living and learning as always here in Uganda. Despite the fact that it is supposed to be the dry season, the wet season seems to be asserting itself with a vengenance, leading to cooler weather, muddy roads and a general feeling of lethargy. Jessie heads back to the US for a few weeks today to deal with some personal stuff, leaving Morgan and I in charge until she and Annie return on the 3rd of February. Pressure is on. Nah- just kidding. its a lot to do, and the sheer organizational mess of starting an organization like soft power blows my mind. hoops to jump through doesnt begin to fully describe it.
Ive had a lot of fun the past few days dealing with a sticky situation here at bugajali. About 10 days ago, a large group of us went out to explore some of the back channels on the river, all on the section that will soon be lost with the damning of the nile. While scouting one of the rapids (blade runner) three paddles, mine, morgans, and karls were stolen. Very unlucky. and rather stupid on the part of the thief, seeing as how we are out in the middle of a river. Clearly going to notice that the paddles went missing, for we need them to get back down the rapids. anyways. It turns out that Karl recognizes one of the kids from when we had jumped out of the boat, who immediatley starts running upon seeing karl. Karl ends up grabing the kid, who confesses to stealing the paddles, but claims to have given them to someone else. This all results in an epic day during which Karl and Anton (swedish video boater working at NRE) march this kid all around the village in an attempt to find the paddles. They are unsucessful, and while we know who has the paddles, noone seems to know where he is, or where he put the paddles. All in all, a rather comic situation, but at the time, a huge pain to have to deal with.
After a week of no results, and no paddles, I decided to take matters a little more into my own hands. While we were unable to find Ronald, the supposed paddle thief, i knew where to find his brother Mambia, who used to work at bugajali. With the help of Muhammed, a fabulous boda driver and more, as well as the the LC1 defense of Mambias village, we were able to arrest Mambia. After the arrest of Mambia, i drove down at night with Muhammed to the Prison in Naminya where i got to interrogate Mambia on his role in the disapearance of the paddles, his relationship to his brother, and his knowledge on the wherabouts of the paddles. Okay. i confess. i may have been watching too much 24 and wanted to be Jack Bauer. Long story short, Mambia denied knowing anything, at which point i said he could go to prision until either his brother or the paddles returned. So he caved, and claimed to know where the paddles were. After a night in prision, mambia took us to the paddles the next morning. So.. after some shilling spending, and some boda adventures, we finally got all three paddles back in perfect condition.
The whole experiance was really eye opening, and i will say that i recieved a lot of support int he way the situation was handeled from both mzungu and locals. Theft has become a big problem in bugajali, in part a result of the increasing amount of tourism and tourists in the area. The temptation to steal is in the discrepency between the "wealth" of the tourists and the poverty of the area, as well as in the ease of acess to the tourists things. we all use the same river. the theft of things like paddles, and other boating gear has been especially popular, for people steal the gear, wait for that person to leave, then attempt to sell it to the next tourist passing through. the logic behind this is that because of limited time, the tourists dont follow up on the theft, and people get away with a lot. It was good that i was able to follow through, and provide some consequences for the theft: jail time, as well as a 500,000ush bond to secure the release of the thief from jail- super expensive for locals, as well as anyone else. Its important to set a precendent i suppose, but i still feel rather unsettled about the whole situation. I sent someone to prison. it did bring about the desired results, however, it makes me uneasy. Theft is a problem that is way bigger than one story, and the disjoint between the lives of the locals and mzungus is present in every situation. It is definatley one hugley negative consequence to the increase in tourism to this area. more musings on theft and the local situation to folllow, ive got to run to go and extend my visa.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
january update.
so i realize that i am supposed to be in an airport now, or on a plane flying home. I have been enjoying my time here enough, as you may have guessed from previous blog entries, to extend my ticket and stay here in UG longer than originally anticipated. My new return date is for the 4th of april. Ive realized taht 2.5 months, even three months is a ridiculously short amount of time in which to try and "accomplish" anything. i dont know what exactly i plan or hope to accomplish, but it is now that i fully feel integrated into a community here, and with in the organization with which i am working to start making some changes, and doing things on my own agenda as well. I am starting a new project with SPH, making malaria education coloring books in both english and lusoga for kids here in UG. I dont know how it will go, but it will be a cool thing to get up and running, and maybe spread to other countries where malaria is a problem.
