Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Final Week in Uganda

My final week in Uganda was full of tying up the loose ends of various projects that were underway. I am proud and relieved to be able to say that everything I had wanted to accomplish I was able to achieve with the help and hard work of Namatovu Catherine, the headmistress at Mwebaza Primary School.
My last day at St. Paul I was pleased to see that the walls on the outside of the building had been plastered and the construction workers were now working on plastering the walls inside the building. This will take four more weeks to complete, then the glass for the windows and the switches to the lights can installed. 
Also at St. Paul, we have installed five Enviroloo toilet systems that use zero water and turn all the solid waste into pathogen free compost that can sagely be used in the school gardens. By the time I left, everything for the bathroom system had been completed, the teachers had been trained on the maintenance of the system, and the bathrooms were ready to use!
Back at Mwebaza School, we spent two days writing pen pal letters for their friends at Niwot Elementary. The children light up when they receive their letters and recognize the familiar faces in the pictures that are stapled to the front of their of their letter. The school is split into two groups for letter writing. The older students write their letters first, then when they finish their letter, they partner with a younger student to help them write their personalized pen pal letter. It's a great way for everyone, even the nursery age students, to feel involved.
My very last day in Uganda I spent in Kampala at a lawyers office, purchasing a neighboring plot of land to our middle school site. That morning we had gone to the village of Nkungulutale where the new middle school building is being constructed. Upon my arrival, the roofing men were nailing on the last of the ridges for the roof. I was very happy to know that the roof would be complete by the time I left! In Nkungulutale, we gathered the "land dealer" (real estate agent) and the land owner of the plot we wanted to buy and headed to Kampala. It took us five hours to complete the land purchase, but in the end we were able to buy the land for 17 million shillings, or 6,000 USD. I had a whole backpack full of money that I passed along to the land owner after the purchase. I was quite surprised when he rolled up his pant legs and tried to fit all these bundles of cash in his socks. However, it couldn't all fit so he put the remaining 4 wads of cash into his pant pockets. I was told, "this is how Ugandan men carry their money."  I'm just relieved the land owner returned from the village in time for us to make this land purchase official.
This has been a challenging yet very rewarding trip. I look forward to returning with a group of supporters and volunteers this summer to celebrate our accomplishments! Stay tuned :)

Outside plaster complete at St. Paul School

Plastering in progress inside St. Paul School

Enviroloo toilets complete! 

Nkungulutale roof complete!

Nkungulutale roof complete!

Pen pal letter delivery 

Students with their pen pal letters

Pen pal letter delivery

Pen pal letter delivery 

Students writing their pen pal letters 

Students writing their pen pal letters

Students writing their pen pal letters 

Students writing their pen pal letters 

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Let There Be Light

Over a year ago, John Tembrock, a solar engineer from Boulder, CO, designed a solar system that would be installed on St. Paul School’s new school building, which at the time was no more than a drawing itself. This week, John joined me here in Uganda to watch his plans come to life! We spent most of the week at St. Paul School overseeing both the electrical and solar installation. Despite a few minor setbacks we were able to complete the system and test the connection before John returned home. Fortunately, with just a few adjustments and 12 panels, 8 batteries, 24 light bulbs, and 45 meters of wire later, the entire school now has light!
When we weren’t busy with the solar project, we were in the classroom writing pen pal letters with the students. This has always been one of my favorite projects so I was happy to be able to share this experience with someone who has given so much to the school. Fostering cross-cultural exchange is a critical element to our successful relationships between our partner schools. Plus, the students just love getting their letters and writing back to their friends in Colorado. 
But it wasn’t all work while he was here… on our last night at St. Paul, we took a 15 minute boda-boda (motorcycle) ride to a fishing port on the shore of Lake Victoria and for $0.50 got a 20 minute boat ride with one of the fisherman along the coast!
I am so grateful to have spent this week with such a hard-working, lighthearted, and compassionate person. This week wouldn't have been half as productive without his expertise.   


St. Paul School Solar Array

St. Paul School Solar System

St. Paul School with electricity!

