It has been a while since I have been on here. I keep promising myself that I will find time to sit down and write about what I am doing now...
Until then I can be contacted at jennyinafrica@gmail.com
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Monday, August 4, 2008
IT'S OVER!
I haven't blogged for a while now. I have been busy re-entering CANADIAN LIFE...
All the speeches have been spoken...all the papers have be filed....and all the THANK-YOU's have been given...
Now I am back home.
What is next?!
All the speeches have been spoken...all the papers have be filed....and all the THANK-YOU's have been given...
Now I am back home.
What is next?!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
A muzungu Auntie!
Before I came to Uganda I would email to Dr. Tusu and ask him a lot of questions about what I should expect in Uganda, was there anything I had to bring from home that I couldn’t get in Uganda, school set up and so on….from these e-mails I met my FAVORITE Ugandan! Maureen. At the time, before Tusu’s retirement, Maureen was his secretary. Maureen is such a kind hearted friendly woman. This year in Uganda she helped me a lot and without her warm hugs I don’t know what would have happened to me. I am going to miss her very much when I head back to Canada…but I am hoping that one day she visits Canada, so I can show her my home.
A couple of months into my visit I found out that Maureen was pregnant with her third baby. She was hoping that this would be her little boy so she could “close that chapter of the book!!”
Last week when I called her I found that she was in the hospital and in Labour…I was so excited, but I was so nervous…I hate to see people in pain and when it’s a friend I get really defensive and protective!!
I had been to Mulago hospital a couple of times during my “Ugandan occupancy” and was quite impressed with the structure…Maureen was in the private ward which meant a little cleaner and a little better care! I found Maureen surrounded by a circle of her lady friends…(In Ugandan the men don’t really appear until its time to pay the bill!).
Maureen is such an amazing woman…unlike myself, she is very tough to read…she kept her composure the entire time…one had to believe that she was in a great deal of pain, but by looking and speaking to her, one could be fooled…
3 days later…. that little bundle had not arrived…I went to the hospital to see her and a few very interesting things were going on!
Quite common for North America, but quite new for Uganda is YOGA…especially in the expecting ward. The nurse told Maureen about the Yoga ball and I said I would show her what to do…it was hilarious…Maureen sat on it for a while and after a while her cousin Helen wanted to try it out and asked me to show her some techniques…
Sidebar: We are not in private rooms here!!! One open area with 4 beds divided by curtains (much like home) with a little hallway in the middle.
In the corridor there was about 6 people who became our audience…
I laid on the ball (so I looked like a see-saw) and then walked my hands on the floor till the ball was positioned almost on my toes and then I showed her how to do push-ups…then I sat on the ball and showed her how to do crunches. The audience watched as this white lady rolled around on an oversized ball. Then it was Helens turn…Helen is…a bit…bigger than me…okay much bigger than me…she is a Ugandan lady! She mimics me and gets the ball to her thighs and then looses her balance and flops to the floor. Maureen and her mom were laughing hysterically, but the faces of the people in the corridor…I bet we made their week!
Finally on the morning of May 5th Dwayne David my little muddugavu nephew was born! What a cute and peaceful baby. I held him and we moved him around and not one peep from him. Maureen told me everyone told her that he is fair skinned because she looked at me too much!
I am a proud Auntie…but even more I am grateful that Maureen is my friend and gave me the chance to be hers and share with me many happy moments.
A couple of months into my visit I found out that Maureen was pregnant with her third baby. She was hoping that this would be her little boy so she could “close that chapter of the book!!”
Last week when I called her I found that she was in the hospital and in Labour…I was so excited, but I was so nervous…I hate to see people in pain and when it’s a friend I get really defensive and protective!!
I had been to Mulago hospital a couple of times during my “Ugandan occupancy” and was quite impressed with the structure…Maureen was in the private ward which meant a little cleaner and a little better care! I found Maureen surrounded by a circle of her lady friends…(In Ugandan the men don’t really appear until its time to pay the bill!).
