Gender

Some of my friends back in Provo, Utah say that I am a black woman because of my stance on many gender and race issue, and this post will probably only confirm this perception.

So my coworkers Gaby (Venezuelan), Jacob (that is not his real name, but he is Ugandan), and I were having lunch and Jacob brings up the subject of gender because he knows that Gaby is a feminist (and he soon learned that I am too).

He begins by telling me that I should marry an African girl because they're "better" and Gaby wanted to know why they're better. After probing him a bit, it came down to this: he thinks African women are better because, unlike muzungu (white) women, they don't want more rights, they are submissive, and they know their place. He didn't say it in so many words but that was the gist.

He then went on to explain that the reason divorce is so common in the west is because women have rights and they can divorce for no reason at all. So, we asked him what he wants for his daughter (who just had her first birthday): Is she got married and then her husband began to abuse her, does he 1) want her to get divorced because her husband beats her and she hates her life, so then she can be happy and take control of her own life OR does he 2) want her to be married to this man for the rest of her life just because divorce is bad. He said that abuse to an extent is tolerable. I then asked, where he draws the line, and he couldn't answer. I was shocked that a dad would even say that he tolerates abuse to an extent because my dad told my sisters’ future husbands that if they abused his daughters in any way he would kill them (I imagine his exact words would have been “. . . I will rip your head of and shit down the hole!”). I understand and know that people feel this way, but for someone I know and work with, that is educated to say these things so bluntly too me by surprise.

He also mentioned a recent case in the ugandan news were a woman killed a man and she admits she did it, but that it was in self defense because he was trying to rape her. Jacob complained that the "feminist" groups came out and supported her without waiting to see if her story was true, but he says that she needs to be held responsible because we don't know (and can't know) if he really did. I agree that she needs to be tried, but on the premise of innocent until proven guilty (which I believe the Ugandan judicial system works on), and not the other way round! He was annoyed with the feminists coming so quickly to her aid but he was going so quickly to the man's aid: was he not doing the exact same thing as them? Also, given the ridiculously high rate of rape here, her story is very likely to be true.

In short, I think women’s education and empowerment are important for the well being for women, children and men. If half of a society is not allotted the same rights and opportunities, then you can be sure that country will not be able to progress and develop. Not to mention that because women are second class citizens in many countries their quality of life is as such.

Living in Ruhiira

As mentioned before, I am currently working in Mbarara which is a small town which is just a bit bigger than Idaho Falls; Mbarara has about 70,000 people in it but it is really spread out. The main office is in Mbarara, but I am conducting a survey in the nearby (about 45 minute drive away) village of Ruhiira. The field office in Ruhiira has about a dozezn rooms behind it for people to stay in, so I have spent a few nights there (no electricity and it gets dark at 7 pm, so not a whole lot to do at night) and I love it there!

The country side is beautiful! It is beautiful rolling green hills with banana plantations in every valley! Here are some pictures:

This is the road to the "restaurant" called FangFang (I know, Chinese name, but it is not Chinese at all!). On the right, you can see the health clinic built by the Millennium Village Project (MVP). Look at the beautiful rolling hils!!!


This is Ruhiira central. You can see the bodas (motorcycle taxis) under the tree. That is the boad stage as they call it. Then on the left, there is a house that is actually another "restuarant" and then next to that house, the taller building is the MVP office.


House amongst the banana trees. This place is covered in banana plantations!

Besides the beauty, it is really relaxing. The people are chill and you just go with the flow. If you are late, no worries, people understand. There is room to breath and think out there! It is such a relief from the crazy go go go of life! Everyone is really kind and the people that work in the office and the enumerators I have been training this past week are really cool! Genuinely kind and considerate people. Not that the people in the cities are not, but there is just something about being in the country!

Also: awesome food! All the fruits and veggies are as fresh as can be: I have had the best bananas, tomatoes, and avocadoes in my life in the past week! And it is dirt cheap! I can eat a whole meal for 800 Ugandan Shillings at the local restaurant which is like $0.42! Of course it is beans and matooke (which is a certain variety of not-sweet- banana that is boiled and mashed into a really heavy mound of yellow on your plate) but I love it! I really do. The matooke here is so fresh!

Bus ride to Mbarara

About 5 hours after running the marathon, I had to catch a bus from Kampala to Mbarara which was probably not the most wise idea but had to be done. I have been working in Mbarara ever since and I really miss my friends and home in Kampala. This bus ride is basically hell. It takes about 5 hours (but should only take 3) on dirt and pot hole ridden roads. These buses, which make greyhound seem like it has the luxury of a limousine. They are all rattling to pieces as they drive 75+ miles per hour on these crazy roads (which are only wide enough for one car at times). I sat in the back once and when we went over a bump, I seriously went 2 feet off my seat! Also, they never stop for bathroom breaks, the bus will stop every once in a while and let people relieve themselves in whoever’s banana plantation that is on the side of the road. Awesome right!

