Tag: thoughts

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.

Categories
agriculture

some thoughts

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while.

Here are some thoughts I’ve had recently.

I really want to take a soil management for agriculture class. I want to know how to conserve soil, how to know what kind of crops are good to plant where, how to build up the organic matter. A focus on soil quality is the basis of all kinds of sustainable farming practices. No soil, no food. It would also help me a lot in the field to be able to communicate with my field advisors. It always amazes me how much the soil can change from farm to farm (keeping in mind these farms are very small, 1 or 2 acres, compared to in Canada). It even changes from corner to corner of the farm and the crops perform really differently.

I want to do an internship on an organic farm to learn actually how to farm. I need to learn if I want to continue to work with agriculture, food security, food systems, economics and policies of food. There’s no way I can work in such areas without actually knowing, at least a bit, of actual farming. Plus, I think I would love the hard, but rewarding, work. Maybe when I return home, I would take a season off and volunteer at a farm. But I’m hoping it’s going to be a ‘progressive’ farm where they experiment with methods of farming that works with the environment.

The other day, I had to deliver some chemicals for spraying bean and soya crop (to control the aphids). It smelled horrible. And on the box it said “Handle with care. Harmful to marine environments.” Or something to that extent. It really struck me that the agriculture I’m helping promote isn’t the best for human or environmental health. At the same time, I’m so conflicted. I’m an environmentalist, but I also understand that no one who can’t get enough food in their stomach or get their children into schools would put the environment as their first priority. As the system is currently set up this way, the bank would never lend to high risk agriculture (that’s not fertilizer and pesticide controlled). The farmers are also super happy because the fertilizer really does make the crops grow beautifully (I’m guessing especially because the soil is still healthy; the farmers had never been able to afford large amounts of fertilizer before). Are we to deny these farmers the opportunities that farmers in the developed countries have had? Organic/biodynamic/conservation/etc farming requires a lot of knowledge; it can’t be simplified to input packages (3 bags of fertilizer, 3 bags of seeds, 1 pesticide spray) like we do. How can we provide all that training to so many farmers? Plus, organic farmers have a high risk of crop failure. One season of bad crop can cripple many of the farmers we work with. (Of course, there are some really rich people who actually work in Kampala but farm as a side business). Are we to deny them of the chemicals that will ensure they have a good crop?

I enjoy management work, but I love being in the field. I love understanding “irrational” thinking. Every time I finally understand why a farmer does something a certain way, I feel like my world has widen. It’s not just with the farmers, but with people from different cultures or backgrounds. Or really, just people, as we’re all so different.

Mixed Feelings: The Olympics

I was going to write my feelings about the Olympics before it started, but then I decided I would wait until the end so I would be better informed.

Here it is.

As many of my friends knew or sensed, I am not a big fan of the Olympics. Neither was I of the summer one in Beijing. Many asked why, and for the first time in my life, I truly felt it was hard to express my opinions. Trust me, I am not a stranger with talking about my strange views; what else would you expect from someone who is an animal rights believer, a non-believer of marriage, a radical (or so some of my friends say) environmentalist, and a staunch feminist? But of all those issues, I have never been dismissed in conversations as with the Olympics. The moment I merely hint that I’m not a fan, almost every single person would first give me a strange look and then steer the topic away. I did not even have to tell why I was not supportive, my reasons were already stereotyped and stamped on my forehead.

No, I’m not anti-sport.
No, I’m not (trying to be) a party pooper.
No, I’m not against welcoming the world to beautiful Vancouver.

I am, however, concerned about…

The overspending of government budget. We are now 6 billion (the budget only promised 2 billion) in debt because of one big party. Let’s not forget we are still in a recession.

The unwillingness of the government and organizers to listen to the voices of those marginalized. Promises were made, not kept.

The willingness of the government to spend money on silencing people rather than solving the actual problems. Isn’t it almost inhumane to spend so much on security while ignoring the poorest postal code in Canada (the downtown east side)? Is that the example we set for the world and is supposed to be proud of?

The way the world stops being concerned about news when the Olympics are in session. Winning medals are important, so are all the conflicts and poverty. I’m so glad I don’t have a TV, at least I can choose what I watch online.

How the nationalism brought about by sport does not seem to be the most friendly kind. I question if putting countries into categories of winning and losing actually promote international friendship. (Although my bias is that I don’t even really believe in having nationalism at all. I, for the life of me, cannot see why people believe their love for humanity should stop at arbitrary state lines drawn on a map)

Disrespect for the fact that we all live on unceded First Nations land.

When the Olympics went to Beijing, people around the world protested. In the West, protesters were seen as heroes who stood up against a giant dictatorship. This Olympics, anybody who has a different opinion is seen as a traitor to national pride. Food for thought?

I have changed a bit now that the Olympics are drawing to a close. I see how the city has come alive with an energy I have never felt before. I see how the world has literally focused their attention on Vancouver and Canada. I see how it is a common history that Canadians and Vancouverites share.

But I still question, was it worth the sacrifice we had to give?

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