Super Cute

When I first arrived, many current volunteers who had been working for over a year in Uganda tried to tell me about the type of work you accomplish and the amount of influence you have on people. They told me it's not about the material good that you produce, nor is it the qualitative work that you concentrate on, but it's the community interaction, qualitative work that you look for-I thought they were making excuses for not getting anything done and that I wouldn't ever feel that way. Ha, sometimes I do eat my words (er....thoughts). I have been at my site for almost a year now and there is little physical evidence of my presence here yet I definitely feel busy and I do work. When the older PCVs told me that most of my work will be in the form of influencing people around me and getting integrated into my community I never thought I would feel that I have a large influence on anyone-even in America I have rarely seen any positive affects caused by me on other people. This past week I had two instances that proved to me that I am having an effect on the people around me.

The first instance happened while I was in my house finishing typing one of my schools grant for a tree nursery. I usually sit at the table in my sitting room while working (I only have two rooms, a sitting room/kitchen and a bedroom/washroom). Since it was a school day and I live next door to a primary school, during the kids’ recess and lunch break the kids like to walk around the teachers’ houses, including mine. In order to have any light or air flow in my house I have to keep the front and back doors open with a piece of material hanging in the doorway. Well since I’m a white person and especially because I was working on my laptop some of the kids still like to be rude and stand in my doorway or peek in from the yard. I have gotten to the point of being able to ignore them usually. Well that day I had two of my favorite little teacher kids in my house because they like to come over and color or play with the 4 happy meal toys I brought back with me. These two boys are around 3 years old and they are currently developing their speaking skills. When they saw the kids peeking in or standing near my veranda they shouted in Luganda that the kids have to leave or go away from my house. They stormed to the front door, put their little hands on their hips and yelled at these school age kids to go away, like they were my and my house’s little protectors. I was so touched. It was possibly one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

The second instance occurred after I had finished the grant for one of my schools and had gone to deliver a copy of it the school. I have been working on this grant with the deputy headteacher of the school, like a vice principle, and I really like him-he’s a hardworking, honest family man that has been a joy to work with. Well, I had found out that the money for this grant won’t be available until at least October because it is through the US government and well, we all know how quickly they like to process money matters. So I had to adjust the timeline and overlap some activities to complete the project by April 2008. I explained this to the deputy headteacher and when he made a comment about it not mattering if it goes over a little bit I reminded him that I am leaving in May 2008. When he heard this he looked at me with this awed, slightly distressed look on his face and said ‘no, I am going to write a letter to your supervisors to request you stay here, I will help you so that you can stay.’ He was visibly upset when it sunk in that I was only there for a short time (2 years only seems long in the beginning) and would be going back home. Other times when people say thank you for teaching them workshops or coming to visit them or whatever, even when they start blabbering thanks, I don’t really believe them or feel like they are truly appreciating what I have done with or for them. But when this deputy headteacher realized I was going right after we complete the tree nursery, it made me think about those PCVs who kept telling me about how you will influence certain people at your site and that’s what you concentrate on. Even though I haven’t actually completed the project or obtained any money for the school, he still showed appreciation of my efforts. That was awesome.