The Essence of Grass Roots (Anaweza Adriana)

The Essence of Grass Roots by Anaweza....

Over these past two weeks at CRO there have been less and less children attending as school has been put back in to session. Lucky for the children who are able to afford to go back to school and even luckier for the children who can not afford school and can attend CRO in its place. For a reference, I have been told that it costs approximately $90 a year for a youth to attend secondary school. It costs a little less for primary and a lot more for vocational. So just imagine ladies, one pair of Lululemon pants is the equivalent to one full year of school for a youth in Uganda! Owning a pair or two of Lululemon’s myself, it really made me think about….. not sure how to put it into words, but it made me think very deeply. I know its rather obvious to most that we are much richer financially in the west, but to hear the financial figures, to see the children in person and in their community, to know how much school means to a child’s future and to relate it to how I live at home really provided a shift in consciousness.

I have been learning just how important education really is, especially in this country. Almost all of the children and youth I have met here really REALLY want to attend school and get a good education. When you question what they want to be when they grow up their ambitions are as vast as the sky. They want to be doctors, lawyers, nurses’ social workers and the like. I always question what their favorite subjects are and what they like the most in school and I hear: mathematics, physics, chemistry, history, geography! I have been noticing that a lot of these children, youth and parents are not only struggling and working to provide food, but sometimes more importantly, school fees and books. Similarly to the West, to receive an education here means to receive a higher amount of income. I have learned that when a person in a family here has an education and has a descent salary – to one it may seem like a burden - they are consistently paying for their family members, and often other children, to go to school, to eat, to buy health care and all sorts’ of basic necessities that only money can buy here. (I am sure that was a run on sentence, but bare with me). What I am getting at is; people here strive to get a good education and a good job so they can help support their family and their extended family. I find that so amazing. I think about back home, even for myself, I know that I have not strived for an education to help support my small family, but rather so I can provide for a future family, and of course, myself. Of course I will help support my parents when I can provide the finances to do so, but that was not my starting sole purpose in pursing an education. In a way it sounds rather selfish when I compare it to the mindset here around the importance and reasoning of receiving an education. I am sure it has already been reported by the other women here with me that the sense of communal living and taking care of one another seems to be an essential way of living – something that seems just so natural, even with the smallest children.

Currently CRO still remains with around 15 – 20 children and youth each day with most of the population consisting of boys. Over the past two weeks there has been around 2-3 girls that have attended – I am not sure if this means that the there are more girls attending school, as one may conclude that from the change in number, but also keeping in mind that there were always more boys to begin with. With these changes I have not facilitated another girls group over these past weeks as it seemed that the timing was not right. The pace seems different now, and it appears that the couple girls that are attending are always kept busy. I am going to try again in the following weeks to come. Instead I have been helping out in the classroom with instructing small sessions like learning about colors. It makes me smile to see just how happy the children and youth become when they have a set of coloring tools in their hands. I have also been working on building my relationships with the youth by playing soccer and Frisbee. I feel like I have made connections as when the soccer game starts they boys ask me to play goalie. I have told them that I played soccer at home for many years and my position was always goalie. I have just begun to feel like I am a part of their lives. They know me by name and now instead of me always putting myself in their play, I am invited!

In the past two weeks CRO has said good bye to two volunteers and have said hello to two more. CRO is quite lucky in the sense that they always seem to have volunteers coming, mostly from the Netherlands and other parts of Europe. This is another way in which CRO receives external funding. The volunteer organization called B MORE, run out of the Netherlands, sets up volunteers within Africa and pays the receiving organization to host them. I am not sure the amount of money an organization like CRO will receive for hosting the volunteers, but I was lead to believe that it is a descent amount.

The past two weeks have provided more than just practical learning and worldly experiences for me. I am continually learning about different ways of life, faith, perseverance, generosity and giving – to list a couple. One of the most amazing experiences I have had thus far was learning about the ambitions and visions of one of the men who work at CRO. I have been given permission by him to write about what he has done and accomplished so far and I am more than excited to share with the rest of you.

Over the past month at CRO I have been able to build mutual relationships with the staff who work there. One man in particular has been exceptionally inspiring. He is a day guard at CRO who has seen the “gap” in services and has decided to take it upon himself, with the assistance of his wife, to try and fill it starting at the grass roots. Let me share the story….

