moving.... uganda-style

Drum roll please..... I would like to announce that Sseko Designs has a brand new house! Julie and I will be living there and have an office in the front room. And the girls' workshop will be in the garage. And here is our lovely new home:

Cute, right!? Once Julie and I have the place decorated, I'll post pictures of the inside. Speaking of Julie... in case I didn't mention it, she has been back in the US for the past 2 weeks, so I've been holding down the Sseko-fort until she gets back.

Yesterday I had the task of moving the girl's workshop to the new house, and this is what moving looks like.... Uganda-style:

That little pick-up carried 3 books shelves, over a dozen bags of rubber and shoes, two sewing machines, 2 tables, and a stool. The driver kept taking pictures, because he said this was the biggest load he ever carried! Unloading it was an organizational nightmare, but after a few hours, I had the workshop in pretty good condition...

Just another day in my usually-ridiculous life here!

doing business

So, I haven't talked too much about my job yet... I thought I might as well put a little snippet in here about it, so you don't start to think that my job with Sseko is fictitious.

Believe me, its not... I would like to give you a "day-in-the-life-of-Cameron," but it's such an odd combination of things that and its different everyday, so it makes something like that a little difficult... At 9:00 in the morning I might be doing quality checks on the newest shipment of sandals and by 10:00 I am on my to town to shop for new fabrics, then in the afternoon I'll be searching for machine manufacturers and head back to the office around 4:00 to work on creating a new excel doc to track our relationship with suppliers.

I love problem solving and finding the best way to do something, which happens to be a lot of what I do in this job. There is an aspect to it that is not particularly glamorous.... Most people with college degrees probably wouldn't want to spend time gluing leather to rubber soles (I could probably now put "cobbler" on my resume), but on the flip side, most people right out of college don't get to be part of making key management decisions for a company. The experience I am gaining from this job is invaluable.... I am learning so much about how to grow a business and how to create company policy and how to manage employees.

But besides those oh-so-important things, I think the biggest change that this job will bring to my character is a significant increase in the amount of patience I have. Doing business in a country like Uganda means that things rarely go as planned. You might think that you're going to pick up leather in the afternoon, but find that instead of the brown leather you ordered, there is purple leather waiting for you. Or your truck driver says he will take you and your supplies out to the warehouse, and you sit there waiting for him for two hours.

I have come to realize that inconveniences like that are just part of life here. You really can't be uptight about things.... I wouldn't have guessed that being in Uganda would help me let go of some of my control issues, but it totally has. I tend to like to plan and schedule and control my my work, but this environment does not allow for much of that... Control is an illusion anyway, no matter where you are. Just because something is in your planner does not mean that it will happen that way. In America though, it's pretty easy to think you're in control of your schedule, but here the illusion is thinner. My schedule is now dependent on so many unpredictable things that I just have to take it as it comes for the most part.

A major factor that contributes to this is the way that business is done here. It is definitely a different mindset than what I am used to hearing from American businesses..... Not necessarily better or worse, but definitely different.

Here you are not doing business with a business. You are doing business with a person.

There is no such thing as the "it's not personal, it's just business" mentality that seems to permeate American corporations. Everything here is taken very personally. Because you know exactly where your products are coming from, it's not a "what" you are dealing with but a "who."

The down side to this mindset is a lack of professionalism, but the upside is that for the first time in my life I know exactly where everything I buy comes from. I love knowing Grace, who sells me produce every Saturday. And this is a place where I can actually go to the place where the rubber we buy is manufactured and see the conditions of the workers. In the US, everything just says something along the lines of "Made in China".... we have information about a company, but not about the people behind the product.

I wonder what it would look like if these two business worlds collided... If we could be professional and efficient AND at the same time be knowledgeable and caring about the worker? .... I would very much like to see that happen...

hope and beauty

This past weekend, a bunch of us went up to Gulu, a town in the northern part of Uganda. In case you didn't know, this is where a lot of the war was waged... It's where NGO's like Invisible Children are headquartered. In fact, Gulu had the highest concentration of Muzungu's I have seen so far in Africa. This area was so ravaged by war, that is has drawn countless organizations to try and help with rehabilitation. Probably any person you talk to that is from the area has some horrific memory of a family member dying or a friend being raped or their home being destroyed.