Maureen is such an amazing woman…unlike myself, she is very tough to read…she kept her composure the entire time…one had to believe that she was in a great deal of pain, but by looking and speaking to her, one could be fooled…
3 days later…. that little bundle had not arrived…I went to the hospital to see her and a few very interesting things were going on!
Quite common for North America, but quite new for Uganda is YOGA…especially in the expecting ward. The nurse told Maureen about the Yoga ball and I said I would show her what to do…it was hilarious…Maureen sat on it for a while and after a while her cousin Helen wanted to try it out and asked me to show her some techniques…
Sidebar: We are not in private rooms here!!! One open area with 4 beds divided by curtains (much like home) with a little hallway in the middle.
In the corridor there was about 6 people who became our audience…
I laid on the ball (so I looked like a see-saw) and then walked my hands on the floor till the ball was positioned almost on my toes and then I showed her how to do push-ups…then I sat on the ball and showed her how to do crunches. The audience watched as this white lady rolled around on an oversized ball. Then it was Helens turn…Helen is…a bit…bigger than me…okay much bigger than me…she is a Ugandan lady! She mimics me and gets the ball to her thighs and then looses her balance and flops to the floor. Maureen and her mom were laughing hysterically, but the faces of the people in the corridor…I bet we made their week!
Finally on the morning of May 5th Dwayne David my little muddugavu nephew was born! What a cute and peaceful baby. I held him and we moved him around and not one peep from him. Maureen told me everyone told her that he is fair skinned because she looked at me too much!
I am a proud Auntie…but even more I am grateful that Maureen is my friend and gave me the chance to be hers and share with me many happy moments.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
The land of 1000 rolling hills...
I have returned from my wonderful journey to Rwanda. The capital of Rwanda is Kigali and is 575 Km southwest of Kampala, Uganda. The bus ride took around 8 hours and was very scenic, especially after the equator in Uganda as the vegetation changed and the terrain became more mountainous.
Upon entering Kigali I was amazed at the cleanliness and organization. The roads were paved; there were crosswalks that people actually respected, there were flower gardens and water sprinklers and people walking around with brooms and garbage bags. It is very obvious to see that Rwandans care deeply about the appearance of their country.
I arrive on Sunday the 6th of April. The second week of April is reserved for the national week of mourning in which Monday is a public holiday and then the rest of the week people began work later and finishes work earlier. Contrary to American popularization Rwanda was plagued with genocides. Beginning early in history and increasing. There were genocides in 87, 90, 92, 94, and 97. Millions of people were murdered over the years and the results of those genocides are very evident as the population of Rwanda is quite small.
The country as I said is very beautiful, but as for tourism there is not that much to see. There is of course the genocide memorials, which are sad to view, but necessary if one wants to understand their history deeper, and then they have gorilla trekking; however, that is at least $600 and in my opinion sad because it destroys their habitat.
I did a complete tour of the country. Starting in the north and traveling south to Ntarama and Nyamata to see the genocide memorials, then south again to Butare which is the educational center of Rwanda-it houses the national museum and national university, from there I did a day trip into Burundi to see a completely different country that is still recovering from its numerous genocides and wars, then west to Cyangugu, a town used mainly for trading between Rwanda and D.R. Congo, and then North to Kibyue on Lake Kivu. A stunningly beautiful town situated on a lake and hugged by rolling hills. It was in this town that the largest numbers of Tutsi were killed…almost 90% of the killings took place in this town. It was hard for me to believe that such a small isolated beauty witnessed such horrors.
A little over a week later I arrived back in Kigali. I wanted to spend half the day at the genocide museum since I had heard that it was quite amazing. I spent three hours there that Monday and shed a lot of tears. The museum is spectacular and is quite honest in its depictions. Every year thousands of saviors visit the memorial to remember their loved ones that were killed in the genocides. There are films that visitors can watch about the survivors who tell their stories, there is a room devoted to the victims of the genocides and you can view their pictures that were donated by their family member. Also there were pictures of children that were murdered and for me that was one of the hardest things, it gave a small story about some of the children telling what kind of food, drink, activity, sport, that they liked and at the bottom explained how they were killed. Maybe you could guess if you used your most vivid imagination.
