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Saturday - Visit to Sanyu Babies Home for Orphans
Back In Kampala
Today (Friday) we were supposed to meet with officials at the UCA for our final debriefing at 10am however we received a last minute call to say we had been bumped by a delegation of funders from Sweden and Norway who were in town and our meeting got moved to 2:30pm. Which was fine. Instead we spent the moring doing a little souvenier shopping in the local arts and craft spots. We also hit a supermarket here in downtown Kamapala where the group bought 2 shopping carts full of baby stuff for an orpahange we are planning to visit Saturday afternoon. There are 80 orphans at this place from infants to 4 or 5 years old. My dentist (Dr. Morgan Nickou) who by the way is the best dentist in the city of Hamilton - gave me 100 toothbrushes before i left that I stuffed into my suitcases. I had been told that this was a luxury item for many people in this country.
The meeting went ok. I have come to realize (not surprisingly) that effecting change, real system wide change , that can only be done by the top levels is a slow and painstaking process - they were very blunt to say that many if not all of the recommendations we delievered at the meeting have been recommended before. In other words not alot of what we said was new to them, Which begs the question - so if you’ve heard all this over and over why is everything still the same? - why have these issues not been addressed? I chose not to get into that discussion - for now. However on the other hand all of us were able to effect alot of positive change down at street level (or should I say dusty road level) in the villages we visited. Thats what has, as it turns out, been the most satisfying part of all this. We were able to work and talk to the Managers and people on the front lines where it really matters and leave them with a significant amount of ideas and possible solutions to their day to day issues. I was a little sceptical at first about wheather or not I (we) could make a difference here at these 4 SACCO’s my partner and I visited and now that we’re done I’m very confident we made a difference (and in many cases a difference that will be lasting). It may be hard to understand but just being here and being seen in the village communitys with the local SACCO leaders was a huge boost to them. Theres a real sense of mistrust among many villagers about “banks” as they have been burned before so anytime you can do anything to raise awareness and as a result raise the banking confidence level of these people (especially as a place to save their megre savings) in thier village bank its a help.
So its Saturday morning as a write this.
As I said earlier the only thing we have on today is the orphange visit - so lots of hanging around the hotel and possibly another souvenier excursion but thats it. We need to be packed and ready to head to Entebbe airport at about 6:30am Sunday as we begin the journey home. We will all (6) travel to London together (9 hrs) then 5 of us have a 24 hour layover (our BC coach has a connection right away). The rest of us travel to Montreal (2) and Toronto (3) thats another 8 hrs or so. I’m scheduled to land at Pearson at 4pm Monday.
It appears this will be the last post - its been an adventure I’ll never forget.
Thanks to my Board for thier strong support and to the staff back at HMECU especially Doug Colleen Marg and Deanna who have all pulled up the slack while I was away.
And finally thanks to my wife Mariann and my kids Steven, Danielle and Jim who thought this was a fantastic opportuntity for me to take advatage of right from the start even though my being a zillion miles away (in AFRICA of all places) was hardest on them - especially my wife. Love you all very much - see you soon.
Thanks for reading this all you that have checked in daily - writing the blog and reading your comments has really helped me get through the extended time away from home - sharing my daily experiences and posting just a few the images I’ve captured has been like therapy. Theres a strange sense of satifaction and comfort knowing that everyone back home is feeling what I’m feeling almost in real time.
Take care - see you (some of you anyway) when I get back.
The 2 pictures below - me and a few of the other coaches in the lobby of the Metropole Hotel here in Kampala - we treated ourselves to a little western style luxury for the final couple days. Nice place. Running water and electricity. And the other picture is the gang loading up the jeep with the stuff for the orpahange. Bye for now.
Charlie
Today (Friday) we were supposed to meet with officials at the UCA for our final debriefing at 10am however we received a last minute call to say we had been bumped by a delegation of funders from Sweden and Norway who were in town and our meeting got moved to 2:30pm. Which was fine. Instead we spent the moring doing a little souvenier shopping in the local arts and craft spots. We also hit a supermarket here in downtown Kamapala where the group bought 2 shopping carts full of baby stuff for an orpahange we are planning to visit Saturday afternoon. There are 80 orphans at this place from infants to 4 or 5 years old. My dentist (Dr. Morgan Nickou) who by the way is the best dentist in the city of Hamilton - gave me 100 toothbrushes before i left that I stuffed into my suitcases. I had been told that this was a luxury item for many people in this country.
The meeting went ok. I have come to realize (not surprisingly) that effecting change, real system wide change , that can only be done by the top levels is a slow and painstaking process - they were very blunt to say that many if not all of the recommendations we delievered at the meeting have been recommended before. In other words not alot of what we said was new to them, Which begs the question - so if you’ve heard all this over and over why is everything still the same? - why have these issues not been addressed? I chose not to get into that discussion - for now. However on the other hand all of us were able to effect alot of positive change down at street level (or should I say dusty road level) in the villages we visited. Thats what has, as it turns out, been the most satisfying part of all this. We were able to work and talk to the Managers and people on the front lines where it really matters and leave them with a significant amount of ideas and possible solutions to their day to day issues. I was a little sceptical at first about wheather or not I (we) could make a difference here at these 4 SACCO’s my partner and I visited and now that we’re done I’m very confident we made a difference (and in many cases a difference that will be lasting). It may be hard to understand but just being here and being seen in the village communitys with the local SACCO leaders was a huge boost to them. Theres a real sense of mistrust among many villagers about “banks” as they have been burned before so anytime you can do anything to raise awareness and as a result raise the banking confidence level of these people (especially as a place to save their megre savings) in thier village bank its a help.
