you'd have to be here to appreciate it.  I go in about 8:30 and come home at about 5:00.  It’s pretty much a typical work day, except we seldom have power at the office. and that makes it anything but typical from the  U.S. perspective.  On those days I escape to work where there is Power and Internet:  the Coffee Hut.  They make a LOT of money from the Munu (Mzungu) population here.

Weekends are spent washing clothes, shopping at the local market for veggies, etc and collapsing on the couch reading and hopefully seeing some friends.   I’m keeping a tally of books read thus far:  55 to date ;-0

I’m not doing much travel to interesting places, though I hope that changes.  There’s just not a lot of energy left over at the end of a day or at the end of a week.  Our stipend translates to about  $300/month and Gulu is an expensive place to live in Uganda compared to other locations.    Public transportation chews up a lot of time and even more energy. Usually, one goes to a bus park, finds the right bus or taxi (matatu) in the middle of unbelievable chaos,  gets a seat and waits until the bus fills.  Sometimes that's a 4 hour wait.  There is ONE bus company that leaves on time in all of Uganda and it is run by the Post Office.  It also has the distinction of not allowing live goats or chickens in the passenger section, although they can and do ride in the luggage compartment under the bus.    Luggage has come out covered with chicken s_ _ _ _ and Goat  p _ _ _.   One more reason to pack light and make it a carry on.

And on that happy note – I’m headed out for lunch.   Looking forward to an actual tuna sandwich from Travis’ incredible stock of foil packed tuna.  I’ve even located pickle relish and sometimes I have Mayonnaise (which has not turned to Ptomaine paste with lack of refrigeration).  Yummy.