(Please keep in mind that I may be missing some pieces, and that I am sure I am not giving it nearly enough justice for what it is actually worth, I am just reporting on what I have understood to be the basic core concepts, but I wish to become more involved with this and will continue to report as I learn more – please also note that I will not be using any names)
CRO used to run out of a different building last year in a neighboring village called Kirumba. While he was working in this village he had children and youth approach him requesting to be apart of CRO. Unfortunately because they were not considered “street children” they were denied the opportunity. (I believe it is because there are so many street children who need this support that the agency had to draw the line.) Street children here are considered to be living on the streets with no means of supporting themselves. The children who were approaching him still had some support, although, very little and were on the verge of becoming street children. As he was observing this, he had a vision; to intervene with the ‘needy’ children and their community before they turn into street children. It seems so simple, yet it is incredibly brilliant as it is a very important gap that may go unnoticed due to lack of resources and in the end, funding. So with this vision he approached another couple in this village who had a larger piece of land with a house and a garage. He spoke with the man and told him of his vision. He told the man he has absolutely no money to provide, but he would like to use some of his land and property. The man and his wife agreed, and they started off by letting him use their garage to host the children.

He and his wife took out a small loan to start their vision. He told me that he works full time at CRO to pay off his loan, support his family that includes 3 daughters as well as to pay for 3 other children to go to school. Along with that he has his younger brother in law living with him (this is not an unusual circumstance in regards to supporting other children and extended family). His wife earns an income by selling things out of their house like tea, biscuits and other small consumables. Together they use their income to run their vision which they call “(Anaweza Charity) Talents Skills Development Center”. And they run the center on Saturdays and Sundays – the only two days left of their week.

He and his wife started this center around 2 ½ years ago with some younger children. He has reported that in the past year he is now supporting around 20 children and 20 youth – including providing support to the parents and other members of the community. He told me that he meets the youth and finds out what kinds of skills and talents they have and then capitalizes on those. For example, he met a young lady who is very good at sowing. (Here that is a big business). He found the means to get a sowing table to put in the garage and has helped her to learn to sow. In turn, she now teaches other young ladies who also inquire to lean this skill. He found another young lady who is interested in hair dressing and now helps support her within a hairdressing setting with the woman who owns the salon. Likewise, he found some children that have incredible talents in music like singing and playing the drums. He has built on these talents with the youth and now they are singing in school and at their churches. He also found a high interest and talent amongst the girls with net ball (similar to basketball). He built the net ball nets and with a donated net ball the girls now practice regularly and play against other teams in Masaka!

With the support from his wife and the wife of the man who owns the property, they facilitate talents and life skill development every weekend and all children and youth are invited and welcomed to attend. There is no exclusion within their center; it could be street children, needy children and even young adults. And they are doing all of this with out any sort of external funding or money. It is an incredible display of resourcefulness, compassion, passion and materializing goals, dreams and visions. He did not wait for the money to come along and start this center, he just used what little he had and made it happen – this to me is very powerful and moving.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit this community with him. I was unsure exactly what I would be in for when I met up with him, but soon realized what was happening. He was walking me around and introducing me to the people of the community in which he was affecting, and the beauty just unfolded and transpired with every interaction and new face he showed me. (I have to note that this has been one of the most personally rewarding and transforming experiences for me to date). We started off at the bottom of the hill by the road and he introduced me to three young ladies and some women. They were cooking food to feed the mechanic workers and other workers near by. Under this make shift hut they had three coal stoves on the ground going where they made sweet potato, matokee and beans. The three girls were very busy with the other woman. He encouraged me to ask them questions and to speak with them, so I did. For the most part the girls spoke English and we were able to communicate. But he did help out and translate for me, especially when I was speaking with the adults. The girls were helping out with making the foods so they can earn a little bit of money to pay for books and school fees. The girls were both good at net ball and played on the net ball team that he had helped to create. They wanted to continue school for as long as they could and had aspirations of teaching.

Next we walked past a shop where some of the CRO boys were smashing and dismantling metals and electronics. Here the youth can earn some money by brining in scrap metals, so they go through garbage and other discarded piles of stuff to find any bits of metal they can. They break apart used electronics and take any bit of it that may offer a little money in return. It was so nice as we were walking towards them I heard them call my name. We went over and I was shown what they were doing and then we continued on.

