The joys of independent living

Here, as a follow up to my entry on 'Adventures in Real Estate' are a few pics of the place I've been staying since moving out of the host family in late January. Despite breaking one of my windows the first day there, and getting unsolicited laundry lessons from the neighbor, it's been a wonderful experience overall- so great to have the independence to sleep in late with no judgment, or cook whatever mzungu food our hearts have desired (within reason!)

Front of our place- We have the end room in a row of rooms. It's nice and new, and freshly painted. The door was tricky at first though- you have to reach in the hole to unlock/lock the bars from the inside, and in the beginning that process took several minutes and left me with bruises all over the upper part of my arm. Just a wee bit embarrassing to struggle like that in front of the new neighbors!


My 'bedroom.' I sprang for the 25,000 Ush/$13.00 mattress which has been not not only comfortable, but also an important buffer against the creepy crawlies on the floor. The net also helps- I'm a big fan! We used lesu for curtains (cloth that ladies usually wrap around to protect their clothes while cleaning). Do me a favor and try not to notice how dirty my feet are in this pic- it's almost impossible to keep them clean during rainy season!


My roomie Amie (former international program coordinator for FSD, now volunteering with Right to Play), stands near our 'kitchen area' and in front of the doorway to her room. She was awesome to live with, I'm so glad that it worked out that our schedules matched up!


Brock and Hagar in the 'living room.' Since Brock and Hagar moved into a place nearby, we often came over to each other's places to cook dinner and enjoy music together. Notice the floor mats woven by Jenipher, and the sheet making a closet to hide anything unsightly (such as undergarments drying on the line!)


Our 'facilities.' I've spared you the internal view of the pit latrine and bath room. They are quite adequate, though we have to share them with a swarm of flies by day and giant cockroaches by night...


View of the compound - Nice and private. You can see the water tap toward the front- that's where we would fill our jerry cans for bathing, cooking, and washing water. Sometimes we also harvested rainwater using our various pots and basins.

A few project pics

From December to January, I implemented the SOVCCAN Pilot Project through a small grant from FSD. SOVCCAN stands for Ssenyange Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children Community Action Network Project. Because the villages in nearby Ssenyange are a source of many of the children coming to the streets of Masaka, together with the staff at Buddukiro, I decided that my project should address the prevention side, mitigating some of the 'push' factors that drive the children to the streets.

The strategy was to form 'self help groups' for the caregivers of vulnerable, 'at-risk' children in two of the villages. The advantage of the groups is that they encourage saving and lending activity using members' own resources, serve as a sustainable mechanism for mutual support and self-advocacy, and encourage members to actively engage in addressing common community problems.

Although there were many points during the process when I feared the whole thing was going to crash and burn, things kept moving forward somehow, and we've seen a lot of positive impacts as the groups have been formed and trained. I'll write a separate post with more details on that, but for now here's a few pics.

Staff ToT - In December, we held a training for the Buddukiro staff to prepare them for working directly with the community, something that is new area for Buddukiro.


Introductory community discussion meeting - After identifying people in Ssenyange A and B that fell within our target group (using PRA), we invited them to a meeting to discuss the challenges they face, and brainstorm about potential solutions.


Home visits and interviewing - After the discussion meeting and some other orientation and training sessions, group membership started to solidify, and we began to do home visits to learn more about the kids living in the households. In this pic the lady in the jean skirt is the chairlady of the group for Ssenyange A. We call the lady who is seated on the ground 'the prefect' (because she's kind of the teacher's pet of the group but also super helpful). The social worker Aida is sitting on the bench interviewing one of the other group members outside her home.



Developing by-laws - After completing their basic training, the group members began to democratically develop the rules that will govern their operation. In this pic, the group from Ssenyange A is discussing their by-laws.


The team trekking back from Ssenyange - Cissy, Aida and John Bosco (Buddukiro staff) were real troopers, trekking up the hill to Ssenyange several Sundays in a row during the group formation and training (since Sunday was the convenient time for the community members to meet).


Teaching the ladies in Ssenyange B to write their own names. - For a number of reasons, things moved much more slowly with the development of the group for Ssenyange B. (Including burials and other cultural events that kept them away from several training sessions.) In this pic, they are finally together again to get things going. While they were waiting for the others to arrive, Cissy and the new education staff began teaching some of them how to write their names. The two village groups are very different, and whereas A is a younger, more literate crowd, B tends to be older and many are illiterate.


