I thought I would share this article I wrote to give everyone a better picture of what the Nutrition Garden is all about. It is long but informative. This program, supported by individuals in Canada and the United States, was also the subject of my Master’s thesis. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me at spoiledfornormal@gmail.com.
Case study of the Gamboula Nutrition Garden, Central African Republic
1. Background
The social impacts of the current crisis in the Central African Republic have been felt the hardest by women and children. The lack of health care, clean water and sanitation contributes to and exacerbates malnutrition among children. There is 38% global chronic malnutrition in the country, with which numerous long-term effects have been associated. Forty-three percent of the population, or 1.6 million people, are currently food insecure in CAR to date. This is not due to lack of land as only 4.4% of the arable land in CAR is currently in use. Rather, evidence points to the lack of variety in the diet coupled with the current insecurities in the country and the effects of the global economic crisis for the high level of food insecurity.
In an effort to help stem some of the underlying causes of malnutrition, Evangelical Covenant missionary Roy Danforth started a large fruit tree orchard behind the Gamboula II Eglise Evangélique Baptiste (EEB) hospital in 1998. The fruits produced were intended to provide food for the nutrition centre as well as provide an opportunity for hospital patients to become acquainted with new fruits introduced through a large scale agroforestry program in the area. In 2006, a nutrition garden was added to the orchard and the Women and Children Gardening for Health (WCGH) program was started.
The WCGH program is hosted by the Gamboula Nutrition Centre, a ministry of the EEB hospital in Gamboula, CAR. The hospital receives minimal outside funding and is based on a user-fee system. The nutrition centre charges patients per room and for other medical charges such as medicines, intravenous supplies or blood transfusions. All of the food is provided free and is supplied by the nutrition garden, by the World Food Program or via donations from expatriates living in the area. The nutrition centre treats, on average, one hundred children per year, though this figure is expected to be much higher for 2009. The physical effects of malnutrition, such as marasmus, kwashiorkor and chronic undernourishment, are treatable through remediation in the hospital’s nutrition centre. However, many families return to the same farming practices and the same lack of variety in the diet that contributed to the malnutrition in their family in the first place.
Gamboula is a town of around 5,000 people situated twenty-five kilometres from the border of Cameroon and thus in close proximity to thousands of Fulani refugees who fled from recent violence in the north. Gamboula itself is also host to hundreds of Fulani IDP’s and people of several other Bantu tribes. The primary occupation of the people in the region is subsistence farming, particularly after the closure of a large tobacco company that employed nearly five hundred people, as well as the closure of a large forestry camp in the nearby town of Bamba. Gamboula is situated on the main access road between the capital city of Cameroon, Yaoundé, and the capital of CAR, Bangui.
2. Purpose of the WCGH program
The WCGH program and the nutrition garden are uniquely situated to help children and their caregivers recover from severe malnutrition as well as provide training to caregivers to prevent the recurrence of malnutrition. The WCGH program serves two main functions. The nutrition garden provides food for the nutrition centre as a means to meet the immediate dietary needs of the children in the centre. In the nutrition centre, nutritious food is good medicine. In addition to introducing healthy foods into their diets, the garden also serves as a model for teaching mothers gardening techniques so that they and their families can begin or improve upon their own gardens and remain healthy. The WCGH program provides a machete, vegetable seeds, fruit tree seedlings and other planting material to each woman who completes ten hours of work/training in the nutrition garden.
3. Size and composition
The nutrition garden is approximately twelve acres in size and consists of seven acres of fruit trees and five acres of vegetable gardens and field crops. The fruit tree portion of the garden was planted in 1998 and the fruit is consumed by the nutrition centre while the seeds are saved for use in the fruit tree nursery of the Gamboula Agroforestry Program. Space for vegetable gardens and field crops was added in late 2005. Vegetable gardening is the main dry season activity while field crops such as beans, improved cassava, yam, sweet potato, peanuts, egusi melon, Fulani potato and corn are the focus of the rainy season.
4. Program Activities
Training – The WCGH program currently supports one full-time staff person who is responsible for the oversight of the garden, food production and training of the women from the nutrition centre. Women whose children are hospitalized are encouraged to work in the garden three days a week, during which time their ‘work’ is actually hands-on training combined with direct lessons. Each woman who completes ten hours of training is given a machete, vegetable seeds and fruit tree seedlings to take home.
Food production – All food produced in the nutrition garden is given to the nutrition centre. The nutrition centre relies on the food produced in the garden in order to care for the children in the centre. Without the garden the centre is at risk of closing due to lack of funds to purchase food. Excess food is given to the caregivers of the children, often women who are also malnourished and other children who are staying at the hospital with them. There is no food service at the hospital beyond what the nutrition garden provides. The nutrition centre staff teach women how to prepare crops introduced through the nutrition garden in culturally appropriate and palatable ways to aid in the adoption of these crops in the home garden.
Follow-up – Following up with women once they return home is essential to their success in incorporating what they have learned while participating in the WCGH program. Each woman is visited three times in the first year after leaving the hospital, in conjunction with the three growing seasons in the region.
Materials distribution – Each woman that participates in the WCGH program, completing ten hours of hands on training in the nutrition garden receives a machete, as well as vegetable seeds and fruit tree seedlings, according to her needs. Approximately half the caregivers attending to children in the nutrition centre participate in the WCGH program. Fruit trees were recently added to the list of materials that women could request to take home with them after hearing accounts of women taking seeds home from fruits they had eaten in the nutrition centre. Some women, whose children have a long stay in the hospital, some as long as three months, plant seeds in plastic sacks, placing them outside their rooms to grow. Many of the most popular fruit tree species seeds do not travel well, thus the decision to provide seedlings of fruit trees rather than seeds. The most sought after fruit trees in the nutrition garden include jackfruit, carambola, Madagascar plum, oil palm, breadfruit and canistel.
Experimentation – Within the space available in the nutrition garden, we undertake experiments in new gardening techniques as well as variety trials of species we would like to make available to the program’s beneficiaries. Experiments to date have included trial plots of inter-planted crops including papaya and pineapple; bananas, plantain, sweet potato and taro; vetiver mulch on vegetable beds; and yam cultivation. Variety trials included seventeen varieties of beans collected from Kenya, six cowpea varieties provided by ECHO as well as trials of other beans varieties gleaned from local markets, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. While performing experiments in a demonstration/production garden is not ideal, as visitors may mistake trial crops for successful introductions, they do help promote the idea of local experimentation. Experiments planned for the future include trying different methods of seed preservation and storage and Moringa production and processing.
‘Serial staffing’ – Funding is by far the biggest limiting factor to the activities carried out in the nutrition garden. Currently, the program budget can only support two full time staff people, one sentry and funds to hire temporary labour when needed. The senior staff person is responsible for planning all of the garden’s activities, conducting follow-up, vegetable and fruit collection for the nutrition centre and training the women who participate in the WCGH program from the nutrition centre. In place of a second full-time staff person, the program hires women on a weekly rotation. In other words, each week one woman is hired to work for one week for a set salary to do various labour tasks in the garden under the oversight of the garden supervisor. Women who request work in the nutrition garden are added to a growing list of names. Each week, the first person on the list is notified of her up-coming week of work and she has the option at the end of the week to put her name back on the list, at the bottom. When this system was started the project already had a list of fifty-three women requesting work. This process, called ‘serial staffing’, meets several needs of the nutrition garden. First, it fills a need for temporary, unskilled labour in the nutrition garden, freeing the supervisor to conduct training or follow-up activities. Second, it helps the project fulfill its mandate of teaching women about adding variety to the families’ diet through gardening by exposing many more women from the community to the activities and crops of the nutrition garden. Through their week of work women are exposed to the various training activities, crops and techniques that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to see. Third, serial staffing helps take the pressure off of the Central African staff to hire friends or relatives for a single full-time position, spreading the opportunity for work among more than fifty women in the community each year. It also allows the permanent staff the opportunity to observe who they may want to hire in the future based on their skill and work ethic displayed during their week of work in the garden.
