Thursday, October 15, 2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009

 

            Wow – what a hectic day.  Had two early morning meetings with an organization called “Trickle Up” which gives grants to people typically living on less than $1 a day.  Also had a meeting with “PRIDE Microfinance” which is a well-known microfinance group in Kampala.

            I took a matatu.  On the way I read the “Daily Monitor” which is a Ugandan newspaper.  I read a story about the healthcare in Uganda.  It says there are 110,000 people for every ambulance in this country.  Also read a story about the leader of the Opposition Party, Professor Morris Ogenga Latigo who died the night before in a car wreck.  They showed a picture of the car post accident…wow.  Driving here is crazy.  The matatu driver was pretty insane too – he kept driving away while the conductor was trying to get into the van.

            Finally go to Trickle Up.  On the sign there was an arrow pointing down an alley.  I followed the alley for like 15 minutes…and it didn’t look like I was headed in the right direction.  I finally asked someone and they pointed me in the right direction.  When I went through the gate to Trickle Up I saw my friend Daphne, whom is good friends with Baati, standing outside.  She works at  non-profit called KIBO which teaches business & life skills to young adults (interviewing, Microsoft Office, Resume Building, Networking, etcetera).  She was interested in what Educate! is doing and we agreed to exchange our curriculum.  Then I met with PRIDE microfinance – specifically the Branch Manager Kawooya Francis in regional Pride Office (Kabalagala).

            I explained the Educate! model and Francis thought it was great.  He said it was “definitely a feasible partnership” and the “research and product development manager needs to hear about it.”

            Ultimately Francis said I’d need to speak with Sharon Nassahi Sarah (the research and product development manager) in the Kampala City head office to implement the program.  He gave me her number and said I could use him as a reference when trying to arrange a meeting.

            Then I took a boda boda from Kabalagala to Buziga so I could meet with Connie before we headed off to Busiro.  We took a matatu into Kampala and went to a restaurant in New Taxi Park.  I got peas, rice and matoke.  I bit into the rice and, again, CRUNCH, rocks in my rice.  Almost broke a tooth again.  Funny thing is that the restaurant was different than the other restaurant in New Taxi Park that served me rice with rocks in it.

            Connie called the waitress over.  “There are rocks in his rice!”  She exclaimed.  “Bring him something else.”  The waitress brought me some sweet potatoes to eat, but I was leery of them considering Connie just yelled at her.  Yummy. 

            The matatu to Buziga is 1.5 hours over bumpy, dusty, dirty roads.  There are also huge chasms running the length of the street.  Connie and I sat in the front seat and it was fun watching the driver veer around the potholes and chasms.  Connie and I shared my IPod on the way  - she enjoyed that I listen to hip-hop.  All the mentors love sharing my IPOD during trips.

            We got to Busiro after 2.5 hours of travelling.  Busiro is a problem school because we only have 3 scholars and only one of them seems interested in our program.  It’s frustrating when kids don’t embrace our lessons.  You just want to grab them by the ears and make them realize they’re throwing away a tremendous opportunity.  You want to show them the vendors in Old Taxi Park and tell them that’ll be them if they don’t wisen up…but you cant.  You can lead a horse to the river, but you can’t make it drink.

            The only positive part of the trip to Busiro was meeting with Benson – who is the President of the Social Entrepreneurship Club at Busiro.  I

            On the way home I saw something pretty upsetting.  I’ve posted in the past about “mob justice” whereby if someone is caught stealing, or hitting someone with their car…etcetera…the crowd will enact justice upon the perpetrator by beating them (sometimes to death).  Anyways…saw my first bit last night…on the way from the Old Taxi Park to New Taxi Park I saw what I thought was a teenager (upon further inspection I think it was just a small man) accidentally hit someone with his bike.  The guy he hit pulled the man from the ground and WHAM popped this guy in his face.  It made one of those nasty, dull thud noises when someone gets hit WAY too hard in the face.  The man fell and got up and WHAM he got hit again.  Then the stomping started. 

            Umm – HOLY SH*T.

            I wanted to do something – but there was nothing I could do. These scenes are like quick sand. If you don’t extricate yourself quickly you’ll be waist deep before you know it.

             This is what I read about.

            More people joined in.

            People started hitting each other.

            Joe get out.

            Connie kept trying to get closer.

            “Bye Connie – I’m going home.”

            Joe Q out.