On The Way It Is

A question I ask myself often in Uganda is, "Why are things like this?"

It's usually a frustrating moment for me because each time it arises I don't have a clear answer. It's even more frustrating because, as volunteers, we believe our jobs are to change "this", improve "this", and build capacity. At least, that's what our pre-Peace Corps service, idealistic minds came to Africa with the ambitions and goals of implementing.

After 16 months in country, I think I speak for all the volunteers I came with and a majority of volunteers in Peace Corps when I say, we have been humbled. Maybe a bit disenchanted. This isn't a bad thing. It's a quantum leap in personal discovery at how societies operate outside the United States, more specifically, outside of the developed world. It makes us stronger volunteers, and it makes us smarter people.

Mostly though, it makes us appreciate the small accomplishments. If we can't appreciate those, life here would be much more difficult. And who knows, maybe a lot of what we're doing will have a large impact down the road. The problem is, you can't measure it. There is no clear metric to tell you how good a job you have done. There is no performance measurement system. In the United States, we're used to metrics and results. Here, everyone's site is different, everyone's job is different, everyone's experience is different. No two PCV's services are similar. That's another reason it's hard to measure.

Why are things like this? I have some answers, finally.

In my mind, there are two fundamental root causes for the status quo: corruption and culture. The former is bad and wrong. The latter is not.

Corruption is everywhere. However, it is most pronounced within government institutions. And I'm not just talking about the bribing an official. No, my definition is much broader. I'm talking about the abuse of power for personal gain. In America, we like to believe that the institution is bigger than the man. And for the most part it is. In Uganda, they say the man is bigger than the institution. That is what it boils down to.

The lack of a sufficient and effective accountability system is sorely lacking in just about every sector. And this causes problems for people wanting to live their lives. People wanting to get educated. People wanting to get a good job. People wanting to start a new company. People wanting to make huge investments in Uganda that will spur all of the previously mentioned.

The other is culture. The digital copy of the New Oxford American Dictionary I have on my Mac defines culture as the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. A higher level thinking type of definition but nonetheless fairly accurate. Culture in my mind is defined by the following:

A collectives peoples...

values, morals, concept of self, concept of relationships, religious beliefs, concept of government, concept of family, concept of time, concept of achievement, concept of group harmony, laws and procedures, concept of health, and maybe a few others that I can't think of right now

After 16 months of service, I've had ample opportunity and time to experience Uganda's culture. And in many ways, it's not so different than the way we are, than our culture. Then why are our two countries so different?

Uganda is a country that values education. Many Ugandans value education. But many Ugandans don't value it enough.

Uganda is a country that values work. Many Ugandans work hard. But many Ugandans don't. And believe me, just the act of living in Uganda alone, IS WORK. A LOT OF WORK. For Ugandans of course, I have many luxuries most do not.

Uganda is a country that acknowledges the importance and value of time. Almost all Ugandans will recite the importance of time management to me. But many, if not a majority, will not conduct business in a timely manner. Though they know it is important to do so.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that our values are similar. But when you don't have the entire country fully on board, it can make things extremely difficult. If you have say 75% of the country in agreement on education, but 25% causing chaos, it makes things incredibly hard to deal with, and progress slows to a near stand still. Like in America, if you have 20% of the population that believes President Barack Obama is a Muslim and that all Muslims are terrorists (eh hm...cough cough...Tea Party...cough cough...), things become a little bit more difficult.

In terms of their cultural values, Ugandans can be more similar to Americans than some may think. It's the act of how those values are practiced (or not practiced) that distinguishes us from each other.

Even though our applications of values may be quite different, that doesn't mean their wrong. And as Americans, we tend to think the rest of the world is wrong. We need to get out of that mindset. There are a huge number of good things about America. But we need to acknowledge we're not always right. Even if the way they did practice their values was objectively wrong, you can't blame the common man for the way things are done, but most people can't really visualize this statement without first living in the arduous and unwieldy environment of rural UG.

I'm behind on my definitions and scope here a bit though. First of all, "Why are things like this?". What is "this"? And is "this" a bad thing. "This" is the status quo of Uganda as a country. Is "this" a bad thing. It depends on your criteria you use for judgement.

If you apply the criterion of achievement and accomplishment. Well, Uganda clearly has some work to do. And indeed they have a lot of work to do on many other standards.

I however (thank you Brian for bringing this to light), have found Ugandans interpersonal communications and experiences to be far richer than those of Americans.

When it comes to being self sufficient on food production, Uganda is. If there was a global economic crises, Ugandans would still be eating. Ugandans eat healthier food than Americans. They exercise more and enjoy summer weather all year long.

We are similar in more ways than than most see from a cursory glance. We both want the same things. We are all, at our most basic level, human beings with the same needs, wants, and desires. Even our cultural values are similar in some ways. It's the actual practicing of them and lack of systematic checks and balances that differentiates us the most.

Now I'll finish with a story... I had just finished a run through my village Wednesday morning when I arrived home only to be greeted by a man sitting on my porch. The man was Omukat Pius. And he is the father of one of my best female students in S.4. He had heard about the difficulties we had been having at the school lately.

He just stood up, walked over to me, apologized repeatedly over and over again while shaking my hand. He embraced me with a hug. He wrapped his hands and arms around my sweaty torso and brought me in close. We stood there and just hugged each other for a good minute or so. He hugged me tight and I hugged him back tighter. At the end, it was just what I needed. And I was reminded of the power of human being's ability to comfort one another, it was an incredible moment.