A letter to Uganda

Dear Uganda,

It's been sixteen days since I entered the plane and said goodbye.

Our relationship hasn't been easy. It took me so much time to get used to you. You seemed so chaotic, dirty and dangerous when I arrived.
I struggled with your definition of love, parenting, friendship, and family.
The endless handshakes to say hello, all this chit-chatting before talking business, having to get to know the whole family first.
And you always seemed so disappointed when I told you I don't have any kids.

You called me Muzungu all the time and I hated the attention on the street.
I couldn't move freely during the night. I felt like you take away my freedom.
Uganda, you speak so many languages. How can I ever understand you? Have a conversation?
When it rained, you stopped! Nobody moved and the world came to a standstill.
Your time management was horrible.
And you failed so many times to provide a stable internet connection. Let's not even talk about electricity

You talked about god so much. I don't even go to church!

Instead of flowers, you gave me Bilharzia which will follow me the next two years.
But mpola mpola (slowly slowly) you warmed my heart and I saw the beauty in you. ️ 

Your children fill the streets with laughter. It was my favorite sound.
The fruits that grow in your garden are plenty and some of the best I ever ate.
I love the way you always smile. And boy, how you shake your hips.
Your ability to improvise is amazing and you showed me how to appreciate even the smallest things.

And guess what: I even started liking your greeting ceremony!
I never was keen on bargaining, but you made it so easy. It has become a fun game.

Uganda, you have so little and you give so much. "In Uganda we share" is a not just a phrase. You have proofed so many times that you take this very seriously.

I came to teach your people, but you have taught me so much more.

I already miss you, Pearl of Africa. Corona has arrived after I left. I see you struggle. I hope you will be fine.

Love,
Iris / Isa / Maria / Mary / Sanyu

Trying to make the goodbye as sweet as possible

She has been my flatmate and partner in crime.
We documented our feelings and struggles
in a weekly sticky-note on the fridge

.

Here I stand, I can do no other

It's a reverse culture shock

On 26th September 2019, I wrote a blog article with the title "It's a culture shock". It was my second article, 12 days after I had arrived in Uganda.

Since 10 days I am back from Uganda. Due to the Corona outbreak, I am stranded in Germany and cannot yet return to my adopted home - Portugal.

This is going to be my second last article. The title is similar, but it is a whole new story. This is a reverse culture shock.

It is very hard to explain to my friends and family about reverse culture shock. Many of them never lived abroad. And only a few of the ones that did, experienced the harsh conditions of a developing country.

Reverse culture shock is nothing new. It happens to many people that come back from an experience abroad. It does not even need to be a developing context.

The W Curve illustrates the ups and downs of culture shock (source: interexchange.com)

But still, people around me don't understand. They say things like: Germany is your home, how can it be a "shock" to come back?

Maybe they forget that I haven't lived in Germany since 2016?  Germany has not been home for a while.
And how can they understand that the difference between Uganda and Germany could not be any bigger?

People around me don't understand and can't relate to things I talk about. Or understand my thoughts. Some are not interested in what I'm thinking either. My experiences are too abstract to follow.
I feel people ask the wrong questions, make the wrong comments. I get frustrated. 

The inconveniences of a developing country

• The past six months I showered with cold water, I got used to power cuts and lack of internet. 
• I learned to survive in the crowded and polluted streets of Nansana and Kampala.
• We had to filter the water we drank and boil the water we brushed our teeth with. 

Perfect water filter, to go!

• The selection of food was limited and banana was the main element of our diet. Sometimes I lived with two meals per day, and food was not always very nutritious. I lost 4 kg while I was there.

Typical food (from the left): Beans, Casava, Matoke (plantains)

• The temperatures were warm, we never had less than 18 ° Celcius. I learned to deal with the rain and how life stops when the streets get flooded.
• I had to bargain for prices at the market, for public transport, for clothes, basically for most the things. 
• I got used to overcrowded busses that don't follow any timetable but come whenever they feel it is appropriate.
• I washed my clothes by hand, in cold water.

