Wednesday, November 11th 2009

            So something REALLY interesting (and again scary) happened today.  After a day of work in the office I had to travel to Pamela’s school because she wanted to see me face to face to discuss a way to get her school fees and medical bills subsidized.

            Aggie and Esther were headed into town so we departed together. 

            Normally matatus come down the Buziga Road stretch from the south, but I watched as a matatu crept out of a side street and pulled up to the stage.  There were four men in the van – two in the front and two in the back.  I recognized the man in the front seat – I’d actually seen him earlier in the day in Mercy’s shop.  There was something weird about him.  He stared at me deeply and said “hello” very slowly.  He was wearing a long smock and the pants underneath were stained badly.  The stains led me to deduce that he was a butcher by trade.

            Anyways, the man I’d seen earlier was in the passenger side of the vehicle.  I didn’t think much of it and I started getting into the matatu.

            Aggie grabbed my hand.  “Don’t get in.”

            I looked at the other three people waiting at the stage.  None of them got in either.  Normally it’s a mad rush to get a seat.  I had never seen this before.  The matatu lingered a little longer and then left.  Finally another matatu (coming from the correct direction) pulled up and everyone got in.

            “What was that about?”  I asked, confused.

            “They were robbers.”  Aggie said.  “You see they came from an odd direction and there were four of them, all the same age and two in the front and two in the back.  They would have robbed us.”

            “With all these people?”  I asked bewildered.

            “Sure.  It doesn’t matter.  I”ve heard stories of five people getting on a crowded matatu only to realize everyone posing as a passenger was a robber.”

            I was shocked.  I thought matatus…and ESPECIALLY matatus coming through Buziga were relatively safe forms of transportation.  Again I am reminded that I am in a foreign place and I need to remain vigilant no matter how comfortable I feel here.

            I met with Pamela at her school, Greenhill Academy, she was very upset because her parents have fallen on hard times and she doesn’t know if they’ll continue to be able to pay their bills.  I got the logistics on the cost of Pam going to school (545,000 USH / every 3 months = $900 year) but she didn’t know how much the medical procedure in India costs.  Whatever the cost is, I’d imagine its very high – airfare, visa, hospital stay, doctors.  She also told me there is a man that introduced her to the group of doctors that does the procedure on her leg and that she has to pay him every time she goes to get the procedure done.

            “That doesn’t sound right Pam.”  I said.  “I can understand paying a finders fee once, but you shouldn’t have to pay the man each time you go back for the same service.”

            She shrugged.  “I don’t know.”

            I asked if she could get me more details on the nature of this agreement between this man and her parents but she said she couldn’t ask her parents such a question.  Sigh.  I think it’s a illegidimate arrangment.  It angers me that some people would take advantage of a family during such a difficult time.

            It was nice to see Pam and I think she was happy I came.  I told her I’d lookin into a sponsoring organization for her (again).  Lets hope I can come up with something.           

            When I got to Buziga I stopped to talk to Mercy.  I told her about the matatu incident from earlier in the day.  Mercy is a town leader and usually knows the real facts on supposed or imagined activities of Buziga.

            “Oh yes, its very common for people to get robbed on matatus.”  She warned.  “They will chloroform your face and rob you.  You wake up on the side of an abandoned street with no shoes or valuables.”

            “Do they usually harm the victim?”  I asked.

            “No.  Not usually.  But they can.”

            Sigh.

            “Transport is very dangerous.”  Mercy added.  “Last night I had to wait until 11:00 for a boda to take me home.”

            “Why did you have to wait for a boda?”           

            “Ah!  The road is too dangerous at night.  I would get robbed.”

            Hmm – this is the same road I’d travelled to go to Mercy’s daughter’s graduation party the prior week.  I was shocked that anyone would have the audacity to rob Mercy.  She could make someone’s life hell if she wanted to.  She has a lot of power within the community.

            I got back to the compound.  I started talking with the girls about the whole matatu incident and getting chloroformed on public transportation.

            “Oh yeah.”  Rachel said.  “In Kenya that happens all the time, on super crowded buses too.  Someone will close the window next to you spray you in the face with chloroform and you wake up 5 minutes later on the floor of the bus with no money.  Other passengers will look the other way.”

 

Oh, how pleasant.

