The blog posts in this blog will be from my trip this Summer to Uganda where I worked with an indigenous NGO (non-governmental organization) called CHAFORD (Charity For Rural Development) funding and planning a agriculture and business-skills training with youth farmers on an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) Camp. We also worked at a Secondary School on computer training with a teacher (our age) who had classes of 30-80 students and who worked with constant power failures and only 4 computers. We are working on getting them further resources as they are "Your Computer School" for the war-stricken region of Northern Uganda. We also worked on a women's literacy project at another IDP Camp. Hope this blog provides you some view into Uganda, specifically Northern Uganda and the problems that the 22-year war has caused for this area and the projects and work being done and the hope that we were able to see in the people there.

The entry below is from our week in Kampala (the capital) visiting Uganda Crafts and the National Museum (amazing websites to check out) and some thoughts on the trip to come. For photos from our visit to Uganda Crafts, see http://northwestern.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080805&l=9f732&id=2412657



Our internet cafe in Kampala closes at 10 so I'd like to get some thoughts down before we go rafting in Jinja in the Nile and then leave for Gulu where all I will want to do is interview people there and tell you about our research and all the work our group is doing.

Before I forget, Jacob, another Gulu Team member, and I are researching how the 21-year long war in the North is portrayed through educational materials. The war in the North has reached a ceasefire and the Ugandan Government and the rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army are now in peace talks (For a synopsis of the war and to learn about a non-profit started by two Notre Dame students and a Northern Ugandan that is working to mobilize the conflict, go to: ugandacan.org).

Currently, Jacob and I are looking through history textbooks that either exclude any information on the war or marginalize Northern Ugandans. I will get into this as he and I are able to research this question directly in Gulu and talk with our host families as our Dads include a Teacher at the local University and the Director of the National Teacher's College.

Well, I only have ten minutes so I really want to tell you about several places in Kampala. The first is Uganda Crafts, which is a fair trade co-op that empowers local Ugandans to make crafts, clothing, jewelery and more and then sells them at a fair price. Please check out their website at http://www.aboutuganda.com/crafts.html and I will soon provide a link to a site with the many photos that I took of the Craft shop.

The second place is a photo exhibit called Through the Eyes of Refugee Children at the National Museum. The exhibit is photographs taken by refugee children and then descriptions by the children of their photos. The photos were powerful, but the descriptions made it clear that the children were coached to take certain kinds of photographs. I recommend checking out Project Focus for a non-profit that does this type of work amazingly well: http://www.projectfocus.org/

Well, my time is almost up. I also wanted to tell you about the most amazing market and experience of the senses (I saw fish/chickens/pigs getting ripped in half as blood spurted everywhere and endless miles of shoes, purses, oranges, bananas, underwear, bags of flour and spices and onions) that I have ever experienced. I will describe that soon and provide a link to photos from that experience.

Finally, for me, I see this blog as a way to share the amazing work, people and places that we are able to see, to ask questions and seek comments from you about the struggles and experiences that we are having, and to share my own personal experience and thoughts. I have read through the other Engage Uganda blogs that my fellow participants have done and they are great and I hope you continue to read all of ours. I want to remind anyone on our trip reading this that you know much, have many skills to offer, and your capacity to learn and grow is unlimited. I cannot wait to be immersed in the culture of those in Gulu town in Northern Uganda and to learn from them more than any project could ever accomplish. But while we are planning to work hard, why not accomplish both (us learning and also collaborating successfully with our respective organizations)?

Apoyo, Nikolai