In the other memorials that I visited you can still view the clothing that the victims were wearing. The clothing is a very important momentums and the United Nations used the clothing to identify the remains back in 1994. During the killings people used to flock to churches because they believed that such murder could never take place in the house of god, but sadly the murderers waited and butchered everyone that was inside. Some of the family members never went to the churches and hid in trenches, woods, gardens, toilets, etc…so after the 100 days of killings and after things settled down when the United Nations came in the began to exhume the bodies from mass graves, fields, churches, schools, and so on they use to remove the clothing and number them and their accompanying body then they would place the clothing outside on the street and the survivors would come and look at the clothing. If the survivors would recognize the clothing they would know that their family member was killed and there were free to take the body and give it a proper burial. The clothing can still be seen hanging in the churches today. It is terrifying.
While I was in museum I learned about a different weapon that was used to kill. I understand that rape is used as a weapon of war, but in Rwanda they used it on a whole new level that still makes me stick to my stomach. Murderers with HIV and AIDS raped women to infect them and left them to die a slow and painful death. Because of the way the international community treated the genocide the women were not able to get anti retroviral drugs in time and therefore cant be helped.
Rwanda today appears to be at peace with Hutu’s and Tutsi’s living peacefully together, however, in my opinion if such a hatred was conditioned for hundreds of years then there has to be an underlying hatred still alive today. I think the government is very competent and working hard to recover from the past and its important for the world to know what happened and help Rwanda spread their words of “NEVER AGAIN”.
I will be uploading photos as soon as I can get a good enough connection.
I also attended a Rotary meeting in Rwanda at Hotel de Milles Collines…(otherwise known as Hotel Rwanda!)
Thursday, March 27, 2008
March in Uganda
I see that I am not getting as many replies and comments on my blogs…perhaps I haven’t tickled your interests lately? Sorry about that! I’ll try harder.
March can be summarized as Easter, rain, boredom, and rain…and a little errrrrrrrrr!
Let me just recap a little, so no one is lost:
This year we started classes in March. The entire school was on strike almost the entire month of February and then needed some time to prepare for classes…so we began in March. I was under the impression (as I was so many times here) that our class fieldwork would last 3 weeks (as it did in the years before) and this year our class was going to Rwanda. I was so excited thinking we would have almost one month in Rwanda…after moving to Uganda I have heard so many wonderful things about Rwanda and how hard they have worked to pull together after the genocide. For the first time since August I thought, “Wow I am really going to learn something”. The arguments started and the complaints of the travel feaing classmates could be heard echoing from the walls and before I could blink we were only going for four (4) days. (Ok…for those of you geographically impaired...Rwanda is about an 8 hour bus ride South-southeast…) Therefore I am counting one day of travel and two days for Ugandan confusion aka what do we do now? I was so letdown and didn’t see any point in going for that short time (for the money it was going to cost). They chose the dates and I stayed home. Those four days I never went to class, because there were no classes, and I caught up on reading and cleaning! On that Friday, I went to the University to see one of my good friends who works for my host father. After I finished my visit I was walking to the bus when I heard someone yell, “Hey you are walking the wrong way…classes are this way” I looked around and saw a car full of my classmates heading to another building. I just continued walking…a little more hastily and with my blood starting to bubble. I called my American Classmate and explained. After about 6 phone calls we found out that the class had NEVER gone to Rwanda and they were attending lectures for those four days. I NEVER RECEIVED ONE PHONE CALL OR EMAIL…and every classmate has a class list. To make matters even worse on the following Monday when I got to class NO one spoke to me. NO one apologized; NO one asked me where I was.
The competition here for grades and good students is brutal and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was bloodshed over this in the past.
There is a Japanese girl who is a student at Makerere, but she is here on exchange for her undergraduate degree. We have become friends and complaint buddies. She experiences the same problems, obstacles, confusion, and sexism as me. After I explained the situation to her she said “lets go to Rwanda for longer and do everything that your class was suppose to do and MORE!” Therefore, I have suggested that we travel there and spend time so that we are there during the anniversary of the genocide on April 14th, 2008. I have read some great books written about the genocide and while I was at Penn State University I even had the privilege of meeting one of the United Nations Forensic Anthropologists and asked her some questions. I want to visit the sites that she spoke of. I am also going to find and attend a Rotary meeting to get more questions that I have answered! We are scheduled to be in Rwanda from the 9th to the 18th of April.
