just good

As I have said before, work is different every day. Some days, it can get pretty challenging. But others days, its just plain good.

Today was one of those good days.... It was one of those days when I am reminded of why I am here doing the work that I am doing. It's not just to check the quality of our product by examining every strap thats sewn, or to make sure the express order of size 8's gets to the post office before it closes, or even to develop new policies and procedures as we grow..... its because of this:

This is a picture of me with Teopista and Betty. We had a cupcake party today to celebrate the girls acceptance to university. This week was when all our girls found out what schools they got into, and I feel so incredibly proud of them. It has been so cool to get to know them, and see how hard they work, and know that all this hard work is paying off. Only about 25% of students who graduate from secondary school in Uganda get the opportunity to attend university; our girls are some of the fortunate few.

Every once in a while I get a clear picture like this of our company's mission, and that makes for a very good day.

feeling spoiled

I feel like I have to confess something.... Last week, Julie and I hired a cleaning lady.

Yes, a cleaning lady... And honestly, I had mixed feelings about doing this before I got to Uganda. I knew that a lot of people who live overseas have "hired-help," and I thought it was okay for people with lots of kids, or a huge house or something... but not for me. I did my own cleaning before, so I figured I could do it just as well in Uganda.

Well, I was wrong. Cleaning in Uganda is unlike any other cleaning I've done before. When we fist moved in to our new place, I swept and mopped all the floors (something I do maybe once every couple weeks at my house in the States). The next day I couldn't even walk around barefoot because a layer of dirt had already settled back on the floor. And cleaning the bathrooms- same story. Dust, everywhere. And my poor clothes.... for the past two months I've been trying to hand wash all my clothes myself. And I don't think I was doing it right... Since I still had dirt stains on a few of my shirts after retrieving them from the line, I think all I have been doing is making them smell better, not actually cleaning them.

In comes Justine. She is a widow who lives in the area and has been out of work for a while. Apparently she has "something not quite right" with her (at least that's how another Ugandan woman described her). I haven't noticed yet; Justine seems pretty with it to me. But regardless, now she has a job for a couple hours every Thursday. And believe me, she is so good at what she does, and she is incredibly appreciated in this household! After she comes, I can walk around barefoot.... and she made my white-t's look brand new..... and she even took the trash down to the burn pile. She's like an angel.

I am blessed by Justine's new presence in my life.... and the best part is, she is blessed by me and Julie too. If you think the job market in the US is rough right now, try living in Uganda. It's pretty typical for a college graduate to spend a few years doing what we would consider a crappy job before they get a big break and land a job that they are actually qualified for. I have met quite a few people here who are currently driving taxis and cleaning houses who have university degrees in things like engineering or business administration or social work. Jobs are few and far between here.

Which is why I have become even more passionate about providing the opportunity of employment. It is something I think we often take for granted in the US. At least I know I had this view that I didn't have to work a job that I didn't want to. If we don't like our boss, or the work we are doing, or our working conditions, we just quit and get a new job. Maybe with the recession, this mentality is changing.... but I have heard statistics here like "only 5% of the labor force hold permanent jobs" and "women make up 92% of the informal work sector," which makes what's going on in the US job-wise pale in comparison.

Fortunately, there is a movement in Uganda for job creation through social businesses (like Sseko for instance).... and I realized that hiring Justine is a very simple way that I can also be responsible for job creation. Yes, I could clean my own house and clothes, but why would I when I know that Justine could do a much better job than me, and by employing her we are providing her with a source of income? The answer seems simple to me.... So in those moments when I feel spoiled for having a cleaning lady, I remind myself that it not just a matter of my own convenience and comfort, but also a way that I can care for the widow without giving away handouts (probably one of the last things Uganda needs)....God has commanded us so many times in scripture to care for the orphan and the widow, and here I have finally found a tangible way to do that in my everyday life.

choices

It is hard to pick up and move to a foreign country, for various reasons, but for me I think it is because I have such a great community of friends that I had to leave in the States. When people ask me if I'm homesick, I say no.... because it's not that. It's more that I'm "people-sick"... I miss the relationships that I had at home. But the joy of living in a time with such great technology is that I can still be in communication with them pretty easily... Still though, skyping with someone is not quite the same as living life with them on a daily basis.

I read a poem this morning by George MacDonald that captured how I was feeling and challenged me all at the same time. It was essentially about God calling us in directions that are outside our comfort zones. He compared our comfortable places to living in the light, in a field that is covered with flowers, and the place that God is calling us to a dark and hazy city. The light is easier and prettier and more familiar, and sometimes (by sometimes, I mean usually) the darkness can be scary. And we like to make all sorts of excuses for why we can't go, why the path we have set in our minds is better than where the Lord is asking us to go. In the poem, MacDonald goes through several of the common excuses we make, and the one that struck me most was the excuse of community. Community is good. It is Biblical. But even good things should not get in the way of us following God.

