May 10, 2009

Dear Books of Hope Teachers,

I've returned from my 3rd trip to Uganda, and, as always, trying to capture such a complex experience in writing feels a bit daunting. Let me start by saying that everyone -and I mean everyone, from Dorothy at the Latigi Orphan Care Center to the principals (head masters), teachers, parents, and students -all send their warm greetings and appreciation.

If you don't remember which school you sponsored, you can look it up here. If your U.S. school's name is on this list, you should have a picture waiting for you:

Sponsored School List Organized by U.S. School Name

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PHOTOGRAPHS

All of the photos of your individual books can be found at the following link, organized in albums by Ugandan school:

Books of Hope album on Picasa

Your photo is labeled with your last name (the last name of the person who registered your school for Books of Hope) and your school's name (sometimes abbreviated).

For those of you who filled out our online school sponsorship form BEFORE April 1 but did not send an individual book, I created a sign that we photographed at your sponsored school. Again, you will find a photo for your school ONLY if I knew which Ugandan school you're sponsoring before I left for the trip.

Also, if your school sent a donation, you'll find a sign and photographs of the actual supplies we purchased in your Ugandan school's album.

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PRINT VERSION

You can print this entire report out here:

2009 Report on Uganda

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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

As always, the trip was a mixture of hope and heartbreak, though, happily, I can say that there was a bit more hope this time around. Finally, finally, finally, the Acholi people have some definitive evidence that the war has ended. Joseph Kony and the LRA are still at large, but they're now terrorizing people in the Congo, and the Ugandans feel confident that they won't be able to cross the border again. Unfortunately, this means the problem has just been displaced to the Congo and the people there are facing the same unspeakable atrocities, but at least now the regional governments are getting more serious about stopping this madman.

For the first time, I felt a palpable sense of relief and joy. The people are reveling in their newfound stability as they leave the refugee camps and return to their ancestral homes. The migration out of the camps is happening rapidly, and by sheer coincidence, while we waited for our tank to get filled up at a gas station, I had the fortune of meeting the Ugandan military official in charge of coordinating relocation efforts. The government seems to be handling the process thoughtfully. Land disputes are being handled somewhat proactively. With people being displaced for 25 years (sometimes longer, due to instability that reached back to Idi Amin), documents and memories are fuzzy about who exactly owns what property, and, of course, there are always people waiting to exploit the confusion for their own gain.

There's a long road ahead, though, and that's where some of the heartbreak comes in. People are just beginning to farm again as they return to their own lands. They refer to it as "digging." But the World Food Programme stopped delivering staples several months ago, and hunger has become an acute, widespread problem as everyone waits for the first harvest this fall. Thankfully, there's an end in sight, as their soil is amazingly fertile and there's lots of land waiting to be cultivated. Traditionally, cattle herding was also an important part of the Acholi livelihood, but most people lost their livestock during the long conflict, so everyone is starting from scratch.

There's a real effort to transition from subsistence agriculture to a more corporate form of agriculture (not on the large scale of our corporate agriculture, of course). They don't have much of an economy (as in an exchange of goods and services), which means that unemployment is rampant. Everyone just hopes to grow enough food to feed their families, but this doesn't produce any extra income for investments that could lead to upward mobility. Again, their version of upward mobility is quite modest compared to ours: basic education, electricity, and transportation. This means that most people spend most of their energy just trying to survive, and their children end up doing the same. There's a push to create agricultural cooperatives so that people can sell their produce. This can lead to more disposable income and job creation, and slowly, more people can be free from farming to pursue other trades.

The lack of infrastructure is an ongoing obstacle for both recovery and sustainable economic growth. The roads improved marginally in the year since my last visit, which makes commerce and trade a little easier, but it's still unreasonably difficult to reach many of the schools we serve that are anywhere from 30 to 70 miles outside of Gulu Town. I've come to believe that the people we work with are among the most isolated people in the world.

