Imagine that we are sitting down with a
bunch of post card sized photos and I am talking you through our whistle-stop
trip to Uganda on our way back to Kenya from the UK. The UK was whistle-stop in
itself, with Jane on a training course, family, friends, meetings, check ups,
motorways. Then we were back on the plane to Uganda. Uganda is a place I love
and has special memories. A lot of what we now teach was formulated into the
current Leadership for Hope programme in Uganda; we piloted it
from fishing villages, to slum savings groups, to remote islands and to
bustling city. But this was to be my
first trip back there in two and a half years…..and only for two and a half
days!
Postcard 1: The challenges of dealing with multiple
disappointments.
We arrived in Uganda at midnight and
straight to our hotel and up again at 6.30 to be ready to leave for the
training at 8am. We had gone to Uganda
because over a year ago one of our team ran a small pilot programme
specifically for teachers. The impact was clear and impressive so when they
invited us to return to train 250 teachers, it seemed like an opportunity not
to be missed. When we arrived there was no equipment working, a laptop
projector that looked 30 years old, a screen on a stage that was torn and
tattered and too small to be seen by many, apart from the first few rows….and
hardly any people. By the end of the day we had got up to about 50 -60 people,
with all kinds of reasons for what had gone wrong and many promises that on Day
2 they would all be there. Lunch on day
1 arrived finally at about 2.30 and the day had to end just after 4pm. On Day
two at 9am there were 11 people. Need I
say more? The training was just such
hard work from start to finish. By the way, what I failed to tell you about the
teachers is that they haven’t been paid for the past four months!
Postcard 2: The reality of training in Africa
Sometimes people wonder, with all that they
read in the paper, what is it like to deliver a training course in Africa. When
I tell them that I train with an armed guard, they don’t believe me. So I
persuaded our guards to pose for a photo to prove that I was telling the truth.
Postcard 3: Blessed are the children
One of the reasons to reach teachers with Leadership
for Hope is so that they can start teaching leadership to children. I
have long said that leadership principles are so simple and can be taught to a
five year old. I said this to the group and told them what I would teach their
class if I had 15 minutes with them. It was a Saturday and most schools still
operate on Saturday morning. When we broke for lunch a great young teacher came
up to me and said he would get his pupils together during lunch so I could talk
to them! And he did! So I got my 15 minutes on the grass with 50
schoolchildren. A very special moment in the middle of a tough day.
Postcard 4: Meeting up with Rachel before she leaves
Uganda and Cherish
I first went to Uganda 7 years ago to help
with the start up of the most amazing project called Cherish Uganda that was
building a whole village for children who had HIV/AIDs and were either orphaned
or abandoned. At the start of that adventure I met the then 25 year old Rachel,
the most outstanding young pioneering leader that I’d met, who was clearly
going to be the one who led the whole Cherish adventure……and she has. A whole
school for 230 children, 50 children with HIV all now living with mothers and
families in houses, a farm, clinic-soon to be hospital, staff accommodation and
an education resource centre for the whole community going to be built. After
the two hectic days we got to meet up with Rachel, who is just about to leave
Uganda for fresh adventures.
Postcard 5: The courage of Kenyans
A week ago we had specific information to
not go to the coast so we changed our plans. As we flew back into Nairobi on
Sunday afternoon we were greeted with the news of the first of two deadly
attacks in the area we were due to go to in a few weeks time. We are well and
safe and ensconced in our gorgeous little house in the woods. But my final postcard is to celebrate amazing
Kenyans and amazing people in any tough place in the world who still get up
each morning, amidst their fears or the chaos, to get their kids to school, go
to work, clean the house and live another resilient, courageous day.
As I tuck my postcards back into my bag I
want to celebrate the courage of those who just get on and live each day
without fuss or self-pity. “Gota” as
they say in Swahili. Respect.
TW