NYU Column - November 10th 2009

Oppy Submission – November 10^th, 2009

 

Joseph Quaderer is a student in the Langone program.  On September 14^th he began a sabbatical in Kampala, Uganda where he’ll be working for Educate! a non-profit organization that teaches native Ugandans and refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan the necessary skills to start and scale social enterprises - financially sustainable organizations that also address important social problems.  While abroad he’ll be writing a bi-weekly column for the Oppy.

           

            “Michael Jackson?”  The taxi driver asked in a thick Lugandan accent.

            I pulled the earphones out and looked at him.

            “I’m sorry?”

            He looked at my Ipod again and repeated his question. 

            “Michael Jackson?”

            I nodded.  He kept looking at my Ipod.

            “Would you like to listen?”  I asked.

            He looked at me puzzled.  I gave him one of the earpieces and he put in his ear.  Almost instantly he transformed from an irate taxi driver that nearly killed a motorcyclist moments before to a giddy schoolchild laughing and singing along to “Will You Be There.”

            I’ve never been a huge Michael Jackson fan.  In fact I considered him downright creepy for most of his life.  BUT, when I came to Africa I realized what an important figure he was – just in his ability to impact people across the globe, if nothing else.  He was, and is, HUGE here. 

            Seeing the zeal and devotion people felt for Michael Jackson made me realize what a powerful mechanism music is for transcending boundaries and engaging people of vastly different demographic and geographic backgrounds.

 

            We darted through the Ugandan air, thick as molasses with pollution. The taxi driver was still laughing and singing, ‘Carry me like you are my brother, love me like a mother, will you be there?”

 

            As I sat next to him I thought about what other mediums are able to unite human beings like music.  What else could bring together an American from New York City and an African from Uganda in the front seat of a taxi?

 

            We turned off Ggaba road and began snaking through the labyrinth of bumpy dirt roads leading to Buziga, my town.           

 

            As I ruminated, my mind wandered back to the day I went to Aero Beach on the shores of Lake Victoria.  Aero Beach was nicknamed Aero beach because of main attractions of the beach - two HUGE Air Uganda airplanes that apparently crash landed there several years ago (there is some argument over whether they crashed or were placed). 

            When we got to the beach there was a group of young Ugandans playing beach volleyball.  They wore threadbare clothes and laughed and joked in Lugandan.

            I sheepishly walked over.

            “Can I play?”

            They didn’t understand my query, but they invited me to play.  For the next hour we all played beach volleyball – laughing, joking, patting each other reassuringly and taunting the other team all without understanding a lick of each other’s language.  It made me realize how powerful sports are at bringing people together and allowing them to participate in humanistic endeavors like teamwork, competition and winning.  In an instant I understood why events like the Olympics and the World Cup are so revered.  It has a lot more to do than just sports.

 

            At one point we came to a roadblock.  Rather than wait for the congestion to clear, the impatient driver decided to drive over a HUGE rut running parallel to the road.           

 

            I started thinking some more about mediums that all humans understand and my mind drifted back to a conversation I had a few days prior with woman named Mercy.  Mercy or the “yogurt lady of Buziga” as she’s affectionately called, is a local community businesswoman.  She worked for Uganda telecom for 20 years, used all her savings to buy a row of shops, and now operates a small store and collects rent from the other tenants on the strip.

            I asked her how she does background checks on prospective tenants.

            “I don’t.  It’s a gentleman’s agreement.”  She said.

            I asked her how she enforces contracts if people don’t pay.

            “There is nothing I can do.  If someone doesn’t pay I cant make them pay.  If I do that, or if I kick them out the entire community will say I’m too strict and collude against me.  This is the third world after all.”

            I asked her how she financed her business.  We talked about things like collateral and principal and interest.  I introduced academic topics like moral hazard and adverse selection and Mercy understood everything and helped me understand how they applied in an essentially lawless business environment.

            And before long we’d been talking about and using sophisticated business principles for an half hour!  How is it possible that people with such vastly different backgrounds could talk about pseudo-abstract concepts?  And it struck me – business, like music and sports has the ability to transcend boundaries.  Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and sorghum traders in Hoima all need to understand the basics of capitalism to be successful.

            And while their motivations to launch enterprises might be different (the Silicon valley entrepreneur for a ski house in Aspen and the sorghum trader for subsistence in Uganda) the basics of business remain the same.

            What a wonderful gift that we, as MBA students, are learning a craft that can transcend all cultural boundaries and make an impact on the lives of so many vastly different groups of people! But unlike sports and music - there are no financial icons to speak of - no Michael Jacksons or Usain Bolts galvanizing entire countries.  The financial world is more decentralized and the onus falls on our shoulders as the business specialists to spread the word and to help finance achieve its maximum social impact.