There's still no electricity grid beyond Gulu Town, and even that's either too expensive or out of reach for most people. It turns out that private citizens and businesses and schools have to pay to install new poles if they want electricity. But the municipal electricity grid is incredibly unreliable -we experienced long power outages daily, and even the more resource rich establishments can barely compensate with private generators.

And, finally, besides an equally unreliable cell phone network, communications infrastructure is incredibly poor. I only got Internet access once during our nine days in Gulu, and the connection was so poor that it was impossible to accomplish anything. Currently, internet connections rely entirely on cell phone modems and cost even more than what we pay here in US dollars.

In my former life, I was a community organizer for almost six years (working in the same model of organizing that our current President was trained in), and I had an opportunity to conduct an advocacy training session with about 12-14 local leaders, representing a wide range of organizations (people with disabilities, social workers, youth organizers, agricultural development specialists, refugee services staff, family planning nurses, counselors, landmine survivors, etc). These were all Acholi people who had been living and working in Gulu for at least 5 years and have extensive networks within the community. They had never had access to such training, and disturbingly, as part of an analysis of the local power dynamics during our session, it was affirmed for me that Uganda is a democracy in name only. Secret police, random disappearances, a president-for-life, no freedom of speech. I will leave it at that, so as not to endanger any of the participants (or have my visitor's visa denied). It's actually pretty serious stuff, but I mention it for context. My sense is that the international community is playing a careful dance around Uganda's national sovereignty, especially if it wants the government to turn Joseph Kony over (if he's ever caught) to the International Criminal Court for war crimes prosecution.

So, why all this talk of economics, politics and infrastructure? Because I think understanding the big picture can help us more effectively problem-solve about the best way to focus our efforts as we try to make education more accessible for thousands of children who live in these incomprehensibly isolated areas. I have some exciting plans for Books of Hope, which I think will give you many new opportunities to assist these people in their recovery (WITHOUT raising the participation fee). More to come on that for next year's program.

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BOOKS OF HOPE IMPACT

The most astonishing piece of news to me was how important Books of Hope has become for many of the schools we work with. In light of the overwhelming need in the area, I just always assumed that our contributions were a modest part of the overall recovery effort. Amazingly, Books of Hope contributions are the reason that several of our schools stayed open last year. We are often the only NGO (non-governmental organization) supporting these schools, and we have provided more resources than even the Ugandan government. With financial contributions ranging from $60 to $2500 (raised by six US schools for Koch Goma P-7 last year), we were the largest single source of income for most of our schools.

For me, this is both disheartening and motivating. It's disheartening because I know how modest our contributions to each school really are (in the hundreds of dollars, on average) compared to the amount needed for comprehensive rehabilitation (in the tens of thousands of dollars), but the reality is that resources are very limited, and even our modest contributions have made a world of difference. That's what motivates me, and I hope it motivates you, too. A little goes a long, long way.

The most promising realization that came from this trip for me was the wide availability and relative affordability of solar panels. One of our schools had already used our donations to purchase a solar panel system and a computer last year, so, for the first time, they had electricity and internet access in the middle of the bush! As you'll see for my plans for next year, I'm hoping to direct more resources to purchasing solar panels for our schools so they don't have to wait for the electricity grid to reach them. More to come on this later.

To give you a sense of the impact you've had, here's a list of the resources the Ugandan schools in our program have acquired over the last two years because of donations from U.S. schools and the Books of Hope budget:

Latigi Orphan Care Center -our partner ($4000):

• Basic salaries for 2-3 staff people (in other words, we've created jobs!)
• Motorcycle, helmet, gloves and rain gear (including insurance, oil changes, and maintenance)
• Donated laptop computer
• Donated digital camera (brand new from Nikon)
• Year-round electricity in the office
• Book cases for Books of Hope books
• Internet access (coming soon)
• Various office supplies

Koch Goma P7 ($2500):

• Solar Panel, inverter and battery (the school got electricity for the first time!)
• Computer and monitor all-in-one printer, copier and scanner
• Telephone system
• Internet Access (unfortunately, it's currently disconnected)

