Green shoots

It's been a while so apologies and all that.

Things in the slums have changed quite a bit since we have been in the UK for the last 6 weeks. Walking around today in Kinawataka there were shops where there used to be houses. Houses where there used to be space and rubble where there used to be shops. All very disorienting for me, let alone all the children and families that live there.

So, why the big changes? It would take a while to explain so read this for the ins and outs, but basically the railway wanted their land back thank you very much and so people had to get off it. This meant that loads of homes and shops had to be demolished to make way for a 'safe zone' (oh, very droll) of 30 metres next to the railway. This is all for progress of course - Kampala will soon have its very own fully-functioning, shiny passenger railway. Not sure whether I should get excited or not though.

All this eviction and demolishing has changed the face of two slums in particular and it clearly sends home the message that housing insecurity in slum communities is just part of life and a very disruptive one.

Amongst the rubble and shops displaced from their natural sites like an erratic rock dumped by a glacier (had to come in handy one day), there are some signs of hope and growth. While away, some of the team had been tasked to teach groups about growing vegetables in containers on their roofs or any space close to their homes.

I went today for the 'transplanting session', where all the tomatoes, kale and cabbage seedlings were moved (ok, transplanted) into the containers. It was great to see the excitement and joy on the women's faces as they lovingly guided their seedlings in place. As they left with their containers I sent a little prayer up that this would be a new start in their lives, a time to see opportunities and growth.

We've also now found a good supply of large bottles to act as containers from one of the local plastic recyclers. At 12p a pop, I'd say that's a pretty sustainable, locally resourced project.

Now all we need is to see some nice red tomatoes!

The must-have, miracle tree Moringa

Anyone who has spoken to me recently has probably heard me mention something about this special tree.

There's a lot that can be said about it, but to be brief, here are some pictures and a few words to give an idea as to why this tree now has a special place in my heart.

Let me introduce my personal (2 and a half month old) tree. They grow really quickly and in poor soils and as my mission is to replicate what is going on in the slums in mini-tests, this one is growing in a large water bottle. 

 So, what's so special about this tree? Well, there is almost too much to say. It has so many nutritional benefits, here are just a few:

It's used around the world and grows very well in the tropics - basically it grows in just about all of the countries where malnutrition is a problem. Handy eh? Also very handy is the fact that after doing some research and wanting to find a Moringa expert locally, it just so happens that one lives next door! He even helps publish book about the tree.

I'm not saying it definitely does all of the things below, but sometimes the wisdom of generations past can know best.

My plan is to trial growing Moringa in the slum communities, on roof tops in pots, in old jerry cans and water bottles. One great bloke called Fred is very keen on trying out some new ideas and so I'll be putting some pictures up soon of his home in the slum with pots on top and around the sides. I want to go slowly and carefully though, as the government tried to popularise Moringa a few years back and sold the idea as a get-rich-quick crop, but there was no market for it as people were not aware of it's many benefits. That's where we'll start - with telling people why it's so good.

If you want more info and a bit of hard evidence to back up some of these claims, try this site out.

Oh, and you can use the seeds to purify water too.....

Half full or empty? - by John

As you may have picked up from previous blog posts, I am a big fan of seeing waste as a resource and focusing on opportunities rather than problems. With that approach I thought we should try out an idea in K1 in lieu of the bad floods which enter some of the houses at least once a year.

There is a lot on the internet about an interesting technology for building houses and water tanks through using plastic bottles as bricks. To make them strong like bricks, sand and soil are rammed into the bottles, which are stacked to make walls. Simple eh?

I thought we could try something out on a different scale by making use of the large bottles that are used by hotels and Muzungus (white folk) over here. They also find their way into the slums, but by that time you have to pay for them, although they are only about 12p a pop.

So, a few of us got together and set to work outside one mama's house, who gets filthy water flowing into it, to try this idea out. We also had help from the self-appointed 'Chairman', Obama, a fun chap who was trying to convince us that he fought in the First World War. He is old, but surely not? Mind you, he is also a witch doctor so you never know.

Here's how we got on.

We placed the bottles facing into the ground to hopefully prevent them from getting washed away (they are also very heavy!). Other, smaller bottles and stones were placed below and in the gaps between the large bottles.

A soil bank was piled up behind the bottles to help hold them in place as people walk across, compacting them over time. Obama is having a break here.. well, he is apparently over 100 years old ;)

Ta dah! The finished job looked good, but we will see how it fairs in the floods. We will be going into the community each week to see how it's doing. And to check if Obama has his letter from the Queen yet too.

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 :~)

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!

Where there's muck...

Here's an example of what we'd love to get into the Kampala slums.
Not the most appetising of subjects, but the toilet is something we take for granted - I spend a good deal of my life on one. But in slums a loo is not always an option and either a patch of grass or a small plastic bag has to suffice. This obviously causes a lot of problems - no-one wants to dodge turds every day and the health implications are obvious.
So, these guys (Sanergy) have a smart solution. Recruit an entrepreneur from the local community, set up a loo (that blue box above), charge a little to spend a penny, then remove all the poo, process it and turn it into compost... to sell. Smelly, but clever eh?
Apparently people like using it partly because it has a mirror, nice soap and makes them seem 'modern'. I'd go along with that.