Blog 2: Week 2 and 3 in Uganda
Door: Marije Wilting
25 Februari 2018 | Oeganda, Kampala
Blog 2: Week 2 and 3 in Uganda
2 weeks ago the week started with a lot of frustrations. Monday morning was full of communication problems and misunderstandings and I had no clue anymore about who is managing what in the team. Luckily in the afternoon I went to the field to visit a cooperative and on the way the taxi driver Steven was singing happy songs and we made some fun, so I got cheered up again! That evening I went with Steven to aerobics for the first time, which was also fun! A big group of Ugandan people doing crazy moves on crazy songs. I loved it! Now Hilleke and I go there every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! It is a really good workout for both muscles and endurance.
Tuesday I had a clearer plan of what to do, so whole week I was in the office reading, talking to dairy experts, some data entry. I learned a lot by talking to many different people. I learned that it is good to call or meet people to talk about a certain subjects, rather than searching all information online. Also, meeting people is much more fun and gives you an entry point to ask more later on!
Friday was a public holiday and Hilleke and I went for a trip to Lake Bunyoni, very close to Rwanda! The trip to the lake was already an experience. We went in a Matatu, a kind of mini-van, which was FULLY packed! Really, on a certain moment we were with 21 people in that van, while there were only 12 seats! So, you can imagine I was crushed between the van and a woman. I was almost sitting on her lap and she had to put her arm around me because there was no other space. I even had to put of my bracelet because it was crushed against the window. Here, they really don’t care about personal space, I don’t think they even know that word.
When we arrived in Kabale we had to grab a taxi to the Lake. When we came out the Matatu 8 guys immediately surrounded us and started yelling. They all wanted to bring us to the Lake. They got really angry at each other and when we had chosen one driver he was still swearing and the other guys.
But the journey was definitely worth the destination! (or the other way around?) Lake Bunyoni is really beautiful! The lake, the hills, the islands, the people, we really enjoyed it! We did canoeing, a little canoe safari, and hiking to a stunning view point!
Although more tourists come there, not all the people were used to white people. Hilleke and I were lying down somewhere after swimming and 3 kids came to sit aside us, just looking at us. After a while we started saying some words and they sang a song for us they learned at school. So cute! After that we did some clapping and a bit dancing. Later on, their mom called them and some other kids came to us. They also first only looked at us and said nothing at all and if I hadn’t said something I think they would stay there in silent till dark. After 20 minutes or so, I showed them some nice pictures in a book of Uganda and then we left.
WEEK 3:
On Monday we had a training about business communication in an international environment. We were there with 8 Ugandans from different regions and 3 Dutch people. It was a really interesting training and we had a lot of fun! It felt really good to discuss the differences and get some understanding in the communication problems.
Tuesday I started with a nice Excel Sheet in where I can analyse a lot of data. I got the sheet from a colleague and I am extending it now to give it more features. It will be a very helpful tool for milk collection centres, so I am very happy with it! Next week I will show it to the first dairy cooperative! Tuesday also Pieter booked a ticket to Uganda! He is coming end of March for 12 days! So happy! Wednesday was Pieters birthday so I bought a present online on Tuesday. Some of my colleagues really could not imagine that the next day it would arrive at his home address. I indeed realized that we really have an incredible infrastructure in NL.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I had interesting meetings and trainings. One meeting was about digitization at cooperative level and milk collection centre (MCC) level. Another was about extension services to farmers. Thursday I had a personal training about measuring milk quality. First I learned how it is (or actually should be) done now. Then I was thought about the new system which is a machine that measures the milk quality in 40 seconds and also calculates the amount of money the farmer should get according to this quality. This system will be (hopefully) put into practice in March. Now farmers are only paid according to milk quantity. Therefore there is a lot of fraud like adding water, skimming milk, etc. both at farm and milk trader level. With this new system farmers will be paid according to quality and I will and I will evaluate how this process is going.
This weekend HIlleke and I had a relaxing weekend, though there is still enough to do in a weekend like that! Saturday we cleaned our house, went to the big market in town to buy food for the week, and went to have dinner somewhere. Although cooking takes more time in here than in NL, going out for dinner takes much more time. It is always a real challenge to get what you want. Yesterday they didn’t have what we ordered so the waiter came back: “we don’t have it”. Then we ordered something else. The water came back: “The oven is broken”. Then we ordered something else. The cook came back: He did not understand. Then we finally got what we wanted, but it was only one meal, while we were with the two of us! But in the end we actually turned out being lucky, because we didn’t carry enough cash with us to pay two meals anyway.
Today I started the day early morning with a nice (very random) walk in some beautiful nature. Then we washed our clothes (by hand), made lunch, went to the supermarket, and when we were home it was already 5PM. So the days go very fast with only doing some basic stuff. Now I understand that most women don’t work here. Most of the things we do by foot, and going to the market and supermarket takes already more than half an hour, but it also makes it a kind of a relaxed activity. Washing clothes by hand is also not too bad actually, although when I was washing my bedsheets by hand today I realized that a washing machine is a great invention!
