Katugendde! Let's go!

Hello Everyone,

This past week was a very positive week for me as I figured out a more specific work plan. I am very excited to get to work on many things.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was hoping to work in the village where the piglet project is because I had been very close to the women there. I also mentioned that the group had kind of fallen apart because of major setbacks in their projects and that I was hoping to work with them to start up their projects again. However, after talking to Valence, my director, we have decided that this may not be the best approach. Valence says that to rebuild trust, create firm foundations with a strong plan for YOFAFO in that village, and to reelect a council it could take a year. In the beginning stages of this long process, he didn't think that it would be a good idea to bring in a foreign volunteer because it can make them think that I am there to solve all of their problems and that I will be a sort of magic wand, which of course I am no such thing, and so it would not be building a strong community effort and commitment. He thought that it is most important to let YOFAFO be the catalyst and the local community propel the program forward and then, maybe after the year it would be a good idea to bring in a volunteer for encouragement and new ideas.

At the Children's Village last Monday morning I was able to teach a really fun lesson on animals with the P2 class (children around the age of 8). I had them teach me the Luganda words for different animals and they taught me how to spell these words. Then we talked about how animals move (hope, gallop, swim, fly, etc.) and played animal charades to demonstrate the movements. At the end, I read them a book about Elmer the elephant and they were so attentive and excited. The traditional style of teaching in Uganda is called rote learning, which basically means that teachers write on the board and students copy and memorize, or they say things out loud and students repeat it over and over agian until it is memorized. Therefore, any unique ways of teaching are very important for expanding their minds and showing them new ways of thinking. For example, instead of saying frogs hop, horses gallop, monkeys climb, etc. and having the kids write that over and over or say it out loud over and over, you can play charades to teach the same idea. It's also good for kinesthetic learners and it teaches drama/acting and physical activity. There are many simple things like this that we take for granted in our schools, but in other parts of the world the techniques may be unheard of.

One little girl I noticed had a rash from head to toe that I suspected was a side-effect of HIV, but I wanted to check to see if it was something else that could possibly be treated easily. I was told though that it was HIV and that her parents could probably not afford the ARV medication (with ARV's people can hope to live a full, productive life). I asked how many students were HIV positive and the answer is that no one knows. I asked about testing the students and I was told that without paying for proper counceling and medical treatment, it's like telling someone that they have a deadly cancer, but not offering them any counceling or medical treatment....it's a death sentence with no hope for a cure, unless you can get the ARVs.

I have also started working on an application to help YOFAFO get more international volunteers. As their programs expand, so will the need for more ideas, more support, and more income, all of which are supplied by volunteers because they pay a program fee and they offer a positive attitude and new ways of doing things. Besides that, other office work for me includes creating a Facebook group for YOFAFO that highlights their projects and especially children at the school that are in need of sponsors. I also do record keeping on the computer for the micro-finance program.

Soon we will be starting work with an HIV/AIDS support group. This group was formed by a recent volunteer from Jackson, Mississippi in the USA who is HIV positive. Here, there is a lot of stigma and shame associated with the illness, even if you contracted it from your mother during birth, got it from a blood transfusion, or were infected from a partner who was not faithful to you. All of these cases can not be helped, as opposed to premiscuous sexual activity or sharing drug needles, but people still feel a deep sense of shame. They also feel like their life is over because they do not realize that, with proper treatment, they can lead normal lives.

This group is coming together to work as a type of social support system, but they are also looking to learn some sort of trade so that they can generate an income for their families. From my own art projects in middle and high schools, from knowledge of other volunteers, and from a bit of internet research, we are going to start training this group, and possibly others, in handi-craft making, which they can then sell to tourists, volunteers, and in local markets. For example, over the next couple of weeks we are going to teach papermaking. With the handmade paper, they can press flowers into it to make a beautiful wall hanging or they can construct useful items such as folders, photo albums, and journals. Later, we hope to move on to things such as candle-making, soap-making, and weaving. The last three are often done locally anyway, but we are looking for unique ways to do them so that they are marketable to a wider consumer group, such as international fair-trade organizations. For example, you can add beautiful flowers and spices to candles or you can use local weaving techniques to make table mats. There are many possibilities and we are searching for ways to market these items.

I have also had a great start to the lending library at Buwele High School. So far, I have purchased 40 books with Empower Walk World money (I nearly wiped out this small book store of all of its novels!) and I am waiting to purchase more. First, I want to make sure that the check-out system is working properly and I have the current selection organized with the old-fashioned check-out cards (remember that time before computers?). I also want to make sure that students are using them and taking care of them properly. I will find out on Friday if any have been checked out over the past week. Hopefully I will be purchasing more this weekend and continually over the summer.

I met a very interesting person in a public bus on they way out of Nkokonjeru village to Mukono town, which is about a one and a half hour bus ride over holey dirt roads. He is a Ugandan man named Abdul who has a degree in micro-finance and he works in a village micro-finance project. He is also passionate about traditional African music and he works with two youth groups to teach them to play traditional African instruments. I have exchanged contact details with him and I am hoping to visit his project sometime in the coming weeks. Hopefully it is a legitimate project (at least so far he hasn't asked me for money or a plane ticket out of the country, so that is positive), but I plan to visit with either some local people that I know and trust or other volunteers. I am just excited to see some rural village kids play some great music!

That's all for now. I am going to help Doreen prepare supper: chapatti (a flatbread introduced by Indians), pork stew, ground-nut sauce and fresh mangoe and pineapple for dessert. Yum!

Courtney

"We're not as good as we're going to be, but we saw some things that give us an idea of what we might do." "We'll have more to talk about in a couple of weeks, really. At this point it's all conjecture, but in a few weeks we'll know more about what's possible and what we need to work on." - Dan Rohrs