Jinja

We spent the Saturday afternoon at the riverside with local kids. At the moment the children are on holiday from school. Most of the kids have up to 10 siblings, so during their holidays they are more involved in their household activities. Every morning the girls work at the garden, once a week they wash the laundry of their families and 3 times a week they go collecting firewood in the forests and on a daily basis they take care of their younger siblings. Although it is hard work it seemed to be a social happening for the kids. The girls wash the laundry in the river, swim, sing and play together. The boys were fishing in the opposite side of the river bend or taking the cattle to the drinking point.

The language used at schools is English even though their home language is Luganda . These lovely girls told us about their favourite subjects math and social science. But after hearing their songs, I guess the subject they enjoy the most is music. Some of the girls wanted to change to another, better school. The reason for changing school was the incompetent teacher who maltreats the children by hitting them for when they don’t know the answer. These Jinja-girls have ambitious dreams for their futures! They’re dreaming about becoming lawyers, engineers, musicians and accountants. (it felt really awkward to be enjoying the day, doing nothing, while the girls were working hard)

Urban Agriculture

The economic structure in Uganda is similar to most of the developing countries, especially in Africa. Characteristically most of the Ugandans get their income from agriculture. Uganda is no exception either when it comes to migration to cities. People move to towns in order to boost their income and to get better education. As a souvenir they bring the agriculture along their families. As soon as you exit the heart of the city, you’ll find agriculture even in the most unexpected sites.

The crops are cultivated for home use and for extra income. The livestock has a great value for money so they are mainly sold in the markets. This way the families have better food security when the incomes are unstable. The food prices are problem in the whole country. Last years drought combined with the rising oil prices have driven many families in to problems, poverty and hunger. The latest instabilities in the country originate from the nations dissatisfaction of the governments actions solving these problems that affect tens of millions Ugandans daily life’s. Of course the opposition have not been quiet in this topic either.

Mount Kenya

Since the early days of planning the trip to East-Africa we were sure that we wanted to go hiking. The first option was Kilimanjaro, but since it seemed to be a lot more expensive, due to the distance from Nairobi and more hiking days. So we ended up choosing the second highest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kenya for our destination. The rout we took was Sirimon- Point Lenana- Naro Moru. The hike took us 3,5 days. On the first day we gained about 900m of altitude. I had some symptoms from the altitude on the second day, but luckily in the end my body got used to the 4200m. altitude. Day 3 was the best and the hardest, in total 14 hours. We started the day at 3 am. In order to experience sunrise at the summit, point Lenana 4985m.

I felt really lucky having the possibility to experience Mt. Kenya and the national park. What made the hike even more interesting were the different vegetation zones in different altitudes and opposite sides of the mountain. But nothing was as breathtaking as the last 20 minutes of climbing and reaching to the summit while the sun was rising. And finally, you reach the top! Breathtaking!

After the euphoric feeling vanished, I realized that how privileged we really are. Mount Kenya and the surrounding national park are the wonders and richness of Kenya, but who are the people that can afford to experience that? Entering the national park was 50€ per hay for foregners and 27€ for residents. During the whole trip, we saw one Kenyan group and all the others (excluding the guides etc.) were foreigners.

-Irena

Kenya 6-17.4

Travelling in East-Africa can be affordable if you do it the local way – by bus. Compared to flying which is around 150 dollars, I paid about 25€ . I took a night bus from Kampala to Nairobi. I must admit that I felt a bit suspicious about travelling by my self during the night, but the ride was great and crazy. I had the front row seat and was able to experience the driving culture from the driver’s perspective. The way different vehicles communicate with each other by winking head lights and blinkers. What a light show. And a lot of exciting moments (and at moments horrifying moments) While the bus was bypassing cars and lorries. After 12 hours I arrived in Nairobi.

-Irena

Kenya Reflections

http://vimeo.com/22384128

By: John

Game time!

