Hope and dreams in Banda slum - by John

A trip this morning to Banda made quite an impact on me. It was part of my series of trips into the communities to ask lots of questions and find out what their priorities are and what they want training in. Although I've got bags of ideas, I need them to tell me what they feel is important - at the moment anything to do with food growing, health and small business help is a winner.

See those containers next to the homes? Full of petrol!

After talking to several mamas <'mothers' in English> I got a real sense that each had a fairly well thought out dream for their lives, and some even a thorough business plan! I shouldn't be surprised as I'm a strong believer in the power and importance of dreams in our lives, I did my degree dissertation on the power of 'envisioning' a utopian future for our lives and society. I even put some stuff about dreams in our leaflet for coming to Uganda. But when you speak to people about how they want to sell charcoal at such-and-such a profit so that they can invest in a piece of land with goats and cows to farm and provide for their children it's really humbling. It's also hard not to act like a bank and offer to provide the capital they need right there and then, but more on that in another blog to come.

I think it reminded me of the importance of having vision in our own lives so that we go somewhere. Ironically, the word utopia is a play on words, meaning 'the nowhere place'. In other words, 'why dream of a perfect world, you know it won't happen.' But that is part of the point, it will only start to happen as we dream and have hope where there seems to be very little. I want to help these mamas kindle their dreams, and be careful not to fan too much expectation on them to begin with, but to help keep their dreams going and growing.

As I was thinking this walking around Banda, (yes, I do get myself into deep mode at times), an unexpected event happened that took me straight back to the here and now. A group of men, many holding gnarly sticks, ran angrily through where we were standing shouting and pointing into the distance. I'd heard of this happening - it was mob rule. They were after a man who had cheated and stolen money from them and they were getting fed up with it, so they took it into their own hands to finish him off, and yes, I do mean finish him off. The only hope for him was that someone had called the police. I was fully expecting to half watch this man being bludgeoned to death and was told there was nothing we could do as they were set on punishing him and people who interfere get the same.

Thankfully the police intervened.

It was all over so quickly. Mercifully, a policeman did come, and the mob strangely gave in to him straight away; perhaps the AK47 helped. The man was taken away to the station and it was over. Except that it wasn't. As we made our way over to the street, the mob was advancing again, now looking for the man's accomplices along with the police. The rest of the story? I don't know. They were angry and as I took this shot, they threatened me, so we thought it best to leave them to it.

What has this to do with the first half of this post? Well, after talking to my friends Bumba and Soloman, I learnt that this 20 something had been beaten to within an inch of his life many, many times before. Soloman had shared about the love of God with him several times, but he wasn't interested. This man had no dream, no hope. He knows at some point his nine lives will run out and the mob will get their justice. His only dreams are immediate; stealing and cheating people out of their money, despite the dire consequences. And although he fulfills his short-term dream time after time, he'll always come back for more until it's too late. But there is still hope for him yet.

So, what to make of all this? I'm not wholly sure. But I know that the power of what we dwell on in our minds, and dream about, has profound consequences. It has galvanised my intention to do my best to help people have a hope and to take steps towards their dreams. 

Let's see what happens. 

I'll also let you know what the end to the mob story was as soon as I can find out - I don't want to leave you in suspense...

*please leave a response using the boxes below :~)

Getting into life in Uganda - by Sue

We've been here now for nearly three weeks and are feeling surprisingly at home. I've thrown myself into setting up home and helping the girls adjust to life here. I thought I may share some of the more minor details and differences of our life here, before I become so accustomed to them that they seem normal!

Our house here is lovely, a 2 bed bungalow with veranda, tiled floors, shower room, small but adequate kitchen, and a great view. We have finally finished unpacking and bought the things we need and our house definitely feels like home now. I'm getting used to the frequent power cuts, lack of water in the kitchen tap and no washing machine! And I am continually reminded of our blessings as I watch families living all around this area, walking to fetch water, sometimes children as young as two or three embarking on this job.

I love the walk to the local market stalls. Along a little path, goats often standing in our way, chickens pecking around, locals collecting water, men chopping down banana leaves with machetes and sometimes cows or other animals being led along. As we walk past some small settlements, children wave shouting 'bye, bye' or 'muzungu' which means white person! The women will be bent over a bowl washing clothes or dishes or sat by a cooking pot.