The view from the front of the school building at night

Pen pal letter delivery
Pen pal letter delivery

Pen pal letter writing

Pen pal letter writing

Fishing port at Lake Victoria

Fishermen at sunset on Lake Victoria 


Sunday, February 8, 2015

Gulu Town, home of the Acholi

“Kop ango?” says the man working a little stand at the bus park who sells airtime (cell phone credit). I smile because I know this greeting and respond, “Kop pe.” I had finally arrived in Gulu, where I will visit my host family from three years ago when I traveled to Africa for the first time as a student. When I arrived at my host family’s compound three years ago, a bunch of uncertain yet welcoming faces greeted me, now when I pull up to the compound, all I see are familiar faces full of excitement. Paula, my host mom, is an older woman with a toothless smile and a soft chuckle. She is raising her late daughter’s three young children, Gabrielle, Joann, and Joshua.  During my first trip to Gulu, Mama Paula’s other daughter, Caroline, was happily married. She had just bore her husband their first child, a son, which she carried proudly on her back. However, as I’ve returned over the years Caro revealed a dark reality of abuse that began only after she became a mother. At first, when the topic of abuse arose, I told them I would leave the man that ever raised his hand to me and they laughed so hard as if I they thought I was joking. Then during my next visit, Caro was 8 months pregnant with her second child and as we sat in a crowded hospital hallway, waiting for a doctor who we never saw, she cried on my shoulder saying, “I’m afraid I’ve found a bad man, but I have his children.” I won’t claim to understand the intricacies of relationships in Ugandan culture, but as she explained the details of her abuse to me in that hot hospital room, I knew I needed to do something to help her protect herself. Before she could even contemplate leaving him, she needed to ensure that she could provide for herself and her children. That is when we became more than sisters; we became business partners.  For two years now, she has been making traditional paper beaded jewelry for the Mwebaza Foundation that we purchase from her and sell in the US to raise money for our partner schools back in East Africa.

This time when I arrived in Gulu to pick up my order of jewelry and spend a few days playing with the children, I was surprised and proud to learn that Caro had taken her two children and left her abusive husband. She has been working in the market and renting a room in her mother, Paula’s, house. Another lady, who had also escaped from an abusive relationship, was also renting a room in Paula’s house with her two young children as well. I told Paula she is practically running an unofficial safe house for abused women. She just chuckled and said, I don’t mind living in poverty as long as I live in a happy home where we will not be disturbed.  And a happy home is exactly what she has created. I spent three full days sitting on her veranda, making jewelry, playing with the children, and laughing the entire time. My last night in Gulu, I laid down outside on a thatch mat next to the fire. Joshua laid on my left and Juilet on my right and little Franklin found a spot right on top of me. We all looked up at the sky and whispered as we began counting the stars. Within 10 minutes Joshua and Franklin were asleep and Juilet’s little voice continued to whisper, 79… 83… 54… as she counted the stars.


Caro sitting on the veranda with her beads and jewelry
Caro pouring lacquer over the paper beads


Gabrielle, Franklin, Joshua, and Joann playing together with some safari toys I gifted to them

Joshua washing his hands before lunch



Franklin, Ruth, Sam, Joshua, and Juliet sitting waiting for lunch to be served

Franklin


Joshua and Ruth (Caro's youngest child) 


Monday, February 2, 2015

Patience is a Virtue

For the past week and a half I have been busy scheduling the logistics of the various projects I am here to accomplish. In the next three weeks, the roofing will be finished at our middle school site and St. Paul will have solar electricity! There are other projects that wont be completed until after I leave due to the functional progression of construction. For example, the gutters and the glass for the windows can't be installed until after the plastering of the building is complete, and the plastering can't be done until the eaves have been built. I am happy to say that the construction of the eaves has begun today. The eaves can be built in two weeks time but the plastering will take a month and a half to finish. Therefore, by mid-April the school will finally have windows with glass and a fully functional rainwater collection and sterilization system!
Today was also the first day of school for many schools across Uganda, including St. Paul School and Mwebaza Primary School. Classrooms that are usually packed from wall to wall were half full today because many students don't show up for school until the second or third week of class. Many parents think their children can miss weeks of class around harvest seasons or at the beginning of a term and it won't affect their performance. However, this idea is something that is slowly beginning to change as they realize the importance of education.