So… on the school front…no progress…I am still a white, FEMALE, scholarship recipient! (or…as I assured its understood…a colonizing, no-rights, rich, threat…If that seems harsh…you are welcome to come visit and see for yourself)
Next…Easter…
I assumed that Easter would be a big celebration in Uganda as Christmas was. There were no classes from Thursday to Tuesday, so I expected to rest. On Thursday I came back from town and when I walked up the stairs the Sudanese neighbours were preparing their foods for their weekend feast. They had huge pail fulls of onions, okra, and carrots among other vegetables. Then…as my eyes left the vegetables and focused back onto my path I noticed their meat of choice. Sadly, her four feet were tied to the second story railing this poor, beautiful goat. (It reminded me of the Bugs Bunny cartoon when they would put a pig on the spit…all that was missing was the apple in the mouth) I bent down beside her and patted her face and told her how sorry I was. (yes…I am an animal lover)
The next morning I woke up and opened my door, curtains, and windows to let in the warm breeze and I could hear this loud obnoxious noise. A second of concentration later my eyes finally caught up with my ears and I almost vomited. They had murdered that poor goat in the courtyard. Then, they decapitated, and allowed their eight-year-old son to take an iron pole and repeatedly beat the head of the animal. I thought about how much I wanted to become a vegetarian again.
All day the family cooked like busy bees and I was busy cleaning the apartment. A couple hours later I started smelling a very strange smell. I was unable to place the aroma; however, I was witness to the goat murder and the psychology of the whole thing was a rot in my stomach. I decided that I had to get out of the apartment for the day. As I left the courtyard I saw about 30 large fish heads being stewed.
I returned very late AFTER they were finished feasting.
The rain…
I would assume that it is the rainy season, but who knows anymore. Global warming is a huge problem…and its sad…maybe if Al Gore would have won Florida we would be doing something about it rather than dying and killing in Iraq. (Yes…I am feisty today!) Anyway…Its been raining and raining here. I am not sure how clean my apartment can get. I have been reading a lot (thanks to John and the books that he sends me). It rains so hard sometimes that the floor in my bedroom has become a swimming pool. This might not be understood at home, but try to think about it for a minute. Uganda is so incredibly dirty and dusty…not to be mean…just that there is a lot of dust in the air. When you walk on the street and a car drives by you can literally chew the air. Now, one would think that with all the rain (12-15 hour downpours 5 times a week) that the dust would settle…NO…it doesn’t…it’s an anomaly…it doesn’t really matter, but it’s a head scratcher!
Let me just say a little more about school (aka the not so educational-educational institution)
I really want to know my grades from last semester. I am an overachiever that has had the love from education ripped out from beneath me. Last night in class the teacher comes in and starts talking about grades and how some people never handed in their papers. (I’m like..phew…I handed my in!) Then he proceeds to say how the papers that he received where just regurgitated class lectures and some people based just on their paper would have failed. I’m starting to sweat…THEN…looks at me and says that my paper went beyond the class lectures and had been researched and well thought out!!! I didn’t look around, but I can bet my life that those classmates were squirming. THEN he proceeds to read the list of the papers he NEVER received. Guess what? My name was on the list…and my group was on the list. Therefore, he complemented me on my paper that he read, but never received. AND…therefore, could not be graded.
Oh…and just to put the cherry on the top on the 15 layer cake…students from the program who just graduated, from the 2 year program, JUST received their grades from the first semester, a month before they graduated- after completing 4 semesters!!!
So…I rest my case.
Comments please?
March can be summarized as Easter, rain, boredom, and rain…and a little errrrrrrrrr!
