2nd Week - Mon/Tues..

Tuesday
Terrible nights sleep so was feeling a bit jaded this morning.  Field trip planned today so was looking forward to this.  Was informed we'd be leaving around 11 - African time of course so it was after 12 before we set off. Spent the morning with Robert doing some more stuff on the bank & cash reconciliations.  I don think Robert has fully understood what we're trying to achieve and so we can do some full circles a few times before things click but we're working together well and he is very responsive even if distracted by many other issues, both in and out of work.

The field trip was in Lamule which was a village around 12km away and it was to conduct a group closure for a group of 8 child mothers.  We collected 3 of the group members on our way to Lamule.  The women had been brought together around a year ago and provided with a microloan scheme. Basically, the groups gets given a sum of money which is then distributed equally to each member on loan. They then use this money on income generating activities (usually selling produce in local markets) in order to raise enough money to repay the loan plus a minimum of 10% interest which is paid back into the group fund at the end of the month.  They can keep any excess over 10% or pay this back into the bank as further savings.The more money they pay in at the of end of each month, the greater the next month's advance can be.  The group operates on a formal basis with a constitution, chairperson, secretary etc. and agreed signatories to the main account.  The group receives support from KICWA during a 12 month period at the end of which the group is 'closed' and the money each person has made in total distributed.  The aim is for the group to then continue to run as a co-operative. 

The process of calculating and distributing the money was a long one!  There was much debate, calculation and re-calculation before final amounts were agreed and distributed.  It was actually a complicated process to manage which, for women that had received virtually no education, was quite impressive.  They had all done really well - from an initial investment of around $25, one woman had made $100.   Other groups have been known to make even more so it seem to work really well overall - only occasionally do some members fail to make money and this is largely due to illness or other family issues.  It's really important that child mothers are able to earn a living - it can be very difficult for them to be accepted back into their communities for a number of reasons and with extra mouths to feed and no means of supporting themselves they can be deemed a burden.  By earning a living, they are seen to be contributing and this makes their acceptance easier.

We arrived at Lamule around 1230 and left at 430 by which time I had virtually melted!  The proceedings were all done under cover so that other people in the village weren't aware that money was being discussed.  But it was so hot in the building which had a corrugated tin roof and just radiated from above.  I had to step out several times to get some relief from the heat - much to the amusement and delight of the children who were outside. Thankfully, a storm cooled things off later in the afternoon.  By the end of it though, I was definitely suffering a bit and had a headache - I was glad to get back to the guesthouse where I slept for a bit.   We drove back to Lamule and gave a lift back to two of the women who jumped in the back together with a live duck they collected in the village!!

Most of the women don't speak English and so proceedings are all conducted in Luo which makes it a bit difficult for me to keep up and also to communicate - the project staff help with translation from time to time but it's not possible to do this continuously.  The women are very reserved compared with people generally that I've met and only occasional eye contact is made.  Despite the photos I've posted where they look quite cheerful, there is also an extreme sadness in their eyes which is palpable.  The children in the photos are children born since returning from captivity - a good sign since it means that they have new husbands or co-habitees and have been accepted within their communities.  Many of the children they had in captivity are now of school age.


Whilst I was taking some air outside, had further conversations with Godfrey about the political situation in Uganda.  It really is very complicated and what is very apparent is the massive divide between the south and the north of Uganda and a hugely messed up situation involving the LRA, the government of Uganda and Sudan which clearly remains an unstable situation.  There are elections in Uganda during February next year but there is a lot cynicism regards the likely outcome.  During our conversatio, we were interrupted by a man from the village.  Godfrey introduced us and he said that he had a son who was called Steve.  After many shaking of hands, he said asked me what tribe I was from in the UK - I was stumped!  He said that as of now, I could claim his village as my tribe and that he would seek a wife for me if I wished!


