Movin' Right Along

Movin' Right Along

24^th December 2006
And I'm gone! Well, kinda. From Mukono anyway.

I've moved out of the guest house in Mukono and into a house in a place called Jinja. The house is owned by Rose, the lady who has been helping me with GrassRootsUganda.com and a great friend as well. Rose lives in the converted garage and I live in the main house. The house is usually rented out to some Ugandan university students. The university is currently on holiday, so I have the house all too myself.

Which is a bit of a shame really, as if I'd come at any other time I'd be sharing my home with twenty female Ugandan students.... Ah well. Seriously though, it would not look good if I was here with the students. Unmarried (kinda) men do not share a home with unmarried women here. It is just not done here.

So why did I move here? Two reasons.

Firstly, I am possessed with GrassRootsUganda.com to carry on when I am gone. Too many projects are set up by people like me, and then collapse as soon as someone like me leaves. I so don't want that to happen. I was originally going to get Leslie to help me. But Leslie is a Mzungu (foreigner) like me and might not always be here. She has been here for 18 months or so and is likely to stay for a lot longer, but there is no guarantee of "always". I also like the idea of Ugandans taking care of Ugandans. They are the best people to do this and not some stupid looking Mzungu.

Which is where Rose comes in. Rose will be helping to run GrassRootsUganda.com. She will be handling the money side of things and be posting out the orders. Having spent four years in England, Rose is Mzunugu-esque in the way she does things, which makes her perfect for helping me run GrassRootsUganda.com.

I also have a guy called Lawrence who will be helping run the technical sides of things: Taking pictures of products and uploading pictures and things like that.

For all this to work though I need systems, systems and more systems. It is very hard to organise this from Mukono (60km away) so I moved to Jinja so that I could work more closely with Rose.

And, as a slight aside, I intend my involvement with GrassRootsUganda.com going forward will be primarily one of marketing. Getting the site "out there" and ensure we have a constant supply of orders coming in. I will also keep track of which payments are due from what ladies as it involves some pretty complex number crunching that would be quite hard for someone else but pretty straight forward for me.

The second reason I moved to Jinja once again has to do with Rose. Rose helps run an organisation called Pittek. Pittek is a women's group based in Jinja that is made up almost exclusively with women from Northern Uganda. Pittek like many other NGOs (Non Government Organisation) struggle for money.^*

Rose approached me one day and asked me how Pittek would go about sourcing a volunteer from GVN. Having a volunteer from GVN has all sorts of benefits.

For a start, you get $US 375 per month per volunteer. The volunteer gets to see the real Africa and Africans get to see a real Mzungu. They see that not all Mzungu made of money, and that "when we are cut, do we not bleed?" This demystifying is not to be underrated. A lot of Africans, for example, believe that HIV/AIDS is a purely African problem and Mzungu are somehow immune. Leslie is very passionate about this demystifying.

Volunteers tend to bring a lot of stuff with them. While this is not expected, it often happens anyway. An Australian volunteer in the Philippines, for example, donated a car to an organisation. Water pumps, school supplies, motor cycles, cash and child sponsorship are other examples that I have seen.

At the moment, Pittek is mostly involved with craft groups. They meet with the ladies every now and then and exchange ideas about things to make and ways to improve what they are already doing. This is all well and good, but it is not the type of environment you can place a volunteer in. A GVN requirement is that the volunteer has something to do each and every day. Pittek is just not equipped to accept a volunteer at the moment.

Which is where I come in. I will be working with Rose to ensure that Pittek are in a position to accept volunteers from GVN. They won't be getting a volunteer every month (due to demand), but will hopefully have at least one and sometimes two volunteers for most of the time.

I will be looking to help set up the following projects. Some will be duds, some wont.

Adult Literacy
This is one that the women themselves suggested when I visited the group. I like the idea as it is the type of thing that wouldn't have happened without a Mzungu, which is one of my Best Practice Volunteerism principles.

The adult literacy classes will not teach English, but rather the ladies own dialect. While the volunteer will almost certainly not be able to speak the dialect, it should be very easy enough problem to overcome.
Home visits
Many of the Northern Ugandan women in Jinja and marginalised. Many are elderly, many are HIV positive and few of them have anybody to take care of them.

The idea behind the home visits is for the volunteer to provide general support. Maybe just company and someone to talk to, maybe help with general chores.

The expectation of the recipient will surely be that of financial support, but that is something that Rose and I will have to debunk. If the volunteer wants to help, then that is fine, but it is not something we can demand or expect.
Slum Work
Jinja has its own mini-slum. It is primarily made up of Northern Ugandans. We could start all sorts of things in the slums such as:
- Malaria programs
- HIV education
- Sanitation programs
- Hygiene programs
I can't help but draw parallels here with the programs offered by CBW at the Buduburum Refugee Camp.
Street Kids
Jinja has many street kids, many of whom - once again - are from North Uganda. While this is not strictly a women's project, it is still a worthwhile project.

You see many street kids in Jinja searching through rubbish tips for something of value. There are a few shelters around the place that attempt to take care of them and give them some sort of education. We hope to team up with these shelters.
Education
Once again, not strictly a women's project but worthwhile nevertheless. I am a big fan of placing volunteers in schools to do sexual health programs as it is the type of thing that doesn't tend to happen without a Mzungu. I am not such a fan of academic programs as it is hard to justify a volunteer replacing a teacher and imagining that the standard of education will somehow magically improve. (Though I myself have tried to do this).

Some schools in Uganda just don't have a teacher at all for certain classes. The Nalusse school near the guest house in Mukono is example as it completely lacks a Grade Four teacher. Obviously a volunteer at such a school teaching academic classes is a good idea.

I think the Pittek program will have two big draws. Firstly, it is primarily a women's group. Most GVN volunteers are female and aged between eighteen and twenty-three. I'm sure some of them would love to work with a women's group. Secondly, it deals with women primarily from Northern Uganda. It sounds odd, but Northern Uganda is somehow trendy at the moment thanks to films like Invisible Children. Pittek will have the advantage that you will be able to help Northern Uganda women, without having to travel to the dangerous North, where only crazy people go.

Keep watching www.crazymalc.co.nz to see how it all pans out.

If any of these programs sound appealing to you, then contact Leslie Weighill care of The Real Uganda. I'm sure she will be more than happy to help you out.

^*Well, NGOs that are not funded by governments anyway. The NGOs that are funded by governments tend to have a lot of money sloshing around and roll around in big arse SUVs with massive antennas bolted to their front. Those type of NGOs don't tend to get to the grassroots though and, in my opinion, don't do much good.

Do you like the work that I am doing?

Wanna help in a real and tangible way?

Then visit GrassRootsUganda.com and purchase some crafts made by Ugandan ladies. 100% of the profits are returned to the ladies

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(c) 2005, 2006 and 2007 Malcolm Trevena.
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