Let me just recap a little, so no one is lost:
This year we started classes in March. The entire school was on strike almost the entire month of February and then needed some time to prepare for classes…so we began in March. I was under the impression (as I was so many times here) that our class fieldwork would last 3 weeks (as it did in the years before) and this year our class was going to Rwanda. I was so excited thinking we would have almost one month in Rwanda…after moving to Uganda I have heard so many wonderful things about Rwanda and how hard they have worked to pull together after the genocide. For the first time since August I thought, “Wow I am really going to learn something”. The arguments started and the complaints of the travel feaing classmates could be heard echoing from the walls and before I could blink we were only going for four (4) days. (Ok…for those of you geographically impaired...Rwanda is about an 8 hour bus ride South-southeast…) Therefore I am counting one day of travel and two days for Ugandan confusion aka what do we do now? I was so letdown and didn’t see any point in going for that short time (for the money it was going to cost). They chose the dates and I stayed home. Those four days I never went to class, because there were no classes, and I caught up on reading and cleaning! On that Friday, I went to the University to see one of my good friends who works for my host father. After I finished my visit I was walking to the bus when I heard someone yell, “Hey you are walking the wrong way…classes are this way” I looked around and saw a car full of my classmates heading to another building. I just continued walking…a little more hastily and with my blood starting to bubble. I called my American Classmate and explained. After about 6 phone calls we found out that the class had NEVER gone to Rwanda and they were attending lectures for those four days. I NEVER RECEIVED ONE PHONE CALL OR EMAIL…and every classmate has a class list. To make matters even worse on the following Monday when I got to class NO one spoke to me. NO one apologized; NO one asked me where I was.
The competition here for grades and good students is brutal and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was bloodshed over this in the past.
There is a Japanese girl who is a student at Makerere, but she is here on exchange for her undergraduate degree. We have become friends and complaint buddies. She experiences the same problems, obstacles, confusion, and sexism as me. After I explained the situation to her she said “lets go to Rwanda for longer and do everything that your class was suppose to do and MORE!” Therefore, I have suggested that we travel there and spend time so that we are there during the anniversary of the genocide on April 14th, 2008. I have read some great books written about the genocide and while I was at Penn State University I even had the privilege of meeting one of the United Nations Forensic Anthropologists and asked her some questions. I want to visit the sites that she spoke of. I am also going to find and attend a Rotary meeting to get more questions that I have answered! We are scheduled to be in Rwanda from the 9th to the 18th of April.
So… on the school front…no progress…I am still a white, FEMALE, scholarship recipient! (or…as I assured its understood…a colonizing, no-rights, rich, threat…If that seems harsh…you are welcome to come visit and see for yourself)
Next…Easter…
I assumed that Easter would be a big celebration in Uganda as Christmas was. There were no classes from Thursday to Tuesday, so I expected to rest. On Thursday I came back from town and when I walked up the stairs the Sudanese neighbours were preparing their foods for their weekend feast. They had huge pail fulls of onions, okra, and carrots among other vegetables. Then…as my eyes left the vegetables and focused back onto my path I noticed their meat of choice. Sadly, her four feet were tied to the second story railing this poor, beautiful goat. (It reminded me of the Bugs Bunny cartoon when they would put a pig on the spit…all that was missing was the apple in the mouth) I bent down beside her and patted her face and told her how sorry I was. (yes…I am an animal lover)
The next morning I woke up and opened my door, curtains, and windows to let in the warm breeze and I could hear this loud obnoxious noise. A second of concentration later my eyes finally caught up with my ears and I almost vomited. They had murdered that poor goat in the courtyard. Then, they decapitated, and allowed their eight-year-old son to take an iron pole and repeatedly beat the head of the animal. I thought about how much I wanted to become a vegetarian again.
All day the family cooked like busy bees and I was busy cleaning the apartment. A couple hours later I started smelling a very strange smell. I was unable to place the aroma; however, I was witness to the goat murder and the psychology of the whole thing was a rot in my stomach. I decided that I had to get out of the apartment for the day. As I left the courtyard I saw about 30 large fish heads being stewed.
I returned very late AFTER they were finished feasting.
