January 2013- new year continued directions

Getting back into blogging

I have continued my trend of adding new blog entries once every 4-6 months, but though I'm not big on making new year's resolutions, I do want to start blogging more this year.  It will be a bit more difficult though, I don't have the tech support I once did, but hopefully I can slowly by slowly come to reconcile my fears of technology and learn how to used these complex learning machines.

So where do I find myself in 2013?  Still in Montreal for the moment, but I have a plan to spend more months this year in Uganda than in Canada.  I will be doing research for my Masters thesis in Anthropology as well as continuing my activities with the women's groups with whom I work through Beads of Awareness and also Kleos MFG (micro finance group).  I am obviously extremely excited to gain more experience and learning through research and practice.

But for the meantime I am in Montreal, in a classroom a few days a week, in the library not often enough and too often, watching the snow melt, wishing I could be farming.  Which is silly; no one is farming in Gulu right now, at best I\d be building my hut or making bricks.  Or most likely just fooling around, visiting firends, disturbing Vicky, and teasing little kids.  And learning Luo, so in many ways not that different than how I will be doing my Masters research.

If all goes according to plan then I will be in Uganda from May ( for the mango season) until December.  I am still waiting to hear if I will be able to get any funding from the government or the university, I still have a few ideas for how I will support myself there, and start investing in my future there, in terms of land, livestock, maybe one day a car.  Probably a motor cycle first.  My parents definitely won't like that, but like many of the things I don't want to discuss with them, I'll try and hide it, more or less.  Like discussions of malaria, TB, the government, traffic, and civil unrest there are more than a few topics that I don't talk too much about with them, and when I do mostly in a joking manner.  Unfortunately such issues combined with poverty and HIV still tend to dominate much of the media representation of East and Central Africa.  I won't ever deny that there are certainly many problems which are extremely pressing and intolerable in Uganada, but there are also similarly appalling issues in Canada that are silenced in the media.  The success stories, joie de vie, and tosee cases where the West can learn from Ugandans and other Africans get virtually no visibility in western media, unless it is somehow connected to an international organization, instrument or aid agency, or connected to a tramautic or appalling media report and this is the isolated or rare case of people overcoming and resisting.  And yest in the West we have the polar opposite- we only want to air our dirty laundry of poor governance, human rights abuses, environmental degradation in the appropriate minority or alternative media sources, and the mainstream press instead largely offers us puff pieces in which the commercial, corporate and political agendas are poorly masked, if at all.

I am very confident that when my parents come and visit me at some future date in Uganda they, like me, will fall in love with the place, the people, the food, so many different things, and part of what they will appreciate is the difference.  I wish that image, of difference without judgement or imposed ethics and epistemology could be more present and visible in the media and the conversations in the West about Africa and other far off places.  My advice to anyone is please, go and see for yourself, and ask the people there themselves the questions you have.

Winter's coming in Canada, dry season coming in Gulu

I find myself back in Montreal, back at school and missing the sunshine in Gulu.  But you know the grass is always greener.  I'm quite sure if I was in Uganda at the moment, I'd probably be suffering in the sun as the dry season begins in the north of the country.  I've never had the chance to experience the hottest of days there or the cold winds blowing at night, but if rumors hold true, it really isn't the best season of the year.  I feel the same way about winter in Canada, minus the hot ofcourse.  And extra cold wind.

I was recently talking with some friends of mine in Gulu, ok to be fair it was in August, but I was discussing with them the challenge of explaining to people in Canada that my aspiration in Gulu is to one day own a house with a flushing toilet.  In Gulu if you have indoor plumbing you are doing pretty alright.  Maybe like having a hot tub in Canada?  I'm not sure.  But it's a status symbol, and a cultural security blanket I dearly miss some days.  I think I know maybe 4 or 5 people who have flushing toilets in Gulu, but trustly me I know where everyone that is marginally public, or at least accessible to white people, and I take full advantage of these every chance I get.  I don't want to say I plan my day around it, but it's kind of a big deal.  Especially on certain days.

I bring up the toilet because this inability to communicate about things too far outside one's culture go both ways.  Just as people in Montreal may shake their head that at my dream of a porcelain posterior rest, people in Gulu often shake their head in disbelief or confusion when I talk about Canada.  To begin no one quite understands that if white people are rich, as we are largely stereotyped to be, how come we don't own land?  Winter is another topic difficult to explain.  How do you tell people that you miss the sun, when they see it for the same amount of time every day?  The best proof I can offer is to bask excessively in it when I have the opportunity.  I have a running joke with several friends that I lay in the sun to charge my solar panels or maybe inverter, to keep me warm in the night.  Ugandans rarely are sitting or visiting in direct sun if they can avoid it.  If there is the shade people will use it.  Somehow I like so many other white people struggle to learn this message.  I justify that I have to make up for lost time because of Canadian winters.