Large tasks are accomplished by hiring groups of women to perform certain jobs on contract, with a set lump sum agreed upon for the work. The project most often hires women’s groups from local churches who are raising funds in order to attend or host conferences. Most often this task work is used for clearing fields for planting, making large amounts of compost or for weeding in the fruit tree orchard. Most recently, the project has started to include a training component in the task work, taking one hour in the beginning of the work project to teach on composting, tree planting or other important topics.
5. Challenges
Seed production is by far the biggest challenge for the nutrition garden. Many of the plants grown in the garden originate from seeds collected on trips throughout the Central African Republic and the Congo as well as seed sent from ECHO. These seeds are essentially irreplaceable and great care is taken in the nutrition garden to ensure that each time these crops are planted, a certain number of plants are set aside for seed collection rather than food production. However, crops set aside for seed collection are often harvested for food by hospital patients or their families out of desperation and hunger. The nutrition garden is often visited by people other than those connected to the nutrition centre and crops are often stolen, including those set aside for seed. The nutrition garden collects seed in order to replant in the garden as well as to distribute to WCGH participants.
In an effort to protect and preserve the garden’s valuable and often rare seeds, the project has started to engage local farmers in contract growing. Seeds are given to local farmers who are known to be good growers, with the understanding that the nutrition garden will buy whatever seed the farmer produces at a predetermined price. So far, contract growing has been tried for growing certain varieties of beans not available in local markets as well as some vegetables that are not common in local gardens. Issues of seed quality have yet to be addressed and standards will need to be put in place if the scale of contract growing for the nutrition garden grows. Along with seed production, the nutrition garden struggles with seed storage. Methods for seed storage gleaned from ECHO will be addressed in the coming year.
6. Conclusion
The Gamboula Nutrition Garden and its Women and Children Gardening for Health Program, is an example of how agricultural development can effectively intersect with relief. The WCGH program profits from the ‘captive audience’ of women tending to their malnourished children to introduce nutritious foods to their diet, expose women to greater diversity in the diet and garden as well as valuable nutrition training, all in an effort to prevent their subsequent children from becoming malnourished. In many cases desperation leads to opportunity. The same opportunities for intersecting development with relief exist in IDP or refugee camps, hospitals or schools. Given the right setting, projects similar to the Gamboula Nutrition Garden may be appropriate.
WCGH is a project of NMSI (www.nmsi.org) and CEFA (a non-denominational, non-for-profit organization registered in the Central African Republic).
Monday, December 21, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Falling on cows, ultra-marathons and life on a bike
We Bosses have been walking up a storm lately, all to get ourselves ready for the 56km walk around Lake Cowichan. I am not all together sure why we wanted to subject our bodies to this particular form of insanity but we had fun preparing (long-walks around the city) and I dare say we had fun while doing it. Well, maybe until the 50km mark at which point my feet hurt, we were walking along the highway and I was a tad bit grumpy. We were thankful for downhills which provided the opportunity to run and the other walkers in our midst that provided me with the added motivation of beating someone to the finish line. It worked. We planned on taking, at the fastest, ten hours to complete the course, twelve hours maximum. We finished in eight hours and fifty-three minutes. Our bodies said thanks for the workout and allowed us to get out of bed this morning on two legs, instead of on all fours.
In other news, my dad fell on a cow, breaking his wrist while on the same day I got hit by a car while riding my bike home from work. I am fine, my dad had surgery and you can read more about it on my other blog "Spoiled for Normal".
This week it is back to thesis writing for me, classes and homework for Darren, and work for both of us sprinkled in between. Never a dull moment being a Boss.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Getting hacked
I am sorry to say that my Google account was hacked into last night and a promotional-type spam sent to everyone on my address list. If you received a spamish message from my account I sincerely apologize. I have changed my password and hope that this solves the issue. Darren figures that the hacker used names from my blog that appear frequently and that this is how they got my password. So I have a different password, a really, really out of the normal secret one. So don't even try to guess it....
Friday, August 21, 2009
Under the Gun-video on Northern CAR
Follow this link for a short video on the situation in Northern CAR. It is informative and accurate.
Under the Gun
Under the Gun
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
IRIN Africa | Great Lakes | Central African Republic | CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Children at edge of survival, says UNICEF | Children Health & Nutrition Conflict | News Item
PLEASE read this. One of the three provinces mentioned is ours-Gamboula is within it. Now more than ever we are focussed on helping the nutrition centre with long term nutrition solutions via the nutrition garden.
IRIN Africa | Great Lakes | Central African Republic | CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Children at edge of survival, says UNICEF | Children Health & Nutrition Conflict | News Item
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IRIN Africa | Great Lakes | Central African Republic | CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Children at edge of survival, says UNICEF | Children Health & Nutrition Conflict | News Item
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Tuesday, August 11, 2009
More disturbing news from CAR
While living in CAR, away from the conflict zone, it is hard to know what is happening in the country. It isn't until I am back home with reliable Internet access that I find out what is happening just to the north of Gamboula. Just goes to show you how poor the infrastructure and information systems really are.
The humanitarian situation appears to be worsening. Read here for more details. A second article by the UN describes the situation as such; “It’s not like any other humanitarian situation I’ve run across,” Catherine Bragg, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, told reporters in New York. (Click on the purple link to read the complete article). The article goes on to point out that the situation in the north has been compounded. "More recently, she added, humanitarian needs have increased due to attacks by the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the south-east and a rise in malnutrition in the south-western part of the country."
Once again I am reminded that hunger results from conflict and conflict results from hunger. And I press on....
Monday, August 03, 2009
Sharing rebels unwanted
The notorious LRA, a disastrous rebel group from Uganda are venturing further into CAR helped by its porous borders and the already stretched military currently occupied in the north of the country.
Read more about it here.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Nearing the end of the journey
After nine busy days in Ohio, meeting people connected with FRB growing projects, I flew to Fort Myers. I had five great days at ECHO that gave me a chance to catch up with NMSI folks, our monthly supper group of friends, and of course ECHO friends and family. I was going from eight in the morning to midnight each day which may help explain why I am still sick. Since leaving CAR I have been nursing a chest infection of some kind and woke up this morning in Minnesota to something akin to the flu. I have never been sick for this long but I haven't traveled this many days in a row either. Needless to say I will need a weekend's worth of sleep when I get home next week.
I will be speaking at a Covenant church in Kimball, Minnesota tomorrow morning and then spend the rest of the day at a lake picnic in Spicer. On Tuesday we will be driving to Molene, Illinois for the FRB annual meeting. These meetings include an ice cream social at the John Deere factory which will be a very cultural experience for me. I fly out Friday morning and will be dropping into Darren's arms later that afternoon and it will take a lot to part us! In all I have four more talks to give in the next six days after which I will be very tired of talking about myself, CAR and the ills of the world.
What has impressed me about all this traveling around is the sincerity and enthusiasm of the different churches and farmers involved in FRB growing projects. It is amazing to see a field of wheat and to think that that field is the reason why we can do what we are doing in the CAR.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Made it in the paper
http://www.hutchnews.com/Faith/seeds2009-07-17T21-35-05
Follow the link to see what I got up to Hutchinson, Kansas. I am currently in Bryan, Ohio and will be here all week. I will try and post an up-date soon.
Follow the link to see what I got up to Hutchinson, Kansas. I am currently in Bryan, Ohio and will be here all week. I will try and post an up-date soon.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Goodbye Kansas
I didn't see Dorothy, Toto or the Wicked Witch of the West (thank goodness) but I did see lots of corn and soybeans and met some wonderful people doing good work for those they have never met.
