American Update

Favorite Meal While Home:

Rush's Chili Cheese Burger with a chocolate milk shake.

Favorite Surprise:

Carpeting!!! My toes and feet hadn't felt that good in 9 months.

What I knew was going to be great but underestimated:

Egyptian cotton sheets, a pillow-top mattress, down pillows, and a jersey comforter.

Biggest Culture Shock:

Tablet PCs, they are everywhere and they are awesome.

Biggest Frustration:

Everyone telling me that, "Peace Corps must be so rewarding."

Favorite Moment:

Wan taking a wrong turn after Communion and having to do a 360 back across the church to the Bride and Groom's seats.

Month End Update

I've been away from the blog for most of the month so I will do a quick summary of PC related activities and then at a later time get an update online of all the wonderfullawesomeness that was America.

High(s):

Meeting the Everett sisters, running into a bunch of random friends, and making progress in talking sense into my organization.

Low(s):

My counterpart resigned (my Ugandan equivalent of a partner / co worker), this could be a good thing in the long run, but is disappointing in the short term.

Uganglish Annoyance of the Week:

"Well be back."

This is the equivalent of welcome back. It isn't hard to understand, but serves as a reminder as that even though I have returned to the place I "live," I am far from home.

What I Accomplished:

It looks like my organization is going to adopt two simple reports that report actual status of the organization and how they are progressing against established goals. I've gotten behind in next weeks reports to them because of some actual work with other volunteers and some play. I'm not too optimistic right now because I've learned my organization will pretend to do things just to appease me in the short term.

What Is On The Agenda:

Finish filling out a basic status report for my org, and then build a large scale cost control and estimating report based on realistic expectations of growth, revenue, and spending.

Luganda Exercise of the Week:

Awo

(There) This one is very simple, but I haven't used it a lot in the past and after just a week I am finding it very very useful.

Observation of The Week:

It is amazing how much more my body hurts after a day of half-ass manual labor than after an intense and targeted workout.

Sanity Meter:

My sanity has been completely refreshed by my trip to America and my slowly resuming normal activities here.

Book(s) I'm Reading:

I FINISHED THE FOUNTAINHEAD!!!! It took me a while for several reasons, I was busy, I was in America, the font is small, the book is big, and when I got to the end of a chapter I didn't feel like reading another, I felt proud and satisfied that I had finished a chapter.

That said, it was one of the most beautiful and thought provoking books I've ever read.

To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world.

That's what everybody does every hour of his life.

If I asked you to keep your soul --

would you understand why that's so much harder?

Currently reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I'm on pace to be done with the books prior to the final movie installment coming out, which means watching it in the theater with other PCVs.

PCV Quote of the Week:

"I love these cargo pockets, they can fit a phone, my keys, literally anything smaller than the pockets"

-Christy Prouty

A typical conversation with Grace:

Ryan: "Grace, the board says that the staff meeting was supposed to be this morning. Was the meeting changed?"

Grace: "It must have been changed as I do not see people here."

Uhg. A more detailed update on my activities this month in a few days.

Random Thoughts Nobody Asked For (or wanted to hear)

Africans do not understand the concept of a single file line. Not only that, there seems to be no shame in bypassing people to advance your own position in the disorganized mess that cannot be called a line.

Arsenal and ManU are both increasing ticket prices next year. I couldn't possibly care less but it was big news on the international sports channel this morning. What I did find particularly interesting was listening to soccer fans gripe about it senselessly. It is always nice when the Brits remove their unjustly inherited intellectual superiority and make themselves out to be just as dumb as any NFL fan in front of a local news camera.

I do not like the craft shops at the airport. None of the crafts even resemble any of the crafts I have seen in markets all over the country. I suspect they are imported from China.

Was surprised how easily and cheaply I got to the airport. A fellow volunteer who had traveled already told me it was a price nightmare. I was expecting to have to pay 20,000 UGX - 40,000 UGX to get a car to come from Entebbe Town, pick up my luggage at Entebbe Backpacker Hostel and then go to the airport. However, I walked downtown from Anna's Corner and the first car I encountered asked only 15,000 UGX (between 6 & 7 USD), and they paid the Airport toll. I don't expect to get off this easy coming back.

I'm getting sick of the Fountainhead. Part 1 of Keating vs Roark = Awesome. Part 2 Toohey vs Dominique = Boring. At least if I keep at it I'll be almost done by the time I land in the states.

Battle Day

Today I am fighting two battles, one versus the combined forces of my own foolishness allied with the general Ugandaness of Ugandans and Uganda; the other battle is between myself (the good guy) and my organization (the bad guy).

