final blog

October 12

And so we come to the end of our time in Kanungu! This much-anticipated adventure has more than fulfilled our expectations. We have learned a tremendous amount about this community, its strengths and its challenges, about the local people and their daily lives, and about local education and its potential to break the cycle of poverty. We have seen some beautiful sights and have had, for a time, the rare opportunity to experience life in a community so different from own. More than that, we have met some wonderful people and forged some true friendships. Probably our closest ties were with the 3 young people with whom we lived, who took great care of us and with whom we spent many hours discussing life!

The nature of our work here evolved gradually and, although we managed to achieve all of the specific things we set out to do, we feel, as we leave, that there is much that still needs to be done. We plan to continue working on some of these things from home and, Kanungu electricity and network permitting, will be able to do this in close contact with those we leave behind. Along with the sadness of saying goodbye, came an unexpected and very touching moment when, at a meeting, we were officially made ‘Goodwill Ambassadors’ for Great Lakes Regional College - an honour indeed, and clever, since it ensures our continued support!

We leave now for a little travel and thence to Rwanda to stay with Becca and Drew. We end these blogs with a rather whimsical portrayal of daily life in Kanungu.

We look forward to seeing you all soon.

Love and Peace,

Jessica and Paul

Sounds of Kanungu

The rooster in the early morning - crowing in tune three times, getting flatter on the fourth

The clang of the metal pipe telling the primary school boarders to get up and go to breakfast

The bleating of goats

The liquid notes of the robin-chat singing from the tree

The sound of metal pans from the kitchen

The lowing of the cattle with the big horns

The chatter of children as they walk to school in groups

The lonely caw of the pied crow

The sound of drums and singing from the primary school assembly - the rhythmic tunes of hymns and songs, sung in natural harmony, floating across the hills

The slap-slap of bare feet on the dirt road

The clatter of banana leaves in the wind

The sudden bang, as of a shot, as small motor bikes engage after freewheeling down the hill

The regular chock-chock of the hoe as the women dig the ground

The roar of the pick-up taxi as it speeds down the road with people, bags, bicycles and bananas, packed beyond capacity

The swish of the blade as the groundsman cuts the grass

The chorus of “How are you?” from children visible and invisible, as we walk down the road

The rumble of distant thunder warning us that another deluge is at hand

The squawk of the ibis which travels in pairs, each pair sounding as though it’s in the middle of a domestic squabble

The hammering of rain on the tin roof obliterating all hope of conversation

The click of the lock as the house is secured for the night

The nightly lullaby of the crickets

blog 7

October 7, 2009

Work continues well here and already we are nearly at the end of our 6 weeks. My French students can now greet French-speaking tourists, take a booking for a hotel room and understand an order in a restaurant! The Social Work students are learning theories and skills, as prescribed, but would rather be talking about community development work, which is what they all want to do. Paul’s work in developing a Science Department at the College continues and this pursuit took us both to Kampala last week, where he had a meeting at the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology to discuss possible funding and other opportunities.

Despite the crowds, the dirt, the noise and the impossible traffic-jams, it was interesting for us to spend a few days getting to know Kampala. Our guest house sat atop a hill with a panoramic view over the city. We were woken each morning by the muezzin from the nearest mosque, followed by the rooster from the garden, children's voices from the next-door orphanage and finally the sound of the cathedral bells . The route from this hill into the city centre led us through a very poor area constantly filled with market stalls, street sellers, beggars and crowds that were almost impossible to penetrate. An interesting aspect of business here is that, when a shop becomes successful, identical shops open up right next door so that you have not one shirt or computer shop on Kampala Road but about 50 in a row! When I was here 40 years ago, Kampala bore all the hallmarks of a spacious old colonial city but it is now a bustling centre with commercial enterprise, professional services and a first-rate university. It was an interesting visit but after a few days, we were ready to return to our rural 'home' in the hills!