Will I miss the changing of the seasons?  This is likely to be my last full winter in Canada for a couple years.  From this vantage point DEFINITELY NOT.  While the changing of the leaves is fun, and the smell of autumn unique, I don't enjoy seeing less and less sun, wearing more and more clothes, and spending more and more time indoors.  I love that in Uganda open shoes (known commonly as sandals or flip flops in Canada) can be worn 12 months of the year.  That shorts are not friends you get to see only 3 months a year.  I know snow is nice and all, I used to plan my life around access to it and mountains, but at the end of the day, I choose SUN.  Even if it means giving up a flushing toilet.
 

muzungu diary, entry 1

Blogging during the months of July - Nov 2011 was not much of a success.  I had technical problems accessing the blog from Uganda, as well I lost some of the motivation simply because in my daily life I was a lot less plugged in to the internet (or electricity of any kind) than I am when in Canada.

That said I still like the title for this blog as Thomas in Uganda since I will continue going to Uganda regularly ( I was there for 3 weeks fin Feb 2012 and will be back in 2013 to do research for my Masters). In the coming years I hope to spend more and more time in Uganda, for personal and professional reasons.

All that said, I'd like to share my own view of Uganda a little, especially in light of the fact that there is now such a buzz on the web about UG as a result of the Invisible Children media campaign 'Kony 2012'.  If you want to learn more there are tons of resources online and in print, so get informed and the best option of all: VISIT UGANDA.  I guarantee you will love it.

First Uganda despite being a small country is very diverse.  Geographically, economically and in terms of ethnicity the north is different from the west, central, south or east.This is in part a direct result of the insurgency by the LRA and other rebel groups, which has left the north less developed and has reinforced ethnic divides and mistrust. Since the end of hostilities and violence (2008 onwards) hundreds of abducted soldiers have returned from the bush and thousands have moved out of IDP camps in the northern districts. The reconciliation and re-integration of the community has been peaceful and successful largely due to the efforts of the Acholi religious leaders and elders. As an outsider I am always struck by the strength and ability to forgive of people I meet in Gulu, as the war affected so many and so many atrocities were committed by both sides fighting.

Today Gulu is a fast growing city, and the main access point to Southern Sudan.  This means there is a lot of business and money flowing through the area.  Also while many NGOs are re-locating out of Gulu as the emergency situation which saw night commuters, and incredibly high mortality rates in the camps, other business domestic and foreign.

In Western dollar terms the majority of the residents in Gulu live in poverty as they earn only $1-2 dollars / day on average, live without electricity or running water in their homes, and have limited access to quality, affordable medical care.  But the people there are very happy, and I would argue live a much healthier lifestyle in many ways than we do in Canada. Almost everyone has a garden where they or their family are able to grow a large amount of the food they eat.  When they eat meat most often it is a chicken they raise or buy live and slaughter. People eat an organic diet that makes a hundred mile or other western mindset look a joke.  And they know where their food comes from, always eat it fresh, and because of African hospitality and sense of community there are very few with nothing to eat.

My own plans are to live the majority of the next 5 to 10 years in Uganda.  I look forward to farming there, and also working with different individuals and groups to find innovative and integrated solutions to some of the many challenges that face the region.  School fees, maternal health, malaria and other treatable illnesses still kill children, are all major problems.  But people live in a dignified manner which seems so much more logical and natural than my own lifestyle in Canada.  The solutions to the most pressing problems are within the community, and so many people are moving towards developing and implementing them.  I look forward to learning so much in the years to come living in Uganda, and I hope that I can also share some of my own knowledge to help people all around the globe improve our interconnected communities.

Send me your comments or questions, and watch for more posts forth coming.  But don't only listen to some muzungu activist/academic.  Below are a few links for Ugandan media outlets, and I'm sure Google can help you find a million more. The more informed we can get and the more critical discussion we can generate, the closer we get to a deeper understanding of Uganda. 

Daily Monitor

http://www.monitor.co.ug/

New Vision Group

http://www.newvision.co.ug/

Uganda Pulse

http://www.ugpulse.com/

The East African

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/

UGANDA I HAVE COME HOME

UGANDA I HAVE COME HOME

Well maybe this is a bit exagerrated, but coming back to Uganda certainly does feel like a good fit, and it took less than a day to start feeling like this is a good fit, at least for now. But before I go to far, lets cover a few background details.