Handwash. With soap and cold water

• I saw malnourished children, spoke to women that had been raped.
• I worked with people that had to flee their country and experienced violence we cannot even imagine.
• I was surrounded by people with HIV/ AIDS and met people that could not afford medicine that cost not even 0,25 Euro.
• Some people in my neighborhood earned 40 Euro per month and had to feed a whole family. Many struggle to pay school fees because, despite severe poverty, education is not for free.
• I visited children that were neglected by their parents.

Visiting kids that were left by their mum

Many people I met in Uganda don't have an easy life

The glass is always half full in Uganda

And yet! I saw a lot of happiness. I was surrounded by children. I heard laughter and saw children playing in the streets every day when I came home from work. People smiled and greeted. Everyone was always curious to talk. 

Most of the people were happy with the little they had. And yet, it goes without saying that everything is shared in Uganda.

My friends from the neighborhood, always up for a game. 

It took me quite a while to adapt and understand the different contexts in Uganda. Sometimes I was overwhelmed by all the impressions and differences.
But one thing is for sure: I felt ALIVE and work felt meaningful sometimes.

Coming back to first world problems

Now I am back in Germany. I have a hot shower, I can drink water from the tap. Our fridge us full and my mum doesn't stop feeding me, serving me 5 meals per day. I know she means well but she is sometimes overwhelming me with her care.
The roads here are in amazing condition.
People worry about the perfect shape of a cake, about toilet paper and changing the clock.
There are 30 different kinds of cheese. Actually, I don't even care which one I eat, I am just happy to have cheese at all.
Life is much more comfortable and yet I have moments when I am overwhelmed by a deep sadness.
It feels like I live in a bubble.

How to overcome a reverse culture shock in a Pandemic?

There are a lot of recommendations on how to overcome reverse culture shock, such as:

• Keep busy
• Share your experience
• Connect and network

But how can I keep busy if Corona locks me in the house? How can I share my experience if everyone is only worried about the virus? How can I connect and network with friends, when everyone is isolated?

Lost in transit

Times ain't easy at the moment, for nobody. I have to be patient with myself, my friends and family and people around me. I hope they are patient with me too.

And I know: Germany is only a temporary destination and I hope I will be able to return to Portugal soon, to the comfort of the ocean, which feels a little bit more home. Then reintegration can begin!

Let's go digital!

From 24.02 to 28.02.2020 the Uganda Pioneers went all digital.
With a one week training, we aimed to increase the level of digital competences. This will allow participants to improve their ability to use digital tools and online information.

On the first day, before we started with the training, we asked the participants why they actually want to participate in the training. One answer we got was the following: "I am interested to learn digital tools because I want to be on the same level as others. I don't want to stay behind".

It is this kind of answer that touches my heart and makes me put a lot of effort into what I do. People here in Uganda don't easily have access to computers, let alone computer training. What is taught in school is basic and not very profound.
People realize that they miss out when not having the necessary IT skills.

As a volunteer, we always wonder about the impact we can have in this short amount of time. But this training felt meaningful.

So I was glad to be able to dedicate a full week of teaching to the members of UPA. Altogether we had 15 participants joining the 6 different modules. The training was financed by SudHAV 2 and the EU Aid Volunteer Program.

Motivated Participants, right from the start!

The content was based on Mondos Digital Competences, which I got to know during my stay in the refugee settlement in Rwamwanja. But in Rwamwanja my task was to evaluate. This time I got to teach!

Hanna, another EU Aid Volunteer from Adice and Siisi a local Mondo employe helped with the training and we split the sessions between the three of us.

Monday started with a little introduction, a pre-assessment, and the first module: Digital Safety and Hygiene. Hanna gave important safety tips to remember when using digital tools and explained possible physical threats when using digital technology. All participants created a Gmail account and learned to sent correctly formated emails.