Bus travel is an interesting experience here, as in many other African countries, I suspect. Paul and I travelled back from Kampala on a bus and the experience started when we went to buy a ticket the day before. The bus station was a seething mob of people and, in the absence of a ticket office, touts descended on us, trying to get us to buy tickets on their bus line. We were looking for one particular company which has a better reputation but were assured that they were now engaged in moving refugees around (a blatant lie but creative!). We arrived the next morning at 6 for a 6.30 departure, as directed. The bus was covered in dust inside and out and certainly looked as though it wouldn’t have passed any kind of inspection. For an hour, the touts continued their work, trying to get people to travel on their bus and finally, at 7, we pulled out of the bus station ... but only to park again at the curbside, where more tickets were sold. Eventually, at 7.30, when our patience was beginning to fail us, we were off .. but only as far as the fuel pump where we filled up for a further 15 minutes. It’s true to say that once they roll, these buses fly along at break-neck speeds, stopping only periodically, usually in the middle of nowhere, to let a passenger off or, on one occasion, to let both men and women off to relieve themselves - no prudery here! The whole event was an interesting experience but one we don’t necessarily need to repeat too often!

Our relaxation for the week entailed a trip to Lake Bunyonyi in the extreme southwest corner of the country. As we bumped along on the pass which goes over the mountains we found ourselves in the middle of the cloud with rain lashing the windows of the car. I did wonder, just for a moment, whet we were doing but our steady driver ferried us safely to our destination, where the sun was shining. The Lake is very large and irregularly-shaped with over 20 islands. It is surrounded by hills, striped with terracing, and mountains beyond. The island, where we stayed, is not cultivated and is a wonderful place for bird-watching and just enjoying the views - the dawn chorus was like a concet! Small dugout canoes made from eucalyptus trees ply to and fro, carrying people from one island to another, propelled by one or two people silently paddling with a spear-shaped paddle. A highlight on the Sunday morning was to hear and then see a larger dugout filled with children who sang and drummed their way to church across the water.

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Love and peace,

Jessica and Paul

blog 6

October 3, 2009

In the last blog we said that we would say more about the college here - Great Lakes Regional College. It was established in 2004 and its mission is to teach subjects that are of use to the local community, such as Education, Social Work, Agri-Business, Tourism and Business. There are currently 360 full-time students, some of whom are studying for a certificate, some for a Diploma and some for a degree. Their dream is to become a full university but for that they will need to offer more courses and will need their lecturers to have higher qualifications. Almost all of the full-time students live on campus in extremely crowded conditions, sometimes 2 to a bed or a mattress on the floor between the bunks, with nowhere to store their clothes. There is an acute shortage of classrooms, resulting in most classes taking place under the trees in the grounds, which gets difficult in the rainy season! As much as we might all have complained about our university food, these students are given posho (cornmeal) and beans every meal of every day! Inevitably some students drop out every year but it is almost always because of the family’s inability to pay the fees. This, in turn, affects the college’s ability to pay their teachers. The College is in a beautiful setting, it has a pretty campus and the students and faculty are dedicated to learning and teaching, despite the many difficulties.

As we talk to college students, they reveal the reality of lives limited by extreme poverty. Many of them are supposed to make money to support their families but if they do so, they will not be able to pursue an education and without that, they will revert to working on the land, just as their parents have before them, and the cycle will be repeated into the next generation. What is so different here is the absolute responsibility which certain family members take for others. The oldest boy or the child with the most education, is expected to support the family, whether that includes 8 younger siblings, sick parents, disabled grandparents or all of the above. One young man we know has a dream of going to university to get a science degree. The only way he can do this is to have financial support but, even if that happens, his family will expect him to spend that money on supporting them. He talks of avoiding going home because he doesn’t have enough money to buy soap for his mother or to pay his young siblings’ school fees. Despite this, here is a very bright and enthusiastic young man with a big dream and, with help, enough determination to make it a reality. One of my missions, when I return home, will be to try to develop ways in which the most needy of these students can get financial support.

Along with the sad stories, however, there are moments of real hope. One of the highlights of this trip, has been my return to the girls’ school where I taught after I left high school!! It was wonderful to go back and amazing to see the changes that have taken place in the 41 intervening years! The student body of 300 has grown to 1,500 girls, who are doing very well academically and excelling in extra-curricular activities. They even come from families who, mostly, can afford to pay the fees! It was very encouraging to see how the school has developed and it helped us to feel a bit more optimistic about the future of the CHIFCOD schools. As for me personally, I was welcomed effusively, people shaking my hand and saying “Welcome home!” I remembered everything about it and felt the same affection for the place and the people as I had felt all those years ago!