So its Saturday morning as a write this.
As I said earlier the only thing we have on today is the orphange visit - so lots of hanging around the hotel and possibly another souvenier excursion but thats it. We need to be packed and ready to head to Entebbe airport at about 6:30am Sunday as we begin the journey home. We will all (6) travel to London together (9 hrs) then 5 of us have a 24 hour layover (our BC coach has a connection right away). The rest of us travel to Montreal (2) and Toronto (3) thats another 8 hrs or so. I’m scheduled to land at Pearson at 4pm Monday.
It appears this will be the last post - its been an adventure I’ll never forget.
Thanks to my Board for thier strong support and to the staff back at HMECU especially Doug Colleen Marg and Deanna who have all pulled up the slack while I was away.
And finally thanks to my wife Mariann and my kids Steven, Danielle and Jim who thought this was a fantastic opportuntity for me to take advatage of right from the start even though my being a zillion miles away (in AFRICA of all places) was hardest on them - especially my wife. Love you all very much - see you soon.
Thanks for reading this all you that have checked in daily - writing the blog and reading your comments has really helped me get through the extended time away from home - sharing my daily experiences and posting just a few the images I’ve captured has been like therapy. Theres a strange sense of satifaction and comfort knowing that everyone back home is feeling what I’m feeling almost in real time.
Take care - see you (some of you anyway) when I get back.
The 2 pictures below - me and a few of the other coaches in the lobby of the Metropole Hotel here in Kampala - we treated ourselves to a little western style luxury for the final couple days. Nice place. Running water and electricity. And the other picture is the gang loading up the jeep with the stuff for the orpahange. Bye for now.
Charlie
Jinja Day 3 and 4
The internet connection was very slow last night so I could not upload the daily post. So at the moment as I type this we have completed our work at the second SACCO in Jinja and are now back in Kampala. The other 2 Uganda teams are back as well and we all got together to reunite over dinner and swap stories about the last 2 weeks. You’ll recall team 1 and 2 had travelled to western Uganda to the districts of Kununge and Busheyne (the spelling could be off). Both 
are 9 and 5 hours away from Kampala, while my partner and I were in eastern Uganda. The 2 days at this final SACCO was another great experience as we interacted with some very interesting people on staff and the Board. We visited a poulty farmer, a fish farm where they ran a tilapia hatchery and a number of bisiness’s and schools that were all members of this SACCO. This was the best run SACCO we’ve seen so far. The young mother of 3 that just had her 3rd baby a few weeks ago runs a very effecient operation. In fact I liked her so much i’m going to see if I can get her involved in the CCA’s
are 9 and 5 hours away from Kampala, while my partner and I were in eastern Uganda. The 2 days at this final SACCO was another great experience as we interacted with some very interesting people on staff and the Board. We visited a poulty farmer, a fish farm where they ran a tilapia hatchery and a number of bisiness’s and schools that were all members of this SACCO. This was the best run SACCO we’ve seen so far. The young mother of 3 that just had her 3rd baby a few weeks ago runs a very effecient operation. In fact I liked her so much i’m going to see if I can get her involved in the CCA’s Womens Mentoring Program. You can read more about this here. http://www.coopscanada.coop/coopdevelopment/internationaldev/womensmentoring/
Jinja Day 2
What a great day it was. Everyday has been an experience but it seems everytime we meet with the Board of these SACCO”s we have that extra special day. The day when you sit around a table with 7 or 8 or 9 people who are so passionate about thier SACCO and the vilages they operate in. Today one of the Board members hosted the meeting on the grounds of her motel/inn, She and her husband have built this very simple and modest inn with 6 rooms. She emphasized that they provide hot meals and TV service. This was our first meeting held outdoors. Joining us for the meeting was the local field representative from the UCA. After there customary prayer, introductions and opening remarks we presented our report. One thing I’ve noticed at these meeting is that every single director is a voracious note taker. It seems they writing down almost every word we say. At the end of the meeting the questions and discussions covered every aspect of the report finding and recommendations. Were we then served lunch consisting of steamed bananas (matoki), geenut sauce, rice, kasava (some kind of vetagable), potatoes and boiled chicken. As a token of thier appreciation for our visit (and believe me they do appreciate our being there) we were presented with 3 large bags of geenuts which were donated by a local member/farmer especially for us. British Airways is sure to have a problem with us trying to bring them home so I have suggested we stop somewhere along the road 2moro and give them to one of the local families. Apparently when you raost them they taste great. I have posted a few pictures for you to see of the meeting.
The days have gone by so fast here. Its hard to believe we’re coming down to the last few already of which started out as a 20 day mission when you include the 3 days of training in Toronto prior to our leaving. Dont know what I would have done without the internet though.
Oh yes also I must tell you if I havent already Jinja is know as the “Source of the Nile”. Our driver took us to the lookout point where Lake Victoria flows into what then becomes the Nile River which snakes is way through several countries and up into Egypt.