Hanna helping to create Gmail accounts

Tuesday was all about Google tools and it was my turn to teach. We checked out Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Translate and of course how to do a proper Google Search. Furthermore, I explained how to use Google Drive and I loved the moment when they shared documents between each other realized how easy it can be to share data. "It's magic," they said when suddenly a shared photo appeared in their Google Drive and they could access it from the laptop and the phone!

Let's talk Google!

On Wednesday, Siisi took over and taught the ABC of Smartphone Photography. In this module, the participants learned the to differentiate between good and bad quality photos and how to edit photos with the free app Snapseed. They had so much fun taking pictures of each other :-)

They had so much fun taking pictures of each other.

Thursday was my turn again. It was the module ABC of Design. This module was a mix of digital skills and life skills. In an attempt to give an idea about design thinking, I showed the participants how to ask questions for design, how to define a problem and how to offer solutions. Participants actually had to come up with their own business idea in this module. And in the end, we had a cultural dancing group, a community library, and a continental restaurant. We then had a look at canva.com together and everyone had to create a logo and a business card for the business idea they had.

Groupwork: creating a business case!

Friday was packed. In the morning we continued working on that business idea and participants had 4 hours to create a website with Google Sites. In the afternoon we went through the ABC of Social Media. The last task I gave my diligent students was to create a social media post about the training. We made a little competition out of it and had a proud winner in the end.
Click here >> to see the post.

Obed, proud winner of our social media competition

It's been a great week and we had a lot of fun together with the participants. Every module was evaluated and it was great to read their comments, thoughts, and suggestions for improvement.

One week later I was happy to hand over their certificates, which will be a great plus for everyone's CV.

Kisses and hugs for our smart students

Proud certificate holders

It comes with nice logos and a watermark! Fancy!

I cordially thank everyone who supported and made this training possible. We act, we care!

Communication is not for everyone!

"The definition of an expert is someone who knows what not to do" [Charles Willson].

I have been working in communication for more than 10 years. Communicating is something we do on a daily basis. We talk, we use our body language, we write, we use social media, we sing, we draw to transmit messages to family members, business partners, and friends.

A cobbler should stick to his last

But just because we communicate in our private life, doesn't mean we are qualified to do so in a professional context.
Unfortunately, I have met many people in my career that felt qualified to do social media marketing, just because they have a Facebook Account or build a Newsletter just because they know how to send emails.
But like Charles Willson said: it is not always about knowing what to do, but also what not to do.

There are a lot of stumbling blocks in communication. In the worst-case, there can be severe legal consequences. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), Privacy Policies, Imprint, Consent Forms for the use of pictures, etc. are things that need to be taken into consideration

Organizations don't own their communication

While in Uganda, I noticed that many organizations don't have the necessary knowledge in Marketing/ Communication and leave it many times to inexperienced volunteers.

As a result, many organizations have multiple websites, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and other social media channels, they are not even aware of. Of course, hardly anything is maintained properly. Volunteers come, create and leave. They neither share their knowledge nor passwords.

Let's fix it!

Defining target groups

When I started working, I spend a good amount of time closing accounts, deleting websites, trying to regain passwords. Unfortunately, I did not manage in every case. For some pages, it was impossible to find out who set things up and there was no way to go.

But it was not only about cleaning. Organizations need to be able to manage their own communication and not depend on volunteers.
Therefore we built a proper communication strategy to communicate in a target-oriented way. We spent a lot of time identifying and describing target groups. The result of the 5-month work was a budget sheet and a clear action plan with systematic communication measures for each month.

I also spent afternoons training staff to maintain the website, use canva to create designs and explained Facebook to be able to regularly publish on social media.

It was small steps we did, but the biggest goal was to make everyone understand how important ownership is. I left the organizations with a good feeling and am now curious to see everyone communicating, even from the distance.