Living in Uganda, it's hard to believe that just about three years ago the war was still going on. Anytime I think about how messed up this place still is, with corruption, lack of trust between people, etc... I think about how far they have actually come in so short a time. The whole country is basically suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, but has some how found a way to not only survive, but grow. There are so many Ugandans who are passionate about seeing their country change for the good. This gives me so much hope.

I really enjoyed seeing another part of Uganda... The five hour bus ride up to Gulu gave me plenty of opportunity to gaze out the window and soak in the country. It really is so beautiful here.... Instead of talking about it, I'll just show you instead.

On Sunday we loaded up a couple cars and headed out to Aruu Falls...

seriously amazing....

a person's worth

There are quite a few things that I could blog about right now... My first week in Kampala has been so full and there have been so many things running through my mind. So I guess I will just tackle one thing at a time.

Since coming here I have been able to be exposed to quite a few organizations that are doing incredible things here... to name a few: 31 Bits, Krochet Kids, and Purse of Hope. This post though has a lot more to do with Purse of Hope's work... they have different homes across Uganda for women who have been or still are prostitutes. In Bwaise (a slum area in Kampala), they have a halfway house for these women, where they are can receive vocational training. They are learning to be hair dressers or seamstresses in hopes that they can get out of this truly awful profession.

This week I learned something so disturbing about prostitution in Kampala... Apparently in Bwaise alone there are around 100 brothels with about 30 girls working in each of them. I was totally shocked that an area that small would have over 3,000 prostitutes, so I asked a girl that works with Purse of Hope why the demand was so high. She said that it was because the girls were so cheap.... Just hearing that phrase made my heart break for them.

Some of them charge as little as 1000UGX.

The equivalent of about $0.46.

That is so sick... But it makes sense why the demand for prostitutes is so high. For men who are interested, it's the least expensive form of "entertainment" around.

And even though these girls live in such darkness, all I have heard about them is how joyful they are and how amazing it is to be around them. I absolutely cannot wait to go to the house in Bwaise and get to meet them.

At Purse of Hope, the motto of sorts is "from vulnerable to valued," and I think that describes not only these women, but others in Kampala as well.

I had mentioned the street kids earlier, so I wanted to bring that up again... Julie and I were riding in the back of a taxi (when I say taxi, don't picture a New York City taxi.... picture a super-ghetto 16 passenger van rattling down the pothole laden streets), and watching some of the kids begging. She asked me if I had seen August Rush or Slumdog Millionaire, and we started comparing these kids to what we saw in those movies... They are owned. Anything you give them goes to their owner. So "helping" them by giving them spare change is actually one of the worst things you could do, because it is just promoting this awful system of using children for personal gain.

There are quite a few ministries that work with street kids, to build relationships with them and invest in them personally to show them that they are worth something...

I think that seeing people so undervalued, people who are created in God's image and who are dearly loved by Him so terribly mistreated has been one of the most difficult things to see here. These women, these kids... they are used... they are owned. But they are also God's children. I am so thankful that people are responding to the needs of these people and are aware of the atrocities that are taking place. I hope I never forget what I have seen here, and that I will always carry these people with me.

home sweet home

I took a few pictures of my new home, so I'll give you the official tour:

This is the front entrance to the Cornerstone guest house...

Once you walk inside, there is a large common room. When you turn around and face the front door, this is what you see: to the left is the kitchen and to the right is a sofa/the Sseko shoe repair workshop.

This is the room that Julie and I share. I sleep on the top bunk, and Julie sleeps on the bed to the left.

This is Julie's bed... mosquito net and all. Those of you who know me well will not be surprised at all to learn that I am VERY allergic to that blanket on her bed. How was this discovered? Don't worry, I think it took about an hour of me sneezing non-stop before I finally realized I was only sneezing every time I sat on her bed.... Great.

On a happier note.... We went exploring Sunday afternoon. We took bodas about 30
minutes away from where we are staying, into the outskirts of the city.

Where we got this pretty great view.... LOVE IT.

going, going, GONE

I made it..... FINALLY. After about 35 hours of travel, 4 different countries, 6 airplane meals, 5 in flight movies, 4 episodes of Friends, and 2 books later, I made it to Uganda in one piece, luggage and all. I would call that a success.