Monday
Lovely morning walking into the office.  Still no power - since Saturday afternoon.  All the staff were sitting outside the office when I arrived because there was also a problem with the generator - so we all sat together for about half an hour or so whilst they fixed it.  Good chance to just chat about the weekend and what people got up to.  Generally, time was spent with families and of course,  church on Sunday - all are Christians, mostly Catholic.  Winnie went back to her village to spend time with her parents so had a long journey.  I was asked if I went to church and when I said that I didn't either believe or disbelieve in God, they laughed in an amazed, shocked kind of way!  They said that I need to visit one of their churches and perhaps I will change my mind.  They also said that there were people who still had traditional beliefs - rituals and witchcraft etc. and I should really go to a local ceremony.   Though most felt somewhat scared of these ceremonies, they still felt it was important to preserve as it was an important part of their heritage.  I think I may pass on the ritual...

Been speaking more and more with Godfrey, one of the Programme Assistants.  Really intelligent and knowledgeable guy that is happy to speak about most subjects.  He keeps asking me questions in Luo, the language spoken and looks very disapprovingly when I don't understand him.  I have asked whether he'll sit down with me and teach me some words but it hasn't happened yet.  I've found some basic phrases on google so I may surprise him soon with a few words.  We were speaking about marriage, co-habitation (not unusual for people to do this before getting married, and have children),contraception and HIV.  HIV is a serious problem as in most African countries but his view was that prevention methods are now beginning to be taken seriously and there is more openness about being tested, with less stigmatisation generally.  I asked whether there was a higher incidence of HIV amongst formerly abducted child soldiers and child mothers, for obvious reasons of sexual exploitation being used as a weapon during the war.  I was surprised when he said no but that HIV was a big issue because of the situation in the IDP camps where he said that "immorality" and sexual abuse was rife.  Apparently, parents could not leave their daughters alone during the day because abuse was so common.

The generator got fixed and we all went to our workstations.  Robert didn't come in during the morning and this was because some of his cattle had been stolen and so he was busy with the police trying to sort things out.  He came in a lunchtime and was quite stressed.   Every Monday, the staff get together to talk about the coming week and to discuss issues.  Prayers are said before and at the end of the meeting and then we kick off with each person evaluating how they are.  So, for example one person said "I have had a few family issues and because of this I am only 60% today" etc.  I'd had a terrible night's sleep because of the heat and mosquitoes and was feeling 40% but thought that was a bit overly negative (surprise, surprise!) and so publicised that I was 60%!  The meeting was conducted in a very formal but ever so polite and gentle fashion.  Quite a lot was covered actually and it's a good way to start the week.

Had an hour with Christopher, the Programme Manager, just to go through my assessment so far go through some further questions and my plans for the week, by which time is was lunch so walked into town to have rice and beans at Acholi Pride (am getting a bit sick of it now I have to admit but there is little else at lunch).  Photo is the walk from the office into town - on my way back two huge Iguanas jumped out of the grass ran across in front of me and into the grass the other side!  I was a bit surprised!

Finally, Robert got to sit at his desk at around 230pm.  We then had IT problems again with the software!  Thankfully, I remembered what to do from before and got it going again.  I raised the issue of the bank and cash reconciliations again and explained that these were key controls that were very important to implement so we needed to spend time addressing these.  I had thought about his manual system and had an idea of how to restructure this so cash and bank elements were separated.  However, in order to reconcile both we needed to revert to the audited balances as of 31 Dec 09 and then start from there - no mean task and my head was beginning to spin.  So, left this so that I could give it more thought and then went back to Qbooks training, focusing on supplier invoices and payments.  Robert picked this up well and so I left him to enter remaining invoices.

A quiet evening at the guesthouse - sat with the Danish woman, Ulla, who was there the previous week.  She'd come back to do some filming for a Ugandan TV programme.  Very interesting listening to her recount experiences in virtually every country that's had a humanitarian disaster during the last 25 years - she has seen just about everything.  She's not at all sentimental though.

Was very tired and went to bed around 1030 - the power was back that evening so a more bearable night with the fan going.  Mosquitoes not quite so bad either.