Sometimes - it works

Today presented me with an interesting scenario and I'm mentioning it because it is so completely typical of what occurs here every day for every person trying to get something done.  My organization does really fine work - and as I've mentioned before, it does it in spite of astounding obstacles.  Obstacles that are impossible to even imagine from a first world perspective. 

One of the goals of one of our four programs is to introduce both child and adult learners to  technology.   To accomplish this, there is what called an ICT box:  a giant yellow indestructible box loaded with a laptop computer, camera and camcorder.   Children are introduced to the use of a camera as a way to stimulate interest and engage them in reading, writing their stories, then submitting same to be published in a LABE newspaper that goes to every village involved in the program.  Kids get to see their story, pictures and drawings in print and it's a great  incentive.

The purpose of the computers is ostensibly to help teachers generate computerized lesson plans, improve their technology literacy, share information - etc. 

Here are some issues that first world  doesn't understand, so while they provide part of the solution, the part that makes it work (power, back up batters, spare parts, etc.) fall through the cracks.

First, there is one box for thousands of users.  That means a number of things:

1.  It only goes out when field trips to that area and undertaken and special arrangements are made to either get the box from the center that holds it or coordinate visits  TO that center.

2. There are 4 computers for 46 teachers, spread among 4 schools sometimes as far as 60 km.  They have no transport, so this means riding a bicycle half a day over bad roads and trails to get there. They work from 7AM to 5PM and roads are a death trap after dark (7PM).

3.  There is no electricity at most schools and Home Learning Centers, so that means the devices must be picked up a day or week early for charging, because even in the "city" you may have power for a day or two and about half of that time it won't be where the equipment is...

4. When all of these factors match up and you can actually get the person who has the box to release it to you, IF it is charged, If the cables are with it, IF pictures taken by the previous user have been downloaded you can actually take physical possession of said box and get it to your distant location (if you vehicle is working and has not been stolen overnight, if the roads are passable.....)

5.  If you are traveling via motorcycle, you can either take the box or a passenger - but not both.  When two of you are required in the field, one trip is required to take the box and another to come back and collect the person...

You're beginning to get the idea I trust.

So today, my colleagues were asked to include the box in some training.  They had been the day before to the "keeper of the box," who agreed that they could get the box this morning at 9AM, charged and ready to go.  Colleagues arrived there later and were told that not only had the pictures taken earlier not be downloaded (no there is not a secondary scan disk), the device was not charged because they couldn't locate the cable, etc. adinfinitum and we have been without power during  business hours.  So - no box, no training, no assessment, etc. 

As I said, this is typical.  It's not an indictment, it just IS.  It's the way life unfolds on a daily basis when there is any need to coordinate access, transportation, power, equipment and people.  Each of these variables impacts all of the others all of the time.  When you have one set of variables under control, the others fall out of the box.  It's like herding cats.

And of course the western mind can come up with all manner of solutions: an extra battery, solar chargers, generators, telephones, etc.  Did I mention that there is either no funding, or it's not there when you need it.  Solar panels get stolen, gas runs out, vehicles don't work, plans are delayed by a million different factors.  And it doesn't help to stomp around, or complain, or push.  There is simply so much inertia, so many obstacles, one settles in for the long haul and breathes, finding another work around, another way to use the time...

The young woman PCV who came to visit over the weekend got up at 5AM to catch the early bus to be assured of there BEING a bus and getting here early to make the best use of her time.  She walked in the dark the mile or so to the bus and was told the bus had gotten stuck along the way due to heavy rains the night before (a 4 hour deluge).   The bus finally boarded at 10AM.

But sometimes,  serendipity happens and people and services come together in unexpected ways.  Last week, I met a young man, Dean, in Coffee Hut and discovered he  has been working with a charity that focuses on creating equal access for people with disabilities.    Although the Uganda Education Initiative states equal access and education for all, schools are not required to have ramps, transportation or even bathroom facilities for any level of disability.  Add to this that people can walk for hours to get to school (see mud, puddles, path ways, ruts and imagine someone on crutches or a wheelchair managing this) and the idea of equal opportunity evaporates. 

Dean has befriended a young disabled mother with two children.  She manages to support herself and care for her children through her activities as a seamstress, but has nothing to spare.  She does not read or write in any language and desperately wants to do both, in not only Acholi but English as well.  In Uganda, a man who fathers a child with a disabled woman does not have to acknowledge the relationship and therefore does not have to claim the children.    When Dean found out I work with a literacy group that offers localized literacy training for free (i.e. she doesn't have to walk 30 K to get there and ... it's free) we started trying to figure out a way this mother can access the program.  It turns out that LABE has a program in her village and she can take part in all of the training, along with her children.

The other fit has to do with her being a seamstress and being able to help with the Pillow Case Dress project.  Since she already knows how to sew, she can help continue the Project with the community, thereby cementing her involvement there and encouraging that women's group to follow-up with an IGA (Income Generating Activity).  Everybody wins.

