The People who make Participatory Programs GO!!!
This is a letter I wrote home to friends and family during my first week in Uganda. I've included a part of it here because I want to emphasize that the people of Nnindye are strong, resourceful, risk-takers. I believe that giving them a hand in developing UPFORD's programs is a good investment!
"Today at school I was on a walk with one of the teachers, and he actually took me to his house for a very short visit. At first I was a bit nervous, but I've gotten to know him a bit, and he's a really nice guy. He showed me where he built a small primary school for the use of his village. He said that it is necessary to supplement the wages he receives as a teacher, which amount to only about 70 dollars a month. I asked him whether he enjoyed his work, and he said that he did, but that it was hard to make enough money for a living wage. I was just thinking about how I withdraw from the bank usually in like 40 dollar increments, and that's over half of what this man uses to support his entire family for a month. It was just incredibly humbling to be talking to this man in his home. I almost couldn't speak. I couldn't believe that I was talking to this man, who lives an entirely different life from me. I felt grateful that he didn't resent me, though I honestly could not blame him if he did. I have so much. The buildings he constructed were just simple brick structures with tin roofs, totally caked with dirt and grime on the inside, yet this was his pride, his livelihood. I thought about how what this man is doing, trying to provide for his family and provide a community service, is as honorable a thing as someone could do. There's honor in that work. There really is, and I felt sort of small in the presence of someone who was doing so well, maintaining such a good attitude, in a precarious situation. The funny thing is, all the Ugandans I have met, despite the rampant poverty, are almost impossibly upbeat. It's astounding really, and says a lot about human resilience and optimism.
He built these structures with his own hands. After I had my walk with him, I just kind of sat there for a while, wondering about how so many people in America seem so resentful or unhappy, while there are millions of people like this man, Mogisha, who work so hard with such a good attitude. How could someone with comparativey sooooo much be unhappy. It's been a general trend that I have observed here that people, for all the poverty, do seem happy. They recognize that life is hard, but they have smiles that are just so beautiful, especially the children, but even the adults. That's really something, isn't it, to know how hard life is, to expect that difficulty and pain as natural processes of life, while still finding a way to be optimistic and happy. I think about the things that have tripped me up in the past, like grades, relationship things, the weather, or missing my friends. Not that my troubles are insignificant, but, well, it's just inspiring I guess that these people are so strong and optimistic in the face of conditions that Americans would consider absolutely abhorrent. There's so much to admire about that. I feel almost embarrassed to tell men like that about my school or my house, or how expensive my plane ticket to Africa was, because it is luxury that they could not imagine. Although the challenges they face are so vast, the poverty so consuming, they don't seem to be handling life with more difficulty or angst than people in any wealthy nation. I guess people have a way of adjusting to any number of circumstances in the same way. I guess that means that people are pretty resilient, so I should be able to handle any small problems that come my way. I'd like to hope I could, at the very least to honor the people like Mogisha who are trying to do so much with so little every day. I don't really have too many words about it. I guess these are the types of things you have to experience to really understand. You have to be in the man's home to understand what his life is like, how he's trying to measure up and provide for his family through such basic enterprises that take as much effort and ingenuity as more advanced projects would take us in America with higher-quality tools. It would be a totally different life, and I'm humbled to be among the people here."
"Today at school I was on a walk with one of the teachers, and he actually took me to his house for a very short visit. At first I was a bit nervous, but I've gotten to know him a bit, and he's a really nice guy. He showed me where he built a small primary school for the use of his village. He said that it is necessary to supplement the wages he receives as a teacher, which amount to only about 70 dollars a month. I asked him whether he enjoyed his work, and he said that he did, but that it was hard to make enough money for a living wage. I was just thinking about how I withdraw from the bank usually in like 40 dollar increments, and that's over half of what this man uses to support his entire family for a month. It was just incredibly humbling to be talking to this man in his home. I almost couldn't speak. I couldn't believe that I was talking to this man, who lives an entirely different life from me. I felt grateful that he didn't resent me, though I honestly could not blame him if he did. I have so much. The buildings he constructed were just simple brick structures with tin roofs, totally caked with dirt and grime on the inside, yet this was his pride, his livelihood. I thought about how what this man is doing, trying to provide for his family and provide a community service, is as honorable a thing as someone could do. There's honor in that work. There really is, and I felt sort of small in the presence of someone who was doing so well, maintaining such a good attitude, in a precarious situation. The funny thing is, all the Ugandans I have met, despite the rampant poverty, are almost impossibly upbeat. It's astounding really, and says a lot about human resilience and optimism.
He built these structures with his own hands. After I had my walk with him, I just kind of sat there for a while, wondering about how so many people in America seem so resentful or unhappy, while there are millions of people like this man, Mogisha, who work so hard with such a good attitude. How could someone with comparativey sooooo much be unhappy. It's been a general trend that I have observed here that people, for all the poverty, do seem happy. They recognize that life is hard, but they have smiles that are just so beautiful, especially the children, but even the adults. That's really something, isn't it, to know how hard life is, to expect that difficulty and pain as natural processes of life, while still finding a way to be optimistic and happy. I think about the things that have tripped me up in the past, like grades, relationship things, the weather, or missing my friends. Not that my troubles are insignificant, but, well, it's just inspiring I guess that these people are so strong and optimistic in the face of conditions that Americans would consider absolutely abhorrent. There's so much to admire about that. I feel almost embarrassed to tell men like that about my school or my house, or how expensive my plane ticket to Africa was, because it is luxury that they could not imagine. Although the challenges they face are so vast, the poverty so consuming, they don't seem to be handling life with more difficulty or angst than people in any wealthy nation. I guess people have a way of adjusting to any number of circumstances in the same way. I guess that means that people are pretty resilient, so I should be able to handle any small problems that come my way. I'd like to hope I could, at the very least to honor the people like Mogisha who are trying to do so much with so little every day. I don't really have too many words about it. I guess these are the types of things you have to experience to really understand. You have to be in the man's home to understand what his life is like, how he's trying to measure up and provide for his family through such basic enterprises that take as much effort and ingenuity as more advanced projects would take us in America with higher-quality tools. It would be a totally different life, and I'm humbled to be among the people here."