I am in the Wichita airport on my way to Michigan via Minneapolis. The road trip of the year continues on.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Missouri gold mine
One of the highlights of my time in Missouri was visiting the farm of an eclectic farm/artist couple who live in one of the most unique and delightful homes I have visited in a while. When farm meets artist it is a beautiful combination. The other thing of beauty on this farm was the discovery of a gold mine of Golden Chanterelle mushrooms. There were hundreds growing up under the oaks in the forest and we picked 6 pounds in no time. Chanterelle mushrooms sell for $20 a pound so it is like sitting on gold. We picked until we felt greedy and boxed them up for the farmers market. We also fried some up, mid-west style, and boy were they delicious. I could have eaten twice as many as I did but it is probably better that I didn’t. While I know that everything tastes better fried, these golden beauties would be a treat no matter how they were cooked. I wish my new friends all success in finding a market for their gold!
On the road
UCC group in Boonsville
It has been one long road trip since I arrived in the US. Many of you know that I am generally not a fan of road trips but I am enjoying all the interesting people I have been meeting along the way. In Indiana I spent a few days with Amish farmers learning about productive, commercial farming with animal power. Many of my stereo-types surrounding the Amish were broken down and I was inspired by their commitment to family and community. I understand that likely no two Amish groups are alike so I hate to post generalizations about all Amish communities based on the one that I experienced. However, the one thing I can say is that it appears that all decisions made in Amish communities are always with the good of the family in mind. The reason I was given for the use of horse traction, besides the decrease in dependence on fossil fuels and their love for horses, is that animal traction depends on the family and the community. It promotes family. This appears to be the first priority of the Amish. That being said, the families we visited are using very modern agricultural techniques, spraying fertilizer and applying the latest insecticides with horse drawn modern sprayers. We saw several Amish driving cars out of the necessity of business and for family vacations. One family we spoke with had flown to Oregon, rented a motor home and driven clear up to Alaska. This did not fit my view of the Amish. Of importance for Gamboula and what I really wished Benoit could have seen was the ingenuity of the Amish. They have modified large equipment for use in horse drawn farming. This ingenuity is inspiring and could be of real benefit to small farmers in CAR, helping them imagine the possibilities for locally devised farm equipment.
Leaving Indiana I flew into Kansas City (KC) and was met by my wonderful hostess Laura. We drove into Missouri and landed in a small town two hours from KC. I had two wonderful speaking engagements, one on Wednesday night and one on Thursday. Both were churches involved in FRB growing projects and it was great to have the opportunity to extend the thanks of small farmers in CAR to farmers and churches in the US who raised funds through farming to support projects like the Gamboula Agroforestry Centre. What I thought would be a 25 minute presentation turned into more than an hour because of the interest and questions from the audience. The questions people asked were fascinating and I am constantly reminded how spoiled I am to be working in such different parts of the world. Part of the fun of traveling like this is being able to help people in mid-west America see the people of CAR as fellow brothers and sisters rather than foreign people in a strange land. Our struggles across the globe are all the same, we all want peace, to live with dignity, to provide for our families and to enjoy the freedom of choice. When we see each other as the same, rather than the other, we can begin to imagine a world better than the one we live in now.
Wheat harvest with animal traction
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Fulani refugee article
Read the following article for more insight into the Fulani (Mbororo) and the reason for the influx of Fulani children in the Gamboula nutrition centre.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Quick Update
A month has past since my last post and for this I apologize. I was completely without Internet access following my stay in Bangui. So here is the quick and dirty version of all that happened since then.
-On leaving Bangui I took my dear 'daughter' Anne back to Gamboula as she was becoming very malnourished living with her aunt in Bangui. I am happy to say she is doing much better now that she is back in Gamboula. I was a 24-hour mother and well....no plans for our own kids yet, though Anne is a delightful little girl.
-Darren arrived in early June along with new computers and programs for Gamboula and the hospital. He was immediately put to work and everyone was so happy to see him after a two and a half year absence.
-I finished up my research and am so pleased with the way the nutrition program has been running and the direction that the staff want to take it in the future. In terms of numbers, more than 150 women have been trained and have received machetes through the program in the last three years. Thank-you to all who have helped make this a reality. New for the project this year will be a follow-up program with women in the area to help continue with lessons in the garden and to re-enforce what they learned while at the hospital.
-Darren and I went to visit family in Berberati and stayed with our oldest brother at the diamond company where he works. We learned all about the process of diamond extraction and met Claudine, their pet chimpanzee. She was lovely and am definitely going to avoid eating monkey after that. Just looking at her finger nails and eyes...
-On the 29th of June Darren and I parted ways in Yaounde after a day long drive from Gamboula with our new Swedish friends. We met a wonderful couple in Gamboula, a doctor and teacher, who are helping at the hospital for two years. We all have similar questions about missions, development, mission stations, etc., so we had a great time with them and we look forward to visiting them in Sweden some time in the future.
-Darren flew back to Victoria where he jumped back into work. I flew to Chicago where I met up with Bev, the international director for overseas programs with the Foods Resource Bank (FRB). I was intended to travel with FRB this summer as a translator for Ben, from Gamboula, but he was denied his visa. As were two of the other four invited guests. In light of this FRB invited me to travel in Benoit's place so here I am in Odon, Indiana.
I am traveling to an Amish farm today where I will be spending the day learning about vegetable production and staying the night in an Amish home. I will be traveling to Kansas tomorrow and will eventually make it to Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Florida. I am speaking about the past and future programs in Gamboula, learning about FRB and breaking down all my stereo-types of the mid-west. I will try and blog as I go now that I have everyone a little more caught up.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Starting from the Beginning
We had a long and uneventful trip to Bangui on Monday, unless you count the 70km side trip to a sawmill town when we picked the wrong way at a fork in the road. We took the fourth parallel route instead of the northern route. The northern route is favoured by bandits and while it has been quiet for the past few months we heard of an incidence just last week so we took the southern route. Considering there are only two major truck routes from our side of Cameroon to the capital Bangui you would think that it would be a fairly decent road, given the amount of supplies one would think would be needed here. On the contrary, it is a narrow, sandy, pot-holed road with a few nice flat sections. The 700km trip took us more than 15hours so we were very tired by the time we arrived.
We came to Bangui in order to meet with David Zokue, a very knowledgeable and well-positioned man in the capital who is helping Roy, Ben* and I start our own NGO in the country. The NGO, Centre d’Expérimentation et de Formation Agricole (CEFA) or the Centre for Agriculture Development and Training is being formed in order to manage a centre of the same name that we hope to start in Gamboula. We are still working out the details of who, where and when but we have the what down and all this week we have been formulating the NGO’s Status and Regulations according to CAR models that David has provided us with. It has been very interesting and intense and Roy, Ben and I spent three very full days going back and forth from English, Sango and French in order to clearly and accurately get across what we think and then get it down on paper. We finished the initial stage on Thursday after an all night session of me typing it all out in French. Thank goodness I chose a laptop with both French and English keys so I know where to go for all the accents. I spent Friday morning with Ben as he corrected my French, made sure all the nouns agreed with each other and I had all the accents properly assigned. It was tiring and I know he was probably wondering what kind of Canadian I am that doesn’t know her French well. Believe me, it is on the list of things to do!
We met with David on Friday and he picked apart our status with a fine toothed comb. He had just finish chairing a committee that was reviewing the CAR electoral code so he didn’t have a whole lot of time to spare. We made it through correcting the statutes but did not get to the rules and regulations. He promised us time on Monday so rather than leave Saturday we are here for another three days and will meet on Monday to finish editing.
Once we are back in Gamboula we will be looking at nominating a board of directors which will consist of Central Africans and foreigners, including myself. I was originally intending on being a co-director of the project but with Darren and I still plugging away at school I think it is best that a director who can start this summer is selected and work begin. As a member of the board I will certainly have to come out for board meetings once a year and will be involved in the direction and vision of the project. It is exciting and daunting at the same time.
