The past two weeks have, in large part, been setting up the logistics of living in Africa for 10 months. I have arranged health care, visited the American embassy, begun the process of transferring programs at Makerere (the end is hopefully near), enrolled in Luganda (the local tribal language) lessons, started some research in my master’s program, explored Kampala, and completed countless other small tasks.
The tasks, almost without exception, all have taken longer than I expected. I’ll give one example: getting keys to my office at the Faculty of Technology (I call it “my” office, but I really share it with about 8 others). To have them made, I was told that I should borrow a set of keys and take them to a key-maker. However, when I asked Nelson, a friend in the office, where the closest key-maker was, he informed me that I should go to downtown Kampala to be safer. If I had the keys cut close to the office, there would be a chance that the craftsman would make an extra key, follow me back, and then come back later and break into the office. Believe it or not, this is not something that frequently occurs in the middle of Iowa, and that thought had not crossed my mind. Nelson was kind enough to accompany me downtown since he knew a very good key-maker (side question: is the profession called key-maker or locksmith?). Nelson wasn’t getting much done in the office since it was Wednesday, which appears to be the day that power is cut off to Makerere! So, he and I jumped into a matatu and slowly made our way through Kampala traffic to the other side of town. We were dropped off by the matatu and navigated our way through the jam, eventually coming to a store that appeared to be a supplier of equipment for hair salons with a random key-cutter in the back. Of course, the craftsman was not in the store, so they called him and he said he would be back “soon.” Twenty minutes later (actually quicker than I had expected), he arrived. We gave the keys (10 in total) to be copied and then spent the next 90 minutes sitting in booster chairs talking. After the keys were cut and a price was negotiated, we made our way to the taxi park (picture about 250 matatus crammed into an area smaller than a football field) and navigated the chaos to find one that would take us back to campus. When I got back to the office, I found out 7/10 keys worked. Round-trip time: 3 hours. Successful trip!
Living here just takes a slight change of mindset. Things will take longer to get accomplished, but you learn to make use of that time. I usually have a book or notepad with me. In the case of getting the keys made, I got to talk with Nelson for 90 minutes and learn all about his childhood, which was fascinating. He grew up in Uganda during the late 70’s and early 80’s, a time when Uganda was anything but stable. His job - as a child - was to run to wherever he heard gunfire and apprehend the shooter. He learned how to handle everything from a handgun to anti-aircraft missiles. His job now: Lecturer on climate change mitigation & adaptation. If we hadn’t had 90 minutes to talk – or if he hadn’t been kind enough to take me to the store – I probably never would have learned all of that.
Still, it is frustrating to be in Africa and see so much that I could do to help yet be tied up with figuring out logistics. So, it was a relief when I finally got into some project work with my office (the Center for Research in Energy and Energy Conservation). Here’s a very condensed version of my first project:
- My task: Design a business structure for a rural community using oil from sunflower seeds to power an electricity generator.
- The main concept: Much of Uganda is not connected to the electricity grid (95% of the population, I believe). The community for this project is located in an area where many farmers raise dairy cattle and grow sunflower seeds. Farmers will be encouraged to increase sunflower seed production and use the oil to power a generator. This generator will supply power for a milk collection center, businesses, and homes. The milk collection center will then allow the community to sell milk to larger markets that were previously inaccessible.
- The problem: How to set up business interactions between all stakeholders so that the money is funneled to those who deserve it and not into the pockets of corrupt managers and officials.
- The potential solution: Use a nonprofit structure with an unpaid Board of Directors, selected by farmers’ cooperatives, that makes the major decisions. Use set term lengths to prevent consolidation of power, and let the board members’ inherent interest in success drive costs down and profits up.
- The next step: Arrange a workshop with the town where a business structure will be created with everyone’s collective input (local ownership is key), using this general model as a guide.
Like I said, it’s a start. And, my fellow engineers will be excited to know that I dusted off some flow-charting skills from freshman year to help visualize the setup.
I have a couple more days in Kampala before I take off for Nairobi, Kenya, for an academic conference. Supposedly, the conference is supposed to help all participants to be successful as graduate students. I think it will be good information to hear, and it will be great to meet all of the other participants, but to be honest, I’m more excited about getting to see Nairobi!
Cheers!
Chris
Pic: Marcy and I painting at Namasagali
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