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Yesterday I woke up at five in the morning. I grabbed my bag and stumbled out the door taking a seat on the makeshift wooden bench on my front stoop and proceeded to wait for the overwhelmingly bright shine of headlights. The only bus that travels to Jinja from my village usually passes by my door around six in the morning, but in typical African style, you can never be exactly sure when it will arrive. As I waited I watched Bukatabira slowly come to life. As the sun rose the howling of dogs gave way to the bleating of goats, the chirping of bats became the chirping of birds, and the damn cockerels just continued to crow. Villagers slowly walked by on the way to the garden with hoes precariously balanced on their heads. Children dressed in bright green uniforms made their way to school shouting “Jambo Christine” (Hi Christine!). The smell of grease and dirt drifted through the air as the chapatti man fired up his charcoal stove. And the bus finally arrived at 8:00am.
Three hours later, I arrived in Jinja and made my way to the SPW headquarters. Every month one member from each placement team must travel to the office to review the past month’s work and finances. March, in a word, was BUSY, and there was much to be reviewed. Over the last 30 days my placement has completed over 14 sexual reproductive health lessons, 7 agriculture lessons, 7 livelihood lessons, and 7 gender lessons in both primary and secondary schools. We organized school clubs and held sessions in group management and development. We mobilized two out of school youth clubs and begun sessions on agriculture and entrepreneurship. We planned and carried out a massive football tournament, an HIV voluntary testing and counseling event, a community discussion on gender issues, and an exposure visit to a model organic farm for the farmers in our village. And yet, we did not meet all of the work “targets” set by the organization for the month. When you are in the village living SPW work and requirements it is very easy to get caught up in the little details and loose perspective on the task you are undertaking. Meetings never start on time, paperwork is never filled out exactly right, groups demand money and services you can’t provide. But when I step back and take a look at that long list of accomplishments I can’t help but feel satisfied.
After completing my duties at the SPW office I left with a lighter load, leaving behind a massive stack of paperwork and a bundle of worries and stress. I have spent the last two days reconnecting with the “real world” in Jinja with the international SPW volunteers. We make our way from one Western style restaurant to the next, spend hours upon hours chatting, and have some very well deserved fun. Tomorrow I will be trying my luck with the Bukatabira bus once again to return to the goats and the cheeky youth and the bats and the determined farmers and the impossible organization and planning… to my home.