We had a free day yesterday (Saturday) so I met up with Joe* early in the morning and we took a taxi out to see his older sister who lives a few kilometres from town. This is the sister who took Anna, my baby, from Gamboula to live with her here in Bangui even though she doesn’t have the means to properly look after her. Finding garden space near a capital city is very difficult for many reasons I will expand on in a separate post. Needless to say they depend on her husband’s very small salary to pay for all their food, household and medical needs as well as his share of the cities alcohol consumption. They have one meal a day and this is obviously not enough. The meals they do eat generally lack in protein, either in the form of meat, peanuts or beans and you can tell. Anna is weak, scrawny and prone to fevers. Joe was going to bring her back to Gamboula during his vacation in July but I do not want her to wait that long. I have asked to take her back with us on Tuesday which will be far easier on her than going with Joe in public transportation and Roy has agreed. She is as light as a feather so she and I will share a seat in our very full truck. Honestly, if there was ever a child I would choose to raise it would be Anna.
In other news, I know I wrote some time ago that Ben was denied his visa to the United States (don’t get me started...) so he is unable to attend the Foods Resource Bank (FRB) meetings and meet out partner farmers. However, FRB has asked me to come for five weeks without Ben to tell the story of CAR and I have agreed. Darren arrives here in one week (YIPPEEE) and we will have three weeks together in country. We both fly out of Yaoundé on the same day at the end of June; Darren returning to Victoria while I head to Chicago. This also means that I will be in ECHO’s neighbourhood sometime in July which I am really looking forward to.
For more thoughts, check out spoiledfornormal.blogspot.com, my ‘other’ blog that is more musings on the state of the world and how I would love to change it! It is pretty raw so I apologize beforehand.
*I have changed the names of people in order to protect their privacy. I will use the same name throughout so please write me if you want to know who they really are. If I know you, I will tell you.
We came to Bangui in order to meet with David Zokue, a very knowledgeable and well-positioned man in the capital who is helping Roy, Ben* and I start our own NGO in the country. The NGO, Centre d’Expérimentation et de Formation Agricole (CEFA) or the Centre for Agriculture Development and Training is being formed in order to manage a centre of the same name that we hope to start in Gamboula. We are still working out the details of who, where and when but we have the what down and all this week we have been formulating the NGO’s Status and Regulations according to CAR models that David has provided us with. It has been very interesting and intense and Roy, Ben and I spent three very full days going back and forth from English, Sango and French in order to clearly and accurately get across what we think and then get it down on paper. We finished the initial stage on Thursday after an all night session of me typing it all out in French. Thank goodness I chose a laptop with both French and English keys so I know where to go for all the accents. I spent Friday morning with Ben as he corrected my French, made sure all the nouns agreed with each other and I had all the accents properly assigned. It was tiring and I know he was probably wondering what kind of Canadian I am that doesn’t know her French well. Believe me, it is on the list of things to do!
We met with David on Friday and he picked apart our status with a fine toothed comb. He had just finish chairing a committee that was reviewing the CAR electoral code so he didn’t have a whole lot of time to spare. We made it through correcting the statutes but did not get to the rules and regulations. He promised us time on Monday so rather than leave Saturday we are here for another three days and will meet on Monday to finish editing.
Once we are back in Gamboula we will be looking at nominating a board of directors which will consist of Central Africans and foreigners, including myself. I was originally intending on being a co-director of the project but with Darren and I still plugging away at school I think it is best that a director who can start this summer is selected and work begin. As a member of the board I will certainly have to come out for board meetings once a year and will be involved in the direction and vision of the project. It is exciting and daunting at the same time.
We had a free day yesterday (Saturday) so I met up with Joe* early in the morning and we took a taxi out to see his older sister who lives a few kilometres from town. This is the sister who took Anna, my baby, from Gamboula to live with her here in Bangui even though she doesn’t have the means to properly look after her. Finding garden space near a capital city is very difficult for many reasons I will expand on in a separate post. Needless to say they depend on her husband’s very small salary to pay for all their food, household and medical needs as well as his share of the cities alcohol consumption. They have one meal a day and this is obviously not enough. The meals they do eat generally lack in protein, either in the form of meat, peanuts or beans and you can tell. Anna is weak, scrawny and prone to fevers. Joe was going to bring her back to Gamboula during his vacation in July but I do not want her to wait that long. I have asked to take her back with us on Tuesday which will be far easier on her than going with Joe in public transportation and Roy has agreed. She is as light as a feather so she and I will share a seat in our very full truck. Honestly, if there was ever a child I would choose to raise it would be Anna.
In other news, I know I wrote some time ago that Ben was denied his visa to the United States (don’t get me started...) so he is unable to attend the Foods Resource Bank (FRB) meetings and meet out partner farmers. However, FRB has asked me to come for five weeks without Ben to tell the story of CAR and I have agreed. Darren arrives here in one week (YIPPEEE) and we will have three weeks together in country. We both fly out of Yaoundé on the same day at the end of June; Darren returning to Victoria while I head to Chicago. This also means that I will be in ECHO’s neighbourhood sometime in July which I am really looking forward to.
For more thoughts, check out spoiledfornormal.blogspot.com, my ‘other’ blog that is more musings on the state of the world and how I would love to change it! It is pretty raw so I apologize beforehand.
*I have changed the names of people in order to protect their privacy. I will use the same name throughout so please write me if you want to know who they really are. If I know you, I will tell you.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Family Reunion
It has been a busy couple of days as I make plans for my research and meet with Roy and Benoit to discuss the agriculture work here. I hope to conduct my first interview on Saturday with the help of Jan who has graciously agreed to translate from Fulfulde to English for me. Clarisse has tomorrow off of work so we are going to rent a motorbike and go in search of some women to interview. We are aiming to interview four women who have been through the Women and Children Gardening for Health Program while their children were patients at the nutrition centre. While almost 150 women have been through the program they come from near and far and tracking them down is no small task. They do not have addresses or phone numbers; we only have a name and a village name to go by so Friday should be interesting. This is also field season so women spend hours each day preparing their fields, planting and weeding so finding them becomes even more difficult. We will persevere though as my thesis depends on it and I hardly want to change topics now!
I hitched a ride to Berberati yesterday with Kim to visit the other half of the family there. The kids saw me coming down the lane first and they squealed with glee, came running at me and gave me all kinds of hugs. It is so nice to be loved. Elise set about making lunch while I sat and talked with Eloi and Lars, pretty well avoiding the elephant in the room. When Elise came in to sit and chat she told me about the happenings of the year, starting with the accident and then the burns that she sustained at ICDI from a leaky stove. Yikes! Eloi said he hadn't told me about the accident yet but that he would, and he did, in his own way. He took responsibility for it, but more so expressed his gratitude to God for preserving his life and that of his family. He is living in Berberati until his one year probation is over. I guess this helps him stay out of trouble and help Gamboula calm down. What I enjoyed most about my visit and what I am most thankful for in this country is this family that has taken me in and made me one of their own. I sat and listened to the trials and tribulations of the year gone by as one sister to another, not as though Eloi was my staff member and I had come to hear his side of the story. I just listened and sympathised and put all judgement and questions aside. He is my brother, he is in pain (though not physically thankfully) and what more can I do but listen and pray and cry and laugh. This is what family is. The more time I spend with them the more I realize our common humanity, that tragedy and sin and joy and forgiveness bind us together regardless of race or origin or faith. I am in awe and I am humbled.
Roy, Benoit and I plan to go to Bangui in the coming days to take the first steps towards starting the Agriculture Resource Centre that we are dreaming of for this region. There is a lot to be done and part of my time here will be spent in meetings planning for this project. I am still not sure exactly what our future holds but I am excited about the future work that the Resource Centre will be involved in. There is change in the air and hopefully some rain too!