Nothing exotic for dinner last night - played it safe with a tomato soup and a hamburger (although it might have been goat) thats happened to me before in Uganda. But it was very good none the less. Have a great day everyone. We are now heading out for the first day visit to our last SACCO on the schedule in Bunya (boon ya). Also as always interpersed in the pictures are photos captured while we’re on the road. Always something unique to see each day.
The days have gone by so fast here. Its hard to believe we’re coming down to the last few already of which started out as a 20 day mission when you include the 3 days of training in Toronto prior to our leaving. Dont know what I would have done without the internet though.
Oh yes also I must tell you if I havent already Jinja is know as the “Source of the Nile”. Our driver took us to the lookout point where Lake Victoria flows into what then becomes the Nile River which snakes is way through several countries and up into Egypt.
Nothing exotic for dinner last night - played it safe with a tomato soup and a hamburger (although it might have been goat) thats happened to me before in Uganda. But it was very good none the less. Have a great day everyone. We are now heading out for the first day visit to our last SACCO on the schedule in Bunya (boon ya). Also as always interpersed in the pictures are photos captured while we’re on the road. Always something unique to see each day.
Jinja Day 1
We arrived in a town called Jinja just east of Kampala - about an hour drive. It is famously known here as the source of the Nile where the Nile River begins as it flows in from Lake Victoria. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile
After checking into our hotel we headed to our first SACCO. After our intitial meetings we got down to work. The events of the day were simialr to those we experienced at the other SACCO’s so I wont bore you with the details. However I did take alot of pictures so I’ll post them here with a little blurb about each one. We dont have internet in our rooms - they have a business centre here instead. The speed is much faster than we’ve had elsewhere in Uganda so I’ll take advantage of that by uploading more pics that I usually do. We’ll be presenting our report to the Board this afternoon so I need to get back to that. Thanks all. Hope you enjoy the pics.
Charlie
After checking into our hotel we headed to our first SACCO. After our intitial meetings we got down to work. The events of the day were simialr to those we experienced at the other SACCO’s so I wont bore you with the details. However I did take alot of pictures so I’ll post them here with a little blurb about each one. We dont have internet in our rooms - they have a business centre here instead. The speed is much faster than we’ve had elsewhere in Uganda so I’ll take advantage of that by uploading more pics that I usually do. We’ll be presenting our report to the Board this afternoon so I need to get back to that. Thanks all. Hope you enjoy the pics.
Charlie
WeekendEven credit union missionaries get a break. Saturday morning at 7am we headed out to Murchison Falls (see link last blog post). After a 7 hour journey that was supposed to take 5 (not unusual) - we we’re sitting on the top deck of a river boat cruzin slowly down the Nile River on the 2 hour ride to the famous falls (how cool is that). Along the way we saw dozens of hippo’s floating in the water trying to get out of the hot sun. Saw some African elephants, crocodile’s and lots of other wild game. Hundreds of species of birds.
The resort we stayed at was nice. Food was excellent (very western which was something we’ve been craving for awile). The animals are in the open on the reserve that encomappses over 5000 sq. kms of land. They usually stay up in the main area of the reserve however elephnats have been known to wonder onto the resort grounds to drink from the pool. That didnt happen while we were here but around 4am this morning one of the people in our group heard some rustling outside his patio door (he was staying right next door to me, but I didnt here anything which is not unusual - ask my wife) when he looked out from behind the curtain he was face to face with a huge hippo that had decided to munch on some of the bushes around the patio. Standard stuff according to resort staff happens all the time.
Sunday morning 7am we paid a whopping $20 U.S. to take a guided tour through the park. Thats $20 for the whole car. The guide rode along with us. An unbelievable place. We saw most any wild game you can think of including giraffes and elephants (they have lions but we didnt spot any). We headed back about 11am due to the long drive…. We pack up and move our home base here in Kampala Monday as we travel to Jinja (see map link last blog post). We wil spend 4 days there visiting 2 SACCO’s. before returning back to Kampala……more to come as this adventure begins to wind down to the last 7 days. Have a good day, thanks for reading and for your comments. The pitures of the African Longhorns, the babboon outside the jeep window and the children were all taken (side of the road) while driving up to the falls, the others at the lodge.
Charlie
The resort we stayed at was nice. Food was excellent (very western which was something we’ve been craving for awile). The animals are in the open on the reserve that encomappses over 5000 sq. kms of land. They usually stay up in the main area of the reserve however elephnats have been known to wonder onto the resort grounds to drink from the pool. That didnt happen while we were here but around 4am this morning one of the people in our group heard some rustling outside his patio door (he was staying right next door to me, but I didnt here anything which is not unusual - ask my wife) when he looked out from behind the curtain he was face to face with a huge hippo that had decided to munch on some of the bushes around the patio. Standard stuff according to resort staff happens all the time.
Sunday morning 7am we paid a whopping $20 U.S. to take a guided tour through the park. Thats $20 for the whole car. The guide rode along with us. An unbelievable place. We saw most any wild game you can think of including giraffes and elephants (they have lions but we didnt spot any). We headed back about 11am due to the long drive…. We pack up and move our home base here in Kampala Monday as we travel to Jinja (see map link last blog post). We wil spend 4 days there visiting 2 SACCO’s. before returning back to Kampala……more to come as this adventure begins to wind down to the last 7 days. Have a good day, thanks for reading and for your comments. The pitures of the African Longhorns, the babboon outside the jeep window and the children were all taken (side of the road) while driving up to the falls, the others at the lodge.
