Girls day out

I finally made it outdoor climbing this Sunday, when I hit the Luwazi Rock with three other lovely girls. The crag is yet another beautiful place with views over lush green fields (pic1). I believe this is why Uganda is called 'The Pearl of Africa'; in addition to being surrounded by great scenery where ever you go, you get to enjoy a pleasant climate. It hardly ever gets too hot but it is always comfortably warm, while rain storms keep the air fresh.

As normally, it took us a while to ascent the crag, locate top bolts, build reliable anchors and repel down. Unfortunately I could not lead climb because there were no lead belayers. (Read: I was relieved to find out I did not have to face my fear of lead falling.)

We set up two routes and I spent most of the time trying to solve the crux of the harder one (pic2). The other route had an interesting corner part (pic3). After some good climbing we enjoyed a tasty picnic lunch under the shade of a small cliff. Just as we returned to the tackle the routes again it began raining. Unluckily, the crag was targeted by a small but heavy rain storm. It left both the rock and us girls completely wet (pic4).

All we could do was to pack up and head home. One of the most satisfied participants was our car driver, who followed us to the crag and tried rock climbing for his first time. Since hiring a car and a driver is reasonably priced here (approx. 50€ per day) he will get to accompany us again. Because the Luwazi Rock is conveniently only an hour and half away from Kampala, we plan on returning there to continue on our project routes...

The story of Mr. Kayemba

Kayemba Kalema was born in 1970. He lived his childhood in a small village together with his father Fredrick, four stepmothers and several half siblings. Kayemba's birth mother lived in another remote village, either unable or unwilling to raise her children. As can be assumed, each stepmother cared only for her own children, which left Kayemba an object of continuos mistreatment. His closest companion was his half-sister Alice, whose mother was also living elsewhere.

In a way Fredrick was a generous man. In addition to supporting his large family he hosted a good number of coming and going people at his property. At times there were altogether over sixty people to be fed and accommodated. When Kayemba was 10 and Alice was 8, they had to wake up before sunrise to fetch water to fill up two big water tanks. After returning from school they headed straight to crop fields to ditch vegetables. Carrying heavy potato sacks on their heads, Kayemba and Alice walked long ways to home. At that point they often fell asleep, exhausted by the day's work. When they woke up dinner had been prepared and eaten, and they had to wait with empty stomachs until breakfast. Some nights they ended up eating dog food to fight hunger.

"Out there must be other children suffering like me", Kayemba thought. "When I grow up I want to help them."

To avoid being woken up by stick hits, Kaeymba and Alice chose to sleep outside in the bushes. At the age of 10 Alice got raped by a visitor man. Because Kayemba was quickly forced to escape the threatening situation, he could not identify the man in the dark. After having lost her virginity Alice no longer had any value. Different men came to get her for periods of some weeks and she was returned home just to be picked up by someone else. Alice died with AIDS at the age of 22, leaving behind three orphaned children.

12-year-old Kayemba felt there was no way out of the helpless situation. He decided to commit suicide by drinking poison he had managed to acquire. But just before it was too late, he was found and taken to a hospital. Instead of returning home Kayemba went to live with his grand aunt. Since his life continued equally miserable there, he reattempted suicide a year later. This time he could not fight back nausea but threw up the poison, staying once again alive.

"Since God has saved my life already twice, he must have a special mission waiting for me. I must change my situation now so that I can take up the possibilities he will offer me."

Kayemba joined the National Resistance Movement army when he was 13. His intention was either to get killed in a battle or return with skills needed to take revenge on the people who had mistreated him. For the first time in his life he felt a sense of belonging, as he was part of a troop fighting to stop Obote's mass killings. He witnessed extreme cruelty, such as cutting open pregnant women's stomachs with big knives, revealing unborn babies that were claimed to be bombs. However, he did not stay in the army for idealistic reasons but in order to have access to security and food. In 1986, after Kayemba had been in the army for three years, Museveni became Uganda's president and the civil war was over. By that time Kayemba had forgiven his wrongful treatment and returned to his father's house.

Now that Kayemba knew how to handle a gun, Fredrick started fearing for himself and his wives. He took Kayemba back to school to complete his primary and secondary education. Despite studying Kayemba felt restless and out of place. That is when he was introduced to a local boy scouts group, which took him back to camping familiar from the army. Together the scouts served post-war Ugandans in many ways, such as traveling to emergency sites to help children and elderly people. Kayemba stayed with the scouts until he became a troop leader, and nowadays he continues to work with youths as a seventh day adventist pathfinder leader and enjoys challenging mountain hikes.

By the time Kayemba finished secondary school his father had got sick. Weakened by cancer, he was no longer able to work but was forced to sell off his property in order to support the household. He died in three year's time. One of Fredrick's tenants, civil engineer Daniel Nsibambi, supported Kayemba by offering him work at his buildings. When he saw the young man's skills and determination he decided to take him to college. Kayemba got a Craft 1 certificate and continued to work for five more years until he could afford to get his diploma in civil engineering.

After graduating from college Kayemba started his own house building business, met his wife Prossy and got five children. Now the family lives comfortably in a peaceful village, attending actively in local church and scout events.

