March 11th

I just returned from a trip to the Buvuma islands in Lake Victoria. What an experience. It was like traveling back 100 years to an undeveloped Uganda.

The problem with these islands is that they are hard to reach and even harder to move around when you get there. The director told me that more than 70% of the money spent on the trip was used on gas for the motorcycles we used to travel around the spread out villages (gas is a little more than $6 a gallon here). Due to the high cost of transportation, the only humanitarian organization operating on these islands pulled out in 2007, leaving Buvuma in bad shape. ADUA is looking to fill this void. They are hoping to use my video to raise money.

Studies have shown that the Buvuma HIV rate is almost 30% higher than Uganda's mainland. The fishermen take long fishing trips and then celebrate their safe return with lots of drinking and prostitution. If someone scars their reputation by accusing them as HIV+, the fishermen simply move to a different village. The villages are mobile, searching for the fishing hot spots around the coast. Because of this, they don't invest in their villages, leaving malaria-ridden swamps undrained and latrines unbuilt. Nowadays illegal fishing (using nets with small wholes) and a high birth rate has nearly exhausted the lake. This is forcing people towards farming, an economy that has slowed to a near standstill due to the current drought. "What about irrigation?" I asked. "That's too much work," was the response. It seems like the fishing attitude has stuck with people as they have switched over to farming.

From what I saw, you could count on a few hands the number of houses with power (all government or catholic funded buildings) and I'm pretty sure there was no running water on the island. I am proud to say I took my first shower out of a bucket. I also watched our host family pick out a chicken for us to eat that night.

Teaching was a blast! We would hold village meetings teaching about AIDS, malaria, nutrition, and sanitation. The people were thirsty for knowledge. One old guy got up after our presentation to thank us. He said that never in his life someone come to teach in his village (I'm guessing he was 50). After one of our meetings, a man asked us: "So I've always wondered how fast AIDS travels through the air. Can you answer that?" Yeah it was bad. They don't have VCT so people don't even know their HIV status.

I had a super spiritual experience at our last stop teaching a catholic elementary school. I had been teaching malaria the whole trip, but suddenly felt like I needed to teach these kids about personal goals. I have no doubt that inspiration was God sent. That lesson was powerful. I probably learned more than anyone. I told them the future of their island rested on their goals and ambitions. I definitely felt the spirit strongly.

I have learned a lot about humanitarian aid. I would like to compare successful HA to the parable of the talents found in the 25th chapter of Matthew. The master in this story gave and then followed up with rewards to those who utilized his gifts. I have found that many NGO's throw money at people and forget to follow up. Evidence of this is everywhere. One school we visited had two buildings with leaky roofs. Instead of repairing them, they found it easier to get funding for a whole new building. You better believe I was disgusted.

You also need to make sure that people are making sacrifices for your help. This forces them to take ownership. I would love to see more NGO's focus on teaching creative entrepreneurial skills rather than the amount of money or services they dole out. One campaign slogan that was sounded by many canidates in the recent elections was "Better service delivery." What does that mean? You'll get more free stuff if you vote for me. Yeah it's not good at all.

It was frustrating how slow the people are. In America we probably could have accomplished 3x as much work. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner each takes an hour. Each town had to give us a long winded welcome and were slow to organize. One day one of our social workers felt tired so we went home 3 hours early. It just makes you want to make your own NGO.

A hardcore feminist would have probably died seeing the way the women greet men on the islands. Whenever a man walks past they kneel down and wait to be acknowledged while looking at the ground. Even the little girls (three or four) follow this tradition.

I wish I could have filmed the way the islanders greeted! It was almost comical! They would usually shake right hands while using their left hand to hold their right elbow as a sign of respect. Then a hardcore Q/A session would commence, with the just about same questions and answers used everytime. Responses to questions would start nearly before the person asking finished talking. People talked in high-pitched mumble, almost whispering. They mumbled so quietly for a while I had no idea what they were saying. The whole time both people avoid eye contact. The following dialogue is almost the same for every the meeting between two men (in Luganda of course):

"How are you, sir"
"I'm fine, sir"
"How did you sleep, sir"
"I was fine, sir"
"How is your food sir"
"I am fine, sir. How are you, sir"
"I am fine, sir."
"How did you sleep, sir?"
"I was fine, sir."
"Good for you, sir"
"Also good for you sir. OK sir"
"Ok"
"(slow high pitched sigh)"
"(slow high pitched sigh)"
"(slow high pitched sigh)"
...

The sighs at the end were hilarious! They would go on and on until someone thought of some substantial thing to talk about.

And that's only a fraction of what I need to write about this last week. Get back to this soon.