Charlie
Kampala Day 6
Today was our second and final day at the second SACCO on our mission assignment schedule. You may have read about it yesterday - the Zirobwe SACCO. The traffic was busier than I’ve seen it so far, and they are doing a lot of road construction along the route so we arrived about an hour later than scheduled. However I dont know if I have mentioned this before but being late for anything in Uganda is quite normal. Meetings never start on time. Places are not always open when they say they’ll be open. Today I walked down to a foriegn exchange office which is located down the road from my hotel which is supposed to be open at 8am. When I got there (at 8.30) it was not open and I was told that the girl who works there “might be in by 9′…..I was told by the people at CCA that its due to two things - one is the crazy traffic - the other is that many workers in service industry type jobs (especially) are paid such low wages that the level of committment to a job is very low and if other higher priorities come up such as family matters , then the job can wait.
When we got to the SACCO we immediately got down to work and put the finishing touches on the report. The Board was to arrive about noon for the report presentation (the Board arrived at 1:30). We had a great meeting. My partner took the lead role (I had it last time) and we handled a truck load of questions afterwards. This Board is an engaged Board. Very knowledgeable and curious. The report was well recieved. We handed out a few gifts, did the Partciaption Certificate presentation and took a few “snaps” (thats what the Ugandans like to call pictures).
We then headed out the Rhita’s mothers house. Rhita (the manager) was in canada particpating in the Womens Mentoring Program last October. She was in Ottawa for two weeks with the CCA then at a credit union is Saskatchewan for two weeks. The mother wanted to express he gratitude to “Canada” for hosting her daughter - since we are from Canada this represented to her the perfect oppotunity to thank the country of Canada.
Before we went to Rhita’s mothers house we made another stop at the school we visited yesterday. My partner (is also Sunday school teacher) back in Moncton. Her students collected some money to buy school supplies for needy children in Uganda. Our driver found a supermarket in town that sold small school notebooks….we bought 700 of them plus a whack of pencils. I had brought 1000 pencils with me for the same purpose. So we pooled the supplies together and took them to the school.
We brought all the stuff into one of the classrooms. What a moment that was. I’ll never forget it. I took some pictures and posted a couple. Its hard to believe that so much joy and happiness can come to a child here for a 10 cent note book and a pencil. The principal (or HeadMistress) as she’s called was overwhelmed.
After we said our goodbyes we drove deep into the country side (perhaps 15 to 20k) from the SACCO to visit rhita’s mother. Its difficult to describe but picture a backyard shed - say 15 by 10, made of mud bricks, a heavy blanket as your front door and corregated tin roof and a dirt floor and you have the standard home in the rural area districts of Kampala. Rhitas mothers home was a mansion compared to that (see pic). We were ushered in and had a chat with her mother as well as her grandmother who lives there with her. It was quite an experience. The mother took a few minutes to tell us about how much she appreciated what Canada had done for her daughter. At one moment the mother said something to her daughter and the two of them laughed hysterically. I asked what they were laughing about and she said “my mothers says that finally after many generations that have lived there that white people had now been inside her house”…..I’m honoured I said..(”I think”…I thought). We took a few snaps and headed back to Kampala.These last 4 days visiting these 2 SACCO’s has been a tremendous experience. We have the weekend off. The people here at the (UCA) Ugadan Cooperative Association - have arranged to take the group up to Murchison Falls National Park. Im told its about a 5 or 6 hour ride north of here. Check it out click on the link below..
http://www.uwa.or.ug/murchison.html
We leave at 7am Saturday morning Uganda time (thats 8 hours ahead of you in Ontario) . I’m not sure about internet availablity up there so the blog might have to take a 2 day break. We’ll see. When we get back on Sunday night - we prepare for our next SACCO which is located in the Jinja area (east of kamapla about hour and a half or so). Here is a link to a map that shows both Murchison Falls and Jinja to give you an idea of where we’re going.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/africa/uganda/
Oh the cows in the picture below - they go by the front of SACCO fairly regulary.
Have a great weekend all.
Charlie
When we got to the SACCO we immediately got down to work and put the finishing touches on the report. The Board was to arrive about noon for the report presentation (the Board arrived at 1:30). We had a great meeting. My partner took the lead role (I had it last time) and we handled a truck load of questions afterwards. This Board is an engaged Board. Very knowledgeable and curious. The report was well recieved. We handed out a few gifts, did the Partciaption Certificate presentation and took a few “snaps” (thats what the Ugandans like to call pictures).
We then headed out the Rhita’s mothers house. Rhita (the manager) was in canada particpating in the Womens Mentoring Program last October. She was in Ottawa for two weeks with the CCA then at a credit union is Saskatchewan for two weeks. The mother wanted to express he gratitude to “Canada” for hosting her daughter - since we are from Canada this represented to her the perfect oppotunity to thank the country of Canada.
