A quickie update from Uganda! November 17th, 2013 I’ve been in Uganda almost 4 weeks now, and holy cow, it has completely flown by. It is amazing how much our team has managed to cram into such a short amount of time. I have loved every new experience I have encountered (minus that super-sized spider that briefly inhabited our outhouse and that fly I inhaled while going for a run). I wanted to share some of my favorite experiences thus far... Before I left my biggest concern was that I would feel a lack of purpose and struggle to find ways to contribute to projects because of my lack of education, having not yet graduated from university. I am really happy to say that this has not been the case at all, in fact I often find myself given more work than I fear I can accomplish in my short 2-month visit. My largest task is to visit with Mutual Benefit Societies (MBS), which have been set up within the last couple of years, to analyze their success and attempt to come up with solutions for their problems. I get to work with Rachel, a sweet Ugandan woman, who has worked with these MBS groups since the beginning and created relationships with each widow. MBS are co-operatives set up for the neediest widows in the area who have no other way of creating an income for themselves. Older widows, who are physically incapable of manual labour, are given a goat which they can breed and later sell the kids which it produces. When some of their goats are large enough, they can also slaughter them and sell their meat for a good price. So far, it seems that goat co-ops have been successful, although the widows need to be patient and do not benefit from their goats until they produce offspring. Another co-operative option is Land MBS, in which ACTS leases plots of lands for a group of widows to produce crops. With part of the harvest they are able to feed their families and the rest is sold at the market, allowing the widows to make provide for other needs such as school fees for their children and improvements to their homes. Up until this point it has been difficult to teach the concept of saving. Saving funds to spend at a later time is not exactly a widely accepted practice in rural Uganda, seeing as most people do not have a lot of extra cash hanging around, and if they do, most people fear being robbed. We are currently working towards setting up our MBS groups with savings accounts, so that their savings can grow...we’ll see how it goes. I have really enjoyed getting to meet the widows; they have shown so much kindness, greeting me with massive smiles and big hugs, I often forget that most of them suffer from painful illnesses and struggle in ways that I will never be able to fully comprehend. They love to hear me speak what little Runyankole (the local language) I know...butchered as it may be! It is really exciting to be a part of these MBS groups, to meet these women and work with them towards a better future for them and their families. The second project that I have been working on has involved setting up focus groups to learn about the success of fuel efficient stoves (FES), which were introduced to communities 5 years ago. It has been really fun to work with 3 muzungus (white people) from our Canadian team, as well as 3 Ugandan staff members on this project. Rachel, Rose and Jovanice, our Ugandan contingent, have been absolutely amazing at teaching us about their culture and guiding us through the procedures of setting up meetings with the local in their villages. FES, which are the focus of our research, are simple in design, made of 15 bricks and mud. The main benefit of switching from a 3 stone fire, the most common rural cooking practice, to a FES, is that it uses less firewood. Ugandans have to walk far distances to collect firewood, which is scarce, to feed their fuel-hungry 3 stone fires. We have just finished our 4th focus group. In each focus group we’ve met with members of different villages to discuss their experiences with the FES. It has often been a difficult and frustrating process, what with the language and cultural barrier. It is pretty funny how both the muzungus and the Ugandans feel that they are being totally clear and making complete sense, but in reality, we are on totally different pages. It has been good to work through this and find out ways to communicate properly. I have really enjoyed my experience working on this project and seeing the ups and downs that have come with it. A while ago, my friend Lukas and I were talking about our travels in Uganda and all that had happened up until that point. He brought up something I’m really glad he reminded me of, because now I cannot stop thinking about it. We agreed that it was really amazing how our trip was going so well, our flights connected seamlessly, everybody was in good spirits, our team was bonding, and we had felt safe the entire way. We really hadn’t encountered any problems, and very much felt God’s protection. That’s when Lukas reminded of how many people we have praying for us back at home. Many of my team members asked for prayer support as we headed off on our journey, and I feel so blessed to be blanketed in that prayer. Thank you so much to everyone that has and continues to ask God to keep us safe and empower our work – it really has made such a difference for our team. Love, Janelle
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 10:52:14 +0000
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