 

            The taxi creeped over another crevasse and as we neared the end the wheel slipped, there was a loud creaking and the entire taxi slid to the left.  We almost hit a man and woman on the side of the road.  The driver cursed out loud.  I thought he was mad because he’d broken an axel, or nearly killed the couple to our left.

            I watched as he fished around on his lap for something.  Finally he located the earpiece and put it back.  Instantly his countenance transformed from angry to happy.  He was upset because his headphone had been jarred out of his ear when the taxi slipped into the crevasse.

 

            We kept driving along the backroads of Buziga listening to Jay Z’s “Forever Young” and smiling.

 

I can be reached at Joseph.Quaderer@gmail.com

 

           

 

Murchison Falls!

Hey everyone - So I am headed to Murchison Falls this weekend for a 3-day safari / boat trek on the Nile / camping / hike.  Murchison is 5 hours north of Kampala and I leave from my compound at 6:00 AM on Friday and return Sunday night.

Murchison falls is renowned as one of the most beautiful and powerful waterfalls in the world.  The wildlife is also supposed to be incredible.  Will be without internet for three days though so won't be able to post until Sunday night.

Interesting fact - Murchison Falls is where Ernest Hemingway landed when he "crashed into the dense African jungle."

 

Monday November 9th 2009

            Monday was pretty tame save for a conversation I had with Pamela (the girl with the enlarged leg that wanted to talk to me about paying medical bills and school fees).

            She texted me Sunday and said she really needed to speak with me on the phone. 

            We spoke around 9:00 and Pam said her parents are struggling to pay her medical and school bills.  She told me she has to travel to India every three months for treatment on her leg.  Her mom used to go with her but now they cant afford it so Pamela goes alone.  Soon she thinks they wont be able to afford sending her.

            I told her I’d see what I could do.  I said Educate doesn’t pay school fee’s but I’d look into organizations in the US that might be willing to sponsor a physically deformed girl in Uganda that’s aspiring to be a lawyer one day (if anyone knows of an organization let me know).

            Worked like an animal all day.  Morgan came back from Rwanda so there is finally be another guy in the house.  That’s very exciting

Home in one month!

So I've officially been in Africa for 2 months and I come back to NYC for Christmas on Dec 11th - one month from today.

It feels like I've been here for a second and for an eternity at the same time.

I've had wonderful experiences so far, but it will be good to see the family, friends and eat some NY pizza.

See many of you in a month!

Almost famous :o)

Check out the main page:

http://yoursabbatical.com/

Sunday, November 9th 2009

            I woke up to another freezing cold shower in the Nsoma hotel.  Is it possible for a place to get negative stars?  J  Nsoma definitely isn’t the most luxurious place I’ve ever been.

            After we all woke up Emily, Angelica, Rachel Maggie and myself went to this place called Miracle Restaurant (see pictures below) for what was hyped as the best tea place in Hoima.  Okay, maybe the best tea place in the WORLD.  Seriously it was so delicious.  We drank the tea and ate chappati covered in brown sugar for 800 USH (40 cents).  Can’t beat that.

            We were supposed to leave for Sir Tito Winyi (the school hosting our cluster retreat) at 8:00…but by 9:00 we still hadn’t heard anything.  We hung out in front of the Nsoma hotel for an hour just waiting for word to arrive on when we were leaving and (more importantly) how we were getting to the school. 

            I decided to go back to Miracle Restaurant to get another cup of tea!

            Rachel and Angelica came with me.  Rachel has only been here a week so we had a lot to talk about.  It was nice.

            Finally at 10:00 we got word a bus had arrived to bring us to the school.  We all boarded a Sir Tito Winyi school bus that was already packed to the brim with eager scholars and DJ equipment and food and bags and anything else you could imagine a retreat would need.

            One of the students held my helmet.

            Another sscholar, Twisenge (the orphan refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo that I met on my last trip to the COBURWAS refugee camp in Hoima) held my backpack.  I sat on a speaker in the aisle.

            We shuttled down the dirt road.  The students sang African songs and laughed the whole way there.

            The retreat was fun.  I’de already met all the students during my last trip to Hoima and it was great seeing them again.  They were happy to see me and I was happy to see them.  Although, they did give me crap because I’d promised to visit them every 2-3 weeks and I hadn’t visited them since September because I’ve been so busy with work.