Before we went to Rhita’s mothers house we made another stop at the school we visited yesterday. My partner (is also Sunday school teacher) back in Moncton. Her students collected some money to buy school supplies for needy children in Uganda. Our driver found a supermarket in town that sold small school notebooks….we bought 700 of them plus a whack of pencils. I had brought 1000 pencils with me for the same purpose. So we pooled the supplies together and took them to the school.
We brought all the stuff into one of the classrooms. What a moment that was. I’ll never forget it. I took some pictures and posted a couple. Its hard to believe that so much joy and happiness can come to a child here for a 10 cent note book and a pencil. The principal (or HeadMistress) as she’s called was overwhelmed.
After we said our goodbyes we drove deep into the country side (perhaps 15 to 20k) from the SACCO to visit rhita’s mother. Its difficult to describe but picture a backyard shed - say 15 by 10, made of mud bricks, a heavy blanket as your front door and corregated tin roof and a dirt floor and you have the standard home in the rural area districts of Kampala. Rhitas mothers home was a mansion compared to that (see pic). We were ushered in and had a chat with her mother as well as her grandmother who lives there with her. It was quite an experience. The mother took a few minutes to tell us about how much she appreciated what Canada had done for her daughter. At one moment the mother said something to her daughter and the two of them laughed hysterically. I asked what they were laughing about and she said “my mothers says that finally after many generations that have lived there that white people had now been inside her house”…..I’m honoured I said..(”I think”…I thought). We took a few snaps and headed back to Kampala.These last 4 days visiting these 2 SACCO’s has been a tremendous experience. We have the weekend off. The people here at the (UCA) Ugadan Cooperative Association - have arranged to take the group up to Murchison Falls National Park. Im told its about a 5 or 6 hour ride north of here. Check it out click on the link below..
http://www.uwa.or.ug/murchison.html
We leave at 7am Saturday morning Uganda time (thats 8 hours ahead of you in Ontario) . I’m not sure about internet availablity up there so the blog might have to take a 2 day break. We’ll see. When we get back on Sunday night - we prepare for our next SACCO which is located in the Jinja area (east of kamapla about hour and a half or so). Here is a link to a map that shows both Murchison Falls and Jinja to give you an idea of where we’re going.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/africa/uganda/
Oh the cows in the picture below - they go by the front of SACCO fairly regulary.
Have a great weekend all.
Charlie
Kampala Day 5First of all thanks again to everybody that’s reading this and taking the time to send comments. I read all of them. There’s not alot of time to reply to some of the questions that are asked so dont be put off if I do not respond. Keep the comments coming though - Its something I really look forward to at the end of each day.
I phoned my wife today first thing the morning for the first time since I got here - its was great to hear her voice - miss you honey.
We took off at 8am today heading for the Zirobwe (pronounced zerubway). The lady that runs this place Rhita Nansita runs a very effecient SACCO - we’re not sure we have a heck of alot of suggestions. She seems to be doing everything that she can that is within her SACCO’s means. She too wanted to spend some time touring the neighborhood and introducing the “special visitors” to her members. It was hot today. Up around 30c or more is my guess. We visited a poultry farm (see pic). Nothing like standing in 5 chicken coop (buildings) with about 2000 chickens in each of them making that cooing sound in a strong Uganda heat. The owner was very proud of what she had accomplished with the assistance of the SACCO so she was intent on making sure we visited every building - even though they all looked the same (chickens too) but we were happy to do it.
Before we left the SACCO for the chicken farm she told us that the SACCO idea began during a meeting that was attended by a few community people which was held under a mango tree. I told her we had to see the tree and have a picture taken there. As it so happens the tree is on land that houses a grade school. When we arrived the kids swarmed us - they were so curious and pleased to see these strangers. Many of them have never seen people with white skin so a few looked at us like they were seeing ghosts (see pic).
Her SACCO office was much nicer than the first one we visited. I’m thinking maybe 1500 sq feet.
Rhita insisted that tomorrow when we get there that we go visit her mother - we agreed - this should be interesting .
Finally just a word about some of the pictures. So you think the QEW is busy during rush hour? And note the sign posted in the school yard in the kids picture - its not the first such sign I’ve seen here in scholl areas. The 2 people under the mango tree where the idea for the SACCO originated are the school principal and Rhita. The UN has a major base here in Kampala at the Entebbe Airport - they use it as a central command post for thier work in countries that surround Uganda mainly where various conflicts frequently arise - Sudan, Zimbabwe, Congo …..the two vehicles are here each mornong picking up officials. I had an intersting chat with the drivers today. I cant talk about it - top secret stuff - . Anyway too wiped to type anymore. Bye for now. Charlie
I phoned my wife today first thing the morning for the first time since I got here - its was great to hear her voice - miss you honey.
We took off at 8am today heading for the Zirobwe (pronounced zerubway). The lady that runs this place Rhita Nansita runs a very effecient SACCO - we’re not sure we have a heck of alot of suggestions. She seems to be doing everything that she can that is within her SACCO’s means. She too wanted to spend some time touring the neighborhood and introducing the “special visitors” to her members. It was hot today. Up around 30c or more is my guess. We visited a poultry farm (see pic). Nothing like standing in 5 chicken coop (buildings) with about 2000 chickens in each of them making that cooing sound in a strong Uganda heat. The owner was very proud of what she had accomplished with the assistance of the SACCO so she was intent on making sure we visited every building - even though they all looked the same (chickens too) but we were happy to do it.