That scenario could not have been anticipated, but it bloomed in the process of people coming together and really being committed to making a difference.  Her success will breed other successes and motivate others. And so it goes.   Yes - it's a Clairol ad.

In another such instance, the young man I mentioned in an earlier blog (Isaac who needed school fees) is continuing so far and the young woman who got this going is leaving.  As her parting gift on his 18th birthday, I along with others contributed to the purchase of a bicycle to help him get to a from school, work and home.  So - often against insurmountable odds, stuff works. 

Sometimes, just showing up is what it takes along with the belief that making small differences has impact.  Sometimes - it works, but almost never in the way you expected. 

Of Power and Piglets

Umeme's timing is exquisite.  Umeme is the power company and has such a reputation of predictability (i.e it will NOT "be there" when it is most needed) that it has gained Entity status.  People here talk about Umeme as tho it is a person.  "Ah!  That Umeme  is fickle...."    And indeed it is.    It has yet to be tagged with a gender, but Uganda, in seeking gender equity would be ill advised to label it female as is the case with many other fickle entities. 

And so it is tonight - fickle.  Having been without Umeme, for two days, sweltering in the night because of the unseasonable heat (did I mentioned in the last post about it pegging 117 degrees last week?) we were gifted two days with power.  No doubt because it would be bad form to mark the 50th anniversary of Uganda's independence with noooooo electricity for celebrations.  But - since it IS the big five-0, all of the local area officials are in Kampala at the huge do-das there.  So the date of our parade, etc. is "to be determined."    Still - I have the week off - a totally unexpected vacation.  And wait! There's a flash of light!   OH-MY Umeme is baaaaack.  Whee - I have to go blow out a house full of candles...       I've learned to always keep some sort of tap light or candle and lighter nearby.  When it's dark here it is really dark. 

Monday night, Independence Day eve - Diana Gardens, the club in my front yard, had a big event.  They began tuning up for this around three in the afternoon and my doors and windows were rattling. There is a true obsession with "loud" here.  I don't get it and I especially don't get how people can still hear.  Why is "noise induced hearing loss" not rampant?  People are still engaged in whispered greetings  a 20 paces while walking away from each other.  And they hear it!  Well - not this Muzungu.  After putting wads of toilet paper around every  iron bolt,  in all the doors and windows I foolishly asked if they might turn the volume down just a smidge - you know to maybe an intimate 130 decibels.  No way - they were just getting warmed up.

The party got started in earnest about 9PM after a good rain and continued until 4AM without so much as a pause for breath.   Sleep was not to be had, with or without earplugs.  I practically had to hold on to the bed to keep from being vibrated out - OK a slight exaggeration.  So I finished book #92 somewhere around 3:45AM.

And speaking of vibrations,  we had a little mini-earthquake last Friday night.  The  earth moved - and for all the wrong reasons.  I would have thought it was a train going by - but - oh yeah - I forgot - we don't HAVE trains up here. (Museveni destroyed all the tracks for fear of invasions.)   Lasted about 5 seconds.  I would have dismissed it as imagination had not Jenna texted me from the States that Gulu had an earthquake.   Now how did she know that?  Face Book no doubt - and then it was confirmed by a Ugandan friend.   UFO's, earthquakes - this is feeling like California.

Mid-service is almost here!  And the Ethiopia trip has been approved except for traveling in the south.  Seems Al Shabab is lurking, having come over the borders of Sudan and Somalia.  Turns out that the oldest physical evidence of a humanoid remains (3.5 Million years old) was discovered there and the Arc of the Covenant is said to still be enshrined in a temple at Axum.  Should make for an interesting trip.  And any country settled in part by the Portuguese and Italians has gotta have good food.   Even tho the Brits got there later, the good food habit was already established.  Can't wait - three weeks of adventure and culinary bliss.

Yin-kitty  (of the Yin/Yang duo) becomes more and more tame, still being trailed by her sole remaining calico kitten.  Somehow, having an almost-pet makes life feel more normal.  On a purely Peace Corps note, a friend whose project is helping to raise pigs in a village that's damn near impossible to get to is playing nursemaid to several baby piglets.  The mama died and the other new mama won't suckle them.  Soooo, she is tasked with finding a bottle to feed said piglets.  But - she ran out of propane and in addition to not being able to cook, she can't HEAT THE MILK for the little oinkers.    Just about the time life becomes mundane, there's another story around the corner.  Stay tuned.

Opera on the Post Bus? Naaah....

So - we were about half way home on the Post Bus ride from Kampala to Gulu.  It had been blessedly uneventful - just what you want on a bus ride considering the alternatives.   I got up early to be able to hit Brod, the bakery, to get my sanity making real croissant for the bus ride.  When I arrived at the PO, I was stunned to discover that they were serving tea, juice and breakfast breads to the passengers in the waiting area outside.  Wait just a minute - who am I-where am I-what is my name?   This is definitely NEW and - it was complimentary.  Things are changing before my eyes in Uganda.  There was a bus drivers' strike last week over safety conditions after a bus (not a Post Bus) of 40 rolled over and all died.  There's actually a suggestion to have armed guards on every bus to keep the DRIVERS in check. Wondering if this "breakfast move" is  focused on attracting customers.  It's known as the only really "safe" bus so they're already ahead of the game.  The road conditions add to the adventure.