            The retreat went according to plan.  Students networked.  Did teamwork games.  Debated each other.

            I participated in most events and also took time to walk around the campus and take pictures of all the lovely foliage and sorrounding areas.

            I had lunch with Ishmael, the girl I befriended on my last trip to Hoima.  She’s the one that lost both her parents, lived with her aunt and had to commute to boarding school because she was too poor to pay the school fees.  She was really excited to spend the whole lunch just her and I – she got to hang out with the only male mzungu!  It was nice to catch up.  We both have the same favorite current artist – Jay Z.  HOVA BABY!!!

            The day finished with the "no talent talent show" where we challenge people to come in front of the group and show us a talent they don't have (i.e. someone with a terrible voice will try and sing).  It is supposed to remind us that we are all weak in certain areas, but we all also have talents.  I was the initial act where I performed my now infamous "squirrel routine."  (I eat crackers like a squirrel)  Sadly I've had to perform this same act in front of senior Morgan Stanley senior management.  Hey it’s an act that transcends boundaries!  :)

            Afterwards three girls came up to me.

            “Joe, we need to speak with you in private.”

            “Okay.”  I said.  “Lets walk outside.”

            We walked outside.

            “No, we need to go somewhere private.”

            “Umm, no.  Lets walk over to that field over there.”  I said.

            We walked to the field.

            “Joe, we cannot pay our school fees and we’re hoping you know someone that will be willing to sponsor us.”

            “I’d be happy to help you and way I can.”  I said.  “But that Educate! doesn’t pay for school fees.”

            Its VERY important that our students understand Educate! is a teaching organization…NOT an organization that pays for students school fees.

            They looked downtrodden.

            “Let me take your information and I’ll see what I can do.”  I offered.  “I’ll be in touch.”

            It’s hard to see things like that.  Kids that want money just to go to school.

            The day wrapped up and we all boarded the school bus for the half hour ride back to Hoima.  The students sang and laughed the whole way home.  It was definitely a long day, but definitely a successful retreat!

            We got to the Hoima taxi park but all the buses had left.  We boarded a matatu and waited for a half hour until it was full.

            Rachel and I were seated in the second row.

            Travelling between cities on a matatu isn’t normally the safest thing in the world so I fished around and found a rusty seat belt wedged in my seat.  I brought the two parts of the seat belt together and CLICK – it worked!

            “You’re so lucky!”  Rachel said.  “Matatus never had seat belts.  That’s the best seat in the house.”

            “Check.” I said.  “Maybe you have one.”

            She stuck her hanf in between the seats and pulled a seatbelt out.

            Then she screamed and wrenched her whole body off the seat.

            “Oh my God.”  She screamed.  “There roaches coming out of the seat!”

            I looked over her body and, sure enough, roaches were crawling out of the crevasse between the seat and the seat back.  Right from where I’d just stuck my hand to pull my seat belt out.

            The roaches were everywhere!  Maybe 5 or 6 crawled out.  I killed a few but the rest escaped into the cracks in the walls of the matatu or back into the seat.

            Back into the seat I had to sit in for the next 3.5 hours.

            All you can do is laugh.

            Rachel and I kept imagining there were roaches crawling on us the entire way home.

            Mind over matter.  If you don’t mind it don’t matter.  But…GROSS!!!

            Halfway home I got a text message from Pam.  Pam, if you recall, was a girl I met at another Educate! retreat.  She has elephantitis of the leg (I think?) and one of her legs is grossly bigger than than the other.  I felt bad for her so I gave her my number and told her to call me if she ever needed anything.

            “I am having trouble paying my medical bills and my school fees.”  She texted me.  Sigh.  4 children in one day struggling to pay their school fees.  Sad.

            We agreed we’d talk the following day to figure out how to tackle her problem.

            The rest of the ride home was uneventful although I did notice teamwork between truck drivers.  I always wondered how matatu drivers know when they can dart out into oncoming traffic to accelerate past slow trucks.  Now I know.  I noticed that when a truck is warning a matatu NOT to pass it will leave its right blinker on.  When its safe to pass it turns the right blinker off and the matatu speeds past the truck.  Nice to see teamwork.

            We got into Kampala and Emily, Angelica and I got a special hire to Ciao Bella’s to get some pizza. 

            On the way the special hire driver pointed to a spot in the road.

            “A boda boda driver was killed there yesterday.”

            Lovely.

            We ate pizza and relaxed and took a special hire home.  Long weekend.  Long day.