Power outages every day in Kampala and Tororo. Strangely enough, it’s a similar cause as the ones in Tanzania – ‘budget shortage.’ Here it’s because all the budget for electricity was spent on President Museveni’s re-election campaign.

Tonight, I was drinking tea and chatting with my colleage/room mate because both our computers had ran out of batteries. Good does come out of seemingly bad happenings. The concept of “opportunity costs” pops up in the most unexpected places. In this case, I learnt way more due to having no electricity; opportunity costs can’t always be calculated beforehand.

My colleague has worked with many youth NGOs in Uganda before she joined us. Mostly it was with HIV/AIDs or marginalized youth (e.g. street children). There were projects that gave scholarships and those that gave chickens, goats, or seeds.

“Youth are funny,” she summed up her work in one sentence.

“There were really good, smart, and hardworking kids that you’ve sponsored for years. Then suddenly one day the kid would come in and tell you that they’re tired. They want to drop out of one of the best high schools in Uganda and give up a free full scholarship to the best university.”

Shaking her head with disbelief, she continued, “I found one of these drop-out kids working as a cashier in a small supermarket two years later. The kid admitted that she had made some bad choices, but life was OK as a cashier. This kid was one of the students with the most potential – smart, sweet, and trustworthy, or so we thought. Her sponsor would have given her all the money she needed to get the best education, but she gave up, with no apparent reason.”

“It was the same with the small entrepreneurship projects. Most of the youth would sell the seeds or slaughter the chicken or goat, immediately after you train them about growing their business so they can have a better future. They either saw no point in saving for the future or wanted to drink waragi (a local gin). Solve only the problem right in front of you seemed to be the common thinking.”

Baffled, I asked if she, after working with these youth for so long, could tell  which ones would be the successful ones from the start.

“No,” she answered without hesitation. “We tried every method in and out of the book. There’s no way you can tell, not even after training. You will only find out once you give them the inputs or sponsorship.”

If only we could unlock that secret. Then at least we can help those that want to be helped.