I hitched a ride to Berberati yesterday with Kim to visit the other half of the family there. The kids saw me coming down the lane first and they squealed with glee, came running at me and gave me all kinds of hugs. It is so nice to be loved. Elise set about making lunch while I sat and talked with Eloi and Lars, pretty well avoiding the elephant in the room. When Elise came in to sit and chat she told me about the happenings of the year, starting with the accident and then the burns that she sustained at ICDI from a leaky stove. Yikes! Eloi said he hadn't told me about the accident yet but that he would, and he did, in his own way. He took responsibility for it, but more so expressed his gratitude to God for preserving his life and that of his family. He is living in Berberati until his one year probation is over. I guess this helps him stay out of trouble and help Gamboula calm down. What I enjoyed most about my visit and what I am most thankful for in this country is this family that has taken me in and made me one of their own. I sat and listened to the trials and tribulations of the year gone by as one sister to another, not as though Eloi was my staff member and I had come to hear his side of the story. I just listened and sympathised and put all judgement and questions aside. He is my brother, he is in pain (though not physically thankfully) and what more can I do but listen and pray and cry and laugh. This is what family is. The more time I spend with them the more I realize our common humanity, that tragedy and sin and joy and forgiveness bind us together regardless of race or origin or faith. I am in awe and I am humbled.
Roy, Benoit and I plan to go to Bangui in the coming days to take the first steps towards starting the Agriculture Resource Centre that we are dreaming of for this region. There is a lot to be done and part of my time here will be spent in meetings planning for this project. I am still not sure exactly what our future holds but I am excited about the future work that the Resource Centre will be involved in. There is change in the air and hopefully some rain too!
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Passing of Mama Maggie
I had a beautiful afternoon with Clarisse. We sat in the living room sipping lemonade while looking at pictures of her Canadian family. We looked at pictures of mom and dad, Sarah and Rob, Koko, Darren and the llamas in the backyard (no, she has never seen such a creature). I blessed her with gifts from home including cold tablets and a Costco sized bottle of ibuprofen.
She in turn blessed me with her story of hope and thanks despite an extremely stressful and trying year. Last summer, Clarisse’s brother was the driver of the agri project truck that crashed killing, four people and seriously injuring our brother, breaking his pelvis in three places. Shortly after he was released from the hospital, two months later, Clarisse’s aunt Maggie died. Maggie had raised Clarisse from infancy and was truly her mom. I knew she was very sick, even during my visit last year, and spoke to Clarisse the day she passed, but I never heard the details until today. I asked Clarisse if she passed in peace and Clarisse told me that she did. In fact, she knew in the morning that was going to die that day and she asked Clarisse to stay near to her, to read Psalms, to pray with her, to sing to her and to not bother with any more medicine, food or IV liquids. She knew she was “going home” as she told Clarisse. In the end Maggie’s sister (Clarisse’s mom), her mother and Clarisse were in the room when she took her last breath. They were able to hold her in her final moments and bury her in her home village across the border in Cameroon. As she told the story I was torn between sorrow and joy. I know that she is missed tremendously here, you can hear it in Clarisse’s heart and I feel it in my own. But the joy that Maggie displayed and the peace in which she passed is cause for joy, and I can only pray that when my own time comes it will be with such grace and peace.
She in turn blessed me with her story of hope and thanks despite an extremely stressful and trying year. Last summer, Clarisse’s brother was the driver of the agri project truck that crashed killing, four people and seriously injuring our brother, breaking his pelvis in three places. Shortly after he was released from the hospital, two months later, Clarisse’s aunt Maggie died. Maggie had raised Clarisse from infancy and was truly her mom. I knew she was very sick, even during my visit last year, and spoke to Clarisse the day she passed, but I never heard the details until today. I asked Clarisse if she passed in peace and Clarisse told me that she did. In fact, she knew in the morning that was going to die that day and she asked Clarisse to stay near to her, to read Psalms, to pray with her, to sing to her and to not bother with any more medicine, food or IV liquids. She knew she was “going home” as she told Clarisse. In the end Maggie’s sister (Clarisse’s mom), her mother and Clarisse were in the room when she took her last breath. They were able to hold her in her final moments and bury her in her home village across the border in Cameroon. As she told the story I was torn between sorrow and joy. I know that she is missed tremendously here, you can hear it in Clarisse’s heart and I feel it in my own. But the joy that Maggie displayed and the peace in which she passed is cause for joy, and I can only pray that when my own time comes it will be with such grace and peace.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Journey Home
Two plane rides and 550km later I have arrived in Gamboula. The last few days in Kampala were a struggle as I balanced my excitement to move on to Gamboula, while focusing on finishing final assignments for the class at Makerere University. In the end, after a few very late nights, I left Uganda having turned everything in taking only the joy of being finished classes, some Ugandan coffee and a fun new hairstyle with me on the plane to Yaoundé!
Despite my initial hesitation, I really enjoyed my time in Uganda. Amongst the many lessons that I learned, I now realize that government officials are only people and I can talk to them just like I do anyone else, with a little extra observation thrown in. I was actually quite mortified to think that I would be spending a few days interviewing people who were the equivalent of a provincial premier and his aides. However, I surprised myself with the ease in which I took this new role, as a consultant, and I am eager to go Bangui to see what officials I can meet within the international aid community. In the end, our ‘mock’ consultancy in Uganda was a good exercise. We went to Kayunga District, we observed, we interviewed some 82 people and we were able to make recommendations as to where the Canadian International Development Agency could intervene in order to reduce poverty.
Now that I am officially finished all of the courses for my MA, I am in Gamboula to begin the final leg, my major research project. However, I have decided to take the week off, catch up with old friends, mourn the loss of Mama Maggie who passed away while I was gone, and just enjoy not being glued to computer for ten hours a day. I have no internet, only a quick chance here and there to send email for which I am thankful.
We arrived last night around 6:00pm and we could see a major thunderstorm on the horizon. I jumped out at Clarisse’s house, as per usual, and went inside for a quick visit. Apparently she and one of the missionaries had been going back and forth over who would feed me on arrival. Clarisse wanted to feed me, but the missionary was expecting me and one other person on arrival. Well, when I stopped in ‘briefly’ to say hi to the family, wouldn’t you know but the rain started to fall and the thunder and lightning was so strong that I was trapped and was ‘forced’ to stay and eat my favourite meal with Clarisse. By the time the rain died down enough to leave, I had eaten my fill and we walked to the missionary's house in time for tea and dessert. We had such a good laugh about it. Of course I wanted to eat with Clarisse and God gave me the perfect excuse to stay. We once again expressed our love for one another with words of thankfulness and amazement that God has kept us close over the last year and that he brought us into sisterhood in the first place. Her family is by no means perfect, nor is mine, but there is a lot of love. A thing of beauty.
I took a grand tour with Roy this morning, looking at all the work that has gone on in the last year. Summer production in the nutrition garden is in full swing and it is very impressive. The winter veggie season has come to an end and they are now in the process of planting many different kinds of beans, corn, peanuts and root crops of various kinds. I am excited to start my research project and to hear what Nadege, Clarisse and others think about the direction the garden could take. Next week we begin in earnest.
As I was walking around the station last night I had this feeling like I never left and that nothing had changed. Of course many things have changed, children have been born, others have died, but life goes on as it always has. I sat on the front lawn of the guesthouse today greeting friends who had come by to say hi. I am blessed with the love shown and I think this is what I miss most when I leave, the closeness of the community here. It is something to cherish.