Before we left the SACCO for the chicken farm she told us that the SACCO idea began during a meeting that was attended by a few community people which was held under a mango tree. I told her we had to see the tree and have a picture taken there. As it so happens the tree is on land that houses a grade school. When we arrived the kids swarmed us - they were so curious and pleased to see these strangers. Many of them have never seen people with white skin so a few looked at us like they were seeing ghosts (see pic).
Her SACCO office was much nicer than the first one we visited. I’m thinking maybe 1500 sq feet.
Rhita insisted that tomorrow when we get there that we go visit her mother - we agreed - this should be interesting .
Finally just a word about some of the pictures. So you think the QEW is busy during rush hour? And note the sign posted in the school yard in the kids picture - its not the first such sign I’ve seen here in scholl areas. The 2 people under the mango tree where the idea for the SACCO originated are the school principal and Rhita. The UN has a major base here in Kampala at the Entebbe Airport - they use it as a central command post for thier work in countries that surround Uganda mainly where various conflicts frequently arise - Sudan, Zimbabwe, Congo …..the two vehicles are here each mornong picking up officials. I had an intersting chat with the drivers today. I cant talk about it - top secret stuff - . Anyway too wiped to type anymore. Bye for now. Charlie
Kampala Day 4Sorry to sound so repetitious but I have to start this blog post the same way as some of the others. What a day today. I was up until about 1am last night getting started on the report of our assement and recommendations for the Kawaso SACCO. We had spent most of day 1 at the SACCO in the field (as you read about in the last post). During this time my coaching partner (Tammy Christopher) and I were able to gather a wealth of information about the SACCO while travelling and during lunch. However this time we were determined to stay inside the office for the day (no more showing off the visitors) and complete our report. The Manager had aranged for the SACCO Board to come to the office in order that we may present our final report to them and the Manager. They were scheduled to come in about 1pm so we had alot of work to do in order to be ready. The plan was for me to work with the Manager (I still had alot of questions that needed to be answered as well as he needed to provide with with a number of financial reports to review). My partner worked in the branch side on a special project with the accounting assistant. She created an Excel speradsheet for her to automate the transcation journal posting process (they do everything manually right now on a big peice of paper with lines drawn up and down and accross (honest). They have the Excel program on thier computers but have never used is for this function.
I was given the extra desk to work from which is in the Managers office. The entire SACCO occupies about 500 to 600 sq. ft I’m guessing. The Managers office is about 100 sq. ft. I asked the Manager where we’d be meeting with the Board (apparently 7 of the 9 Board members were coming in) - he replied that we’d be meeting in this office. His office. I did not say what I was thinking. We were told during mission prep training not to be openly shocked or surprised by what you may hear or be expected to do. So I kept a very straight face and said”that would be fine.” seven Board members, the Manager and me and my partner in a 10 by 10 room for a meeting “thats fine looking forward to it Emmanual”….
Speaking about not being shocked or suprised by anything I will share with you a couple of other things that are simply a way of life in these rural areas. There are two large windows in this office at the back of the branch. The building is surrounded (very closley) my the neihboring homes (its heart wrenching to refer to them as homes, but they are thier homes). As I typed away on my laptop the room is filled with the sound of cows mooing, goats doing whatever goats do, roosters doing their thing, babies crying and the thick smell of burning wood through the office …all day. I immediately thought of my son Steven who works as an Occupational Hygenist with a major environmental company in Waterloo. He’d freak here. Anyway thats just the way it is around here so (suck it up Princess as my freind and collegue Susan Tustin (a 2 time Ghana coaching mission veteran) likes to say.
Here’s an interesting story. I have met alot of great people in the last couple weeks who have been to Africa via the CCA. They all have a bathroom story. I now have a bathroom story. Today around 10am while at the SACCO working on my report it was time to unload the 3 cups of coffee I had at the hotel before I left. I kindly asked the loan officer Mr. Kasale where the mens room was. He looked indecisive, almost unsure of how to answer. He looked at the Manager who looked back at him and said something to him in Swahili - the loan officer then turned back to me and said - “is it a short one or a long one”. I said… politely… “excuse me” (knowing full well what he said I was just trying to buy some time to think about this and figure it out). He repeated - “long one or short one”…. So in the split second I had to think..I remembered my training about not to be shocked or surprised about anything…hmmm…..short one or long one? Oh jeez you’re talking about the - length of time - its going to take me to do what I need to do as it realtes to how the particular body function is done and where - ok I get it …its their way of saying number 1 or number 2? Right oh man I feel better. Short one - I said very quietly. He lead me through two sets of doors out to the back alley. There to the right was someones “home” where a few kids were playing and he pointed to the left where there was a concrete bunker shaped closet type structure. It had a heavy metal plate door with no lock latch…. I opened the door and there was nothing in there. Just the floor, ceiling and walls. I stepped in and noticed a hole was chipped through the bottom left hand corner of the bunker and quickly deduced that that was to be my target area. No TP and no wash basin or soap. Luckily through the whole day I did not have to ask where the long ones are done.