Here is the excerpt of the poem I'm talking about:

I said: "I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say."
He answered me, "Choose tonight
If I am to miss you, or they."

That simple little four line phrase hit me so hard this morning. It reminded me that even though it may be hard to be away from close friends, that is a much easier thing to do than be away from my God. And if I chose to stay with them when He was calling me elsewhere, that's what I would be choosing. When I look at it with the same heart as George MacDonald had in that poem, it really doesn't even seem like a choice to me. Of course I am going to follow God where he calls me, and right now he has me here.... in Kampala.

I'm sure many of you have heard about the bombings that took place last Sunday night.... I'm fine and all my friends are as well, but the city is pretty on edge right now. People keep asking me if I'm just going to stay in the US when I go back for Claire's wedding in two weeks. That hadn't even crossed my mind until the question was asked..... No, I'm staying here. God has me here for a reason, and I will remain until he calls me elsewhere. But I would ask that all of you keep Kampala and my time here in your prayers.

american holiday, foreign country

Last weekend was 4th of July, one of my favorite holidays. It's not because I'm particularly patriotic, but because I feel like the holiday is always SO much fun. Last year in Lancaster PA, I got to go to a giant fireworks show and a family barbecue in Amish country... the summer before I celebrated the fourth in Barcelona with an all-American dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.

Needless to say, this fourth had to be pretty great to compete with the last few... and it totally was.

To start off the weekend, I went rafting on the Nile River with some friends. Below is a picture of me and Brooke getting our gear on... you can tell it's a "before" pic, because we're still smiling.

That rafting trip was the most terrifying thing I've ever done in my life.... There were just as many fun moments as scary ones, but that day will for sure go down in my book as the most adventurous thing I've ever done in my life (and probably will ever do). Class 5 rapids are no joke. And getting tossed out of the raft while going over them usually feels like a near-drowning experience. I think only stayed in the boat for 3 of the 10 high classified rapids we went over.

Unfortunately I don't have my own pictures, but this is from the rafting website.... just to give you a picture of what I'm talking about.

Yeah.... and that isn't even the 10 foot waterfall we went down... sideways, I might add! Needless to say, rafting the Nile was a one time experience for me. At least I can check that off my bucket-list.

On the actual 4th of July, a bunch of us Americans got together and made the quintessential American meal: hamburgers, hot dogs, home-made french fries, and chocolate chip cookies. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty amazing. Even though I don't eat a ton of local food, that was the most American thing I've eaten in the past two months, and I think was the perfect way the celebrate our country's independence.

In case you hadn't noticed, most of the people I hang out with in my free time are ex-pats (if you're wondering what "ex-pat" means, it is short for ex-patriot which means any person not living in their home country). I will explain why.... First of all, there are quite a few of them around, and we tend to gravitate toward one another. In a place where very little feels comfortable, spending time with other people who are also in unfamiliar territory seems to make for a natural bonding experience.

The second reason is a little strange sounding, but the friendships I have with other muzungus seem more genuine and natural than some of the interactions I have with Ugandans. Don't get me wrong, I know great Ugandans who are so friendly and welcoming.... and the girls I work with are incredible, but with them there's that manager-friend line I need to carefully tread. And outside of my girls, it is hard for me to just meet Ugandans and befriend them because being white here is almost like being a celebrity. People want to talk to me, marry me, give me rides, touch me (definitely creepy at first.... and honestly still is), and be my "friend" just because I'm white.

I'll give you an example of a common interaction: I was at the fabric market and a vendor told me she wanted to be my friend. I said "okay" and started up a conversation with her. About five minutes into it, she asked me to buy her a phone.... because apparently that's what friends do for each other.

So yeah.... I feel like I can on some level relate with those celebrities who get famous and then are like "who are my true friends?" Obviously I'm being dramatic, but being white here does feel that way at moments.

That gives you a little picture of why my closest friends are ex-pats, but another huge factor to that is because there is this little community here that I feel like God has placed me in for a purpose. As ex-pats here, we all come from different places and backgrounds, but do similar work in this country we are all coming to love. People also tend to come in and out of this place pretty quickly, so I am often only given a small window of opportunity to invest in someone before they head back to wherever they came from. It is a community often-in-transit, but a community nonetheless... and I am thankful for it.

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....