as im learning day by day, working for an ngo in africa can be insanely frusterating. nothing gets done when you want it to, you have be flexible and open in ways i never anticipated. Motivation is different here. As with any NGO, soft power has its own host of problems, especially on the organizational front. I have to remind my self often how young soft power is as an organization, and how much we are still figuring everything out. the very youngness of SPH is exaclty what makes it so exiciting to work for however, because we are intimatley involved with the forming and creating of the organization in so many aspects- working at the clinic, relations between the town and the clinic, the role of the clinic, the malaria and FP education sessions, changing and altering the content of these sessions, as well as creating new projects such as nutrition seminars and the coloring book project. i have spent so much time entering data, but in doing that i have been able to see paterns int he data, and really see how our nets are affecting people in a way completely different way than the follow-ups. With karl, (a business major) we also re did the way we do excel, so im learning about excel as well, and all the different ways to use it. always a good time- though frequent power outages and other setbacks make technology unpredicatble here.
In other news, Karl and Tara kicked of the start of th Ugandan Kayak Club with a goat roast and sign up, gaining the first 22 members of what i hope, and think should be a successful addition to bugajali. The club was met with an overwhelmingly positive response, a president (bob) was elected by the locals, and the general vibe is exicited. Karl started things off with a bang, teaching rolling sessions today, and plans for more kayak lessons, swim lessons and other fun are already in the works. seeing everyones amazement at the sheer amount of gear now available to them was awesome as well.. look for an article to come out in padddles magazine by jamie, and other news and photos to follow.
wish me luck in my decision to stay longer.. ill miss home and the ski season for sure..
oh! forgot to mention that i managed to set up a flickr photo account, though its been hard to say if i can upload regularly. check it out..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22559978@N03/
as im learning day by day, working for an ngo in africa can be insanely frusterating. nothing gets done when you want it to, you have be flexible and open in ways i never anticipated. Motivation is different here. As with any NGO, soft power has its own host of problems, especially on the organizational front. I have to remind my self often how young soft power is as an organization, and how much we are still figuring everything out. the very youngness of SPH is exaclty what makes it so exiciting to work for however, because we are intimatley involved with the forming and creating of the organization in so many aspects- working at the clinic, relations between the town and the clinic, the role of the clinic, the malaria and FP education sessions, changing and altering the content of these sessions, as well as creating new projects such as nutrition seminars and the coloring book project. i have spent so much time entering data, but in doing that i have been able to see paterns int he data, and really see how our nets are affecting people in a way completely different way than the follow-ups. With karl, (a business major) we also re did the way we do excel, so im learning about excel as well, and all the different ways to use it. always a good time- though frequent power outages and other setbacks make technology unpredicatble here.
In other news, Karl and Tara kicked of the start of th Ugandan Kayak Club with a goat roast and sign up, gaining the first 22 members of what i hope, and think should be a successful addition to bugajali. The club was met with an overwhelmingly positive response, a president (bob) was elected by the locals, and the general vibe is exicited. Karl started things off with a bang, teaching rolling sessions today, and plans for more kayak lessons, swim lessons and other fun are already in the works. seeing everyones amazement at the sheer amount of gear now available to them was awesome as well.. look for an article to come out in padddles magazine by jamie, and other news and photos to follow.
wish me luck in my decision to stay longer.. ill miss home and the ski season for sure..
oh! forgot to mention that i managed to set up a flickr photo account, though its been hard to say if i can upload regularly. check it out..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22559978@N03/
Friday, January 11, 2008
kayaks and more
And so its back to work this week after our mini vacation from christmas and new years. Tons of net sales and family planning sessions in the works, so it should be a busy for SPH. On top of all the sessions, we are busy trying to settle everything up from last year and look forwards to this year. We spent the last week repainting the clinic with team kiwi- a group of ten or so kayakers- all friends and general awesome people from the NZed. Legends, as Hes would say. The clinic looks great, a new super upbeat shade of yellow, a new coat of red oxide trim and a shed/kitchen to match. As godfrey, one of the nurses put it "a new face for 2008".
team kiwi in action : sophie, Brendan, Laura
Me and Tara after a hard day at work 
Our first family planning clinic of the year was a huge success, with over a hundred people in attendance and a lot of interesting questions, sucj as, if a man takes the pill, will it prevent pregnancy? Namizi East, the village where we held the session was really pleased with it, and requested us to come back asap not only with nets, but to do a nutrition session, talking about the benefits of healthy eating, which foods provide which nutrients and portion sizes.. should be interesting. we will see how it goes, and if it actually happens.