Ocim Primary School ($850):

• 6 latrines (the school did not previously have any bathrooms)
• 12 desks and benches that seat 48 children
• Various other donated supplies (health kits, etc)

Vienna Junior Boarding and Day School ($475):

• Computer and monitor
• All-in-one printer, copier and scanner

Abija Homeland Tailoring and Nursery School ($350):

• Uniforms for two dozen children (allowing them to attend school)
• School tuition for two dozen children
• Recorders (musical instruments)
• Fabric for the tailoring students

St. Peter's Bwobo Manam Primary ($305):

• 2 latrines (the school did not previously have any bathrooms)

Lungulu Primary School ($219):

• One desk
• 8 chairs

Onono Memorial College ($191):

• 11 English textbooks
• 200 pieces of chalk
• 4 reams of paper
• 12 binders for teachers
• Various office supplies

Idure Primary ($60):

• 2 blackboards (the first two in the school)
• 1 American Heritage English Dictionary (the only reference book in the school)

Of course, fundraising is not our primary objective, and this list does not include the 40,000 books made by your students in the last two years that provide a rich source of instructional material for each school, including the eight other schools not listed (Aket Ket, Lalogi Primary, Meeting Point International, Sr. Miriam Duggan Primary, Holy Rosary, Idobo Primary, Minja Primary, and new addition Bobi Primary).

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SCHOOL VISITS:

Before reading any further, it's important to note that my trips to Uganda are incredibly busy and intense. We have to make use of every waking minute we can to get our work accomplished because it's very, very expensive for foreigners to be there, and I don't feel right using valuable resources that could be invested in the Acholi community instead. We have to use our time very efficiently, but this doesn't always allow for the depth of relationship-building that I would like. I'm only at most Gulu schools for a little over an hour, and it's just enough time to greet the headmaster and some of the teachers, update them on our timeline, and take photographs of your books with students. We also need to purchase and deliver supplies with money that's been donated by US schools. We work with 17 schools in Uganda (including last year's schools, which we followed up on this year), 15 of which are in the Gulu area. Next year all 17 will be available as sister schools.

The usual chaos ensued in Gulu Town, of course: we experienced constant, daily power outages (making camera charging a precarious business) and had to dodge downed, live electrical power lines. Our driver, David, got malaria. Dorothy's son, Bruno, also got malaria, so we spent time getting them medical care. My husband Ben was attacked and stung by a swarm of hummingbird-sized wasps while trying to use the latrines at Idobo Primary. We experienced two flat tires, a severe storm (without working windshield wipers) that got us stuck in the mud for hours with an overheated engine, and an attack of red ants that took over the truck (not kidding).

We ended up having to cook on a hot plate on our hotel room floor (that unglamorous job went to Ben) so that I could avoid getting my annual parasites from the Acholi Inn restaurant. The lack of a well stocked grocery store in Gulu meant that we were also combating hunger for most of the trip. This is finally when Ben cracked!

To add to the complications, we arrived during their end-of-term exam week, so we had to scurry each day to make sure the students were actually going to be at the school (it's difficult to plan ahead for this because the exam dates change each year, and the government does not announce the schedule until AFTER I have to purchase the plane tickets; and, unfortunately, going earlier means earlier deadline pressures on U.S. schools).

My relationship with each of our schools deepens with each visit, but as of now most of my time is spent gathering basic information and organizing logistics. Most of the Gulu-area schools are at least 90 minutes apart from each other, so a lot of our day is spent in travel. And the bureaucracy is staggering -I have to visit every government official in each of the two districts BEFORE visiting any schools.

