We are ready to leave headquarters, have been for several days. Unfortunately they will not be ready for us to leave until Sunday! We spent an hour last evening with Ben, Debbie and Stephanie defining and time-lining our jobs. It was evident that little previous thought was given to the projects, resources, etc. Besides upgrading (major) the facilities there will be a great deal of staff training.
So we are mostly hanging out anxiously awaiting our departure. Communal living is definitely not our thing. Too many tribal rituals like the Tuesday night market run. It seems there is a large market on Tuesday, the highlight being the second-hand clothing bazaar where goods donated to western charities have filtered down – along with a lot of shillings changing hands – to the locals. The muzungus, surprisingly including Debby and not surprisingly Laura, compete with the Ugandans for the bargains. It’s too bad they don’t reach the really needy rural areas.
Aid, the foreign kind, is as big a problem as AIDS and nearly as difficult to get under control. The problem, as Paul Theroux points out in “Dark Star Safari” is that after half a century of contributions from governments and NGOs with nearly every conceivable combination of letters it just isn’t working. Money disappears into the pockets of corrupt and insensitive leaders, goods find their way into the (black) markets or worse, food sits on the docks for lack of a distribution system.
Working for an NGO is better than a government job with all its extra opportunities for compensation. NGOs pay high salaries, provide good living conditions and have other fringe benefits. Take the case of a Ugandan water engineer we heard about. He is working for an NGO on a big project in Lesotho, a country that certainly needs water. But at the same time his own country does not provide drinkable water for most of it people.
Even the locals are upset. The United Nations High Committee on Refugees (UNHCR) provides settlements in Uganda for Sudanese forced out due to the war. But Ugandans facing also displaced by internal war receive nothing. What keeps us going is somethig Mother Theresa said. "If you can't feed an entire village, feed one person. In other words, "Ya does what ya can wit' whatcha got!"
