Sustainable in Uganda – anecdotes & discoveries

Here are some anecdotes accompanied by photos from the last month.  I use my camera far too infrequently, so I can’t promise that these are representative of my experience.  But it’s the closest I can come to sharing the moment-to-moment stimulation and learning that I’m getting here in Uganda.

The weekend of September 20th, I jumped in a van with some of my colleagues from API to go to Karamoja.  This region in far Northeastern Uganda is home to the Karamajong tribe, who have recently faced extreme resource scarcity due to changing climate patterns.  There had been surging violence in the region due to cattle rustling, since cows are the primary source of livelihood (~1 Liter of cow blood makes a tasty lunch after being fried up with a dash of milk).  API is now utilizing vast acres of land in this arid climate to grow fuel crops that are intercropped with food crops.  Since API began providing this new source of livelihood, violence has drastically reduced in this part of Karamoja.

 
A flat tire on the highway at night … wha’cha gonna do?

But no trip is without some surprises.  During the drive up, one of the tires on the van completely burst.  It was after dark, so we all fumbled with our cell-phones / flashlights to assess the situation.  We did have a spare tire, but our car jack wasn’t working. 

Now while this isn’t Kenya or other notorious neighbors, Ugandans are still suspicious of groups of people flagging down help on the highway at night.  The solution?  Send the Muzungu (white person) to the side of the road to wave down some assistance.  Of course no Muzungu would be a highway robber, so the logic goes.  Sure enough, the next car stopped and they assisted us with changing the tire.  We were back on the road within an hour, with all of us commenting, “It’s a privilege to meet such good-hearted strangers.”

A colleague from API, standing among sunflowers
planted in Karamoja.  Sunflowers are good initial crops
to prepare the soil for other crops the next season. 
It’s also a high-value edible oil :-)

The purpose of the Karamoja trip was to show local leaders (called Local Councils) from other districts the success of API’s farm in Karamoja.  We are launching an out-growers scheme, where private farmers will grow the same fuel crops and sell the kernels to API for biodiesel production.  All of the Local Councils were impressed with the farm’s progress - “if it can grow in Karamoja, it will grow anywhere.”  After the tour of the farm, my colleagues and I made a presentation to the Local Councils about the favorable economics of the project, as well as its positive social and environmental impacts.  Somehow the media were there, and once I returned to Kampala, many of my friends informed me that I was on national TV, again.

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In other sustainability-nerd news … there is one local custom that I have emphatically not adopted, even as I find myself culturally immersed and “Ugandanized”  in so many other ways.  And that’s tossing plastic water bottles into the trash (or more commonly, the ditch).  With the help of Angela from API, I got in touch with Plastic Recycling Uganda Ltd. and finally was able to offload the huge bags of plastic bottles that I (and some sustainability converts from AIESEC) had been saving over the last two months.

 
Recycling, the Ugandan way!

While the amount I had collected was not enough to offset the cost of transporting them to the recycling center, the company picked them up as part of a “corporate social responsibility” initiative.  I got info on how many kg’s of bottles I must collect to justify sending a truck to pick them up, and what payment they would give.  I’ve now convinced the security guard at the hostel to collect these bottles from students, so he can supplement his income once he’s accumulated enough.  My roommate is just thrilled that the stockpiled heaps of bottles are no longer in our room!

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I’ve also been pushing for grants to support API’s projects aimed at sustainable development in Karamoja.  Climate change is manifest in Karamoja through irregular rain patterns that are driving alarming food scarcity.  Women and children walk great distances to carry water for domestic use.  This is a region where the Millennium Development Goals come alive with patent poignancy.

Woman and children carrying water from
a mountain source in Karamoja

There are few NGOs who operate in Karamoja, and even fewer have a good reputation (Oxfam is perhaps a notable exception).  Too often, NGOs implement projects but fail to maintain the infrastructure.  For example, 15 windmills were recently constructed in Karamoja, and none of them are functioning now due to looting and vandalism.

As I’m working on these grant applications, I’m understanding new dimensions to SUSTAINABLE development … clearly it’s not just about environmental impacts.  API is generating these proposals and will manage the project implementation.  Clearly, these proposals benefit API, since it pays some employee salaries and improves the infrastructure around API’s operations in Karamoja. 

But the proposals undoubtedly benefit the surrounding community as well, such as water catchment & distribution for household use and irrigation.  I’m also investigating a pico-hydroelectric generation system for these villages that are far from the grid.  If API has a business interest in these projects, then the company will oversee, protect, and maintain the infrastructure so it can continue to benefit both API and the surrounding community.  Looking forward to seeing more examples of private-sector leadership in remote parts of developing countries play out.

Karamajong women who work on API’s farm

Now I just need to figure out the bureaucracy of USAID | Uganda, which is located within the U.S. Embassy.  I spent much of the afternoon there today, and couldn’t even manage to see a secretary.  She promised to pick up the grant proposal from the security post at the end of the day.  I hope my follow-up attempt will be more successful – perhaps exploiting a letter introducing me as a fulbright scholar (gotta do what you gotta do).

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Next week, I take off for Northern Ethiopia, where API is rapidly establishing its operations.  I will be researching the relevant social and environmental issues in the region, accompanied by David, the other U.S. Fulbright student in Uganda.  I’m looking forward to the massive learning that this trip will entail, and the upcoming months of hard, green work :-)