What I´ve seen during the few days I´ve spent here is that these people love to play games! The photos are taken from Keyeseka-market and from a Kgaba by the Lake Victoria.

These game´s are made by an UN-worker at his own workshop. He used only renewable materials and the game´s are a combination of traditional local and universally known games.

The 4 R´s of sustainability : reduce, reuse, recycle, renewable

Limited resources is a fertile ground for innovativeness. I got a short tour around the Keyeseka-market, the recycle area. It was hard to spot anything other than second-hand. It was mind blowing to see what can be created from car spare parts, tires, metals etc. Tires turning into shoes, hammocks, You name it! These people are literally using everything they can find, useless for the previous user and turn them in to something useful for someone else! These genius people are doing I small scale exactly what should be done in big scale! Reuse, reduce and recycle. These people do it because they have to, but aren’t we all forced to do this? So the artisans here are actually steps ahead of us. Unfortunately it was impossible to take photos there. (normally people doing business don’t want to be ended up in a film). I´m trying to get there again with some locals in order to share the innovativeness, creativeness and sustainable thinking with you.

You´d be supprised to know how much straws they use for drinks here! This wonderful lady, Benedicta is the director of Kinawataka Womens Initiatives. This women’s group uses recycled straws for making jewellery, shoes, bags and accessories such as belts. You can find more of her designs at http://www.kwiuganda.org/

I also visited a work shop where they used second hand barrels for village computer frames.

The traditioal charoal cookstoves are sold everywhere. These guys used used gas cans for producing the stoves.

Namuwongo Women´s group

I was honoured to visit Namuwongo women’s group´s workshop. William has helped these ladies from the very beginning of this group so he took me and my friend Sara to the Namuwongo slum, where these amazing women live, brought up their kids and have their business. Sofia, the manager of the women’s group told us the touching story behind. This slum area was established more than 10 years ago. During the wars in Uganda and in the neighbouring countries many families had to resettle away from their homes. These families were resettled in Kampala and they still live in the same spot, which was not supposed to be a permanent place for them. After more than 10 years, they still live there and the government have no plans to provide decent homes for these families.

Life was really hard for these women and they really struggled in order to afford normal items such as soap, or even food, not to mention paying school fees for their kids. Sofia, originally from Kenya came up with the idea of making jewellery, since the handicraft culture for jewelleries is strong in Kenya. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. At first Sofia didn´t know how and what material to use. But another lady from the slum knew how to make jewellery out of recycled paper. The women out their ideas together and nowadays Namuwongo women’s group is improving life’s of 36 women and their families, so more than 150 peoples life are improved through this.

The jewelleries are made by cutting the recycled paper in a long triangle shape. The paper is rolled around in to a shape of a bean, and finished up with glue and refining chemical. No dies are needed, the colour of the paper determines the colour of the bean.

If you would like to get some of these these beatiful items, let me know.

I woke up in Africa

30.3. Arrived in Kampala 8 am. Woke up from the most uncomfortable position in the airplane but everything was forgotten the second I saw the most amazing view beneath. I arrived in Africa! Thanks to my colleague William I had the warmest welcome + William had arranged a pick up for me. (otherwise I would´t have a qlue how to get to Kampala. By a taxi or a boda boda (Motorcycle taxi drivers ) The traffic is just cryptic! Due to the English colonialism the traffic is left-handed, the drivers are really “innovative” and crossing a street without pedestrian lines have given me some extra heart beats. I must admit that the first impression of Kampala is more modern than what I expected (and less rain, more sun and fewer mosquitos). The first day was just relaxing, adapting to the new continent and changing thoughts between team Finland and Uganda and started to plan adventures that out thesis team has ahead. Most import task still was enjoying the life in Kampala. I have a strong feeling that our relationship (me&Uganda) will develop into a love story during the next few months. First week I will stay at YWCA with my new friends from global pulse. The bar a few hundred meters away will keep me connected to the town beat the whole night.

From the heart of the mosquito net

Irena