Writing in the dark

... and with no Internet! This week has been a challenge and has set up an unexpected framework. Trying to write during a power cut, with a really unreliable Internet connection, is not the easiest way of working to promote our week in Uganda! But during this week, we've learned to challenge our habits and perspectives,. We've learned to let go and to accept the joy and the discomfort of the moment. Our Ugandans delegates were able to continue, in the dark, their presentation of the challenges their organisation is facing . In return, we had to learn to be more patient about getting things online!

What is leadership?

We had a really interesting time this Wednesday, first day of our proper training on leadership. Fiona van Graan (programme director) gave us an introduction on the schedule for the week and Julie Saunders (executive director of Pepal) welcomed us on the challenge. After a short overall view of Pepal’s purpose, we then reflected on what makes a good leadership.

“Leadership is using your personal power to win the hearts and minds of people in order to achieve a common purpose”. Engaging others, seeing you as a leader, noticing without judgment are the key challenges that a leader faces. We have to be prepared to be fluid in our leadership. Sometimes we lead, sometimes we follow. Leadership is in all directions.

This part of the training was a really good guide for our group projects, bringing us into thought processes and ways of seeing ourselves and others from a different angle, like in a helicopter. The work was all about us as individual interacting in a team, leading or following. It was an insightful and subtle way of getting us into the mindset of good leaders.

We are happy...

If there is a phrase that could summarize the Ugandan spirit, it would definitely be this one: “we are happy despite all the challenges we are facing”. For these people have the most amazing will, courage and perseverance that we ever saw.

They are incredibly resourceful and yet humble, amazingly talented and yet suffering poverty. They have faced the atrocities of wars and they are still facing the atrocities of Aids. A lot are malnourished, but when you visit them they would offer you everything they have.

They are open-hearted, kind, generous… and they are happy!

Hope and perseverance

This Monday 4 teams were off to field visits.

After a good breakfast accompanied by the sounds of the birds, we were all heading off to discover what really is happening in rural communities, their situation and challenges, and what the work of our NGO partners is bringing to them, what changes have been implemented to their lives.

We have to learn and observe, to take in and to share with them our understanding of the issues they are facing. We are meeting the people who are making these NGO worth getting their funding. These very people are recreating a strong sense of leadership through sharing knowledge and skills. The children and women helped by Send a cow, for example, have so much to teach us about courage, tenacity, hope and happiness. They are the pride of their nation because they are helping their nation and its people. Through Send a cow programmes, they are acquiring the life skills and the precious knowledge that will give the nation a better future.

Meeting these people who have suffered and are still suffering from wars, riots, Aids and hunger is extraordinary humbling and moving. Their courage and perseverance deserves to be admired and talked about. They are changing our views on life, our vision of the world, and are making every little effort worthwhile!

Be where you are

Here we are, in Uganda, for our challenge week. Being here is amazing. At last, the results of the hard work we’ve put trough this project are becoming real, tangible.

Here we are, in Uganda, seating all together in this garden of paradise at the Royal Impala Hotel in Kampala. We have a big dream: sharing our experiences, helping each other to transform this beautiful and resourceful country into a peaceful and healthy place to live in. Together with our in-country NGO partners (Red Cross Uganda, Send a Cow Uganda, Grameen Foundation, NACWOLA Uganda) we want to help the Ugandans find their way out of poverty and hunger, their way to a better health and quality of life.

The first thing that surprises you when you discover the people of this Country is their kindness, their extreme generosity. They are talking with their hearts and they mean it! To see how they can give so much, yet having so little, is a real life changing experience for all of us, .

This first day in Uganda, Fiona van Graan (programme director) has given us our first and maybe more important lesson: be where you are, be in the present. Be kind with yourself and you will be more open to the others. Be non judgmental, respectful and you will be more authentic. Be who you are and experience joy or discomfort fully. Be non judgmental with yourself and you will give more.

What a great start!