Kyabugimbi Bushenyi Nyemyerande Kitwe: What a mouthful
There's no way to put this nicely: Africa is quite poor. And rural Uganda is probably one of the poorest areas of one of the poorest countries in all of Africa. I spent a short 4 days staying in a village called Kyabugimbi which is located in the rural district of Bushenyi, about 2 hours west of Mbarara. The village is 40 minutes from the main highway up a narrow dirt road which winds its way through the beautiful hills and valleys. This is a land where no kid wears shoes and walks 5+ km to school daily. This is a land where younger children who recently stopped breast feeding have swollen bellies from malnutrition as their bodies transition to a diet of cooked bananas. This is a land where everyone lives in mud huts and grows their own food, and anything they don't eat they try to sell at the local markets. This is a land without cars, without electricity, without indoor plumbing, without internet, computers or even cell phones (while cell phones seem to be ubiquitous in Mbarara and Kinoni). This place made Mbarara look like a modern metropolis full of modern conveniences like pavement and metal. Despite the poverty, it cannot be overstated how gorgeous the country is. It is full of lush green valleys and hills filled with banana plantations, fields of cassava, and dotted with mud huts and small villages. The whole landscape is criss-crossed with footpaths and trails linking houses. It was those footpaths that I became acquainted with over four days as I walked between 5 and 10 kilometres each day, conducting surveys with local families in the nearby villages of Nyemyerande and Kitwe.
There was very little English in these poor, rural locales and so I had been joined by Jane, the field coordinator for the Ainembabazi Children's Project (ACP). She had grown up in a nearby village but had managed to finish high school and attend college and now acted as my translator for the week in conducting the surveys. My teaching experience in Kinoni had little to do with ACP's direct work although the organization does have connections with the school. ACP's main program is out in Bushenyi district, working with kids and their families to improve the standard of living in the communities. About 30 kids in the villages are involved with the program and ACP has donated various bits of infrastructure to the local schools such as water tanks, libraries and teachers' living quarters. The organization has now just begun a pilot project giving micro-finance loans to the students' guardians in an effort to promote business and economic growth in the community. The pilot project currently involves just 6 guardians.
My task here was two-fold: first, I was conducting a survey for about 15 of the students, gathering basic information and ensuring they were maintaining their grades. The second part of the assignment was to conduct another survey for the guardians; for those 6 guardians who had received a loan, I was to determine how they used the money and ask questions about whether the loan worked to improve their financial situation; for those other guardians who were not yet part of the loan program, we were to give a similar survey to see if they needed or wanted such a loan.
It was a very interesting experience in so many ways. First, I got to see just how poor the rural education system is. Almost all the kids were failing their classes despite being first, second or third in their class. Second, I got to ask very pointed questions about the financial status of these poor families. Because of the nature of the survey, I ended up asking somewhat awkward questions that I would never have asked otherwise for fear of being rude or culturally insensitive. This included questions like: "do you struggle to pay for school fees?" or "is there enough food at home to feed your family?"
I think this week really highlighted some of the ideas I had been thinking about throughout my volunteer experience with regards to inequality and development. I've summarized these into 4 "lessons" I've learned through a variety of experiences.
As a disclaimer let me say that when I was in Nyemyerande or Kitwe I felt that the cultural gulf between me and these rural Ugandans was just too great. I could not fathom their mindset or worldview. I could only speculate about their wants and desires and hopes and dreams. I couldn't even begin to empathize with them because I felt as though I couldn't put myself in their shoes. Partly because they don't even have shoes.
Lesson #1: It's not about material possessions
This is something I'm reminded of time and time again when I travel. Material possessions are not a very good indicator of happiness or satisfaction. I find that we (as in Western foreigners) tend to place a disproportionate focus on material goods, money and the lack thereof. We see them in their mud huts without any modern conveniences and feel some sort of misguided sympathy for them that they don't have such things. As I walked around the villages, visiting these smiling and warm families, I often found myself thinking not why they had so little but why we have so much. They get by fine with a small hut, with a shared bed and a charcoal stove. They get by fine without computers or cars or microwaves or junk food or Walmarts or all this other clutter in our lives that we use to distract ourselves and make our lives maximally efficient so we can accomplish as much as possible all the time. They don't need any of it to survive because they have been surviving as they are for hundreds of years.