My hope, actually, is to give Dorothy Anena Otika, Director of the Latigi Orphan Care Center and our partner organization, the resources she needs in order to make my annual visits unnecessary (I would rather create paid jobs in Gulu than spend the money to go each year). In that vein, I spent the two Saturdays working with Dorothy on future planning (book distribution logistics!), training (the digital camera and software!) and purchasing supplies that will help her do some of my work there (the new motorcycle for Latigi so their staff can actually visit our remote schools regularly). Complete staffing in Uganda will take another year or two to fully achieve and some of it depends on local infrastructure (reliable internet access), but, for now, our information gathering abilities are very limited.

None of our schools have electricity, running water, telephones, internet, or adequate teachers quarters, which is a problem due to their remoteness. Very few schools have libraries, staff rooms, bathrooms, desks, blackboards, or, honestly, even adequate walls and roofs. Among the walls that do exist, many of them are covered in graphic graffiti left by rebel soldiers that used the schools as encampments during the war. Most of our schools are not within biking distance of any commercial centers, either, so replenishing supplies or recharging cell phones is almost impossible.

Labourline Primary:
Unfortunately, we had to drop Labourline from our list of sponsored schools. During my visit last year the headmaster was a bit uncooperative and negative about the project, and was only interested in textbooks published in Uganda. It was the deputy headmaster who talked me into enrolling the school anyway, but it was clear this year that the headmaster was the true gatekeeper. I completely understand and respect her desire to stick with the local curriculum, however even the superintendent feels that she's limiting her students' access to other enriching materials and relationships. It's possible we'll pursue working with them again in the future, but, for the moment, the reception was cold, and Dorothy and I agreed it's better to focus our efforts on schools that are excited about receiving our books.

The books that were intended to go to Labourline will temporarily go to the Latigi Orphan Care Center, but those US schools are welcome to choose a different school to sponsor.

MONDAY, APRIL 13
We arrived in Kampala late Sunday night and got settled at our hostel. Unfortunately, we learned that schools and offices would be closed on Easter Monday, so we used the day to run errands and go grocery shopping (and recover from the long journey!)

TUESDAY, APRIL 14
Sister Miriam Duggan Primary School:
We arrived here to learn that the students were taking exams. They asked if we could come back the next day when the students were on break. We used the rest of this day to coordinate the ocean freight and overland shipping of your books this summer. I'll be sharing a lot of this information in my upcoming email about shipping.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15
Sister Miriam Duggan Primary School (Pictures):
We returned here first thing in the morning and were received very warmly by the headmaster, Kiwanuka Stephen Yiga, and his staff. We had met last year, and they were very happy to welcome us back. This school serves primarily Acholi children whose families have been displaced from Acholi land in the North and have fled to Kampala. Specifically, many of the families are also struggling with HIV, and several of the students have been orphaned. The school itself is located in the Kamwokya slum (pronounced Kuh-moh-chah) and is supported by a Swiss organization. It seems to be doing a little better than the rest of our schools. They have a library with book cases and text books (and Books of Hope books!). All of the classrooms have blackboards and desks, and most of the kids seem to have uniforms, paper and pencils. Unfortunately, the bathroom facilities were unsanitary and could be smelled from most areas of the school. I think it was especially bad because we were there during the rainy season.

We distributed the books, took pictures of all the staff, and actually photographed all the children so that we could have portraits made for them next year through the Memory Project (my husband's organization). The teachers here were particularly interested in instructional materials, including maps and wall charts and flash cards.

We spent the rest of the day gathering supplies for our stay in Gulu.

THURSDAY, APRIL 16
Meeting Point International (Pictures):
We visited the nursery school and newly built early primary school on our way to Gulu. The school is located in the Kireka (Internally Displaced Persons) Camp, and this was my third visit in three years. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and it was amazing to see their new school building. The people here have made great strides in the last few years. There was a greater sense of well-being and hope at the school, and the staff were excited to show off their progress. There's still a long way to go, of course, but they're an optimistic community, despite the very high proportion of residents infected with HIV. Or maybe because of that they're living with truly open hearts and minds.

We left Meeting Point around noon and spent the rest of the day in transit to Gulu, arriving after dark.