Friday, January 23, 2015

How to Purchase Land in Uganda

Due to Western influence, there are two systems for purchasing land that coexist in Uganda. There is the traditional Kibanja way, where the village chairman approves the land transfer and it is considered official. Then there is the new Western system that involves lawyers and land titles. When the Western system was first implemented, there was only one land title office in the capital city of Kampala. They quickly realized that it would be more efficient to have district offices, so they completely closed down the land office in Kampala while they computerized and zoned 6 new land office. A closure that was only supposed to be one month lasted an entire year.
Yet it seemed like each system was pretty straight forward, until I met with our lawyer and I realized that both systems are deeply intertwined with one another. Before you can obtain the land title in your name, you not only have to pay the Kibanja fee, which apparently only gives you ownership over development on the land, you have to also pay "mailo" (or the land owner's interest in the land), which is essentially where you buy out the owner's interest in the land so that land title can be passed over to you.
All of this matters because I am supposed to be buying a parcel of land next to where we are constructing a middle school to increase the size of the property. However I have been working on finalizing this purchase all week and this afternoon when we had planned to go to the lawyer's office to make the purchase official, we got word that the land owner himself had left town for a funeral and won't be back until Monday. I'm just glad I left enough time in my itinerary so I can be flexible when things like this come up.
So instead of meeting with the lawyer, I spent my afternoon playing with the village kids, which is where I'd much rather be anyway.









Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The Complexities of Construction

One of my major tasks while in Uganda is to oversee the installation of doors and windows on the newly constructed school building for our partner school, St. Paul. My second major task is to orchestrate the roofing project at our second construction site which will function as a middle school upon completion.
I have learned that construction in Uganda is not as straight forward as one might think. Each task requires the work of a number of different people, all whom you have to barter with. For example, when discussing the installation of the doors and windows, I learned that there is not a place where you go to buy standard size doors and window frames, but you have to enlist the help of a welder who will make each door and window by hand. After he is finished, you have to hire transportation to take them from the welders workshop to the school. Once they are at the school, you have to hire a team of construction workers that can install the doors and windows. Once the installation is complete, you have to purchase glass for the windows and hire someone separately to come and secure the glass into the window frames. And to ensure we are getting the best prices, it is best to get 3 quotes from three different people for every task. It actually came in handy when I was bartering for the cost of welding windows and doors. I was talking with a welder who does great work but his price was a little high, I told him we already had another quote for the price we could afford (which we did, but his workmanship wasn't as good) and he dropped his price to meet the others! So we were successful this time :)
I went through similar complications with the roofing project, and I'm sure there are more surprises to come. It's all just part of life here that you learn to live with and possibly learn to love.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Until Next Time

My last day in Kenya was filled with appreciation. Sometimes life gets moving too quickly to take the time to really appreciate all the little things that make each day special. I was able to appreciate how welcomed I had become at my little hotel in Kitengela. On the first day, strange faces would peek in through the door of the conference room while I wrote my blog and stare at me without saying a word. I would ask if it is ok that I was there, they would say I am "most welcome", then continue to stare, so I would continue to write. I attributed this strange behavior  to them possibly never hosting a muzungu (white person) before. But as the week went on, I learned their names, met their families, heard stories about their lives, and became "sweetheart" by the time I had left.

When Kevin and I got to Empakasi School, I took a moment to look up from the construction work and appreciate the beauty of where I was. When my eyes focused in on the horizon, I saw three giraffes, a group of zebras and a wildebeest all grazing together. A few local massai boys that were helping with the construction asked if I wanted to get a closer look, so we headed through the savannah to go take pictures of the animals. On our way we found a gazelle horn and each of the boys got their turn to play with the camera and take pictures.

Unfortunately, I left Kenya before school resumed. For over 2 weeks the teachers had been on strike, fighting for higher pay. It is not wrong that they came together to fight for their rights, but it is too bad that it is at the expense of each student. I am here, fighting for the right to education. So every student can come to school and have the tools to reach their full potential.  My hope is that our work here not only gives these students the tool they need, but is a tangible reminder of the importance of education.