Braining storming about communication objectives

Everybody was involved

It has been a great teamwork

New website www.kifad.org was launched

First marketing material was created together (condom packaging)

When volunteers promote volunteering

A world without volunteers would be a sad world

Every day, millions of individuals across the planet engage in development initiatives through volunteer actions – both large and small – in order to improve conditions for others and for themselves, their families and communities.

Personally I gain a lot from working for free

I have always been involved in some sort of volunteering and dedicated free time to be involved with some kind of social service; supporting a family of immigrants in Germany, working with refugee women and children in Greece, feeding homeless people in Portugal, etc.
Amongst other things, volunteering makes me feel more connected to others, and I become less absorbed in the normal stresses of daily life.

For me the advantages of volunteering are obvious, but what about the organizations I have worked for, e.g. like KIFAD?

Volunteers allow organizations to cover their specific staff needs

KIFAD - Kiyita Family Alliance for Development is an organization based in Wakiso, supporting people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Since 2008 they are regularly hosting international volunteers. 

Volunteers had a huge impact on the work of KIFAD in the past. They have brought valuable skills, enhanced capacities in all kinds of areas, delivered basic services, made their expertise available to members of the team and helped to collect donations and funds.

Without volunteers, KIFAD probably would not be where they are today and program manager Bob is well aware of this fact.

But not for all team members the benefits of having a volunteer within the organization are so obvious.

Therefore we organized a workshop on volunteering during my deployment, together with Uganda Pioneers Association and EU Aid Volunteer Hanna (Adice).

In a three hour session we discussed different aspects of volunteering and clarified: 

• what it means to be a volunteer,
• why it is important to volunteer and to receive volunteers and
• how everyone can make the most out of it?

At the end of the day, KIFADs' staff had a much clearer picture on volunteering, its benefits and potentials. 

We certainly have created a few more volunteering ambassadors

Sam and me, ready to go!

Sam is giving the definition of a volunteer

Little game in between: making sculping emotions

Life in a refugee settlement

Two weeks of my deployment I spend in the refugee settlement Rwamwanja in Western Uganda.

Welcome to Rwamanja (photo credit Janika Tamm)

Rwamwanja settlement was established in 1964 to host refugees from Rwanda but closed in 1995 when many repatriated. The settlement was reopened in 2012 to host refugees fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo due to violence in North and South Kivu. The settlement is hosting 71.707 refugees at the moment but is not receiving new arrivals.

Dusty town center of Rwamwanja

At first glance, Rwamanja looks like any other town in Uganda. Hairdresser, mechanics and hardware stores offer their services and products along the road. Food stalls sell Rolex, beans, pocho and chapati.
People look the same. They wear jeans and shorts, skirts, dresses and jackets like any other person from Uganda.

I notice a difference in the languages spoken, but cannot differentiate if it is the local language Runyankole, one of the Congolese languages Kinyabwisha or Swahili.

It is dusty and hot. But Rwamwanja is 1.288 m above sea level and the nights are nice and cool.

In the center of attention

The first week I stay at the Kiyombo"Resort", at the far end of Rwamwanja. It is okay, but the nights sometimes are loud, electricity is scarce, and the rooms could see a brush more often. The bathroom is improvised. By accident, I find a secret condom reservoir and I don't want to know the true purpose of the resort.
Food is every day the same and after the third day, I am getting tired of rolex breakfast already.

View from LWF guesthouse

But I am lucky. After 5 days I get to move closer to the main offices into a nice guesthouse run by LWF.
Here it is quieter, I have two lovely Japanese ladies living next to me. We are the only white people staying inside the settlement. Western officials normally prefer to stay in distant Kyenjojo or Kamwenge and use nice air-conditioned 4x4 cars to do the one hour commute to the settlement.

I like to be close to the people, however, I do feel intimidated by all the attention I get here in the settlement. But the Japanese, who have been here already for a while, take me by the hand and show me where to eat, shop and how to get around. And I feel more comfortable sharing the attention.

