The Struggle to Stay Smart

"Sometimes I feel dumber here."

This is a quote that I occasionally hear from other volunteers in country, especially those that have been here awhile. Usually they are reflecting on how they think they have changed since joining the Peace Corps and traveling halfway across the world... to a different world.

I can relate. There are times where I feel like my brain has slowed down. When I think about it more, it makes sense. In our villages, our lives are simple. Our interactions with most people are basic and short.

It's been an important priority for me to come up with ways to stay mentally challenged at site. Teaching math and physics helps, sort of. Mostly I'm just refreshing and rehashing concepts I learned years ago in high school and undergrad. I can have detailed, in-depth conversations with one or two people in my community. That also helps. I read magazines and books that I can get my hands on and try to keep up with volunteers via email and phone. That helps too. In Peace Corps, there is a lot of time for introspection and reflection.

I sometimes feel like I'm stuck in some philosophical maze trying to navigate which path is objectively correct. You question your personal reasons and motives for doing what you are doing. That is probably a good thing though. It means we are still thinking critically about our words, decisions, and actions. However often times it offers little comfort. Just more questioning.

Is Development a Good Thing?

Is development a good thing? This is a question that I and many other volunteers find ourselves asking quite often after a year in Peace Corps. It's the same question my dad brought up during his first few days in Africa when he came to see me recently. He has helped me formulate my thoughts to the answer to this question.

Allow me to shrink the scope of the question down substantially. Is development a good thing for Uganda?

I look around Uganda and I see a lot of good things. I see a thriving culture of business and entrepreneurship. Yes, all the shops are selling the same things. Yes, almost all of it is imported. Yes, innovation is almost non-existent. However, Ugandans still possess a energetic spirit for commerce and free trade.

I see hundreds of square miles of verdant and fruitful landscape. I see almost all Ugandans taking ownership of that land and using it independently to produce their own food each year. If there ever was an economic collapse in Uganda, they would still be able to eat because of how self-sufficent they are.

I see a cash economy. One that functions solely by the exchange of hard currency for valued products (though credit cards are becoming more common in Kampala). When you work, you get cash. If you don't have the cash, you don't buy the item. If you do, you do. Simple as that. This is a stark difference in our credit crazy consumer culture of the United States.

I see a culture of self healing and self dependency when it comes to sickness. Only if you are close to death do you go to the hospital. For the most part, you will recover some other way, somehow. The natural way.

Is this status quo optimal? In my opinion, no. Is it terrible? In my opinion, no. For all its faults at the national level, Uganda is not a bad place to live. The people have food, they have some degree of freedom, they have amazing weather, and they have peace.

Would it be better if Uganda had a thriving manufacturing sector that created jobs? Yes. Would it be better if Ugandan could innovate and come up with Ugandan solutions and come up with marketable solutions? Absolutely.

Would industrialization of its agricultural practices be a good thing? Maybe. Maybe not. Look at what happened to small farmers in the United States during the mass commercialization of agricultural products. There aren't many of them around any more.

Credit cards in Uganda? I don't think the country is ready for them. Nor am I sure they are a good thing in general. But they will come regardless.

Improvements in public health? This is something I think we can all agree on is definitely a good and valuable result of development. I hear so many stories of people suffering and dying of preventable and/or curable ailments.

So I think development is a good thing, overall, with some caveats. Let Uganda develop on its own. Let it develop in its own style. And let it be slow but steady development. Right now, most Ugandans have cell phones but they don't have reliable electricity. That is backwards. Let Uganda first tackle the fundamentals (education, water, jobs, health), then move on to the less substantial peripheral items.

Is development fueled by outside assistance from other countries a good thing? ....in Uganda. At the Kamuge High School level, I think it is, at least I hope so. At the 50,000 foot level, I'm not so sure.

World Malaria Day

April 25th was World Malaria Day. On April 26th, I invited Soft Power (an NGO based in Jinja) to come out and do a demonstration in my village.

It was great. The team came out and gave a really good presentation on the causes of malaria, how to prevent it, now to treat it, and how to properly use a mosquito net. Afterwards we sold mosquito nets to the villagers at a heavily reduced price of 3,000 shillings (about $1.25). It was a great success, villagers were eager to buy the nets and bring them home to their extended family members or even themselves. Many would otherwise have to travel long distances to get the nets at a reduced price, incurring unnecessary transport costs.

Pictures of Event

At the Bottom of Everything (the continent that is)

Traveling is always a unique experience. Each journey has its own adventures, its own pace, its own tone. Each of these are highly determined by the place you visit and the people you decide to visit it with. South Africa was no different. It was also an incredible experience.

During our few days spent in the most southern and most developed country on the continent, we met great people, tasted great food, swam in two oceans and under one waterfall, hiked several coastal trails, drove stick on the left side of the road, ate fresh fruit everyday, climbed a table-like mountain, tasted dozens of wines, drank at a whisky bar, paddled a canoe and pulled a pontoon across a river, and got acquainted with the two sides of the South African healthcare system (more on this later)

We stayed with locals we met through the popular website couchsurfing.org. This reference did not disappoint. Every host we stayed with was incredibly warm, friendly, welcoming and helpful.

Our first night we stayed with this really impressive and dynamic young guy named Johan. He prepared a traditional South African dish for us. He invited four of his closest friends over and we shared a peaceful evening together drinking wine and partaking in the cultural exchange that so often dominates the travel experience.

They shared with us that, as South Africans, it's very difficult for them to travel outside their country. Because their passport says "South Africa" on it. Because South Africa's border patrol is so poor. Countries scrutinize their reasons and intentions for leaving the country. "You guys have really pinned the lottery." One of them says as they comment on our "worth its weight in gold" USA passport.

Talking with our new friends, they begin telling us about where they were from and their upbringing. What it was like to grow up in rural South Africa. This seemed so strange to me, talking to white people much like myself that were born and raised in the sticks of the African countryside. It was amazing to see, even with so much distance between us, how similar we were as people.

The next day, while driving around the Cape Town area coastline, my travel mates and I started questioning what it was we truly enjoyed about the travel experience. Yeah, we were in South Africa. But why were we here? And what were we hoping to get out of it. We all agreed that we didn't want to check off the boxes of all the typical tourist attractions. For me, a good experience is often times elusive or unpredictable, but when it comes, you know it, and you soak it in while it lasts.

For this trip, it was our first dinner with our friends, learning about the country directly from them. It was learning to drive in a foreign country. It was teaching John and Renee to drive a stick shift (both had never done it) in a foreign country. It was running the trail at Robburg Peninsula only to discover one of the most beautiful and secluded beaches in the country. Almost getting blown off the top of the cliffs by the strong sea gusts. It was enjoying good seafood and sushi for the first time in a long time. It was taking in the luxury of well stocked and well managed supermarkets, eating and preparing fresh food everyday. It was getting to know the painful history of the country from staying with a host who was discriminated against for much of his life. And sharing a few braais (South Africa's version of BBQs) with him and his friends. In the end it boils down to what moves you inside, and that can come in unexpected ways at unpredictable times.

Pictures from SA