Last Friday the van dropped us off at Mother Kevin's convent in Nkokenjeru. For the next two months this beautiful place will be home sweet home for four of us Duke students. Along with Lauren and me, who are working with RASD, there are two students who are sent by the Duke Microfinance Leadership Initiative (DMLI) who will be working with the local savings and credit bank. Gloria is another undergrad and Dan is studying Public Policy in graduate school. All of us are staying at the guest house in the convent, where each of us have our own rooms, a common room and a dining room. The sisters are very nice, and they keep the grounds beautifully maintained.
I was surprised at how kind people were in the city of Kampala, but people I've met in Nkokonjeru are even more good-natured. We've spent some quality time with Peter, who is about our age and also works at RASD. Last Sunday we went with Peter to see two local soccer teams compete. Although some of the players played barefoot and the goals didn't have nets, the match was high stakes: the prevailing team won a goat. Before the game began both teams lined up and Peter informed us that the four of us were going to be marshals for the game which meant that we shook the hands of all the players. At the time I was really confused at what was happening, but it was clearly an honor for us.
Not many westerners come to this small town, and the term locals use for us is "muzungu",
which means lighter-skinned person. While walking around, small kids will get really excited when they see us, and start yelling 'muzungu! muzungu!'. Almost everyone greets each other, even just passing strangers on the street. Many of the locals think it's hilarious when we greet in Lungadan, and I sometimes feel like we may be here for our comic relief as much as for the work we do with our projects. The work ahead of us sounds exciting and I look forward to the things I may be able to accomplish, but I'll talk about that more in a later post.
We've met a few more Peace Corp volunteers in town. Holly is an avid runner, and she's showed me some of the runs she does around the town. The dense forest gives the air here a rich, clean smell, and running is wonderful early in the morning. Next Sunday, Gloria and I will run with Holly and other Peace Corp workers in a half-marathon in Jinja. Jinja is where Lake Victoria flows into the Nile, and is a popular whitewater rafting destination. Lauren, Gloria and I plan on rafting the Nile next Saturday.
Hi Alex...just came here by accident as I was searching for info that would be helpful to our community charity; interestingly we are just a stone throw away from Nkokonjeru...We are based in Ntenjeru, a hamlet between Kisoga (where you branch off to Nkokonjeru)and Katosi landing site...hope you have these in memory.
ReplyDeleteWe are meant to primarily carry on community work in the whole of Mukono South constituency...and our first project is an ICT 'lab' at small private primary school at Ntenjeru. It has been at the heart of this community and surrounds since its inception way back in in the 1960s. I personally first formally read and wrote words in Luganda, English and Swahili from here before I went on to Makerere Uni and ultimately Uni of Bedfordshire UK where I graduated 2005. The challenge is that the founder of the school, Sister Ruth Kabuuma, who has seen it through thick and thin is now a ninety something year old. Weak and frail, she has played her part and it is our time...but the danger is that the government does not channel any sort of funding to this school- the reason, it is private and the local community who helped found and support it through-and-through fear that if it goes government's way it will have gone to the 'dogs'. Standards here, like anywhere else, they argue, will dwindle to a record low. Even if it were under the tutelage of government, ICT would never come soon enough, any way. We have one of our feet on a banana skin and the other on a rake. So we are left with no option than to help in its current state.
Thus, with the help of others, I started BornEqual Community Charity with the mission of introducing ICT in the schools in our catchment area..a thing that will be beneficial to the locals too. We are inculcating a belief in self help projects in our people. We believe foreign aid is part of the problem as it goes to the wrong hands, and even if it were to go to good hands, there is no recorded evidence that hand outs (take an example of as perennial social benefits in the West) have ever been the cornerstone of a country's population. It is through Knowledge and skills empowerment, we believe, that things will get better here.
However, we are stuck on computers and IT equipment, never mind the load-shading and the ISPs that have no interest in rural areas at all. We are at crossroads, frustrated but focused on the mission...and at this time we seek any sort of help....information about getting used or unused computers...I graduated in Computing and IT, so I am always available to do the engineering bits and training BUT the equipment to work with is nowhere to be seen. Yet we do not want to be the next 'all hat, no cattle'. We remain incessantly undeterred by the challenges but the challenges are real too.
You have been to this part of the world, I don't need to mention to you how tough it is to get things done here - the government bureaucracy is killing too yet the results from such bureaucracy are as rare as a hen's teeth.
Anyway, Alex if you do have any information on how we can get help, primarily Computers and other IT equipmet - don't mind software, I am an Open Source user and contributor - and information about volunteers (like you who already have some IT skills) that can help, please pass it on to us...Please spread the word for us if you can....Soon I will be putting up our website as it is vital to disseminate info.
Finally, but not the least, on behalf of the people in this area and on my own behalf, I would like to thank you for the services you, friends et al have offered to our community, constituency and our country Uganda. Thank you ever so much.
I implore you to help with this vital info we need, if you know of any organisations you can put us in touch with or indeed and preferably, being our ambassador please do help.
Don't forget us friends, we need your help
Ron Mbowa (mbowasport@yahoo.co.uk), BornEqual Community Charity Uganda