The rain…
I would assume that it is the rainy season, but who knows anymore. Global warming is a huge problem…and its sad…maybe if Al Gore would have won Florida we would be doing something about it rather than dying and killing in Iraq. (Yes…I am feisty today!) Anyway…Its been raining and raining here. I am not sure how clean my apartment can get. I have been reading a lot (thanks to John and the books that he sends me). It rains so hard sometimes that the floor in my bedroom has become a swimming pool. This might not be understood at home, but try to think about it for a minute. Uganda is so incredibly dirty and dusty…not to be mean…just that there is a lot of dust in the air. When you walk on the street and a car drives by you can literally chew the air. Now, one would think that with all the rain (12-15 hour downpours 5 times a week) that the dust would settle…NO…it doesn’t…it’s an anomaly…it doesn’t really matter, but it’s a head scratcher!
Let me just say a little more about school (aka the not so educational-educational institution)
I really want to know my grades from last semester. I am an overachiever that has had the love from education ripped out from beneath me. Last night in class the teacher comes in and starts talking about grades and how some people never handed in their papers. (I’m like..phew…I handed my in!) Then he proceeds to say how the papers that he received where just regurgitated class lectures and some people based just on their paper would have failed. I’m starting to sweat…THEN…looks at me and says that my paper went beyond the class lectures and had been researched and well thought out!!! I didn’t look around, but I can bet my life that those classmates were squirming. THEN he proceeds to read the list of the papers he NEVER received. Guess what? My name was on the list…and my group was on the list. Therefore, he complemented me on my paper that he read, but never received. AND…therefore, could not be graded.
Oh…and just to put the cherry on the top on the 15 layer cake…students from the program who just graduated, from the 2 year program, JUST received their grades from the first semester, a month before they graduated- after completing 4 semesters!!!
So…I rest my case.
Comments please?
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Another meeting...
March 17, 2008
Rotary Mengo
Speaker: Rotarian Stephen Mwanje
Attendance: 39
Today’s meeting was a little different because our president was in Northern Uganda working on prospective Rotary projects, so we had a substitute!
The meeting started as usual with the four-way test, introductions, and a salute to the president of Uganda. Followed by announcements:
The final report is being written about “home of champions” project in Iganga and that a provisional club that is sponsored by the club will be holding a meeting a new hotel in town, Imperial Royale, on Friday’s at 6pm.
Then a Rotarian summarized the February edition of the Rotarian, but paying special attention to polio facts. He stressed how important it was to support and continue to support the 4 pandemic areas: Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
Guest speaker Rtn. Mwanje spoke about literacy and explained that after to water, literacy is the most important. He asked Rotarians if they understood the meaning of literacy and then explained that of the 60% of countries that are illiterate 50% of them are in Sub-Sahara Africa and of those most are women and children.
Mr. Mwanje told a story to explain that literacy leads to poverty. He explained that in his village people sign things without understanding what is written and people take their property, land, and animals.
He went on to talk about an election that was held and how over 50% of the votes were voided because the voters did not understand what they had to do. People were crossing out all of the boxes except for one thinking that they couldn’t place an X beside the name of the person that they wanted.
Ugandan Rotarians were urged to help think of ways to educate, but more importantly the speaker urged the importance of planning. He said, “Planning helps us to focus, to appreciate, to inform members, and to iron out failures.”
Mr. Mwanje’s speech was short, but his words were clear and concise. Too many Ugandans are illiterate and there is no time like the present to start to end this problem.
After the speech there was a time for questions and comments. I will share one of the questions. “Can someone be illiterate if they can’t speak the language: for example; if I were to go to China and I cant speak Chinese does that mean I am illiterate?”
The speaker did not really answer the question…but again this is an all to common problem here in Uganda. A majority of people are too quick to find excuses and point out why problems exist or find someone to blame the problem on. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter that Ugandan’s are illiterate. The national language is English…that means people should be able to read and write in English. Let’s stop finding people to blame and excuses for the problems and lets work on solving it.
Isn’t part of a solution admitting that a problem exists in the first place?
Rotary Mengo
Speaker: Rotarian Stephen Mwanje
Attendance: 39
Today’s meeting was a little different because our president was in Northern Uganda working on prospective Rotary projects, so we had a substitute!