Throughout all times, Kayemba has remembered the decision he made when he was 10. When ever he sees suffering children he feels their pain in his heart. That is the reason for founding Hope Children's Foundation, which has been Kayemba's main mission since 1999. Today his foundation brings together over 80 under priviledged children - orphans, school dropouts and members of very poor families - to provide them with basic shelter, food and education.

"If I cannot help these poor children, then no one can. I want to change as many lives as possible, to bring brighter futures to my country."

Project status report

Project: VOL452013, Volunteer work
Customer: Hope Children's Foundation
Start date: 5.4.2013
End date: 31.5.2013
Key accomplishments: school term 1 completed, boarding students' holiday period feeding funded (pic1), children's trust and friendship gained
Ongoing activities: study reviews and extracurriculars (handcrafts, IT) for primary 6&7 classes, farming (pic2), volunteers' home visits, office work for fundraising, volunteer requiting and visibility (pic3)
Drawbacks: loss of vehicle, resulting in usage of matatus & bodabodas to transport volunteers between home and school (total travel time ~4hrs/day)
Work load: in the beginning 10-hour days four times a week at school, now mainly office work at home and occasional visits at school
Take aways: create more effective ways of fundraising, memorize all children's names
Overall atmosphere: increasingly chill out
Other remarks: visits at Net Vocational Training Institute to meet school dropouts and teenage mothers studying hair dressing, knitting, sewing, shoe making and electrical wiring (pic4)

BONUS: If you think these beanies made by Net Institute students are cool (pic5), you can order them in different colors and designs. The price of 15000USH (4.3€) helps to fund their practical training. Interested? Send me an email.

Adaptation

Today I celebrate my one month anniversary in Uganda. Actually I was hit by a sort of culture shock in the beginning but now I am starting to settle in. Compared to my previous long stays abroad, it is definitely most different here. Much more effort is demanded to understand the culture and figure out how things function. But this is exactly what I have looked for - to take a step further by picking a third world country offering new challenges!

My previous stays abroad were all well established; study exchanges, internships and agreed jobs. This is the first time I am abroad without a set plan. As intended, I have now started off with HCF and as I keep seeing around and meeting people I will certainly face also other opportunities. Being a future oriented, well organized person I have felt a bit anxious not knowing what I will be doing during the following months. I still do not have exact plans but I am proceeding in my search for new appealing volunteer programs and accommodation options. A few recent incidents have proven that I indeed must have patience and trust in destiny, as things tend to work themselves out. My biggest single concern - finding travel companion for a 3-weekUganda/Kenya/Tanzania tour - was solved in a great way, despite last minute drama and changes.

I have at some level adapted to African time perception. Here nothing generally happens at its announced time. Even though a person is up to two hours late it is not customary to call and explain. Naturally, it is not always his/her own fault but tardiness may be accumulated by other delays. I am learning to kick back and make something useful of my waiting time, like climbing a tree (pic1).

I have also gotten accustomed to living with a host family, which is perhaps the best way to gain insight cultural knowledge. My pros list include cleaning service, readily prepared local meals, guaranteed security and cheerful company. My only major con is reduced independence, namely in transportation times between home and school, as well as eating hours. Our house amenities are basic but functioning. I see no extra effort in carrying bathing water inside from a backyard water tank (pics2&3) or reading with my headlamp when power is off. I have actually discovered that hand washing clothes is quite a pleasant chore (and good finger muscle training; pic4).

Last but not least, I have not watched any movies or telly shows here! My host family has only Ugandan tv channels broadcasting unintentionally comedic soap operas spoken in a mix of English and Luganda. Instead I read quite a lot. (So please suggest me any good books!)

Stunning landscapes and fresh coffee at Sipi Falls

My second MCU trip took me to beautiful Sipi Falls, which lay at the footage of Mount Elgon. Instead of rushing our departure on Friday afternoon we sat in a garden like coffee shop, got our car tyre repaired and ordered take away dinners. It was getting dark when we finally hit the road. Due to traffic jams, bad road conditions (especially speed bumps) and a storm we arrived at our lodges at 2am. As appreciation to our arrival we were upgraded to luxury bandas.

On Saturday morning it was lovely to wake up and step outside to see these views in daylight (pic1). After enjoying a filling English breakfast we went on a little hike around the four waterfalls. In addition to admiring the spectacular falls both from front and behind (pics 2,3&4), we swam on a small natural pool where we jumped from up a cliff. We also met a colorful chameleon (pic5).

When it began to rain in the afternoon we were conveniently located close to a restaurant terrace, where we drank a few Amarula coffees before returning to our lodges. Since it kept raining we spent the rest of the day eating our complimentary four course dinner, playing card games and tasting some South African wines.

Sunday was an educational day with an interesting coffee tour. Local producers introduced us to their small organic coffee farm; planting and harvesting trees followed by cleaning and roasting beans (pic6), resulting in the most delicious cups of fresh arabica coffee (pic7). As expected, most income from the valuable coffee fields is centered to few international players. But did you know that coffee was first explored by Ethiopian goats that had sleeping difficulties after eating a bunch of coffee beans?