OK - back to opera....  There we were, bouncing along and one of the several babies on board started wailing - I mean that shrieking cry that only little babies can manage.  As if in sympathy, the others join the chorus.  Stereo babies....  stereo crying babies.  And then - there OPERA starts vibrating out of the overhead speakers.  Not church music - Opera - something from Madam Butterfly I think.  And it's rather a lot to take in along the terrible road, on a terrible bus ride, in the terrible heat of a terribly long day in the middle of Uganda.  I looked to see if there was something correspondingly incongruous on the TV screen.  I was not disappointed.    The opera was the accompaniment to a scene of a large Ugandan woman dressed as a nun, running through a park - arms akimbo.  She stops in front of a cross - and there is "Jesus" mounted there - but when he sees her an jumps of the cross and starts running.  I'm not making this up.

This is pure comedy and I could not have written a more bizarre script.  I'm nearly convulsed with laughter, babies are wailing and madam Butterfly provides a backdrop to religious sacrilege.    Some days are just perfect in their absurdity.  This was one.

I'm starting a collection of "BUS STORIES."  It'll be the grown-up version of  The Wheels on the Bus.  It will no doubt be X-Rated  - there are some doozies (man peeing in a water bottle and PCV being slapped on the cheek by a flying breast). 

And I am back "home."  The house was left unoccupied, so I was relieved to discover all was well and as it should be.  I instantly dropped my bags and gratefully climbed under a COLD shower and loved every drop of it.    This concerns me.   One year and ten days remaining.  There are a few who can tell you to the minute.

No News is Good News?

This comes to you from the exciting cement confines of a windowless-single-with-a-fan room at the Annex, my home away from home when in Kampala.  I'm here for my second crown (no not the one that comes with jewels) courtesy of Uganda and Peace Corps.  At least this time I was able to get in to the dentist who has the crown machine in his office.  He told me to day that the cost of the machine is more that the total of all of his other office equipment combined.  It's not quite right (the crown) but I'll go back tomorrow. At least this one doesn't come via the "slow boat from China" as did the last one.  

I managed to make it through last weekend without accidentally going into work on Saturday.  So my dignity has been partially restored.  I am free of termites for the time being and Yin, the pitiful white female cat, has redeemed herself by catching a mighty fine rat.    Now days she is trailed by the only one of her remaining kittens, a little calico, and she is again "with kittens."  I fed her some left-over and getting-old (refrigeration off for a few days) tuna and she now deigns to "speak" to me.  In fact she's quite the meow-er and has started rubbing up against my leg.  She no longer runs from me and has - in fact - become quite pushy.  MK - you have competition.  So I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  Tho the last time I fed her she wanted more, which I wouldn't give.  Within a few minutes I saw her out front with a big  squirming rat hanging from her mouth.  Good kitty...

A Ugandan Blessing:  "May your ride on the bus be boring and uneventful."    On Monday I was granted such a blessing.  As is my habit (unwillingly) the night before I have to get up early to catch the bus, I awoke every hour on the hour until 5AM when I finally gave up and got up.  Mercifully the night's rain  had quit and I walked the mile in the dark dodging puddles and mud, but without rain.  Got a decent seat and a decent seat mate.  So all-in-all a good ride if you don't count the ensuing exhaustion.

Absolutely nothing of interest is happening, but considering the things that COULD be interesting, I suppose this is a good thing.   Those of us in the north were visited by our program officer and one of the nurses last week - along with the security officer.  As Fred sat taking notes and the incidents of "the foot, the fire and the burglary" came up he said "And this was all in the last year?"  Yes, Fred. And this is why a boring week can count as a good week.

Our planned trip to Ethiopia has met with some resistance. It turns out that when we submit our travel requests, they are sent through the safety and security officer for that country.  Seems that the areas we want to visit in the south - the tribes that  still do body painting and wear a clay plate in the lower lip (!) are considered "out of bounds."  Well damn!   Still going, but having to regroup yet again.  74 days and counting to departure!!

All manner of turmoil at out office in Gulu:  personnel shuffling, office demolition, relocating. Hard to get things done in such an environment.  Still - things move forward.  Got a nice article published in the Human Rights Focus Quarterly publication and it appears I will be writing more for them.  Kind of a nice surprise I had not anticipated.     In fact, none of this is what I had vaguely anticipated, but then I suppose that's part of the adventure.    Housemate is still in the States.

Once again, my deepest thanks to all of you who have supported me - mind, body and spirit - with comments,  e-mails, calls, goody boxes, help with things at home.     Really, I could not be doing this without your love and support.   One of the sweetest discoveries here has been your presence and generosity of spirit, time and effort.   I am truly overwhelmed.  Knowing you are there is indeed the "wind beneath my wings."