Love and Peace,

Jessica and Paul

blog 5

September 23, 2009

The rainy season has well and truly hit Kanungu! Having mentioned last week that an hour’s rain in the afternoon was no great inconvenience, we soon learned that that was just a precursor to the real season. We now have daily storms, sometimes two or three in a day, that consist of strong winds and driving rain which pounds on the metal roofs and obliterates all view of the surrounding mountains. One day the thundering seemed particularly loud and we realised that pea-sized hail was falling, shredding the banana leaves and making everyone fear for their newly-planted crops. We lose electricity with regularity and to us, this seem an inconvenience. For the people here, to be without electricity is normal and the presence of power is something to be thankful for!

We have had a fascinating week visiting all four primary schools and the secondary school, which are all run by CHIFCOD. We started at the newest, smallest and most remote school, set in a steeply mountainous area. There is no water supply at the school, so the cooks have to carry water for the 139 students from a source quite a way away. There is nowhere flat for children to play and some of the them sit in a classroom which is still being built. Nevertheless, they gave us a great welcome and seemed as eager to learn in lesson-time as they were eager to play in play-time!

Universal primary education is available in Uganda but government schools are often severely over-crowded and are reputed to promote all pupils, whether they pass their exams or not. CHIFCOD schools are private and inevitably it is very difficult for families to afford the fees. Fees vary for primary day students from approximately $10 to $26 per term, and are a little over $40 for primary and secondary boarders. Even this amount is too much for most families to pay and there are two main reasons for this : one is that most people in this area are subsistence farmers, so although they have a little land and some food, they have little to no cash to spend. The other reason is that families tend to be very big - 8 or 10 children is not uncommon - so choosing just one or two children to go to the private school, when the government ones are free, is very difficult for parents. The schools run on fees and donations, so when families can not pay the fees, the schools have trouble paying their teachers. It is sad for children to have to withdraw from school when they can no longer pay the fees, for instance when the parents’ crops fail, when the children become orphaned or when they are needed to work on the land. CHIFCOD is trying to create local opportunities whereby families and students can raise money for their own fees, for instance through growing crops and raising pigs and rabbits. In the meantime, one of their major sources of support comes through sponsorship of individual children by donors in England and America. Hint: more sponsors are needed!

A very striking aspect of school-children here is the strong discipline. They do not talk in class, they listen and, having no books of their own, they learn mostly by rote and repetition. At the last school I visited, right in Kanungu, the children were taking exams. Since over-crowding is a problem - 3 or 4 children to a desk and bench built for 2 - half of the school were sent to work outside while the exam-takers spread out in the classrooms. Sitting quietly outside, revising for their exams, sat over 100 children aged 6 to 14 and, with only minimal teacher presence, no-one was running around and there was a just a quiet murmuring of voices. It’s not that these children are in any way repressed - I can assure you that when break comes, they are as exuberant and playful as any other children!

The secondary school is very new, having been established in 2008, and will add one class every year until it goes all the way up to ‘A’ level. It is a beautiful school in a pretty location and is very well run. It is supported to a large extent by Highgate School in London and it seems to be establishing itself quickly as a good school. All the students are boarders and work extremely hard, rising at 5.30, studying before breakfast, having classes till 4.30, then playing games, eating supper and studying agin till lights out at 10. Two of the primary schools also have boarders, starting as young as 6 years old.

We don’t exactly know the current numbers but approximately half of the population of Uganda is under 25, and the average life-expectancy is under 50, lower than it was before the AIDS crisis. This, coupled with a national shortage of jobs, means that there is still great poverty here. One becomes aware of the large numbers of children just walking down the road - they seem to be everywhere, walking home from school in their uniforms, greeting us with a “How are you?” followed by the inevitable giggles! Or they’re tending goats or cows or carrying water or firewood to their homes, their loads frequently perched on their heads. Some of these are children who do not go to school, others are school-children who must do their family work before and after school.