The downside: Getting food here is a bit more complicated. In contrast to the resort, breakfast isn't provided here and the guesthouse does not have a restaurant attached. There are only a few shops around and hence my diet mainly consists of bananas, warm coca cola and mandasi.

Piloting digital competencies 

I am in the settlement on behalf of Mondo, working with Finn Church Aid who is responsible for the education cluster within the settlement. 

Vocational Training Center run by FCA (photo credit Janika Tamm)

Mondo has developed a Digital Competencies Program which is currently piloted in Jordan, Syria, and Uganda. It targets refugees and aims to provide applicable digital skills to solve everyday problems.  Given this is the 21st century and technology is driving the future of work, digital literacy is a necessary criterion for participation in the 4th industrial revolution.

My task is to do a brief evaluation and get some feedback about the program from students and teachers.

The pilot started in August 2019 and roughly 250 students of a vocational training center were meant to learn everything about google tools, smartphone photography, building websites as well as data privacy and internet security in a very interactive way.

Early morning in the training center (photo credit Janika Tamm)

Teaching IT skills is generally not an easy undertaking in Uganda, which is still backward in terms of technology. (Read my article "Working with ICT in Uganda" to learn more about the challenges). And it does not get any easier in a remote refugee settlement.

• Students speak many different languages such as French, Runyankole, Kinyabwisha, Swahili and sometimes a little English. Teachers have to make sure, every single student is able to follow and translators are needed to cover the various languages.

• As a principle, the vocational training center does not exclude illiterate people, to give even those a chance who have failed academic education. But it requires additional time and sure instinct of the teachers.

• Thanks to a solid solar system power is stable, but internet is rare. In a program that requires access to google and several online services, the lack of internet is a real drawback.

• Education in Uganda is rather confrontational. It is a challenge for teachers to adapt to a more interactive style and it needs a lot of discipline not to revert to old methods and material.

In the two weeks in Rwamwanja I hear and see a lot. Things don't run smoothly, but that's why we do pilots. With some adaptions, the program has great potential. The teachers are motivated and the students eager to know everything about the world wide web and its possibilities. The findings will help to improve the performance of a full-scale project.

If we teach today what we taught yesterday, we rob the children of tomorrow.

Personally, I also learn a lot here during these two weeks: about refugee policies, the power of education, refugee settlements, resilience, development aid, living with very limited resources and the rural side of Uganda.

Rwamwanja in Western Uganda. (photo credit UNHCR)

The first day in Rwamwanja. Assistant ICT-Teacher Grace is giving a tour at the vocational training center.
Fellow EUAV Volunteer Ana joined for two days. (photo credit Janika Tamm)

In Uganda, you can't walk far without being surrounded by children

Well in the settlement 

4 days without running water. The jerry can provides water to shower, drink and flush the toilet

Beautiful setting 

To learn more about the refugee situation in Uganda, please follow below links:

• Uganda Refugee Statistics January 2020 
• Performance Snapshot by UNHCR 
• Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Uganda by UNHCR

Working with ICT in Uganda

Can you remember the time when there were no computers at home? Well, I do :-) I was born in 1983 and learned to type on an old-fashioned typewriter. I was 17 when had my first computer lessons in school and experienced the shift to the so-called Information Age at close quarters: The historic period characterized by the rapid shift to an economy primarily based upon information technology

A couple of years later and I am in Uganda to work as an ICT specialist (ICT = Information, Communication and Technology).
My task is to identify IT and communication gaps and possibly close them.

Everyone needs IT knowledge
Even though I have worked for a big IT company in the past, I don't consider myself an IT expert. I am more into communication and marketing.

And yet, that's how everybody introduces me: Iris (or Maria), the IT specialist. This leads to the fact that people constantly approach me to fix their computer, phone or ask me questions about networks, VPN connections, coding or other computer programs I have never heard of.

But in the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.


30 years after entering the information-age computers are still not common in Uganda 

The need for IT knowledge in Uganda is huge. According to the Uganda National Household Survey (2016/2017) using a computer is no regular activity of Uganda's population.