My Stupid Genius Plan and the Ugandaness

A few of the folks in my group have had their gas tanks run out in recent weeks. I moved mine while rodent proofing my house (3 weeks no rodents, wOOt) and noticed it felt a bit light. I decided it would be a good idea to buy a small sized tank and have it ready so that if my gas ran out in the middle of cooking I could finish the meal, and not be forced to by a replacement tank that day. Buying a replacement tank means several hours journey and hauling around a 80 lb gas tank.

So last week I bought the small tank and set it in my kitchen area. This morning, while making my breakfast and heating my coffee, the gas ran out. I smiled to myself, admiring my own genius, and disconnected the regulator with the intent of popping it onto the other tank.

FAIL!!!

THE SMALL TANK HAS A DIFFERENT VALVE THAN THE BIG TANK!!!

I ate a single egg and piece of toast and drank my lukewarm coffee and departed for an already scheduled day in Masaka. (more on that later)

I found at the Total Gas station that had sold me the tank that they didn't have any regulators for the small tanks. I noticed they are listed for sale at 30,000 UGX on the sign. He instructed me to drive 45 minutes to Kyotera. (not the direction of my home)

Instead of listening to him, i decided to 0.5 kilometers across Masaka and check out the other Total Station. They have the regulator and I believe the woman told me 30,000 UGX, perfect!!! I hand her 40,000 UGX and she starts writing a receipt. About 3 minutes later she hands me the receipt and it says 40,000 UGX!!! I argue with her for a minute before grabbing the receipt and walking out.

So far this second tank has cost me 37,000 in fuel, a 60,000 deposit, 40,000 for a second regulator, and about half of this mornings breakfast.

Why don't they have interchangeable parts and why did I get screwed over on the price. TIA.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly 5 Year Plan

Several weeks ago I had a meeting with my organization in which I explained I was frustrated that I didn't have any real job responsibilities and that I wasn't really doing anything of significance. We resolved that I would start work on an organizatinal developement inititive that would seek to improve facilities at the school and increase sustainability of the operation. For several weeks we held meetings within our organization developing ideas, gathering information, and assessing needs. Some good things were coming together and I was excited.

I departed for Easter weekend in a good mood, but concerned about one thing my organization had said before I left, "before you go to America, we will write a 5 year plan." My organization has a tendency to write ridiculous business documents that do more harm than good. I had viewed the previous 5 year plan for school and it was rife with blatant fraud and made up financial figures. I let them know that I wasn't sure that was necessary yet and we should continue developing our needs assessment and more immediate plans.

I returned from my Easter holiday to find my supervisor Grace waiting at my site. It was after 6 pm and I had been traveling for about 8 hours. She invited me to attend a meeting in the morning. I arrived at the meeting to find that it was a meeting to write a 5 year plan, and that I was leading the meeting (surprise, surprise). This frustrated me at first, but after getting my footing and taking control we were actually accomplishing something by the end of the meeting.

I took some writting tasks for that evening and departed for home. The power was out when I arrived home and I had about 2 hours of battery power left. I decided I would wake up early and hopefully have some more battery life. I awoke to rain and the power still being out at 4 am. At 6 I started writting and as my battery was fading at 8 sent in the work I had done and instructions on how to proceed while I waited out the rain.

I arrived at the office around 11 to find two people had joined, and taken over the meeting. They were undoing everything I had worked on the past several weeks, brining up ideas we had spent an hour developing the day before and starting from scratch. I sat back and just watched, interjecting every now and then. I no longer cared about the 5 year plan and would be perfectly happy for a sub par document to come out of the effort. I knew I could push them in the right direction here or there, but didn't have it in me to seize control and impose my way on them. After all, we aren't here to do it for them, we are here to use our skills and knowledge to assist Ugandans in doing things.

At the time I thought the worst case scenario was a poor document, that had holes, and needed major re-tooling once complete. What I didn't expect was what they sent me via email on Monday morning.

THIS 111 PAGE MONSTROSITY

In this document my organization ignores every problem we identified and most of the ideas we had in the meeting. The numbers come out of thin air. There are departments listed that do not exist at the school. It calls for 1.1 MM USD in order to fulfill its objectives, which include... purchasing, 110 Sewing Machines, 50 computers, a school bus, and my favorite, a BOAT ENGINE for the automotive mechanics program.

I could make this institution self sustaining by the time I leave for 10,000 USD, but they would rather take a gamble that some idiot in America will hand them 1.1 MILLION USD to build a new school from scratch.

I'm confronting them about it today, and this might be the end of my time in Masaka. It is about as big an insult to me as they could possibly levy. I've waisted 6 months of my life on their organization and if this 5 year plan goes forward I'll be complicit in their fraud and theft and that will be about all I've accomplished.

I've given them the benefit of the doubt in the past because I liked my home and didn't want to move but if they are serious about this document and insist on going forward with it to try to secure funding than they are "the bad guys," black and white, plain and simple.