We went up the hill a little way to find two female youth preparing matokee (Uganda’s specialty food made from green bananas). One of the girls was a young mom. When he first met her she had dropped out of school and was not planning on returning. He encouraged her to return and educated her on the importance of continuing school. He reports that she is now in school full time. She says that she would like to finish school and be a teacher. Her and the other young lady are also apart of the net ball team. They both appeared to be the head of their families left to take care of the younger children. I was told that one of the mothers had just taken off and abandoned the children; leaving the eldest to take care of them (this is also not uncommon).

We continued up the hill to a collection of small houses (bear in mind they are made of mud and sticks and not at all houses in the western sense). I was greeted very warmly and one of the mothers invited me into her home and instantly provided me a seat. Then most of her 7 children came and sat around me and we talked. She had a couple older youth who were both in school and were able to speak English. I told them about myself and where I came from, and the work I do at home. They were very interested. They asked questions about our seasons, our geography, our land, our farming and our ways of life. They were very surprised to hear that we also have street children at home and youth who use drugs. One youth told me she thought that it was only in Uganda that youth and children go with out homes and parents. We spent around 30 minutes in this home talking and sharing, while the younger boys were outside playing football (soccer) and coming in from time to time to catch a glimpse of the “muzungo”. Often when I am greeted by younger children, even youth sometimes, they will get on their knees, put their head down and hold up their hands to shake. I think it confuses them when I try to go down to their level and look face to face.

We continued our journey up the hill where we entered a hairdressing shop. (I keep feeling the urge to emphasize that it is nothing like we may have in mind at home). Interrupting seems to be a normal part of life here – people may just walk in and be welcomed no matter what it is they are walking into (for example, the doctors rooms at the hospitals, or budging in line at the supermarkets). So we just walked into the hairdressing shop where a woman was getting her hair done by one of the youth that he is also supporting. I was instantly welcomed and brought a seat, even though the place was very small and crowded. But we all seemed to fit in. It was strange for me to just walk in and sit down and start talking, but he made it feel very natural and comfortable and again encouraged me to talk and ask questions – this time he interpreted everything as they did not speak English. So I spoke with the youth, but mostly with the young woman (25 years) who ran the saloon and worked with the young girls in the community who wished to be hair dressers. (on a side note, right after I sat down the woman sent the youth out to purchase a soda for me as a gift to share with her visitor) The woman was just one year younger than me and was pregnant with her first child. She has been married for over 6 years. She had a lot of questions for me around religion and life. I told her that I am un married but that I have a boyfriend whom I have been with for over 3 years. I explained to her that he and his family are of Christian belief and I am not. This was confusing, yet also educating for her. It seems to be strange for some of the people I have met here to hear about not having a particular faith or religion – not to mention the idea of being in a long term relationship, un married and not of the same religious belief. I enjoyed sharing my differences and way of life, and likewise, it seemed to be of great interest for her, often producing laughs and looks of disbelief at the fact that I am not like her and her people. She told me that she would like me to visit again.

After our visit in the hair salon, we moved next door to meet a younger woman with a 2 month old son. Again, she was quick to make space for me to sit down and communicate with me. Even though I felt like an intruder most of the time, the reactions of the people I was meeting were very happy and grateful for having me present in their home or place of work. So we sat and talked with her for a short while. She told me about her son and his health complications. It is suspected he may have asthma. Her son was so beautiful and we connected right away with big smiles. When I told her I was from Canada she asked me if I could take her son with me and raise him in Canada. The only way I knew how to respond was by saying that I would love to raise many kids in Canada, but unfortunately I could not take him and that I am sure she will do a better job here. She laughed and we moved on. I was told that she sold small things like bananas and pancakes and other root vegetables to people in the community to support herself.

We continued our walk to a seemingly poorer part of the community where I met a young 9 year old girl who is the head of her household. This last home visit felt like the most painful to see. She has 3 younger siblings that she tries to support. I was told that her mother had abandoned the family and that her dad is around sometimes but he is a ‘drunk’ and does not come home often (again a common theme). This young girl was very withdrawn and barely made any eye contact. She was often looking down and her body language felt like that of a very badly abused, young child. He told me that he found her selling jackfruit on the streets and learned about her home life and lack of family. He is now supporting her to go to school and encourages her to stay in school. Her younger siblings were also present and very happy to see us. I was told that she has malaria and has not eaten for over a day. I was not surprised to see that he got on the phone right away and called a nurse to request some medications. We spent a little more time with her, her siblings and some of the other children and then the three of us walked back down towards the salon where he met with the nurse and purchased the medications (out of his own pocket). He also purchased some bananas and provided them to the girl to eat with the medications.