The meeting started as usual with the four-way test, introductions, and a salute to the president of Uganda. Followed by announcements:
The final report is being written about “home of champions” project in Iganga and that a provisional club that is sponsored by the club will be holding a meeting a new hotel in town, Imperial Royale, on Friday’s at 6pm.
Then a Rotarian summarized the February edition of the Rotarian, but paying special attention to polio facts. He stressed how important it was to support and continue to support the 4 pandemic areas: Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
Guest speaker Rtn. Mwanje spoke about literacy and explained that after to water, literacy is the most important. He asked Rotarians if they understood the meaning of literacy and then explained that of the 60% of countries that are illiterate 50% of them are in Sub-Sahara Africa and of those most are women and children.
Mr. Mwanje told a story to explain that literacy leads to poverty. He explained that in his village people sign things without understanding what is written and people take their property, land, and animals.
He went on to talk about an election that was held and how over 50% of the votes were voided because the voters did not understand what they had to do. People were crossing out all of the boxes except for one thinking that they couldn’t place an X beside the name of the person that they wanted.
Ugandan Rotarians were urged to help think of ways to educate, but more importantly the speaker urged the importance of planning. He said, “Planning helps us to focus, to appreciate, to inform members, and to iron out failures.”
Mr. Mwanje’s speech was short, but his words were clear and concise. Too many Ugandans are illiterate and there is no time like the present to start to end this problem.
After the speech there was a time for questions and comments. I will share one of the questions. “Can someone be illiterate if they can’t speak the language: for example; if I were to go to China and I cant speak Chinese does that mean I am illiterate?”
The speaker did not really answer the question…but again this is an all to common problem here in Uganda. A majority of people are too quick to find excuses and point out why problems exist or find someone to blame the problem on. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter that Ugandan’s are illiterate. The national language is English…that means people should be able to read and write in English. Let’s stop finding people to blame and excuses for the problems and lets work on solving it.
Isn’t part of a solution admitting that a problem exists in the first place?
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Rotary Mondays...
It has been a while since I wrote all about a meeting so I am going to write about my Rotary Mondays so everyone can get a feel for what exactly takes place in the meetings here.
Rotary Club: Mengo (Located a 10 minute bus ride from my house)
Est. January 7th 1988
From 1:00pm -2:00pm (working lunch)
Attendance: 38
The afternoon meeting starts off with a shirt prayer and the four-way test. The president will appoint a different Rotarian every week to lead the two.
Next are introductions of visiting Rotarians, Rotaractors, Interactors and guests. (There are usually many introductions because there are 25 clubs in the city of Kampala).
Following will be announcements and this Monday was my turn to talk about my experience in Egypt and the projects that Egyptian Rotarians were involved in.
Usually the meeting is then directed to the guest speaker who has around 35 minutes of talk time, however, this meeting was a little different and time was divided between a guest speaker and a club assembly (exclusive to Mengo club members).
The guest speaker (a Mengo Rotarian) spoke about land policy and Uganda’s lack of one. The Ugandan government has a huge problem with allocating and distributing land. Unfortunately corruption, money, and greed, are fuel to this ever-expanding problem.
The problems as discussed by the speaker are that everyone sells land when “legally” the only body allowed to do so is the land commission. Apparently 680 acres were set aside for mentally and physically challenged Ugandans, but when you visit the area everyone there BUT the mentally/physically challenged have land titles, even children as young as six years old, of that 680 acres there are 150 that remain.
From my understanding of the speech Ugandan citizens and Ugandan parliament are at a loss. No one knows how land should be given out or distributed, what the process is, what the laws are according to constitution or the land commission.
The speaker also mentioned external organizations and people as the problem (this is not uncommon in Uganda and I hear it all to often in class and in public). The speaker used China as country to blame, stating that Ugandans feel pressured and have to give into the demands of China and their search for minerals.
The speaker concluded by saying that a firm law or amendment needs to be made in the constitution and needs to be followed. Once everyone knows that is there only one law or rule things should even out. As for now there is just too much confusion to understand the facts.