I have made this trip three times and this most recent trip was particularly noteworthy. We were driving along and then had to stop because there was a car accident blocking the road. So we waited, and then the police moved the car but then because people drive really aggressively here, everyone converged on the opening that was left, and so no one moved for another 15 – 20 minutes: awesome again. Then, the guy in the seat behind me started shouting in whatever language and it sounded like a chant and I thought he was praying. Then he would shift to English and chat the Lord’s name over and over, so I knew he must be praying. Then everyone around us started laughing, so I asked the guy next to me what this other guy was doing, and he said that the guy was praying in tongues, and that he was also praying in Runyonkole to caste satan out because satan has caused the confusion around the accident. Pretty exciting. Then this same man later got in an argument with the other men around and every time he said anything he would shout right into my ear, (not a lot of room between rows of seats in these buses) and pound the back of my seat: awesome, once again!

One really cool thing though is that along the route there are people that sell BBQed plantain, BBQed corn on the cob, water, sodas, boiled/fried grasshoppers (when in season), and meet kababs. I really only eat the first two items.

Anyway, riding a bus, although really really cheap, is not the most ideal way of travel in this country.

Running 26 miles = not good for ones body :)

I ran the MTN Kampala Marathon on 22 November 2009. It is actually an Olympic qualifying race in East Africa which basically means that there were some really awesome athletes there. There were 10s of thousands of people; it was a mad house.

First, I arrived late to the race which is quite ironic because I am not the one this is supposed to be working on “African Time”. From living in South Africa and Uganda, I have become accustomed to what people call “African Time” which is a lot more lax than any other time system I know of. Nearly everything starts late and people use terms such as Now (which can be anything between 30 minutes and 2 hours), Just Now (which is basically whenever I feel like it), and Now Now (which means in the next like 15 minutes) to tell you when they will arrive for a meeting or something. Also, if someone here says they will come at 2 pm then you can expect them to get there about 3/3:30 but don’t be surprised if they don’t show up until 5 pm. So, me, the one who gets frustrated with African Time at times was actually working on African Time the one time things start EARLY! I was shocked. So I get to the race and realize that my race has already started, so I run to the starting line (as if running 26 miles was not enough, I added a few yards onto it). So, I had to play catch up.

Near the beginning, a big group of very fit men and women wizzed past me, and I realized that I had started so late, that the half marathoners (which were supposed to start 15 minutes after the marathon started) were passing me.

I ran really well for about the first 20 miles and then I realized “I am running but could speed walk just as fast”, so I did (seriously, it was like my legs were made of concrete and I was barely moving them one in front of the other). I admit, from about the 20 mile mark, I walked, sped walked, and ran on and off, but I did run the last half mile into the finish line cause I of course could not be seen walking to the finish line.

So, in short, I need to train harder next time (if there is a next time). And it really took quite a toll on my body. About 1 hour after finishing the race I was eating everything in sight and my body ached for the next 3 days and I still have bruises on my toes :)

I once again suck at blogging

So remember when it has been over a month since I have blogged? I remember.

Work has been a little bit slow. The NGO that we are partnering with has been having some budget issues and we are waiting for the donors to sign the next installment. Thus, we have no funds to conduct any more workshops or do our constituency research.

However, my boss at Columbia has another project he is working on with the Millennium Villages Project (MVP part of the UNDP) in Ruhiira which is a village just about 20 km from the Tanzania border. The MVP project is the UN's attempt at development. They have selected villages all over the developing world and are trying this development scheme in an effort to understand what development approaches used in these villages is exportable.

The aspect I am working on is stove distribution. MVP has some stoves that reduce the amount of wood needed to cook as well as reduces the carbon gases that are emitted. So, the stoves will save the family time and money (gathering and purchasing wood) and will help the environment (less gas emissions and less wood will be burned; this area of the country is suffering from a huge wood shortage; sometimes people have food but starve because there is no wood or any other way to cook the food).

We are running an experiment to see if local “ambassadors” are effective in marketing the stoves. I will end the explanation there because any further explaining has the potential to bore many. My role in the whole thing is running a buyers/non-buyers survey to assess why some buy and other don’t.

This is very interesting because there are a lot of issues surrounding the purchase of these stoves. One is the gender issues.