In 2009 I spent 2 months volunteering in Gulu Uganda with the Concordia Volunteer Abroad Program (CVAP). This year I am back leading the trip of students from Concordia University. Yesterday morning I arrived with 6 volunteers, and in a few short hours there will be 5 more arriving. This year I am the one with a bit of knowledge and experience here. And best of all, it didn't even take a day for me to start seeing friends here that I haven't seen in 2 years.

The past few months have been a bit chaotic, between planning this trip with my boss, Ms Jamie Robinson, completing my degree at Concordia, graduating, working on Beads of Awareness, (I'll write more about this shortly) and then getting my life in Montreal prepped to be put on hold for 4 months. I'm so glad that I had the time to visit with friends and family, and get a few things squared away. Originally the plan had been for me to travel to Uganda in May and to spend six months here, but political unrest and a few other factors forced CVAP to cancel the first student trip for May and June. In hindsight this was fortunate for me, as there was really no way I would have been able to do much to get my life in order if 3 days after finishing my last exam I had jumped on a plane to Uganda. It also gave me the chance to attend my graduation ceremonies with some of my best friends and my parents, so while for many of the student volunteers postponing the trip was frustrating and disappointing (some were unable to re-arrange their lives to travel for July and August), for me it was some good luck.

We fly out of Montreal July 2nd with donations and bikes to carry beyond our own luggage, and quickly hit a roadblock when British Airways wanted to charge us extra for carrying extra baggage. Thanks to some great ingenuity by the B.A. staff in Montreal in the end we were able to bring all our donations and not have to pay hundreds of dollars to bring them. Thank you so much to the B.A. staff at Trudeau airport, you almost made me cry but in the end solved all my problems and I was ready to kiss you all. We flew through Heathrow in London, where we had a 12 hour layover. The student volunteers all went in to London for the day to sight-see. I had visited London a couple times in 2009 on route to flying to Uganda, and found it always cost me almost 100 pounds for the day, so instead I took the advice of my boss Jamie and spent the time in a day spa in the Sofitel hotel attached to the airport. Such a good investment of 25 pounds. The hot tub, steam room, relaxation room and many different lounge chairs to sleep on were delicious. I'm not that great at sleeping on planes, (which is weird because I am a professional caliber sleeper anywhere else, and often struggle to stay awake in cars) so being able to sleep for hours in a comfortable chaise lounge was worth every penny, although the dreams were extremely vivid and still are making me scratch my head.

July 3 we jumped on the plane in Heathrow at night to fly to Entebbe airport, outside Uganda's capital Kampala. Met by my boss and other employees of CVAP I was quickly seeing friends again I haven't in years, and it is so humbling to see that they are all as excited to see me as I am them. Driving through Kampala was an instant shock to the system and reminder of just how similar and different life is in Uganda as compared to Canada. The crowds of people on the street, the crazy drivers and seemingly suicidal motorcycle taxis (boda bodas), all the smells, colours and concentrations. In so many ways as a foreigner here life seems more intense.

For the next few days we will be staying at the Guest House at Mackerere University in Kampala, and right away I am reminded of just how friendly and kind people are here. People make time to speak with others, even complete strangers, and all my many ridiculous questions are met with smiles, laughter and patience. While Kampala is overwhelming in so many ways, the people that live here are every bit as kind and warm as those I know in Gulu. I can't wait to get back to the north of the country, smell the fresh air, work in the garden and feel the soil beneath my feet, and see the intensity and clarity of the stars at night, but I can't also forget or ignore Kampala as it is every bit as eye opening and amazing as Gulu. And fortunately I have already seen so many friends.

I need to sleep now, so I will write more later, and hopefully get an internet connection to post this. My eyes are closing from exhaustion while my fingers are still eager to continue flying. There is so much to write but I need to sleep. The spirit is willing but the flesh so weak.

Welcome to my blog

This year I will be spending 4 months in Northern Uganda working in community development through a number of different avenues.  The intention of this blog is to raise awareness about the realities, challenges and beauty of this part of Uganda and East Africa more broadly, and I hope that this blog will shed light and inspire others to educate themselves more about this region of the world, and some of the challenges and avenues available for topics and themes like community development, social entrepreneurship and social business, cross cultural collaboration and sharing to resolve some of the many problems that plague so many of us, and so many societies.  I hope that you will follow the blog and share it with your friends.  I hope that people will also comment or send their own blog posts that I will happily post and cite the author.  I hope this can be a forum for conversation, sharing and learning for many.  As the blog grows I hope to link it to some of the many things I am involved with and passionate about including Beads of Awareness (www.beadsofawarness.com), the Concordia Volunteer Abroad Program (www.concordiavolunteers.org), youth engagement and empowerment and tons of other things.  I hope you enjoy and please send your comments positive or negative.  If you read something that evokes reaction please share this.
Thank you, and keep following.