After the speaker was the final toast to Rotary International.
At lunchtime Rotary meetings there is usually a buffet lunch and they range from $5-20 a meal.
During the club assembly (which takes place once a month)
1) Achievements of the club:
20th birthday celebration of the club
Increased fellowship (meeting)
More lively fellowships
Better speakers
Sponsoring of a new club
Strong work in Rotary Community Core (RCC) projects
2) Problems:
Club participation
Poor participation during in country trainings
3) Reports:
Research is being done on Microfinance and scholarships
4) RCC
Buyuki water project is almost complete: Three (3) wells are being constructed and each contains a pump.
There was some confusion about a wheelchair volunteer project, but it will be cleared up at next weeks meeting?
Then the last thing that was discussed was the president asking why Mengo club members are not going to other Rotary meetings in the city. As I mentioned there are 25 clubs in Kampala and the president asks for Mengo members to participate in one other meeting every week to learn about what the other clubs are doing.
There is a club meeting everyday of the week…usually one every lunch and every evening. The president says that finding a club to attend is no excuse!!!
Rotary Club: Mengo (Located a 10 minute bus ride from my house)
Est. January 7th 1988
From 1:00pm -2:00pm (working lunch)
Attendance: 38
The afternoon meeting starts off with a shirt prayer and the four-way test. The president will appoint a different Rotarian every week to lead the two.
Next are introductions of visiting Rotarians, Rotaractors, Interactors and guests. (There are usually many introductions because there are 25 clubs in the city of Kampala).
Following will be announcements and this Monday was my turn to talk about my experience in Egypt and the projects that Egyptian Rotarians were involved in.
Usually the meeting is then directed to the guest speaker who has around 35 minutes of talk time, however, this meeting was a little different and time was divided between a guest speaker and a club assembly (exclusive to Mengo club members).
The guest speaker (a Mengo Rotarian) spoke about land policy and Uganda’s lack of one. The Ugandan government has a huge problem with allocating and distributing land. Unfortunately corruption, money, and greed, are fuel to this ever-expanding problem.
The problems as discussed by the speaker are that everyone sells land when “legally” the only body allowed to do so is the land commission. Apparently 680 acres were set aside for mentally and physically challenged Ugandans, but when you visit the area everyone there BUT the mentally/physically challenged have land titles, even children as young as six years old, of that 680 acres there are 150 that remain.
From my understanding of the speech Ugandan citizens and Ugandan parliament are at a loss. No one knows how land should be given out or distributed, what the process is, what the laws are according to constitution or the land commission.
The speaker also mentioned external organizations and people as the problem (this is not uncommon in Uganda and I hear it all to often in class and in public). The speaker used China as country to blame, stating that Ugandans feel pressured and have to give into the demands of China and their search for minerals.
The speaker concluded by saying that a firm law or amendment needs to be made in the constitution and needs to be followed. Once everyone knows that is there only one law or rule things should even out. As for now there is just too much confusion to understand the facts.
After the speaker was the final toast to Rotary International.
At lunchtime Rotary meetings there is usually a buffet lunch and they range from $5-20 a meal.
During the club assembly (which takes place once a month)
1) Achievements of the club:
20th birthday celebration of the club
Increased fellowship (meeting)
More lively fellowships
Better speakers
Sponsoring of a new club
Strong work in Rotary Community Core (RCC) projects
2) Problems:
Club participation
Poor participation during in country trainings
3) Reports:
Research is being done on Microfinance and scholarships
4) RCC
Buyuki water project is almost complete: Three (3) wells are being constructed and each contains a pump.
There was some confusion about a wheelchair volunteer project, but it will be cleared up at next weeks meeting?
Then the last thing that was discussed was the president asking why Mengo club members are not going to other Rotary meetings in the city. As I mentioned there are 25 clubs in Kampala and the president asks for Mengo members to participate in one other meeting every week to learn about what the other clubs are doing.
There is a club meeting everyday of the week…usually one every lunch and every evening. The president says that finding a club to attend is no excuse!!!
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