The biggest issue is that the stoves benefit women because they are the ones that gather wood and cook. However, men control the money, so if a woman wants to buy a stove, her husband has to approve, and this is much easier said than done. Also, men will only see an economic incentive to purchasing the stove if their household purchases rather than gathers wood. If the household gather’s wood (when I say household I actually mean the women in the home), then the household does not save money from buying less wood; the woman only saves time from gathering wood. Thus no direct economic benefit for men; therefore, we would see fewer homes buying stoves when the household gathers rather than purchases its wood.

This is a very interesting situation, and hopefully we will find something that can help us help as many households as possible get these stoves because it is actually a huge benefit to them, their community, and environment.

The Quest to Get Chapatti and the Lack of the Capitalist Mindset

My housemate, Kate, and I went to get chapatti. Remember, chapatti is the amazing Ugandan tortilla that is one of the best flat breads I have ever put in my mouth.

Our house sits on a hill and if you go down the hill, it is slums on either side; this slum area is appropriately called "the go down". The go down has probably 8 chapatti stands, so we didn't think we would have any trouble getting a chapatti.

We went to the first stand. I walk up and say nothing, but the guy says "not yet" . . . not yet what? . . . i was really confused. So, I ask him what he is talking about, and he just repeats himself. So, i finally deduce, that although he has a table full of dough balls (that just need to be rolled flat and put on the hot plate), he is not currently making chapattis, even though he has a customer willing to buy them.

So, we go across the street (literally) and there are 2 guys frying up chapattis. We ask them for 6 chapattis and they say "yes, 3,000". Now 300 Ugandan Shillings is about $0.15, but the guy directly across the street and the other stands I have gone to sell chapatti for 200 which is about $0.10. So, the price difference is very small, but I hate being taken advantage of, so we say "no! we can get it for 200 just up the road" and walk away. They don't even stop us, even though they know we will get it for 200 elsewhere.

So, we go to another stand. Once again, this stand has rolled up dough that is ready to be rolled out and fried. There are 2 guys behind the counter and I make my order and they stare at me. From my experience here, when people don't understand you, they just stare. So, I repeat myself slower, and the guy says "It's over." And I was like, what!?!?! . . . He said "its over" as if he was breaking up with, but that couldn't be it. And the dough was there, so they can't be finished making chapattis . . . then finally the guy that I bought chapattis from last time I came to this stand showed up and said they would fry some up for us.

It was mind boggling that people at these shops were so unwilling to fry up chapattis. I mean, they are chapatti stands frist of all. Second, these things are really cheap, we are in a really poor area, and I doubt they get many orders that large. So, this should be a great opportunity to get some business and keep business from us. The capitalist mindset just really has not set in among the chapatti dealers of the Naguru go down of Kampala. Not to mention that once again, I am having communication breakdown left and right!

Riots in Kampala

Kampala erupted with fires, tires, road blocks, demonstrations, tear gas, and looting yesterday. Riots had started in a nearby town called Kyunga earlier this week, but have since moved to Kampala.

The issue is this: the Baganda tribe's king (kabaka) is trying to take a tour of the country (or just regions of the country). Now, the Baganda are the largest ethnic group in Uganda and is the vast majority in the central region which includes Kampala. However, there is a sub-ethnic group within the Baganda tribe called Banyara who actually want to have their own king and do not recognize the Baganda king as their king even though they are part of the Baganda tribe. So, this small group, which is being backed by the government (the government is in the business of divide and rule in order to maintain power), is preventing teh king from visiting these different areas. They and the police are blocking the King's way out of Kampala.

So, the Baganda people are rioting in order to break down the police barriers and allow the king to get through.

President Museveni (who is actually a dictator, not a democratically elected president althought that is what he says . . . Uganda is not a democracy really) is trying to meet with the king but he won't meat with him because the king cannot talk to commoners (Museveni is seen as a commoner and is actually not even Baganda but is Munyankole).

So, anyway, the riots continue and people are freaking out here. In fact in a suburb called Wandegeya, the rioters have taken control of a police post.

The most interesting thing it that teh government is making such a big deal about htis when most government leaders are Munyankole. This really is not their dispute, but they are strongly taking sides with the Banyara. This is not hte first time Museveni has done this. He has been slowly breaking apart the Baganda nation. He as already crowned kings of the Banyala, Baluli, and Sabakoki groups which were all sub-groups within Baganda. So, it seems that Museveni is trying to break down the Baganda tribe and thus weeken it. By doing that, he also gains support of those parts of the Baganda because he is the one that crowned their king and thus they will support him. I am guessing that Museveni sees the Baganda as the greatest threat to his power, so he is attacking them before they attack him. This is a very intersting mix of inter- and intra- ethnic politics and conflict.