Lesson #2: Canada is better
It may not be about material possessions but it is quite clear that Canada has superior infrastructure. Canada is objectively better than Uganda. It might seem harsh or insensitive but it's true. Uganda is a wonderful place and there are pros and cons to the different cultures and lifestyles but Canada's pros outweigh Uganda's considerably. This is evidenced by the fact that Canada takes in thousands of immigrants every year. I have had teachers, students, taxi drivers and random strangers here ask if I can take them to Canada. I have had people ask how they go to Canada or if I can arrange something with the Canadian government to take them there. They are a happy people but it's not just me who thinks Canada is better, they seem to also agree. And, material possessions aside, Canada has wonderful things like: public healthcare, an awesome education system, well-stocked fridges, stores full of endless brands of things as mundane as crackers, consistent electricity, indoor plumbing, a strong currency, a wealth of natural resources, curb-side garbage and recycling collection, smooth roads, and a thousand other things which can safely be said to be much better than the alternatives present in Uganda.
The discrepancy between material possessions does not concern me. The discrepancy in infrastructure, healthcare and education is the most surprising. Canada is an amazing place to live and it is a strange act of fate that, by no merit of my own, I was born in a place such as this. But, like with material possessions, the norm is to have such things as indoor plumbing and smooth roads. How many times have I complained about the pot-holed roads in Edmonton? We, in Canada, EXPECT smooth roads. We EXPECT quick healthcare service. We EXPECT to have indoor plumbing. No home builder would build a house with squat toilets because no one would buy the house. These higher expectations can make us look like huge snobs relative to Ugandans. I feel like a recent Ugandan immigrant to Canada would be amazed and astounded by every piece of infrastructure that we take for granted. The Ugandans have an amazing ability to put up with terrible circumstances largely because they don't know any different since they have spent their whole lives putting up with the corruption, inefficiencies and the long bumpy road to Kinoni. Infrastructure, education and healthcare are the backbone of development and perhaps on these issues, Ugandans would do well to be brought up to Canadian standards so that they to expect to be healthy, educated and with access to roads, water and electricity.
It is in this regard that I feel most saddened for the people. Time after time on the survey, the students mentioned that they did not have enough food at home. Time after time on the survey, the guardians told us they struggled to afford school fees or textbooks. They are lacking in material possessions and also in necessities. But they are quite a happy people. I spoke to Jane about it and she basically said that the vast majority of Ugandans are happy with their place in the world. They are extremely thankful for what they have. They never complain. They have a love for life and a wonderful communal culture. They chat happily with strangers. They are smiley and energetic and I don't know if I should feel sympathy for them. Sympathy spurs aid but they are fine in many ways on their own. They are a capable people that can build their own way and development aid often seems like meddling. It's a conflicting feeling that I have. They don't need our pity but it also seems clear that our infrastructure is superior.
Lesson #3: Pave it and they will come
Despite those conflicting feelings, I will say a few things I've learned about development here.
Our first weekend in Uganda was mine and Marya's 1st wedding anniversary and we decided to celebrate by traveling to the beautiful Lake Bunyonyi about 2 hours southwest of Mbarara. We stayed in a nicer hotel which met our expectations and standards as Canadians. Indoor plumbing, electricity, wifi, and a beautiful view of the lake and surrounding countryside. We felt a bit like snobs especially after everything I just said regarding infrastructure and materialism. It was here that we met a lovely British couple who lived in nearby Kabale and were also staying at the Birdnest Hotel. The husband was the lead engineer for the engineering firm that had been contracted to pave the road from Kabale to Mbarara (which included the horrible stretch to Kinoni). This road upgrading project is part of a massive multi-government project to make a continuous highway from Mombasa, Kenya to Burundi (around 2000 km of road). It has funding from both the EU and China.