2 weeks ago the week started with a lot of frustrations. Monday morning was full of communication problems and misunderstandings and I had no clue anymore about who is managing what in the team. Luckily in the afternoon I went to the field to visit a cooperative and on the way the taxi driver Steven was singing happy songs and we made some fun, so I got cheered up again! That evening I went with Steven to aerobics for the first time, which was also fun! A big group of Ugandan people doing crazy moves on crazy songs. I loved it! Now Hilleke and I go there every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! It is a really good workout for both muscles and endurance.
Tuesday I had a clearer plan of what to do, so whole week I was in the office reading, talking to dairy experts, some data entry. I learned a lot by talking to many different people. I learned that it is good to call or meet people to talk about a certain subjects, rather than searching all information online. Also, meeting people is much more fun and gives you an entry point to ask more later on!
Friday was a public holiday and Hilleke and I went for a trip to Lake Bunyoni, very close to Rwanda! The trip to the lake was already an experience. We went in a Matatu, a kind of mini-van, which was FULLY packed! Really, on a certain moment we were with 21 people in that van, while there were only 12 seats! So, you can imagine I was crushed between the van and a woman. I was almost sitting on her lap and she had to put her arm around me because there was no other space. I even had to put of my bracelet because it was crushed against the window. Here, they really don’t care about personal space, I don’t think they even know that word.
When we arrived in Kabale we had to grab a taxi to the Lake. When we came out the Matatu 8 guys immediately surrounded us and started yelling. They all wanted to bring us to the Lake. They got really angry at each other and when we had chosen one driver he was still swearing and the other guys.
But the journey was definitely worth the destination! (or the other way around?) Lake Bunyoni is really beautiful! The lake, the hills, the islands, the people, we really enjoyed it! We did canoeing, a little canoe safari, and hiking to a stunning view point!
Although more tourists come there, not all the people were used to white people. Hilleke and I were lying down somewhere after swimming and 3 kids came to sit aside us, just looking at us. After a while we started saying some words and they sang a song for us they learned at school. So cute! After that we did some clapping and a bit dancing. Later on, their mom called them and some other kids came to us. They also first only looked at us and said nothing at all and if I hadn’t said something I think they would stay there in silent till dark. After 20 minutes or so, I showed them some nice pictures in a book of Uganda and then we left.
WEEK 3:
On Monday we had a training about business communication in an international environment. We were there with 8 Ugandans from different regions and 3 Dutch people. It was a really interesting training and we had a lot of fun! It felt really good to discuss the differences and get some understanding in the communication problems.
Tuesday I started with a nice Excel Sheet in where I can analyse a lot of data. I got the sheet from a colleague and I am extending it now to give it more features. It will be a very helpful tool for milk collection centres, so I am very happy with it! Next week I will show it to the first dairy cooperative! Tuesday also Pieter booked a ticket to Uganda! He is coming end of March for 12 days! So happy! Wednesday was Pieters birthday so I bought a present online on Tuesday. Some of my colleagues really could not imagine that the next day it would arrive at his home address. I indeed realized that we really have an incredible infrastructure in NL.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I had interesting meetings and trainings. One meeting was about digitization at cooperative level and milk collection centre (MCC) level. Another was about extension services to farmers. Thursday I had a personal training about measuring milk quality. First I learned how it is (or actually should be) done now. Then I was thought about the new system which is a machine that measures the milk quality in 40 seconds and also calculates the amount of money the farmer should get according to this quality. This system will be (hopefully) put into practice in March. Now farmers are only paid according to milk quantity. Therefore there is a lot of fraud like adding water, skimming milk, etc. both at farm and milk trader level. With this new system farmers will be paid according to quality and I will and I will evaluate how this process is going.
This weekend HIlleke and I had a relaxing weekend, though there is still enough to do in a weekend like that! Saturday we cleaned our house, went to the big market in town to buy food for the week, and went to have dinner somewhere. Although cooking takes more time in here than in NL, going out for dinner takes much more time. It is always a real challenge to get what you want. Yesterday they didn’t have what we ordered so the waiter came back: “we don’t have it”. Then we ordered something else. The water came back: “The oven is broken”. Then we ordered something else. The cook came back: He did not understand. Then we finally got what we wanted, but it was only one meal, while we were with the two of us! But in the end we actually turned out being lucky, because we didn’t carry enough cash with us to pay two meals anyway.
Today I started the day early morning with a nice (very random) walk in some beautiful nature. Then we washed our clothes (by hand), made lunch, went to the supermarket, and when we were home it was already 5PM. So the days go very fast with only doing some basic stuff. Now I understand that most women don’t work here. Most of the things we do by foot, and going to the market and supermarket takes already more than half an hour, but it also makes it a kind of a relaxed activity. Washing clothes by hand is also not too bad actually, although when I was washing my bedsheets by hand today I realized that a washing machine is a great invention!
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