Despite my initial hesitation, I really enjoyed my time in Uganda. Amongst the many lessons that I learned, I now realize that government officials are only people and I can talk to them just like I do anyone else, with a little extra observation thrown in. I was actually quite mortified to think that I would be spending a few days interviewing people who were the equivalent of a provincial premier and his aides. However, I surprised myself with the ease in which I took this new role, as a consultant, and I am eager to go Bangui to see what officials I can meet within the international aid community. In the end, our ‘mock’ consultancy in Uganda was a good exercise. We went to Kayunga District, we observed, we interviewed some 82 people and we were able to make recommendations as to where the Canadian International Development Agency could intervene in order to reduce poverty.
Now that I am officially finished all of the courses for my MA, I am in Gamboula to begin the final leg, my major research project. However, I have decided to take the week off, catch up with old friends, mourn the loss of Mama Maggie who passed away while I was gone, and just enjoy not being glued to computer for ten hours a day. I have no internet, only a quick chance here and there to send email for which I am thankful.
We arrived last night around 6:00pm and we could see a major thunderstorm on the horizon. I jumped out at Clarisse’s house, as per usual, and went inside for a quick visit. Apparently she and one of the missionaries had been going back and forth over who would feed me on arrival. Clarisse wanted to feed me, but the missionary was expecting me and one other person on arrival. Well, when I stopped in ‘briefly’ to say hi to the family, wouldn’t you know but the rain started to fall and the thunder and lightning was so strong that I was trapped and was ‘forced’ to stay and eat my favourite meal with Clarisse. By the time the rain died down enough to leave, I had eaten my fill and we walked to the missionary's house in time for tea and dessert. We had such a good laugh about it. Of course I wanted to eat with Clarisse and God gave me the perfect excuse to stay. We once again expressed our love for one another with words of thankfulness and amazement that God has kept us close over the last year and that he brought us into sisterhood in the first place. Her family is by no means perfect, nor is mine, but there is a lot of love. A thing of beauty.
I took a grand tour with Roy this morning, looking at all the work that has gone on in the last year. Summer production in the nutrition garden is in full swing and it is very impressive. The winter veggie season has come to an end and they are now in the process of planting many different kinds of beans, corn, peanuts and root crops of various kinds. I am excited to start my research project and to hear what Nadege, Clarisse and others think about the direction the garden could take. Next week we begin in earnest.
As I was walking around the station last night I had this feeling like I never left and that nothing had changed. Of course many things have changed, children have been born, others have died, but life goes on as it always has. I sat on the front lawn of the guesthouse today greeting friends who had come by to say hi. I am blessed with the love shown and I think this is what I miss most when I leave, the closeness of the community here. It is something to cherish.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
A Little Solitude
I am completely surrounded by people. I like people, but it is increasingly difficult to get anything done when your house is full of conversations all day long. I have not written a blog in days owing to the fact that the internet in our house has not been working and we have been in lectures from morning until evening. The lectures have been fantastic. The best of the year. Our lecturers have come from very diverse and interesting backgrounds. The director of the East African Standby Force, the coordinator of the Multi-Country Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration program, the head of the World Food Programme for Uganda and other interesting Ugandans with varied perspectives on development and conflict.
One of the most interesting lecturers is our instructor, Phil Lancaster, who currently resides in Victoria. He has been in some of the most interesting war zones and situations on the continent. One of the gems of the week was the statement that “the DDR challenge is one of massive unemployment”. When rebels give up their arms and prepare to go back to their communities we must look at their return primarily as a problem of unemployment and respond accordingly. Otherwise it is very easy for men and boys to return to arms.
We have also been busy preparing ourselves for our field visit this week. Most teams left this morning due to the distances to be traveled, but our team is not going far. We will be traveling to the District of Kayunga, which is primarily an agricultural district that has been neglected by international assistance (or so we think). We will leave tomorrow afternoon and will spend Monday making courtesy calls to local officials and making contacts in the main city. The rest of the week we will be traveling in pairs, one Mak U student and one Canadian, interviewing people in order to accomplish the task before us.
The aim of the Kayunga District field visit is to assess international cooperation in development and peacebuilding programs/projects and how they align with national development objectives and the Millennium Development Goals in order to identify gaps in assistance.
This will be accomplished by reviewing the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of international programs under the themes of social services, livelihood development, land issues and peacebuilding.
I have been blessed with wonderful teammates, both Canadian and Ugandan, and as I am looking at livelihoods and land conflict I should get my agricultural fix. The area is known for vanilla and passion fruit among other crops and fish, so I have my little seed bags ready for collection.
I have learned a lot this past week, both about development and conflict, as well as about myself. I am still not sure how well suited I am to life in a large city, in as much as I do not naturally enjoy its conveniences. I have been eating my meals at the local open-air market, buying chapatti, avocado and tomato. The last two evenings I went out with classmates and ate at expat restaurants. Though the food was delicious, probably the best Indian food I have ever dined on, I could just as easily eat out once a year as once a month or week as the case may be. My three lovely room mates and I made our way home while the rest of the gang went to visit Kampala’s night club scene.
All but three people from our group are heading out to field sites other than Kampala so in order to keep our suite at the University and have a place to store our belongings, rather than dragging them around the country with us, our place has become storage central. Everyone has agreed to pay a share of the room fee to balance out the costs, so it works out well for everyone. Now that everyone has come and gone I am looking forward to a day of quiet, just me and the room full of mosquitoes at present. I will eventually wander out to find an internet cafe and a bite to eat. Today is my mental day which means no taxis, no people, no fancy dining and no one to look after but myself. Rediscovering the introvert within me has made me realize how much I need this every once in a while.
One of the most interesting lecturers is our instructor, Phil Lancaster, who currently resides in Victoria. He has been in some of the most interesting war zones and situations on the continent. One of the gems of the week was the statement that “the DDR challenge is one of massive unemployment”. When rebels give up their arms and prepare to go back to their communities we must look at their return primarily as a problem of unemployment and respond accordingly. Otherwise it is very easy for men and boys to return to arms.
We have also been busy preparing ourselves for our field visit this week. Most teams left this morning due to the distances to be traveled, but our team is not going far. We will be traveling to the District of Kayunga, which is primarily an agricultural district that has been neglected by international assistance (or so we think). We will leave tomorrow afternoon and will spend Monday making courtesy calls to local officials and making contacts in the main city. The rest of the week we will be traveling in pairs, one Mak U student and one Canadian, interviewing people in order to accomplish the task before us.
The aim of the Kayunga District field visit is to assess international cooperation in development and peacebuilding programs/projects and how they align with national development objectives and the Millennium Development Goals in order to identify gaps in assistance.
This will be accomplished by reviewing the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of international programs under the themes of social services, livelihood development, land issues and peacebuilding.
I have been blessed with wonderful teammates, both Canadian and Ugandan, and as I am looking at livelihoods and land conflict I should get my agricultural fix. The area is known for vanilla and passion fruit among other crops and fish, so I have my little seed bags ready for collection.
I have learned a lot this past week, both about development and conflict, as well as about myself. I am still not sure how well suited I am to life in a large city, in as much as I do not naturally enjoy its conveniences. I have been eating my meals at the local open-air market, buying chapatti, avocado and tomato. The last two evenings I went out with classmates and ate at expat restaurants. Though the food was delicious, probably the best Indian food I have ever dined on, I could just as easily eat out once a year as once a month or week as the case may be. My three lovely room mates and I made our way home while the rest of the gang went to visit Kampala’s night club scene.
All but three people from our group are heading out to field sites other than Kampala so in order to keep our suite at the University and have a place to store our belongings, rather than dragging them around the country with us, our place has become storage central. Everyone has agreed to pay a share of the room fee to balance out the costs, so it works out well for everyone. Now that everyone has come and gone I am looking forward to a day of quiet, just me and the room full of mosquitoes at present. I will eventually wander out to find an internet cafe and a bite to eat. Today is my mental day which means no taxis, no people, no fancy dining and no one to look after but myself. Rediscovering the introvert within me has made me realize how much I need this every once in a while.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Welcome to Makerere
Saturday afternoon I made my way over to Makerere University with the help of Jeff and found my new 'dorm room' for the week. I am staying with three other women from my program in a two room apartment. It is a very functional place with a small kitchen, living area and two rooms with two single beds in each. We also have internet via an ethernet cable so your computer must be plugged into the cable. This posed a small problem for four blogging/facebooking/student researchers so we reached out to our IT hero for help.