My travel adventures began with a shady encounter in the Houston airport- a security guard kept leaning over me while "helping" me get my laptop back into my bag, whispering his myspace user name into my ear and telling me about the good times we could have if I looked him up...

No, Master Mean, I will NOT be contacting you.... ever. (And yes, that is the real myspace name he gave me... Master Mean... really?)

But my trip ended in a much more pleasant way: Julie came and got me from the airport! Even though we had never met before, seeing her felt familiar somehow... and it was such a relief after so many hours of being in transit. (In case you didn't know, Julie is the Sseko country director, my roommate, and currently my only friend)

On the ride to my new home, I got a nice view of Uganda.... People keep asking me if it is what I expected, and I realized that I didn't have too many expectations coming into all of this... but for some reason I had been viewing country as an African Guatemala. I think this is because Guatemala was the first country I visited outside the developed world, so I suppose it is inevitable that I compare everywhere else I visit to it. But, Uganda is definitely not Guatemala.... They are similar in some ways, I suppose.... but I think Kampala is already stealing my heart. The people here are so friendly and welcoming, and the only word I can use to describe the scenery of the country is "green." It is SO green and lush everywhere. I can't wait to go explore other parts of the country.

And I know everyone is curious about my living situation... I will be post pictures soon, don't worry! But for now, I'll tell you the top 5 things I have to get used to while living in Kampala:

1) Travelling by boda boda- A boda boda is a small motorcycle, and believe me, there are some kamikaze drivers out there.... When you are on a boda boda, there are basically no rules except just get to your destination as fast as you can. Since I have VERY little experience riding motorcycles (only once before in the US), this was terrifying the first time... but even after two days, I am already getting used to zipping through traffic jams and dodging the side mirrors of the cars we pass by.
2) People saying "You are welcome"-So, I met the Sseko girls yesterday (they are GREAT by the way), and after I hugged each of them, they kept saying "You are welcome!"... and every time, I kept thinking "But, I didn't say 'thank you' for anything...." It took a second, but I put two and two together and realized that they were actually welcoming me, and saying that they were glad I was here.
3) Begging children- It has been a while since I have been in a place with street kids, and every time they come near me it hurts my heart a little... I know I can't just hand out money left and right, but it's just so sad to see them in that condition. I'm sure at some point I will get used to it, but I don't think that just being callous is the answer... there will probably be more to come on this topic at a later date.
4) Driving on the left side of the road- Today, while getting in a taxi, I accidentally tried to hop into the driver's seat out of habit of going to the right side to get in.... Ooops! We laughed, and it was only mildly embarrassing. A typical muzungu* mistake, I suppose. (*muzungu= white person)
5) The mice- Oh, the mice....Last but certainly not least are my little furry friends. We have several mice that scurry across the floor of our room periodically... but I am actually surprised at how okay I am with them. If there had been a mouse in 307 Francis, I would have been absolutely freaking out (roommates, you can vouch for that).... but for some reason, in Kampala, I'm just fine with it... but still a bit startled when I see them. Maybe when I take a picture of my room, one of the mice will pose for the shot.

one month from today...

I will be on an airplane flying to Kampala, Uganda exactly one month from today.... I will be living there for 6 months, working for Sseko Designs (http://www.ssekodesigns.com/).

I love Sseko... a lot... everything about it.... I love that it's a not-just-for-profit company. I love that it provides education opportunities for young women. I love that it's a product I feel proud of. I love that it appeals to the economics-nerd within me. I love that it redeems business, and in doing so gives me a picture of God's redemptive nature... I had become disillusioned with the business world in general, as I saw company corruption and a "get-to-the-top-at-all-costs" mentality, but Sseko gives me hope... Business is a powerful tool, and I love that Sseko takes something that can be used in such a harmful way and makes it into something beautiful and restorative.

If you know anything about me, you know that this company embodies so many of my passions. I honestly could not have imagined a better scenario I could walk into... I am realizing that I have been presented with the rare opportunity to have my "dream-job" right after graduation. I am beyond blessed and incredibly excited to see what is in store for me on this journey.

I have not kept a blog before, but I thought now was as good a time as ever to start! After I walk across the stage to receive my diploma, and then board Emirates Air flight #212, my life is bound to get a lot more interesting. So, friends, I will keep you updated with my thoughts, experiences, and whatever comes my way....