What stands out above all else is the friendliness of everyone you pass. The little stalls are all along the road, some with only a handful of veg and some with a lot. I fill my bag from various stalls with potatoes, avocados, tomatoes, buga (red leafy veg like spinach), mangos, a pineapple, green pepper, onions, garlic and am still likely to come home with change from the equivalent of £2. Mayah and Ava happily walk or skip along with me, waving to locals and acting as if this is no different than the UK!

On our last shopping trip when I took my eyes off them for only a moment and looked down to see them sat in the charcoal dust drawing pictures in it, with blackened faces, I thought maybe they had become too familiar with life here!

Even though it is warm all day, every day and all night, darkness falling at 7 (all year round) is taking some getting used too. This comes together with the mosquitos meaning that all doors and windows must be shut leaving us to the mercies of our electric fan! Even with everything shut, we can hear the crickets clearly!

Driving is the other main area that is so different to the UK. The rules of the road just don't seem to apply here. You have to just pull out whether something is coming or not and hope for the best. Little motorbikes called 'bodas' dart in and out of the traffic carrying the most interesting of loads; 3 people and a baby, 2 people and a pig, 2 people and a bed and almost any other combination you could imagine!



Despite many differences, as I mentioned earlier, I feel very at home here and am falling in love with beautiful Uganda and the beautiful people here. I hope this enlightens you a little into daily life here for us.

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Slum opportunties

My first week of work has been all about getting to know the team and visiting the slum communities. I'm used to visiting rural areas in Africa with their large plots of land, and huge distances between houses interspersed by cows, chickens and goats roaming at will.

Slums are very different places. Today I went to Katogo 1 (as settlements they're given names like this, much like the schools in Russia, 'School Number 263', not very warm and fuzzy), where the houses were really tightly squeezed together in places. So much so, that a few times I literally had to inch my way through between them and was glad that I didn't eat more dinner last night. This close proximity all seems to work ok for people here, until there is a crisis or shock, like heavy rainfall for days on end. In those times the narrow passages become filthy streams carrying effluent right past, and often into, people's homes.

This is just one of the many complexities of slum life. All seems well until there is a problem, and the problems seem to overtake people, who are willing, but unable to do much about them.

As I walk around the slums I try not to focus on the problems, but to remember the words of Ida Hadoto, Send a Cow's Social Development Manager, who said that you should look for resources, not the need. It's all too easy to see need and you can't really miss it, but you can miss spotting resources if you don't look in the right way. It's an exciting way to view the slums as there are plenty of opportunities and resources there.

For example, there are hundreds of people (if not thousands) looking for work and eager to make some money. This could be seen as a problem, but actually, it's a huge resource as these are people that the charity can train and then employ to build, make things and pay to train others, or who will eagerly learn new skills to start their own micro-enterprises. And with these new skills their willingness to work can take them all sorts of places, especially if they organise themselves together.

Another simple thing that I've noticed is the colossal amount of plastic bottles that are collected to be sold for recycling. They get a tiny amount of money for huge bags of bottles sold by the kilo, when they could be re-purposed and used for all kinds of things like growing food, purifying water and even as bricks to make long-lasting structures.

So, I plan to continue to see the slum communities with eyes of hope, noticing the positive and looking for opportunities where there can seem to be none. That should keen me on my toes!

Here and happy in Uganda

We've now been here a week and after many hours sat in traffic and trips to various places we are pretty much set up with the house, phones, internet and car.

There's also been time to get to know the team a bit better and we have met some really lovely people and had fun with them already.

I have been learning more about what Rev Life do in the slums, made a visit to 'the land', and have made links on Twitter and email with some great organisations. And I've secured a steady supply of manure from the cows up the road for my bottle gardens - cherry tomatoes, chillies and cucumbers will hopefully pop up quicker than in the UK! Plus Sue has made things more homely with hearts, pictures and tidyness and is gearing up for home schooling next week.

There will be more to come soon about the work in the slums as we get stuck in, but for now we have made a little video that sets the scene for you...