There is a firm belief among many people here that education is the only way to break the cycle of poverty. We are very impressed by the efforts of this community and this organization to further this cause and to provide quality education at all levels. In another log, we will talk about the college but suffice it to say that the dream of CHIFCOD is to provide, one day, continuous educational opportunities for people from nursery class to the degree level.

Love and peace,

Jessica and Paul

blog 3

September 15, 2009

We are at the beginning of our third week and life continues to be packed with interest and wonderful experiences. We have definitely arrived in time for one of the two rainy seasons (the lesser one, we are assured), so it rains most days in the late afternoon for an hour or so. Of course this carries with it the greater likelihood of power outages, disturbed phone networks and non-functioning internet connections but, apart from that, it doesn’t interfere very much with life here and is definitely good for the crops. Those rough roads that I mentioned are now more deeply rutted as the heavy rains wash the murram away, leaving rocks and gullies to challenge the drivers!

Paul continues to work on grant applications, trying to help the members of the Agri-Business Department and the Administration to ‘think outside the box’ about the broader field of science and the ways in which this small college with no lab can gradually inch its way towards being a facility offering pre-nursing and pre-med courses.

My French class is very entertaining and hopefully useful. Since they are students in the Tourism Department, we are at liberty to talk about hotels, restaurants, menus and food, subjects that seem to be of great interest! Social Work lectures are more of a challenge to me, since I think that students learn a lot through discussion and these students are mostly used to being lectured to and not raising questions or expressing their own ideas.

To describe our new surroundings a little more, Kanungu is the biggest town in the district. The town itself consists of a petrol (gas) station and shops and offices on either side of the road. There is a market on Saturdays, where local people bring their produce into town and lay it out on blankets on the ground - plantain, beans, onions, tomatoes.. .. There are shops for meat (no refrigeration), for fruit, for vegetables, for school supplies, and for clothes (second-hand from Europe or America) There are also fabric shops, where you can order a dress or a shirt and they will run it up for you on their treadle sewing machine. There is one tiny supermarket, where we can buy sugar, jam, rice, torches (flashlights), eggs, bags, toilet paper and anything that they get from their delivery.

The area surrounding the town is all cultivated, mostly by subsistence farmers, who grow small amounts of bananas, beans, pineapples, tea, coffee or potatoes. Land is handed on down the generations, so with large families - up to 10 or 12 children - pieces of land are getting smaller and smaller and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for people to make a living. The pressure of population has driven families higher and higher up into the mountains, so that we see terraced cultivation right up to the tops, where the soil is thin and the climb is arduous.

All the work here seems to be done by hand. The ubiquitous hoe is the same one that I saw 40 years ago and it has probably been here a lot longer than that. It is used for tilling the soil, for weeding and for digging up crops. The other two implements we see here are the panga, a large blade used for cutting things, and a sharp L-shaped tool, used for cutting grass. Visiting a building site the other day, we found men sitting by a pile of stones crushing them with a hammer to make smaller stones for drainage - this is back-breaking work. Two other men meanwhile were sawing logs : the log was put up on a trestle, one man stood on top of the trestle and one man underneath and they pushed and pulled a very long saw-blade between them. When the work got hard and they started to slow down, they would sing in order to re-establish the rhythm. When we asked about machinery for such a job, we were told that manpower is not only cheaper, it is also more efficient as they can get more boards out of a log than the machine can!

A highlight of last week was to be invited to a Give-Away Ceremony. This is held the day before a wedding and, traditionally, is when the bride-price was arranged. The tradition continues with the exchange of gifts between the families and the official ‘giving away’ of the bride to the groom and his family. The event was held in a very rural area and, as is typically the case, the whole village was invited, as well as friends and family. It was held in an open area, in which tents had been erected and seating was set out: hundreds of plastic chairs, borrowed from everywhere, plus sofas and armchairs carried out from people’s houses! There were about 400 people there and we were there too, the only mazungus (white people) within miles, feeling honored to be included. A traditional meal was provided - yes, for all those people! - and then 4 hours passed while people mingled and talked to each other. Finally, as the bride was ready come out with all her attendants, the sky turned black, the heavens opened and it poured for almost an hour. People cowered under the tents, their beautiful dresses getting splashed and the ground becoming a running river of red mud! As soon as the rain let up, the bride and her entourage appeared, all dressed in beautiful outfits and the ceremony started and continued with gifts, speeches and singing until about 9 pm. One of the highlights was the arrival of several cardboard boxes which, when opened, revealed 3 cakes and the necessary equipment to make a traditional 3-tiered cake stand! Within minutes, there was the wedding cake, topped off with sparklers, which sent silver sparks out into the African night as everyone sang - it was a magic moment!

