Today I got to go on a bit of an adventure with my new flatmate and two of my other friends here (one of whom's flats is also nice -- if not quite as exciting as this one -- and has a very inexpensive vacancy that'd probably be my first choice were I making a longer return).
Anyone, the other (from whom I'm subletting now, actually) is getting a quiet civil marriage at the end of this week (!), and is planning their party which will be in a month or so (alas, after I've returned to the States), and wanted to check out this potential venue for it. Her fiancé is still out of the country (until Tuesday, I think?) for work, so he couldn't come, which is too bad. He's Ugandan and does refugee law work, and she was doing research work and coordinating local research being done for US academics (but currently looking for a job, I believe). Needless to say, they're both really, really smart.
The place is a little ways (maybe 20km) outside of Kampala on the road to Entebbe, so not all that far, but all told the trip took about an hour there. It's this sort of lodge place (with a shooting range, of all things) up on a hill facing the lake -- a really, very beautiful place.
You wouldn't know you're so close to the city -- it, and the road to it, felt nearly as remote as the farms I visited in Mbale for work. There's very little in the way of visible construction between it and the lake, too. The vistas are absolutely stunning, and the whole place was just really nice and just being there for a couple of hours was a wonderful contrast to the noise and intensity of the city.
I've got some great pictures from it that I'll post up next time I'm on a connection that's sufficient for that sort of thing. I'll add a link.
Anyway, I think they're going to have it there, she really liked it a lot, and so did all of the rest of us who came, and it sounded pretty shockingly inexpensive. There are also a few cabins around it so I think some of the better friends will stay there a day or so.
At any rate, it's nothing all that exciting to report, but it was a very nice outing; fun and quite relaxing. Definitely a nice change.
And I'm very jealous I won't be able to make it to their reception thing there.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
New Apartment
I've just "shifted" (as they say here) into a new apartment.
I'd written another post about the trouble I had with my other landlord over it, but didn't have a chance to post it. As is I'll just summarize that (especially as it's now been resolved). Anyway, back to the place itself.
It's in Nakawa, which is where I walk about half an hour now to get a taxi to work, so it'll cut my commute in half or more. And that I still have the steep walk up the hill at the end means I'll still get some exercise, if perhaps not enough. But now I'm close enough that I could walk the whole way, or some of it and get a taxi part way, for the exercise, too, in less time.
It's also rather nice and quite spacious. It's a bit more space than I really know what to do with -- my room in it's quite big. It also has a living room and more of a real kitchen than my tiny place before had.
Now, my old place was quite nice -- it was cozy and relatively nicely furnished (so is this) and in a nice compound with a courtyard and lawn and such. But it was quite far from my work (and most other things). This is at the top of a large building with a variety of businesses (including a good grocery store) below.
So living here for my last few weeks will definitely save me time, likely encourage me to eat better, and is a nice change. Also, the old place was in a relatively deserted (in terms of the streets) and visibly rich area, which made me a little wary at times (especially when the power was out -- the roads could be quite dark). Speaking of the power, it also failed more there than I get the sense is quite standard.
All in all, this is a nice change. The white noise of the road is nice for a change. Also, I gather that (likely because of being on the 5th floor) mosquitos don't really make it up here. Even with a net and burning a mosquito coil on my porch my place got kind of a lot of mosquitos. And mentioning my porch reminds me, this place has a big balcony off of the living room as well as a smaller one for each bedroom. They've got very good views. I'll post pictures of the place and the views shortly.
Another thing that I like better about this is that it's with someone else, which I actually miss. Now, granted she's German and works all the time, so I probably won't see all that much of her, but she's nice and I know her and she seems like a good roommate, and just living around people is nice. Living alone's nice when you're near people (like last summer at my, Carter, and Jon's apartment, right near TH, or even in summer TH [Tellefsen Hall, the Cal Band house]), but when you're far away from people you know it's not as good; getting home from work knowing it was my last human contact wasn't always pleasant. So this will be a nice change.
And then, finally, is Rolex. Rolex is the cat who lives at the apartment. It's been almost exactly four years since I've lived with a cat (since I left for school) and even then, in the lengthy reconstruction following a fire in our house, the cats had been at the house while we'd been living in an apartment. So I haven't lived properly with cats for a long time (except visits home). I'm pretty excited (although granted it is also only like three and a half weeks).
