May 15, 2009

Our group is here! All 28 of us. It’s kind of out of control but also pretty fun. We now have running water which is a great improvement and Melissa and I anticipate the day our mattresses that we washed about 10 days ago will dry completely. Everyone seems to be getting a long great so far. It could definitely be the honeymoon phase but we are all having a really good time together and will hopefully have some good projects coming up in the near future. Some of the things Melissa and I set up for this week included meeting with the Sanyu school.

Prosper grew up an orphan but was sponsored by a school for school and board and really loved by her teachers. When she married Pastor Francis she wanted to give back through education. So, they started Sanyu (that is her Ugandan name) school from a seven room house. They lived in three of the rooms and started with 6 students. Each year they expand a classroom to fit the senior class and have one more year to expand to make it seven years with seven classes. They are struggling to find the finances for this last building. In Uganda you have to take a standardized test to get into middle school and need a “hole” or a hall for both the seventh grade and to administer the standardized test at your school to be considered legitimate and eventually be sponsored by the government. The problem is, they need $3000 USD to do it. Micro credit loans will only give up to $300 with almost a 30% interest rate. The bill for complete funding is currently over half of all of our project funds for the summer so we can’t do it alone. They would also want to use it as a meeting place for women’s groups and a community center. So, I’m going to try to find other NGO’s around Uganda that specialize in schools and see if we can partner with them.

When Melissa and I arrived and were struggling to find housing for 28 people in a poor community, Pastor and Prosper took us around for 7 hours one day, completely dropping what they were doing to help us find housing. Prosper stayed with us for almost three days straight helping us get the best prices on all the house supplies and teaching us how to clean the house here. They have four kids of their own and have adopted three orphans. I am amazed with this couple and know that they sincerely just want what is best for their community. We are going to do some teacher training, fix their adobe stove, build square foot gardens for each grade (so they can learn math and incorporate some more nutrition with applicable life skills) and teach business classes to the 53 moms whose children go to Sanyu school but who can’t afford the small tuition fee. Sanyu and Pastor Francis can’t turn them away and in turn, can not make enough money to expand. Although their school is humble, they have been getting recognition from the community because they try to instill in the children a love of learning and also really grow attached to the kids.

To get the community involved we were thinking of having those families who cannot afford tuition donate labor to building to pay for tuition. We were also thinking of having the kids work on the school for about an hour a day so they also have ownership. We haven’t promised anything, but I am also hoping for a miracle so we can help them with their school.

Kizza


Kizza is a man whose love of life radiates from his countenance. We built something like 15 adobe stoves with him last year and in the year since HELP Intl has been gone, his community built about 35 more. Adobe stoves are important because they save on fuel costs and time, but most importantly, women traditionally cook over open fire in their homes and get respiratory disease and very irritated eyes. Children would suffer as well. We are helping him now build a mushroom house for his womens group which after about $200 of investment, it would help support up to 16 families. I want to include in the contract that a percentage of the money earned must be saved for their children’s schooling. Kizza is so excited about life and one day said, “I may not be rich, but I am happy.” When I heard that statement, I was really impressed by its simplicity. For some reason it is such a puzzle for most of the world. He has found happiness through his family and giving back to his community.

The whole time I’ve been here I’ve wondered if it is our place to get involved in these peoples lives. I’ve been trying to partner as much as possible with the community and figure out feasible ways for more of a loan system instead of hand outs to help foster self sustainability instead of dependency. There is a woman from Kampala that Melissa met who goes around to schools and communities and gives speeches to Ugandans about the need for them to step-up and give back to their communities. She says that they need to stop waiting for Muzungu’s to come in and if they see a problem, figure out a way to fix it themselves. Melissa’s friend Clint was in Uganda for a conference and said something similar to us, he said, “stop thinking that you can’t do something. We put way too many limits on ourselves and when we say we can’t, our brain shuts down. Instead turn it into a question and ask, HOW can I do this. This forces your mind to work through the problem and you continuously ask how, you will attain much more in your life.” I like this organization because we can incorporate that by ideally “helping them help themselves”. We try to ask them how they want to solve their problems and then see if we can offer any assistance. All of our projects need to have a lasting impact to foster self sustainability and if we can help speed up the development process, even just a little bit to help small businesses, or increase health, it’s worth it. I think I will always question our involvement in the development process. There is a very delicate balance of how much we should give vs. how much we should expect from the people we are helping. One project I’m excited about is an HIV/AIDS youth outreach group that has 100% volunteers who go to schools and talk about protection, abstinence, and the importance of getting tested. We are partnering with them to build a HUGE adobe stove in the local, very under-funded, hospital. I think the more there are partnerships, the better. We are planning to run with their ideas and to mostly just support them in their mission.

I love it here. Being over the logistics of the group cuts my ability to pursue my own projects, but I love where I am. I'm excited to learn from our volunteers and continue to learn from the people we are working with.