FRIDAY, APRIL 17
Holy Rosary (Pictures):
We arrived in Gulu late Thursday night from Kampala, and started our school visits the next morning after visiting the requisite government officials. The headmaster of Holy Rosary, Okot Gabriella Nyatho, met us very graciously and was very helpful and responsive. Holy Rosary is one of our only schools actually located in Gulu Town, and, as such, has access to more resources and services than our more remote schools. Holy Rosary is actually a very large public school, with almost 40 staff members and 21 classrooms spread out over several buildings. Somehow, the school has managed to acquire a good number of textbooks, but unfortunately, they don't have any book cases, so the books are just stacked up in boxes and are difficult to access. Their primary request was for donations to purchase book cases (generally about $50 per tall bookcase, handmade and delivered by a local carpenter).

We then made the long trek out to Abija (one of our schools from last year) in order to follow up and collect information for next year.

SATURDAY, APRIL 18
Latigi Orphan Care Center (Pictures):
On Saturday morning, Dorothy helped us bring together some of the local children that the center regularly supports so that we could share your books with them. Most of these children are orphaned and are in need of sponsorship to help pay for their tuition (approximately $20 a year for primary school, about $200 for secondary school students). I will be putting their profiles up on our website so that schools or individuals can sponsor them starting in the fall.

We spent about two hours at Latigi, hanging out with the kids and listening to their stories and songs. I also had a more formal meeting with the staff to discuss our working relationship for the next year. They are a very professional, dedicated, hard-working group who often go without pay for months at a time, something we're trying to remedy. Later in the afternoon, we went to purchase the motorcycle, an exciting event for all of us.

As part of our "contract" with Latigi for their support of Books of Hope, we will be paying them a monthly stipend to cover their services. They will use the money to pay staff salaries, get Internet hooked up in the office, pay rent and electricity bills, purchase book cases for storing Books of Hope books, and eventually buy a new computer and solar panel for power. The money will also go towards maintaining and fueling the motorcycle.

MONDAY, APRIL 20
Lalogi Primary School (Pictures):
We did a whirlwind tour of six schools on Monday, starting with Ocim Primary (one of last year's schools). We then moved on to Lalogi Primary, where we had a small assembly to distribute your books. The students and teachers were very enthusiastic about the books, and we had a nice time with everyone. Their teaching staff is young but very engaged. In particular, the school is hoping to purchase dairy cattle, both to help feed the school community and to possibly generate income. This would cost about $400 per cow. They're also in need of gym clothes for the kids, musical instruments, and teaching materials.

Aket Ket Primary School (Pictures):
We moved on to Aket Ket, where unfortunately the staff was at lunch and most of the students had gone home for the day after their exams. There were a few dozen students playing soccer on the grounds, and they were happy to come and take pictures with us. The school currently has 970 students and 11 staff members. We also had the opportunity to meet a school district assessor who was there to measure the school's progress in the past year. He had heard of our efforts and was excited about the supplementary materials that we'd be providing. In particular, he and the headmaster identified teacher training and lesson planning materials as a very high priority for the school. The school has extensive agricultural lands that they're slowly cultivating.

Idobo Primary School (Pictures):
Next we visited Idobo. We were greeted warmly by the headmaster and staff, and the students were excited and curious about our visit. We had a small assembly in the courtyard to distribute your books, and one of the students recited a poem for us.

The school has built a new structure in the last year out of branches and tarp. This has helped them temporarily meet some of their classroom needs, but in reality they need five more concrete classrooms. They don't have a library, a staffroom, chairs, desks, storage cupboards, or teacher housing (which is a problem because of the remoteness of the school). And, as my husband discovered, their latrines are inadequate and infested by wasps. In particular they identified first aid kits as something they could use!

