Three Snapshots of Ugandan Life

One.
When a group of us walked into Ozzies, an Australian-owned restaurant that Amani volunteers regularly frequent, I immediately noticed a group of four woman sitting a table. Three of the women were mzungus (white people) and one was a Ugandan woman. We sat at the table across from them and I caught snippets of their conversation as we waited for our food. What I heard really fascinated me because what I heard was a microcredit plan being formulated in action. Microcredit is one of the most promising ways of aiding the poor in third world countries. The basic premise is that people living in poverty (and usually women specifically) are given small loans between the equivalent of $30 and $50 dollars. These people then invest the money into buying something that will let them make a livelihood and a profit, for example a loom they could weave items on to sell at the market. The profits they receive pay back the loan incrementally and also sustain the person and their family. I had actually seen a sign for the FINCA office in Uganda the day I arrived. FINCA is one of the larger microcredit organizations (and on a random side note, Natalie Portman is their major celebrity spokeswoman).

The Ugandan woman was named Sarah and she owned a tailor shop that specifically benefitted widows. The plan was to give Sarah ten sewing machines and various other sewing materials (thread, scissors, etc.). The white women involved Sarah in the process of how her business would work--they asked her how she would set up a cooperative. Who would be in charge? For how long? What would the logistics be? They often paused to not overwhelm her and referred to meeting later in the week to solidify some of the plans. The conversation ended with the promise to wire Sarah $50 US dollars per month for several months. As they stood up to leave I asked one of the white women if the group worked for FINCA and she said no but that this project with Sarah was one of the first of their organization's push towards a microcredit scheme and that they would like to partner with FINCA in the future.

Two.
On Saturday night as we rode the matatu home from rafting we rounded a bend in the road and suddenly had the the most specatular view of Lake Victoria. All along the surface yellow lights danced and twinkled like lightning bugs on a warm summer night. I asked the Ugandan raft guide sitting next to me what the lights were. He told me that the lights on are fishing boats and that they attract the fish on the lake to the surface where the fishermen then scoop them up in their nets. Uganda is known for its abudance of tilapia and the national fishery is just a block from Amani. Today Christy and I are going to walk down to the lake and check out on the fishing villages.

Three.
Yesterday we went to church at Calvary Chapel. It was a really neat experience to worship with people from another culture. There was a six-man band that played several songs, half in Ugandan and half in English, on their guitars, keyboards, and multiple drums. I was energized and moved by the songs in Ugandan that I couldn't understand and by the way the Ugandans in the sanctuary swayed and experienced them. The pastor gave a sermon on sin and redemption, of changing your life and walking with the Lord. The sermon itself was only a half hour long but ended up being an hour since a translator translated everything into Ugandan. 'people entered the service at many different points and just squished in to a row. One man came in, obviously after his shift had ended, in a Securex uniform and sat next to a young girl. She immediately shared her Bible with him and pointed to the passage we were on. It was good to see the faith of the people. Many people from the congregation came up and shook our hands afterwards. Everyone is so friendly here. On our way home, as we were walking down a path near some poorer families' ramshackle homes, a boy of about ten or eleven ran over to me and said, "Hello Mzungu" and grabbed my hand and held it for a moment in what I can guess was only a moment of inspiration to experience the novelty of touching a white person. He ran off as quickly as he had come. It made me smile.