Till next time, blessings and peace to all,

Jessica and Paul

blog 2

September 7, 2009

Life continues well here in Kanungu, with each new day bringing more interest, more information and new experiences. We spent most of our first week trying to bring some focus to the various suggestions of things we might do while we are working for CHIFCOD. CHIFCOD stands for Child to Family Community Development Organisation, a local grassroots NGO that has established 4 primary schools, one secondary school and one college in this area. Through these schools, they are also involved in the delivery of local health care, water and micro-finance. There is a lot more information on CHIFCOD to be found at www.volunteeruganda.co.uk , the English charity under which it is registered. (I hope I have the website right, if not, it’s close!)

Paul’s first challenge has been to work with members of the Agri-Business faculty at the College to set up a collaboration with a regional agricultural research Institute, so that students at the college have an opportunity to experience hands-on laboratory research. This involves working with faculty from the College to design the program and write a research proposal to submit to the Institute. In addition, he is helping them to file appropriate applications with the government so they can be recognized as an “independent research service provider”. The extent of this challenge becomes clear when one recognizes that there isn’t even a laboratory at the College, and certainly no equipment or materials, yet,as with many other things around here,a vision of a better future is the first step towards a new reality!

As for me (Jessica), I will be dividing my time in several ways. One of the departments at the college is that of Tourism, a very important part of Uganda’s economic future. I will be teaching French to their first year students - possibly not so much grammar, but useful vocabulary and phrases that they can use when communicating with tourists from France and other francophone countries. Secondly, I will be doing some teaching in the Social Work Department. I have not started this yet but since social work is culturally based, I am hoping that the students will be willing to discuss subjects with me so that we can all benefit from some cross-cultural exchange. My third area of work will be in the CHIFCOD offices, as I try to develop a system they can use for recruiting volunteers through the internet and encouraging sponsorship of local children whose families can not afford to send them to school.

To give you a little more flavor of life here, you will be astonished to learn that electricity only came to Kanungu a few months ago, although some institutions and individuals had generators before that! Despite its arrival here, it is certainly unreliable, and we used flashlights on 4 of our 5 first nights here. There are a few computers at the College but high-speed internet only arrived last week and is not always functioning or available. (This is why the blog will be irregular!) There are several small shops in Kanungu, but the bank and a greater variety of shops is found in another town about a 40 minute drive from here. The bank contains the only ATM machine in the region but when we went there on Sunday, it had no money! We returned this morning (Monday) to find a long, slow line waiting for it and our attempt to get Uganda shillings, though successful, took an hour of patience!

On a light note, we have already been able to have some tourist fun in the area! Our host, the Reverend, is also an entrepreneur, who is part-owner of a beautiful lodge, where he generously offered us a night’s accommodation. It is at the edge of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a thick rainforest and home to gorillas, and many other primates and birds. Having already been gorilla-trekking in Rwanda, with Becca, we spent our time at Bwindi walking through the jungle, hearing the bird calls and enjoying the fantastic scenery. The next day, our driver took us to Ishasha at the southern end of the Queen Elizabeth National Park. We arrived at the gate, paid our entrance fee and before proceeding were approached by a young man who asked if we could give him and his large branch of bananas a ride to the park canteen! Arriving at the park headquarters, we asked if we could have a guide to show us around the Park and were assured that we could. Where is your vehicle? we asked. I don’t have one, was the reply!! Fortunately our wonderful driver from CHIFCOD, who had taken us there, was willing to double as a Park driver and negotiated the deep ruts and mudholes of the Park. This small area is famous for its tree-climbing lions of which, apparently, there are only 40. We were lucky enough to see one, a female lounging across the broad branches of a sycamore fig tree, apparently without a care in the world - it was an awesome sight! Further on we saw elephants, cape buffalo, baboons, a unique local antelope called the Uganda kob and, arriving at the Ishasha River, were presented with two surprises. Firstly a number of hippos cooling off in the river, betraying their presence only with their eyes and ears above the water. Secondly we were calmly told that the opposite bank of this muddy 20-foot-wide river, was the Democratic Republic of Congo! In all it was a wonderful weekend and we have returned ready for our second week of work!