Minja Primary School (Pictures):
After Idobo, we stopped at Idure (another school from last year), and then ended our day at Minja Primary. Unfortunately, the headmaster was out that day. I remember her to be a warm and delightful woman, and I was hoping to see her again. But her staff members were very helpful and excited about the program. We distributed your books to the 6th and 7th graders and spent some time talking with the staff. The school has a nicely equipped staff room with desks for most of the teachers to work at. Some of the classrooms had desks, some didn't, but the kids seemed generally in good spirits. The schoolyard was nicely shaded and they're cultivating some vegetables in a corner of the grounds.

TUESDAY, APRIL 21
Lungulu Primary School (Pictures):
Wow. Lungulu was the biggest surprise of any school we visited this year. We enrolled Lungulu in the project last year entirely by accident. We were on our way to St. Peters school, and we drove past a group of student sitting under a mango tree with a makeshift shelter nearby. We stopped to ask for directions and I asked the staff if they would like to be involved in the project.

One year later, with the war over, the school and the village that supported it both moved back to their original location. What was surprising is that no one seemed to know where this new location was, including the district's superintendent. The move had happened relatively recently, and no government official had visited the site yet. The superintendent came with us, and we drove on dirt tracks through the bush looking for the school together. It ended up being about 60-70 miles outside of Gulu, in the thick of the bush. Apparently, we were just across the field from one of Uganda's national parks and large game reserves, Murchison Falls. In other words, these people now share their backyard with lions and elephants.

When we finally found it, I was impressed with the scale of the relocation. An entire village had moved, and they had already started farming. The school is still just a makeshift shelter, and no one has cell phones because the nearest electrical outlet is at least 10 miles away. The staff were wonderful and welcoming, and, frankly, I think, a bit surprised that we had actually returned and taken the time to find them. We had fun with the children, and scheduled a time to make the two hour trek (one way) back to the school in two days with their donations (because they had no way of transporting the desk and chairs they needed).

After Lungulu, we checked in on St. Peters Bwobo Manam and Koch Goma P7 as a follow-up to last year and to get them involved again next year.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22
Vienna Junior Boarding & Day School (Pictures):
Vienna ended up being the school I spent the most time at because of a generous donation by an American school that allowed us to purchase a computer for them. On our first visit, we actually did the book distribution. I learned that Vienna is a private school - which means it does not receive any government funding - that just celebrated its first anniversary. I had the opportunity to tour the dormitories. They were pretty standard for Ugandan boarding schools: bleak rooms with bunk beds and cement floors. But the staff members are warm, caring and dedicated, and the president of the Board of Directors of the school is a very engaged young man.

I returned on Thursday to drop off the computer we purchased and then again on Friday to set it up (using a generator for electricity) and train the staff on basic hardware and software tasks. They were beyond excited to have a computer, and although the school term had ended, all the teachers stayed for several hours, crowded around the monitor, exploring and learning about the new machine. The $460 donation also allowed us to purchase an all-in-one printer, scanner, and copier.

Onono Memorial College (Pictures)
Onono Memorial College is a high school that currently shares the site of Bobi Primary School. The school's former building was abandoned, looted and burned during the war, so they moved into some of the Bobi buildings. They are hoping to rebuild now that the war is over but are limited by funding.

As it turns out, the books they requested were for both Bobi and Onono, so the schools will be sharing the materials in an age-appropriate way.

Both the Bobi and Onono headmasters were very friendly and helpful. Onono has the most US schools sponsoring it this year, which is appropriate since the books will go to two different student bodies. We were also able to deliver some much needed office supplies thanks to a donation from one of our American schools.

THE END
We spent our final three days in Gulu delivering donations, coordinating book distribution logistics and conducting the advocacy training I mentioned above. We left Uganda on Sunday, April 26 and drove to Kenya for my husband's work (this actually helped defray expenses for Books of Hope, as the Memory Project paid for Ben's plane ticket to East Africa), where we spent six days before returning to Uganda to begin the long journey home.

Overall, the trip was a crazy whirlwind of events, at times frustrating and exhausting, but ultimately successful and hopeful.

Thanks for all your efforts on behalf of the students, families, and staff of the schools we work with in Uganda. You're making more of a difference than you may ever truly know!