As always, things are in flux here. Paul returned to Alaska on wednesday, we miss him already, and not only for the free medical advice, i swear. We have a new volunteer Jim, a professor of Micro biology at Purchase, NY- here for twi weeks. All of the kiwis left minus laura, we were all really sad to see them go and hope to be able to reuntite at somepoint in the future.
Due to the elections in Kenya, gas prices here rose out of control. Instead of the usual price of 25oo ush, fuel was costing between 7-10,000 ush. This meant that transportation costs exploded, with boda boda rides tripling in cost, and taxis becoming ridiculously overpriced, resulting in increased prices of nearly all goods. (econ 1o1 anybody?) Fortunatley, prices have stabalized, though the supply of gas is still limited and the border is still not allthe way open. The boda drivers have been desperate for work, so they have also started to lower prices in attempt to woo more mzungu customers. The other day i saw one person in kayak gear get swarmed by 7 boda drivers trying to run his shuttle. Insanity.
the dry season has definatley begun here- its been super hot and dry with no rain. The roads are dusty, and everything -even the trees is the same red as the dust. Karl, normally blonde, hopped off his last boda ride as a red head who looked like he had been working in acoal mine for 2 days.
I realize that Karl and Tara have become a huge part of our Uganda family, and i havent said much about them yet. They are both awesome poeple who ia m so glad that i have gotten to know. Karl has his own production company, epicocity projects, where he shoots, edits, sells and produces kayaking videos such as bigger than rodeo, amplify, and mission: epicocity. He is here in UG for a couple of reasons. one, working on footage for a new film, and two, a charity he is starting here in Bugajali along with Jamie, (the owner of Kayak the Nile, the local Kayak School). Basically, Karl contacted a ton of his sponsers, inclunding Astral, Wavesport, NRS, AT and Shred Ready, and got them, along with several individuals to donate a ridiculous amount of gear. Enough to fully outfit from boats to pfds to paddles to booties- ugandans who want to learn to kayak. The idea for a club like this has been in the works for awhile, but no one had the capital to make it happen- this is where karl came in. Buuilding off a huge base Jamie built by providing ugandans access to gear, along with help from Cam and John (owners of Adrift) with the import fees on the equipment, Karl basically self funded the start of the Ugandan Kayak Club. the idea is that instead of selling a boat to one ugandan, make boats and gear available to many ugnadans at a super low cost. Its impossible to explain what this means without detailing the kayak situation here. Basically, working as a safety boater for one of the rafting companies is the best paying job in this part of UG. What this means is that everyone wants to learn how to kayak, if not for the sport, then for the potential income. The problem is that most ugandans dont have access to gear. The ones who do- those who bought it off mzungus or kayakers who left boats and kit here- few have acomplete set of fully functional gear. It is not at all uncommon to see locals on the river in broken boats, with out skirts, without helmets or using broken paddles, paddles with one blade, homemade paddles, or paddles created by taping the pieces of two broken paddles together. Of the locals who do and dont kayak, the majority dont even know how to swim. Bizarre thought for me, having grown up on the water, and spent the large part of my working life in or on the water. Jamie is starting a big push and education program to teach ugandans how to swim, and also how to kayak as a part of the Ugandan kayak club. its super exciting to see this happening here, and i hope the results are good. The kick off party is tonite, where the rules of the game will be explained, so hopefully things will go well. i have to run to help set things up. for more info on karl or his project, check www.christmasforafrica.com or www.epicocity.com
Karl on the special
team kiwi in action : sophie, Brendan, Laura
Me and Tara after a hard day at work 
Our first family planning clinic of the year was a huge success, with over a hundred people in attendance and a lot of interesting questions, sucj as, if a man takes the pill, will it prevent pregnancy? Namizi East, the village where we held the session was really pleased with it, and requested us to come back asap not only with nets, but to do a nutrition session, talking about the benefits of healthy eating, which foods provide which nutrients and portion sizes.. should be interesting. we will see how it goes, and if it actually happens.As always, things are in flux here. Paul returned to Alaska on wednesday, we miss him already, and not only for the free medical advice, i swear. We have a new volunteer Jim, a professor of Micro biology at Purchase, NY- here for twi weeks. All of the kiwis left minus laura, we were all really sad to see them go and hope to be able to reuntite at somepoint in the future.