Darren, via skype, hurray for Darren and skype, helped me configure my computer into an ad hoc wireless internet server. All that means is that while my computer is plugged into the internet everyone else gets a wireless signal off of me. It was genius for us non-techies and has given us our own little internet cafe. We are thinking of selling the password to our cohort friends who didn't rent rooms with internet...
Yesterday afternoon we went on a walk of town, eventually finding our way to Garden City, no not Victoria, but the mall I visited with Christine last Thursday. I ate falafel for lunch in the food court. It was absolutely ridiculous. The East African experience is so vastly different from West Africa I am boggled how people can make generalisations about the African continent.
We weren't the brightest people choosing to walk in the heat of the day and I did not use enough sunscreen but it isn't the first time. I spent the evening visiting with students from our cohort as they arrived on campus and enjoyed the last hours of freedom before classes and our project here starts.
This morning is the first day of classes and I have that nervous feeling in my stomach. We have heard that the original plans for the next three weeks have been changed so none of us are too sure what to expect.
The past couple of days I have learned that foreign countries with foreign languages are definitely more fun than countries that speak English. I find that it is easier to connect with people in markets and on the street when you are speaking a different language. It makes the whole experience more challenging too. I am a borderline extrovert. Having spent two days in an estrogen packed apartment I am feeling the need for a little me space but again, this is part of the challenge.
Darren is my hero!
Darren, via skype, hurray for Darren and skype, helped me configure my computer into an ad hoc wireless internet server. All that means is that while my computer is plugged into the internet everyone else gets a wireless signal off of me. It was genius for us non-techies and has given us our own little internet cafe. We are thinking of selling the password to our cohort friends who didn't rent rooms with internet...
Yesterday afternoon we went on a walk of town, eventually finding our way to Garden City, no not Victoria, but the mall I visited with Christine last Thursday. I ate falafel for lunch in the food court. It was absolutely ridiculous. The East African experience is so vastly different from West Africa I am boggled how people can make generalisations about the African continent.
We weren't the brightest people choosing to walk in the heat of the day and I did not use enough sunscreen but it isn't the first time. I spent the evening visiting with students from our cohort as they arrived on campus and enjoyed the last hours of freedom before classes and our project here starts.
This morning is the first day of classes and I have that nervous feeling in my stomach. We have heard that the original plans for the next three weeks have been changed so none of us are too sure what to expect.
The past couple of days I have learned that foreign countries with foreign languages are definitely more fun than countries that speak English. I find that it is easier to connect with people in markets and on the street when you are speaking a different language. It makes the whole experience more challenging too. I am a borderline extrovert. Having spent two days in an estrogen packed apartment I am feeling the need for a little me space but again, this is part of the challenge.
Darren is my hero!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Kampala
It is a breezy overcast morning here in Kampala, Uganda and rainy season seems to have officially kicked off. I arrived Wednesday after a long three days of airports, plane rides and layovers and have been staying in the home of Jeff and Christine, NSI missionaries here in Kampala.
I was immediately struck by the orderliness of Kampala compared to Yaoundé and how similar Kampala is to Nairobi, though Nairobi has much more of the international city feel with high rises and such. I went shopping with Christine Thursday and was able to access a bank machine, buy a SIM card for my phone and purchase groceries and very reasonable prices. Uganda has a very productive dairy and produces delicious yogurt and milk. I certainly won’t go hungry while I am here. Food here has a heavy East Indian influence owing to their large population in the country, especially before the Amin era. This may also help to explain the over abundance of Jackfruit trees. Just as common as mango trees, every plot and wild space has multiple jackfruit trees growing and the fruits can be found for sale all over the place. I have yet to try one but I am told they are quite low in latex. This is definitely on my list of things to do. I will also have to pocket some seeds for Roy.
The expatriate community is very large here compared to CAR (about 3500) though relatively small compared to Kenya (about 30,000). I attended a bible study Wednesday night with expats who are involved in missions, business and even security operations in Somalia. There is instant community here though I think this would also make it difficult to meet and make friends with Ugandans depending on the job you do here. Kampala has all the perks of the US including dinner parties,pilates classes, golf and coffee shops. It is a completely different lifestyle than that of our little community in CAR.
Living in a large city like Kampala or Nairobi as a development worker, missionary, business person, etc, is certainly a lifestyle choice. It is expensive but less so than London or New York and the climate is much better! All of the houses are gated in with guard dogs and razor wire and I feel trapped behind walls that don’t let you see out or others see in but I suppose this is the point really. My first reaction is that I could live in a place such as this though it wouldn’t be my preference and I think I would enjoy it about as much as I would enjoy living in Toronto or Dallas or LA, which isn’t very much. I am definitely more comfortable and at home in small towns, where things are more open, people come and go and you can walk to the stores and markets. I suppose any of the towns in CAR would serve me well, even perhaps Bangui. What I have discovered about myself n these few days so far is that I would love to visit the big city on occasion, but I am definitely cut out for more rural situations. I think this also satisfies my desire to learn and rely on a second language and to be challenged to find kindred spirits among the local people (which can be a real challenge).
I am so thankful that there are metropolitan-like people,such as Jeff and Christine, who choose to live and enjoy city life in places like Kampala. They and their two boys have a lovely and welcoming home. Christine raises chickens which she slaughters and sells to the expat community and is just starting to raise meat rabbits as well. We need her to come to Gamboula so we can raise our own big fat meat birds as well!
I am heading over to Makerere University today to settle into the guest house and do some pre-reading for the start of classes on Monday. I am very nervous about this residency, as nervous as I was on the first day of classes. We are undertaking a very big project during our three weeks (details to come) and I feel unprepared and totally out of my comfort zone. I suppose it wouldn't be a learning exercise if I knew exactly what I was I doing though, so I guess I am in the right place.
I was immediately struck by the orderliness of Kampala compared to Yaoundé and how similar Kampala is to Nairobi, though Nairobi has much more of the international city feel with high rises and such. I went shopping with Christine Thursday and was able to access a bank machine, buy a SIM card for my phone and purchase groceries and very reasonable prices. Uganda has a very productive dairy and produces delicious yogurt and milk. I certainly won’t go hungry while I am here. Food here has a heavy East Indian influence owing to their large population in the country, especially before the Amin era. This may also help to explain the over abundance of Jackfruit trees. Just as common as mango trees, every plot and wild space has multiple jackfruit trees growing and the fruits can be found for sale all over the place. I have yet to try one but I am told they are quite low in latex. This is definitely on my list of things to do. I will also have to pocket some seeds for Roy.
The expatriate community is very large here compared to CAR (about 3500) though relatively small compared to Kenya (about 30,000). I attended a bible study Wednesday night with expats who are involved in missions, business and even security operations in Somalia. There is instant community here though I think this would also make it difficult to meet and make friends with Ugandans depending on the job you do here. Kampala has all the perks of the US including dinner parties,pilates classes, golf and coffee shops. It is a completely different lifestyle than that of our little community in CAR.
Living in a large city like Kampala or Nairobi as a development worker, missionary, business person, etc, is certainly a lifestyle choice. It is expensive but less so than London or New York and the climate is much better! All of the houses are gated in with guard dogs and razor wire and I feel trapped behind walls that don’t let you see out or others see in but I suppose this is the point really. My first reaction is that I could live in a place such as this though it wouldn’t be my preference and I think I would enjoy it about as much as I would enjoy living in Toronto or Dallas or LA, which isn’t very much. I am definitely more comfortable and at home in small towns, where things are more open, people come and go and you can walk to the stores and markets. I suppose any of the towns in CAR would serve me well, even perhaps Bangui. What I have discovered about myself n these few days so far is that I would love to visit the big city on occasion, but I am definitely cut out for more rural situations. I think this also satisfies my desire to learn and rely on a second language and to be challenged to find kindred spirits among the local people (which can be a real challenge).