I make light of the experience I detailed above but the truth is this was another of the many ”we have no idea how good we have it and how much we take for granted” moments that I (we all) have experienced since we arrived in Uganda. Its sobering to say the least. I wish all of you could experience this sometime in your lives.
Oh by the way my partner had to do a “short one” too and she was escorted to the same bunker. I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination.
The report was completed at 1pm and, as arranged, the 7 Board members arrived. My partner and I were introduced to everyone individually and we began the meeting by listening to one of the Board members say a prayer (in Swahili) and then we were all asked by the Chair to stand for the singing of the Ugandan national anthem (which all the Board members sang in a volume that I’m sure was high enough for many of the neighboring people to hear) . A beautiful song by the way. The Chair stood up and gave the opening introductions and remarks. He spoke eloquently in English (most of the Board speaks English) for about 15 minutes. He remarked on a number of occasions about how honoured and blessed they were to have us there.
After mine and my partners opening remarks I proceeded to deliver the report which took about 30 minutes including Q and A. Tammy gave them a report on her work with the accoutning analyst and handled a number of the questions. They appeared to be very happy with the report overall. However I think I rattled them a bit on a couple of things but I did it in a “nice” kind of way namely..too much Board interference in day to day operations and not paying their staff enough…..both these things can be said in such a way as to not offend anyone but still make your point clear….just doin our job Mr. Chair. They applauded at the conclusion of the meeting. We presenetd them with small token gifts from Canada as well as a CCA Coaching Program Certificate of Partcipation which they just loved. We also took a few photos. The Board left, we wrapped up with the staff, left them with a few gifts said our goodbyes and jumped into the Jeep for the journey back to the hotel. Tommorrow we visit our 2nd credit union, the Zirobwe SACCO located about an hour from here. Here’s a few pics from today. Thanks for reading.
Bye for now.
Charlie
I was given the extra desk to work from which is in the Managers office. The entire SACCO occupies about 500 to 600 sq. ft I’m guessing. The Managers office is about 100 sq. ft. I asked the Manager where we’d be meeting with the Board (apparently 7 of the 9 Board members were coming in) - he replied that we’d be meeting in this office. His office. I did not say what I was thinking. We were told during mission prep training not to be openly shocked or surprised by what you may hear or be expected to do. So I kept a very straight face and said”that would be fine.” seven Board members, the Manager and me and my partner in a 10 by 10 room for a meeting “thats fine looking forward to it Emmanual”….
Speaking about not being shocked or suprised by anything I will share with you a couple of other things that are simply a way of life in these rural areas. There are two large windows in this office at the back of the branch. The building is surrounded (very closley) my the neihboring homes (its heart wrenching to refer to them as homes, but they are thier homes). As I typed away on my laptop the room is filled with the sound of cows mooing, goats doing whatever goats do, roosters doing their thing, babies crying and the thick smell of burning wood through the office …all day. I immediately thought of my son Steven who works as an Occupational Hygenist with a major environmental company in Waterloo. He’d freak here. Anyway thats just the way it is around here so (suck it up Princess as my freind and collegue Susan Tustin (a 2 time Ghana coaching mission veteran) likes to say.
Here’s an interesting story. I have met alot of great people in the last couple weeks who have been to Africa via the CCA. They all have a bathroom story. I now have a bathroom story. Today around 10am while at the SACCO working on my report it was time to unload the 3 cups of coffee I had at the hotel before I left. I kindly asked the loan officer Mr. Kasale where the mens room was. He looked indecisive, almost unsure of how to answer. He looked at the Manager who looked back at him and said something to him in Swahili - the loan officer then turned back to me and said - “is it a short one or a long one”. I said… politely… “excuse me” (knowing full well what he said I was just trying to buy some time to think about this and figure it out). He repeated - “long one or short one”…. So in the split second I had to think..I remembered my training about not to be shocked or surprised about anything…hmmm…..short one or long one? Oh jeez you’re talking about the - length of time - its going to take me to do what I need to do as it realtes to how the particular body function is done and where - ok I get it …its their way of saying number 1 or number 2? Right oh man I feel better. Short one - I said very quietly. He lead me through two sets of doors out to the back alley. There to the right was someones “home” where a few kids were playing and he pointed to the left where there was a concrete bunker shaped closet type structure. It had a heavy metal plate door with no lock latch…. I opened the door and there was nothing in there. Just the floor, ceiling and walls. I stepped in and noticed a hole was chipped through the bottom left hand corner of the bunker and quickly deduced that that was to be my target area. No TP and no wash basin or soap. Luckily through the whole day I did not have to ask where the long ones are done.
I make light of the experience I detailed above but the truth is this was another of the many ”we have no idea how good we have it and how much we take for granted” moments that I (we all) have experienced since we arrived in Uganda. Its sobering to say the least. I wish all of you could experience this sometime in your lives.
Oh by the way my partner had to do a “short one” too and she was escorted to the same bunker. I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination.
The report was completed at 1pm and, as arranged, the 7 Board members arrived. My partner and I were introduced to everyone individually and we began the meeting by listening to one of the Board members say a prayer (in Swahili) and then we were all asked by the Chair to stand for the singing of the Ugandan national anthem (which all the Board members sang in a volume that I’m sure was high enough for many of the neighboring people to hear) . A beautiful song by the way. The Chair stood up and gave the opening introductions and remarks. He spoke eloquently in English (most of the Board speaks English) for about 15 minutes. He remarked on a number of occasions about how honoured and blessed they were to have us there.