Roads bring economic development. They spur the transfer of goods, ideas and resources. They make the countryside safer by enabling faster communication and response of police or military. A good road network is the key to developing a country economically. This British engineer spoke about the lawlessness of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) because of a lack of interconnected road networks. Southwestern Uganda used to be in similar shape with banditry and disappearances being widespread. But since the government began upgrading, paving and building roads, the country has become much safer. Trade has also increased both within the country and via international trucking. A new road means a new gas station which means a new convenience store and a new hotel for stopovers and it all snowballs into an overall bigger and healthier economy.
The conversation with the engineer was brief, but the more I thought about it the more I realized how brilliant road-building is as a form of development aid. It's a form of aid that I feel like most people don't automatically think of because we are focused on healthcare and education as per below.
Lesson #4: Good healthcare needs fewer babies
Every student I visited in Bushenyi had at least 5 siblings. The most I saw had 9. The least I saw had only 1 but that was because the two parents had died of AIDS before they could produce more children. These people now have access to a clinic in Kyabugimbi which can provide medication and treatment. They also now have one of the best hospitals in the country only a few hours away in Mbarara. As the healthcare system slowly lumbers toward a higher standard, the education system must follow. If people are educated, they tend to have fewer children. Currently, people are still producing many children, expecting some to die due to diseases which are now treatable. Furthermore, they are still producing children despite the fact that children are now a financial liability because of school fees. Before, kids could be used to help in the fields and markets, and some families still opt to have their kids work rather than pay for them to be educated. Uganda is already one of the fastest growing populations in the world and it will only get more pronounced if the infant mortality keeps dropping while the birth rate remains the same.
On the Thursday before we left Mbarara, we invited the medical residents over for dinner. These were the residents which Marya, Chris and Joel worked with most closely during their time at the hospital. Ishaq, one of the particularly chatty residents with a shockingly deep voice, began talking about the state of Ugandan healthcare and education. The education system is certainly lagging considerably behind the healthcare system in terms of attaining a Canadian standard. The schools are awful, overcrowded, and expensive. The teachers are underpaid and often lazy. The gap in quality of education is also very apparent between a city school and a rural school. The schools out in Nyemyerande and Kitwe were in rough shape. The teachers often left early and simply didn't teach their afternoon classes. Most teachers spoke little English despite the governmental requirement to instruct classes in that language. The buildings were literally crumbling to the ground. The textbooks were in tatters. Of all the students I interviewed, all were failing except one exceptionally bright girl named Rinah who managed to get high 80s in most subjects except, surprise, English.
I think the reason for the lag in educational quality when compared to health is because investment in education is very slow and intangible. It is very difficult to measure the efficacy of an investment in education. And, because of this, a potential donor may opt for a more tangible place to give money. With healthcare, a donor can give a hospital a new piece of shiny medical equipment that does a specific task that can save lives immediately. But with education, so much of the quality is determined by the teachers themselves rather than the supplies. There's no point in donating more chalk and desks if the teacher leaves halfway through the day. There's no point in donating English textbooks and new library buildings if the teacher isn't proficient enough in English to instruct the students. I think this is the biggest challenge facing Ugandan education. It's not a lack of supplies or resources but rather a lack of good, motivated teachers. Just this month, the government announced a 25% pay increase for teachers countrywide. That will help teachers be able to work more at teaching rather than holding down a second job to generate extra income. But what they really need is stricter requirements for teaching as well as bigger incentives to work in rural schools. Some of the teachers at the rural schools hadn't even finished high school themselves, and they were already teaching primary school.
Uganda has the goal of mandatory public primary education. They're far from that goal but one of the big things I've learnt about "development" is that it is not a task for the impatient. These things will take years and years and there is no formula for success.
And so, with that, we have finished our segment in Mbarara. It was a wonderful experience and so many people have asked Marya and I when we are coming back. For them it is "when", for us it is "if". It would certainly be nice to come back, but these opportunities don't come up very often. Many people here don't seem to realize how far away Canada is nor do they realize how expensive it is and how rare it is that people in Canada have months off at a time.
It has been good. All good things must come to an end. Now we move into the travelling phase of the trip with plans to first hit Rwanda for a week before flying to Tanzania to tackle Kilimanjaro.
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