I am so thankful that there are metropolitan-like people,such as Jeff and Christine, who choose to live and enjoy city life in places like Kampala. They and their two boys have a lovely and welcoming home. Christine raises chickens which she slaughters and sells to the expat community and is just starting to raise meat rabbits as well. We need her to come to Gamboula so we can raise our own big fat meat birds as well!
I am heading over to Makerere University today to settle into the guest house and do some pre-reading for the start of classes on Monday. I am very nervous about this residency, as nervous as I was on the first day of classes. We are undertaking a very big project during our three weeks (details to come) and I feel unprepared and totally out of my comfort zone. I suppose it wouldn't be a learning exercise if I knew exactly what I was I doing though, so I guess I am in the right place.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Au Revoir
I am off to the airport in ten minutes. My first stop (after several connecting stops) is Kampala, Uganda on Wednesday. I will be attending my last class with RRU along with 19 classmates. We will be assessing Uganda's progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. On May 8 I will fly to Gamboula and be reunited with my friends and family. I will stay until the end of June and will be looking at the progress of the nutrition garden, helping launch the new Agriculture Resource Centre and collecting data for my thesis project.
Along the way I WILL be blogging so stay tuned to hear about my "spoiled for normal" life. (Spoiled for Normal is life lived outside the box, in case you were wondering).
Think about Darren when I am gone. Write him, phone him, feed him. I will miss him as always.
Angela
Along the way I WILL be blogging so stay tuned to hear about my "spoiled for normal" life. (Spoiled for Normal is life lived outside the box, in case you were wondering).
Think about Darren when I am gone. Write him, phone him, feed him. I will miss him as always.
Angela
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Beauty of CAR
Last summer I received an e-mail from a gentleman in Poland. After reading our blog he wrote about his desire to travel there. He had a keen interest in the CAR and had a lot of questions about traveling logistics and safety. This spring, after many e-mails back and forth, he wrote to say that he had had a wonderful time in CAR and can see why the people and place is firmly rooted in our hearts. While I may have a knack for writing, my new Polish friend has the wonderful gift of photography. I just viewed his on-line gallery of photos and was compelled to share the link with you. It is well worth the 10 or 15 minutes it takes to view them all.
He travelled all the same paths we have and I recognize many of the Ba'aka women in his pictures from Bayanga. His route from Kentzou to Gamboula (our home town) up to Berberati, through Nola and on to Bayanga is one that we are very familiar with and it brought a smile to my face to see how other people view the places that I love.
You can find his gallery at: http://joasia.blogs.com/photos/republika_srodkowej_afryk/index.html
Enjoy the adventure.
He travelled all the same paths we have and I recognize many of the Ba'aka women in his pictures from Bayanga. His route from Kentzou to Gamboula (our home town) up to Berberati, through Nola and on to Bayanga is one that we are very familiar with and it brought a smile to my face to see how other people view the places that I love.
You can find his gallery at: http://joasia.blogs.com/photos/republika_srodkowej_afryk/index.html
Enjoy the adventure.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
The Global Village
I have been doing a tremendous amount of reading for my courses and wanted to share an interesting article with you.
But first...a quick update. I have purchased my tickets and will be leaving for Uganda April 13. I will be spending three weeks in Uganda participating in a consulting exercise which is the capstone/final project of my Masters degree. Following Uganda I will be flying across the Continent to Cameroon where I will hopefully meet up with Darren. We will make our way to CAR where I plan on conducting my thesis research on the nutrition garden. Darren will stay for three weeks and I will stay until the end of June. I have tons to do before then and just sent visa application number one away today. I am feeling swamped and always have that feeling like I should be reading something.
So, the following story has been copied from the UN Millennium Development Goals document "Freedom from Want" found at http://www.un.org/millennium/sg/report/ch2.pdf
I am sure you have heard similar stories in the past. This one distills the world's six billion people to one thousand and gives you a glimpse of how conflict arises out of poverty and as a result of poverty. I hope it helps you in understanding how conflict and food security are linked and why I, as an agriculturalist, am studying human security and peacebuilding.
The village has suffered a growing number of weather-related natural disasters in recent years, including unexpected and severe storms, as well as sudden swings from floods to droughts, while the average temperature is perceptibly warmer. More and more evidence suggests that there is a connection between these two trends, and that warming is related to the kind of fuel, and the quantities of it, that the people and businesses are using. Carbon emissions, the major cause of warming, have quadrupled in the last 50 years. The village’s water table is falling precipitously, and the livelihood of one sixth of the inhabitants is threatened by soil degradation in the surrounding countryside.
But first...a quick update. I have purchased my tickets and will be leaving for Uganda April 13. I will be spending three weeks in Uganda participating in a consulting exercise which is the capstone/final project of my Masters degree. Following Uganda I will be flying across the Continent to Cameroon where I will hopefully meet up with Darren. We will make our way to CAR where I plan on conducting my thesis research on the nutrition garden. Darren will stay for three weeks and I will stay until the end of June. I have tons to do before then and just sent visa application number one away today. I am feeling swamped and always have that feeling like I should be reading something.
So, the following story has been copied from the UN Millennium Development Goals document "Freedom from Want" found at http://www.un.org/millennium/sg/report/ch2.pdf
I am sure you have heard similar stories in the past. This one distills the world's six billion people to one thousand and gives you a glimpse of how conflict arises out of poverty and as a result of poverty. I hope it helps you in understanding how conflict and food security are linked and why I, as an agriculturalist, am studying human security and peacebuilding.
"Some 150 of the inhabitants live in an affluent area of the village, about 780 in poorer districts. Another 70 or so live in a neighbourhood that is in transition. The average income per person is $6,000 a year, and there are more middle income families than in the past. But just 200 people dispose of 86 per cent of all the wealth, while nearly half of the villagers are eking out an existence on less than $2 per day. Men outnumber women by a small margin, but women make up a majority of those who live in poverty. Adult literacy has been increasing. Still, some 220 villagers— two thirds of them women—are illiterate. Of the 390 inhabitants under 20 years of age, three fourths live in the poorer districts, and many are looking desperately for jobs that do not exist. Fewer than 60 people own a computer and only 24 have access to the Internet. More than half have never made or received a telephone call.
Life expectancy in the affluent district is nearly 78 years, in the poorer areas 64 years—and in the very poorest neighbourhoods a mere 52 years. Each marks an improvement over previous generations, but why do the poorest lag so far behind? Because in their neighbourhoods there is a far higher incidence of infectious diseases and malnutrition, combined with an acute lack of access to safe water, sanitation, health care, adequate housing, education and work. There is no predictable way to keep the peace in this village. Some districts are relatively safe while others are wracked by organized violence.The village has suffered a growing number of weather-related natural disasters in recent years, including unexpected and severe storms, as well as sudden swings from floods to droughts, while the average temperature is perceptibly warmer. More and more evidence suggests that there is a connection between these two trends, and that warming is related to the kind of fuel, and the quantities of it, that the people and businesses are using. Carbon emissions, the major cause of warming, have quadrupled in the last 50 years. The village’s water table is falling precipitously, and the livelihood of one sixth of the inhabitants is threatened by soil degradation in the surrounding countryside.
Who among us would not wonder how long a village in this state can survive without taking steps to ensure that all its inhabitants can live free from hunger and safe from violence, drinking clean water, breathing clean air, and knowing that their children will have real chances in life? That is the question we have to face in our real world of 6 billion inhabitants."
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