Due to the elections in Kenya, gas prices here rose out of control. Instead of the usual price of 25oo ush, fuel was costing between 7-10,000 ush. This meant that transportation costs exploded, with boda boda rides tripling in cost, and taxis becoming ridiculously overpriced, resulting in increased prices of nearly all goods. (econ 1o1 anybody?) Fortunatley, prices have stabalized, though the supply of gas is still limited and the border is still not allthe way open. The boda drivers have been desperate for work, so they have also started to lower prices in attempt to woo more mzungu customers. The other day i saw one person in kayak gear get swarmed by 7 boda drivers trying to run his shuttle. Insanity.
the dry season has definatley begun here- its been super hot and dry with no rain. The roads are dusty, and everything -even the trees is the same red as the dust. Karl, normally blonde, hopped off his last boda ride as a red head who looked like he had been working in acoal mine for 2 days.
I realize that Karl and Tara have become a huge part of our Uganda family, and i havent said much about them yet. They are both awesome poeple who ia m so glad that i have gotten to know. Karl has his own production company, epicocity projects, where he shoots, edits, sells and produces kayaking videos such as bigger than rodeo, amplify, and mission: epicocity. He is here in UG for a couple of reasons. one, working on footage for a new film, and two, a charity he is starting here in Bugajali along with Jamie, (the owner of Kayak the Nile, the local Kayak School). Basically, Karl contacted a ton of his sponsers, inclunding Astral, Wavesport, NRS, AT and Shred Ready, and got them, along with several individuals to donate a ridiculous amount of gear. Enough to fully outfit from boats to pfds to paddles to booties- ugandans who want to learn to kayak. The idea for a club like this has been in the works for awhile, but no one had the capital to make it happen- this is where karl came in. Buuilding off a huge base Jamie built by providing ugandans access to gear, along with help from Cam and John (owners of Adrift) with the import fees on the equipment, Karl basically self funded the start of the Ugandan Kayak Club. the idea is that instead of selling a boat to one ugandan, make boats and gear available to many ugnadans at a super low cost. Its impossible to explain what this means without detailing the kayak situation here. Basically, working as a safety boater for one of the rafting companies is the best paying job in this part of UG. What this means is that everyone wants to learn how to kayak, if not for the sport, then for the potential income. The problem is that most ugandans dont have access to gear. The ones who do- those who bought it off mzungus or kayakers who left boats and kit here- few have acomplete set of fully functional gear. It is not at all uncommon to see locals on the river in broken boats, with out skirts, without helmets or using broken paddles, paddles with one blade, homemade paddles, or paddles created by taping the pieces of two broken paddles together. Of the locals who do and dont kayak, the majority dont even know how to swim. Bizarre thought for me, having grown up on the water, and spent the large part of my working life in or on the water. Jamie is starting a big push and education program to teach ugandans how to swim, and also how to kayak as a part of the Ugandan kayak club. its super exciting to see this happening here, and i hope the results are good. The kick off party is tonite, where the rules of the game will be explained, so hopefully things will go well. i have to run to help set things up. for more info on karl or his project, check www.christmasforafrica.com or www.epicocity.com
Karl on the specialMonday, January 7, 2008
quick photo update
me
soft power health team.. morgan, jurg, jessie, shannon, paul, mechristmas at eden rock... check out the ornaments
uganda family minus jim and sherri... here are our white elephant gifts
nile freestyle festival
endurance race start.. (photos by jim o'neal)
sam ward air screw (photo by jim n'neal)
uganda family minus jim and sherri... here are our white elephant gifts
nile freestyle festival
endurance race start.. (photos by jim o'neal)
sam ward air screw (photo by jim n'neal)More photos and a blog post to come soon... i swear.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
happy new years!
happy new years! things are good here. we celebrated christmas with a picnic, and a large buffet meal,, as well as a white elephant gag gift exchange as morgan, paul, karl, tara, steve (karls dad), shannon and i sat under a small fake x mas tree purchased at an indian super market for the price of 5000 ush that we then decorated with colorful condoms. i got a slingshot made from tire rubber, and a maraca. from there it was to the lemon for a few days, though karl did wake up on christmas morning to a fat lip and malaria. At the lemon, got to play on the special, (tired out a new boat, the project 45, and loved it) and then it was back home to NRE minus Shannon, Steve, and Amy to ring in the new year. im not sure as to any resolutions yet, but mostly to enjoy my time here, and do what i can. i tried to upload a few picturs, but with out success, i swear to see if i cant start a flickr page at some point this week, as well as try again to upload a picture or two to the blog.
best wishes for te new year to all...
best wishes for te new year to all...
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