Greetings and peace to all,

Jessica and Paul

Uganda 1

Here beginneth the saga of our 6 weeks’ stay in Uganda! After a wonderful weekend with our daughter, Becca, in Rwanda, we were driven to the border, where we met the driver for CHIFCOD, the organization that we are now working with. The border comprises 2 small buildings, one on each side of a short no-man’s-land between the two countries and immigration consists of filling out a short exit form on one side, walking across with the bags and filling in a short entry form on the other. Crossing the border also involves changing the time by an hour and adjusting to driving on the opposite side of the road, a clear reflection of the two countries' colonial past. We were the only mazungus (white people) in sight, and so felt somewhat of a spectacle as we dragged our luggage along, hats on heads and clutching our passports, as others strolled across the border with a small bag, a baby tied on the back or a basket on the head.

Nicholas, our driver, took us first to an Agricultural College, where Paul was to meet with the Director to talk about potential grants for the local college. After 1 1/2 hours of waiting, we had a brief meeting and then continued on our way - an extraordinary journey. For those who have a map handy, we crossed the border at Gatuna (Katuna), drove to Kabale and then set off northwards towards the District of Kanungu. In case you can’t find it on google maps, it’s somewhere between Kabale and the Queen Elizabeth National Park, in the extreme southwest of Uganda - despite the hours of travel, we think we are only about 50 miles from Rwanda and 10 miles from the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the crow (of the crested crane) flies. Unlike the Africa so often pictured in geography books - desert, jungle or the open grasslands of the Serengeti - here we are in a very different environment. As we left Kabale, we found ourselves climbing up steep mountains and for an hour and a half on unpaved roads, our vehicle clattering over rocky terrain, gullies gouged by the rains and spine-jarring corrugated road of hardened murram, the red clay earth of which this terrain is comprised. Passing small houses and terraced cultivation we then entered an area of pine woods and it felt as though we might have ended up in the Alps by mistake. Twisting and turning up and down around hairpin bends, we eventually came to an open area, way up in the mountains, where the sign welcomed us to the District of Kanungu.

This is our first morning, so these are very preliminary impressions, but Kanungu is a small town, consisting of a few small shops , with houses dotted around on the hillsides. Many of the houses are surrounded by a small amount of land, on which banana trees and other crops are growing. From where we sit we have a 360 degree view of the surrounding hills in the foreground and then of further ridges in the background - it is stunningly beautiful and feels a million miles from everywhere.

To our great god fortune, we are staying at the house of the Rev. Canon Hamlet Mbabaze, the local Anglican canon and the founder and Director of CHIFCOD. He lives in a beautiful home, high on a hill with panoramic views. We have a nice bedroom and our own bathroom facilities, including a shower, so we feel well catered for.

Hamlet himself is often away from the area and, as it happened, we were only able to spend one evening with him and his wife, as they left this morning for a conference in England. We were left with few, if any instructions about the place, except that 2 or 3 young people live in the same house and we will be in loco parentis while Hamlet is away! This was said tongue-in-cheek and it will certainly be the young people who will have to initiate us in the ways of the house and area.

At 9 o’clock last night, after our border crossing, our meeting, our bone-rattling drive, and a small supper, we had a meeting with a few local leaders to discuss what we might do while we are here. Those conversations have continued this morning and I am guessing that it will take us both a few days to really focus in on the best ways we can help them.... more of that as it evolves.

Until our next blog, greetings and peace to all,

Jess and Paul