Ssenyange B - I love this shot of the chairlady for the Ssenyange B group on the left, and another jia jia (grandmother) holding up a tiny baby- one of many orphan kids she is caring for. Just look at her and you can begin to understand one of the major problems caused by HIV/AIDS in this area- many parents have died, leaving their tiny children in the care of grandparents, who may not make it all the way through their childhood...

Snapshots from daily life # 4

When you see the marabou stork, you can't help but stare. Found mostly in urban areas, which supply its daily diet of fetid trash, it is somehow majestic with its spindly legs, sparse head of hair, and retractable acid sack (for slow external food digestion- positioned under the beak.)

There's a whole crew of these lovely creatures that grace the dumpster near my church, and the other day I snapped this incredible shot. Seemingly from two different worlds, it turns out these two are kindred spirits of the animal kingdom. (Check out the size comparison by the way- that was a huge pig and the stork is still bigger! All I could do was gawk with a mixture of fascination and disgust!)


Ready for their closeup...


For more info:
http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:U8jZwEA-JvcJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marabou_Stork+wikipedia+maribu+stork&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ug&client=firefox-a

He is Risen!

Happy Easter! I pray that this Easter "you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ!" (Eph 17-18)

Ugly Realities: Mob Justice

When I returned from my trip to Kenya in early January, I received some disturbing news from my colleagues at Buddukiro. Apparently one of our former street children, now in his early twenties, was stoned to death in a neighboring village on New Year’s Day. His crime? Allegedly stealing a goat…

It’s not uncommon to hear this kind of story- a mob of angry community members catches up with a suspected thief, puts a tire around them and lights it on fire (…or lynches, or beheads, or stones…) him. This is a challenge the people involved with prison ministry at MPC have identified- even if a person has served their time in jail, anger often still smoulders against them back in their home village, and it may be unsafe for them to return.

In talking with some of my friends and colleagues, it sounds like part of what fuels this fire, so to speak, is people’s frustration and a pervading feeling that the formal justice system will not render justice, or will not do so in a timely manner. I’ve typed in an article below. It’s from the local newspaper and illustrates this point pretty graphically…

2 Beheaded in Kayunga
Daily Monitor, April 7, 2009, by Fred Muzaale

Residents in Mansa village, Kitimbwa Sub-county in Kayunga District yesterday be-headed two men suspected to be cattle thieves.

The district officer-in-charge of Criminal Investigations Department, Mr. Mohammed Kateregga, identified the dead as J__ M__, a bodaboda cyclist in Kayunga town, and another one only identified as M___.

Mr. Katergga said on Monday night, the two residents of Kanjuki village in Kayunga Sub-county went to Mansa village and allegedly stole one cow from Ms. Esther Nabakooza. “When Ms. Mabakooza discovered that her cow had been stolen, she informed area residents, who mounted a hunt for it until they discovered it hidden behind Mayaja’s house in Kanjuki village.” Mr. Kateregga said.

“On seeing the cow, the irate residents, who were armed with machetes, pounced on Mayanja and started hacking him but before he died he told the mob that he had stolen the cow with the help of his friend M___,” he added.

Mr Kateregga said the angry residents proceeded to the neighbouring Kyamimbi village where they arrested M__. “After arresting him, they dragged him to their village and beheaded him. By the time we arrived at the scene we found the two already dead,” he said.

He said Police was still investigating the incident and those who were involved in the murder will be prosecuted.

“Even though one is caught in any wrongdoing, no one has the right to kill him or her. If we get anyone taking part in acts of mob ‘justice’ we shall charge them with murder,” Mr. Kateregga said.

Cases of animal theft have been on the increase in Kayunga where more than 50 have been taken since the year started.

Meanwhile, Kayunga residents last week asked the government to provide them with guns to defend themselves against the landlords who were evicting them forcefully from the land they had occupied for long.

But Housing State Minister Michael Werikhe turned down their request citing increased violence.

A Police Crime report released recently indicated a 100% increase in cases of mob action from 184 in 2007, to 368 last year.