We made our way back down the hill and then he told me that we will be having lunch – this did not come as much of a surprise as providing meals seems to be a show of appreciation and thanks for the gift of presence. He seemed to be more thankful for the chance to share this experience with me than I was to have received it – and I was incredibly thankful beyond words. So our last stop was at the house in where the center runs out of. The woman that helps out and lives in the home was very happy to see me and had a smile bigger than mine. She welcomed me to her home and showed me around. I was shown the garage in where the group will meet along with some of the things that the children have made and the small amount of possessions the center has to share with the children like books and balls. I was also shown the chicken coupe where they have bough some animals to go along with the center. They are breeding chickens and other animals that they can provide to the youth and families in the community so they can start their own small farms. He told me that he has specifically learned how to breed these birds and ways to keep them so he can teach the other youth and families. One important concept with this program is learning and teaching keeping it sustainable.

After the tour she put out a very large meal for just him and I to sit and share and reflect. She made us matokee, g-nut sauce with fish, sweet potato along with avocado and pineapple. During our lunch he shared with me parts of his life story and how he got to where he is currently. The stories seemed to share an underlying tone of ambition to learn so he can teach, along with perseverance, compassion and motivation. He sets goals and believes that they will be achieved with out knowing yet how. When asked what his goal is for the Talents Skills and Development Center he explained that he would like to have a big center (building) where he can run a larger amount of services. For example he would like more sowing machines so that the girls can practice and teach each other, along with a school to provide education and the ability to reach more children and youth.

Overall my time spent with him was very fulfilling. Before I left I was given a gift that I will not forget. The woman who made the food, along with a young adult who helped out and visited with me wanted to give me an African name. They decided that my African name will be “Anaweza” which means ‘able’. It felt really nice. What a gift! When they were walking me down the hill to catch a boda home the kids were calling at me and waving and they told the kids that my name is Anaweza Adriana! It wasn’t until I got home again that I realized that that is the name of their charity. I felt like I received the gift all over again.

The other girls and I will visit the community this Sunday and see it all in action. I have been more than inspired with this community and these incredible people who are dedicated to enriching the lives of the children, youth and young adults in their community. They know the importance of helping these children at the grass roots level. In this past month I have been here, this is the first time I have felt so inspired to help and try to become involved. As this program is still in its infancy and has an immense amount of potential, I am feeling very inclined to continue to keep in touch and try to help in any way possible. I am also encouraged to help knowing that Michelle, a student from last year’s project that I am friends with, is also keeping in touch with this man and his aspirations. One way in which I can provide some support currently is through helping with networking. I have spoken with Bridgette, who runs Tekra Resource Center with her husband Bruce, and have asked her if she would come with us on Sunday to meet him and possibly share some ideas and insight into his project. Who knows what could transpire from that contact. I also have a couple other ideas in mind in terms of connecting and networking. Now that I have been here for over one month and I am aware of some other projects and networks I feel confident that before I leave I will be able to offer a couple of supportive ideas.

I am more than excited for the next three weeks and also a little sad that it is shortly coming to an end. I am feeling like I have just begun to understand and feel comfortable in my abilities to assist and now our time is running out. I look forward to sharing more with you later. I could go on an on about the community here and all the amazing experiences I have been gifted with, but I will save some for later! Thank you for following our journeys!

Sincerely,
Anaweza Adriana

PS – Us ladies continue to get along very well. So far none of us has caught malaria. We continue to provide just the right amount of support for one another. We eat freshly prepared meals that we prepare together each night and all seem to clean up after ourselves. One important thing is that we laugh a lot, at ourselves and at each other. We share our stories each day and have fun together on the weekends. I feel that our small group compliments each other very nicely. We are all very different yet share similar and sometimes intimate threads of connections.
And I am very greatful for my wonderful parents! I miss you and love you both!