I am here now for 11 weeks and I have currently been assigned to work for 3 different projects.
One of them is at the Uprise Foundation | Timeline Vocational Training Center -  A foundation, that aims to improve the lives of vulnerable children and their households by providing quality education, protection, access to good health and sustainable livelihood programs. 

Teaching challenges in Uganda
Once a week I go there and teach IT skills for 3 hours. It is part of their timetable. The students are between 18 and 25 years old and will be tailors, electricians, and mechanics when they have finished their training. We do Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint and despite having done endless basic exercises, they struggle every week to change the color of a font. 

Typing is another issue. They use 2 fingers instead of 10 and we start every lesson with some typing exercises, but since they don't own a computer, they cannot practice at home. It is a very slow learning process.

And then there is the issue with the equipment. We have 2 computers and 2 laptops for 7 students. 

Unfortunately, 1 monitor is half broken and the screen is constantly green. Keyboards have been donated and come with German or Chinese keys. Most of the cables have a defective contact and work only randomly.

Last but not least: powercuts also affect the school and if there is no electricity - there is no IT lesson.


But computer skills can be defined as important skills in today’s world. People who don't develop technological expertise will be left behind in the digital revolution. 

This is one of the messages I keep telling my students. It might not be their favorite subject, but the importance is high and the potential huge.

Provisory IT classroom

Some of my students

It’s a culture shock

Like previous volunteers had written, arriving in Uganda is a bit of a cultural shock. Everything is very different, and even if I had traveled to Asian (developing) countries before and the organization had told us stories and shown us pictures, I was not prepared for Uganda.

Uganda is different from anything I have seen before.

Its capital Kampala is loud and polluted, and crowded and hectic. Pickpockets are everywhere and as Mzungu you are a very flashy aim.

Using public transport is still a challenge. You need to know exactly where you want to go, how much the ride will be and at what moment to tell the driver to stop (“Conductor, parking” is the magic sentence). It will most likely be crowded in the Matatu and of course hot. Traffic jams are normal and 12 km from Nansana to Kampala can easily take 2 hours. Sometimes they kick you even out, as a bigger group is waiting and you need to make space.

Crossing the road is another challenge. The boda-bodas (scooters) appear out of a sudden and cars, trucks and matatus come with an amazing speed. There are no traffic lights or pedestrian walkways and you have to try your luck or find a local and follow him/her across the street.

Power cuts are regular and electricity can be gone for several hours. You have to prepare yourself for showers in the dark, empty phone batteries and of course, think about what is in the fridge. And if it appears during the day, you may work as long as your laptop has battery.

There are a lot of restrictions in Uganda: 

• don’t swim in the lakes (risk of bilharzia and other parasites), 
• don’t use the water from the tap except for showering (risk of Cholera and other diseases), 
• try not to be outside after sunset and don’t use public transport during the night (risk of rape and robbery), 
• sleep under a mosquito net (risk of Malaria), 
• avoid sex (risk of HIV),  
• be careful with street food (risk of stomach problems) and of course, 
• don’t fall in love with a mzungu hunter (risk of broken heart).

The truth is: it's not so bad :-)

All this information is very intimidating and on my first day I really wondered what I got myself into.

Even though!  10 days have passed and Uganda feels surprisingly good. After a first shock and deep breath, you realize, it’s not that bad. Because of its people. They are incredibly friendly.

Children in the village of Kikooba

Green countryside

Most of the people around Nansana speak good English and once you are used to the accent, it is no problem to talk to people and children and get in touch. We already know some of our neighbors and Nihia, our little Ugandan friend regularly shows up in our kitchen and prepares meals, plays UNO and teaches us some new words in Luganda.

After one week we are able to manage some daily tasks with confidence and even speak first words of Luganda.

 

Taking some language classes

I have started with my project on Monday and together with UPA we are currently assessing needs and defining first tasks.