After mine and my partners opening remarks I proceeded to deliver the report which took about 30 minutes including Q and A. Tammy gave them a report on her work with the accoutning analyst and handled a number of the questions. They appeared to be very happy with the report overall. However I think I rattled them a bit on a couple of things but I did it in a “nice” kind of way namely..too much Board interference in day to day operations and not paying their staff enough…..both these things can be said in such a way as to not offend anyone but still make your point clear….just doin our job Mr. Chair. They applauded at the conclusion of the meeting. We presenetd them with small token gifts from Canada as well as a CCA Coaching Program Certificate of Partcipation which they just loved. We also took a few photos. The Board left, we wrapped up with the staff, left them with a few gifts said our goodbyes and jumped into the Jeep for the journey back to the hotel. Tommorrow we visit our 2nd credit union, the Zirobwe SACCO located about an hour from here. Here’s a few pics from today. Thanks for reading.
Bye for now.
Charlie
Kampala Day 3
First of all thanks to all of you regulars that are following the blog. I look forward to flipping on my laptop after we’re done for the day and once I’m back in my room for the night to check out the comments.
Today. There is so much to say about today. I’m not even going to attempt to detail it all. I’m hoping the pictures do a liitle of the talking for todays post. I’ll just provide a short commentary before I load the pics.
I knew - and I think we all knew (although the teams never really openly discussed this when we were together) -that at some point we’d be face to face with the poverty that blankets much of Uganda. Today was an emotion filled day: amazement, fun, wonder, curiosity, empathy, pity, anger and many more I’m sure i’m just to tired to think.
Before I go into the summary of the day - I have to tell you about my trip to the local church for Mass today. There is an RC church close to the hotel. I had heard they have a 6:30am weekday service. So I got up at my “usual” time and walked the 4 blocks over. When it started there were at least 400 people in there - unbelievable - at 6:30 in the morning on a weekday! Even more amazing was the fact that when it was over and the crowd was streaming out; there were just as many people coming in for the 7am Mass. That was a different experience and one that will be with me for awhile - especially the fact that of the 400 people I am the only “azungo” (white person). As you can imagine I received alot of curious stares. The people sitting around me were typical Ugandans - gracious and kind.
So today we visited the Kasawo Namuganga credit union (or SACCO as they call them here). Its about 50k outside of Kampala. A rural area to be sure. We had a brief meeting with the manager and loan officer then headed out. He wanted to show us off to the community There are many strategic reasons for doing this all of which I agreed with. I had mentioned to the manager that I realized that one of the more valuable benefits to his SACCO of our visit was that the local community was aware that we were there. Its true. By the time we’re done tomorwo (only 2 days scheduled here) we will have a number of operational and governance recommendations to leave him with - however as he noted - his credit union gets a lot of PR mileage from a member realtions standpoint from this vistit. There’s a whole lot more that went on today but I’ll leave it at that and hope you enjoy the pictures. Please note that I chose not upload some of the more graphic images of poverty that I captured - cause you’ve all seen them before i’m sure and we dont need them here at this point. Ok so thanks once again. Check back tomorrow.
Charlie
Today. There is so much to say about today. I’m not even going to attempt to detail it all. I’m hoping the pictures do a liitle of the talking for todays post. I’ll just provide a short commentary before I load the pics.
I knew - and I think we all knew (although the teams never really openly discussed this when we were together) -that at some point we’d be face to face with the poverty that blankets much of Uganda. Today was an emotion filled day: amazement, fun, wonder, curiosity, empathy, pity, anger and many more I’m sure i’m just to tired to think.
Before I go into the summary of the day - I have to tell you about my trip to the local church for Mass today. There is an RC church close to the hotel. I had heard they have a 6:30am weekday service. So I got up at my “usual” time and walked the 4 blocks over. When it started there were at least 400 people in there - unbelievable - at 6:30 in the morning on a weekday! Even more amazing was the fact that when it was over and the crowd was streaming out; there were just as many people coming in for the 7am Mass. That was a different experience and one that will be with me for awhile - especially the fact that of the 400 people I am the only “azungo” (white person). As you can imagine I received alot of curious stares. The people sitting around me were typical Ugandans - gracious and kind.
So today we visited the Kasawo Namuganga credit union (or SACCO as they call them here). Its about 50k outside of Kampala. A rural area to be sure. We had a brief meeting with the manager and loan officer then headed out. He wanted to show us off to the community There are many strategic reasons for doing this all of which I agreed with. I had mentioned to the manager that I realized that one of the more valuable benefits to his SACCO of our visit was that the local community was aware that we were there. Its true. By the time we’re done tomorwo (only 2 days scheduled here) we will have a number of operational and governance recommendations to leave him with - however as he noted - his credit union gets a lot of PR mileage from a member realtions standpoint from this vistit. There’s a whole lot more that went on today but I’ll leave it at that and hope you enjoy the pictures. Please note that I chose not upload some of the more graphic images of poverty that I captured - cause you’ve all seen them before i’m sure and we dont need them here at this point. Ok so thanks once again. Check back tomorrow.
Charlie
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