Many climbers claim that Sipi Falls has Uganda's best rock climbing routes. I was slightly disappointed to miss them this time. However, I hear that some locals, who have been taught to act as climbing guides, treat the rock as theirs charging each climber US$50 a day. In my opinion rock should be all climbers' property, no matter who bolted it. To make up for that missed climbing, I joined MCU's Tuesday indoor climbing session (pic8).

My economic observations

Dear followers, let me bore you for a while with compulsory Uganda country facts (source: Bradt Travel Guide, 2010).

~ Area & location: 236km2 (similar to Great Britain) in Equatorial Africa, bordered by Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo
~ Population: totally 28.2 million, of which 1.2 million live in the capital Kampala
~ Climate: ave max 25-28C, ave min 16-18C in Kampala
~ Currency: Uganda shilling (1€= 3500USH)
~ Mineral resources: copper, cobalt, limestone, salt, alluvial gold, oil, fertile land
~ Major exports: coffee, fish, tea, tobacco (also banana, maize, rice, potato, cotton)
~ GDP: US$1,400 per capita (Finland US$36,500 per capita)
~ Human development: average life expectancy 45.7yrs, HIV infection rate 8-10%, access to safe water 45%, access to electricity 4%
~ Education: primary school completion 38%, adult literacy 65%

Now, let's move on to my objective observations on Ugandan economics. As I keep acquiring more insight I may later on add or change some viewpoints.

Despite its natural resources Uganda is a third world country. Sure downtown Kampala lacks a variety of stylish stores and entertainment, but still poverty is most visible in its slums and outskirt villages. People thrive to survive with very little property - living in shaggy crowded shelters, cooking over campfires and bathing outside with water buckets. Rubbish and dirt are basically all over (pics1&2). I have visited some of my students' homes and I would not voluntarily spend any nights in them.

Nevertheless people seem to be more or less enjoying their lives. Not being accustomed to highly comfortable living standards and excess possessions, they seem quite satisfied with what they can get. When I gave my host family's 3-year-old son a small car toy, he and his friends kept playing just with it for days. In comparison, when I gave a similar gift to a kid back home, her interest lasted for a few minutes. The more accessible stuff is to us, the less satisfaction it brings along. However, I must note that here people do not generally take good care of their rare valuables. They are being left to lay around, getting dirty and eventually lost. So yesterday when our students played with their brand new Legos (naturally a Danish donation) I gave them a serious talk on how to guard every single little part (pic3).

Unemployment is a major problem and even experienced workers struggle to find decent jobs. Not even education guarantees a good career. To me it seems that some people can spend all their days just sitting around and chatting. I quite have not figured out whether or not such passivity is their own choice of laziness or adaptation to non-changeable situation. Anyways the culture here is more laid back and people never seem to be in a hurry.

A majority of employed people work long hours with minimal income, often not receiving their wages regularly. From talking to people, I have gotten the impression that they prefer running their own small businesses rather than working for or together with someone else. When ever I suggest partnership, for example acquiring shared milk processing equipment amongst neighboring cow farms, I get the response that it would lead into cheating and arguing. This is too bad, since investments in technology and operational scale of economies would enable people to further process their products, thus adding value to them and raising sales income.

So instead of large stores there is an endless number of small shops here - supermarkets, hair dressers, drug stores, furniture factories, paint shops, restaurants, repair workshops (pic4)... Some of them are sort of chain stores, but most just lack originality for no see able reason. Everywhere used phrases are "cheap quality" and "we care". The most common name for a shop/bar/salon is "God is able" (pic5). As these shops buy their stock from a handful of wholesalers their selection is all the same.

Over 90% of Ugandans work at agriculture related fields. Many people grow their own vegetables and fruits, selling extras at road side stalls. I tried digging potatoes at our backyard and recognized it as good practical exercise (pic6). Owners of larger farms sell their products either at central markets or through wholesalers to be distributed in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. Some people also sell prepared fast food - chapatti (pancake) and rolex (pancake with fried egg) - out of their stalls. Last month we got a meal of chapatti and beans for 0.3€ (pic7).

Money is a major constraint here and it is being brought up at conversations much more often than I am used to. The HCF currently struggles to get funding to feed our children, build beds for the dormitories and finish a water tank project. My teaching friends aspire to become a doctor and an accountant, but their dreams may be left unrealized because of not being able to afford university tuition fees. People do have ideas and ambition but they often lack initial capital to utilize them. I think that one key to enhance economic growth here would be to support bright people in their studies and startup businesses.

Most people have never traveled outside of Uganda and they imagine European countries as wonderlands. They believe there is no poverty, violence and social problems but everyone is rich and happy. This morning my host family mother was surprised at me knowing how to mop a floor, since she thought back home I would have servants or machines doing it. I try to explain that even though Finland is a welfare country, life is not perfect there and anyways happiness is not tied only to money. Still, I have increasingly learnt to appreciate our social support system, medical care, infrastructure, access to water and electricity, free education, low corruption rate, and the list goes on...