Briefly, regarding my old landlord, he demanded I pay more for moving out with short notice. Now it was short notice -- about a week. BUT, based on what all of my Ugandan friends have said, that's completely normal here. If you pay for two months (which I did), you're free to leave at the end of it (without saying anything at all ahead of time). So, while I felt a bit badly about it, I also feel like he was taking advantage of my not knowing that's standard practice here. And there was, of course, never any lease or any sort of written or verbal agreement about that (or anything else, for that matter).
In any event, I was able to talk him down to 50,000/= from the original and totally unreasonable 100,000/= he asked for, and felt it was a partial victory. As it is I'm still saving money by moving. This morning his wife tried to ask for more money for cleaning it, too -- for one, the amount they charge for cleaning is unreasonably high, and second, I had already paid them more than the cost of cleaning extra for nothing. And she made the mistake of letting slip they'd already found somebody for it, which was how her husband justified charging me, for the delay before they found somebody. I told her the extra money I'd already paid that I didn't owe more than covered the cleaning costs, and she actually accepted that (rather unexpectedly).
Anyway, it was frustrating, and not particularly reasonable, but worked out OK -- it neither required a particularly serious or difficult confrontation nor ultimately really cost me anything I wouldn't have paid otherwise.
And now I'm quite happily composing this from my new and very comfortable living room, and I think I might head downstairs for some fresh vegetables in a few minutes.
I'd written another post about the trouble I had with my other landlord over it, but didn't have a chance to post it. As is I'll just summarize that (especially as it's now been resolved). Anyway, back to the place itself.
It's in Nakawa, which is where I walk about half an hour now to get a taxi to work, so it'll cut my commute in half or more. And that I still have the steep walk up the hill at the end means I'll still get some exercise, if perhaps not enough. But now I'm close enough that I could walk the whole way, or some of it and get a taxi part way, for the exercise, too, in less time.
It's also rather nice and quite spacious. It's a bit more space than I really know what to do with -- my room in it's quite big. It also has a living room and more of a real kitchen than my tiny place before had.
Now, my old place was quite nice -- it was cozy and relatively nicely furnished (so is this) and in a nice compound with a courtyard and lawn and such. But it was quite far from my work (and most other things). This is at the top of a large building with a variety of businesses (including a good grocery store) below.
So living here for my last few weeks will definitely save me time, likely encourage me to eat better, and is a nice change. Also, the old place was in a relatively deserted (in terms of the streets) and visibly rich area, which made me a little wary at times (especially when the power was out -- the roads could be quite dark). Speaking of the power, it also failed more there than I get the sense is quite standard.
All in all, this is a nice change. The white noise of the road is nice for a change. Also, I gather that (likely because of being on the 5th floor) mosquitos don't really make it up here. Even with a net and burning a mosquito coil on my porch my place got kind of a lot of mosquitos. And mentioning my porch reminds me, this place has a big balcony off of the living room as well as a smaller one for each bedroom. They've got very good views. I'll post pictures of the place and the views shortly.
Another thing that I like better about this is that it's with someone else, which I actually miss. Now, granted she's German and works all the time, so I probably won't see all that much of her, but she's nice and I know her and she seems like a good roommate, and just living around people is nice. Living alone's nice when you're near people (like last summer at my, Carter, and Jon's apartment, right near TH, or even in summer TH [Tellefsen Hall, the Cal Band house]), but when you're far away from people you know it's not as good; getting home from work knowing it was my last human contact wasn't always pleasant. So this will be a nice change.
And then, finally, is Rolex. Rolex is the cat who lives at the apartment. It's been almost exactly four years since I've lived with a cat (since I left for school) and even then, in the lengthy reconstruction following a fire in our house, the cats had been at the house while we'd been living in an apartment. So I haven't lived properly with cats for a long time (except visits home). I'm pretty excited (although granted it is also only like three and a half weeks).
Briefly, regarding my old landlord, he demanded I pay more for moving out with short notice. Now it was short notice -- about a week. BUT, based on what all of my Ugandan friends have said, that's completely normal here. If you pay for two months (which I did), you're free to leave at the end of it (without saying anything at all ahead of time). So, while I felt a bit badly about it, I also feel like he was taking advantage of my not knowing that's standard practice here. And there was, of course, never any lease or any sort of written or verbal agreement about that (or anything else, for that matter).
In any event, I was able to talk him down to 50,000/= from the original and totally unreasonable 100,000/= he asked for, and felt it was a partial victory. As it is I'm still saving money by moving. This morning his wife tried to ask for more money for cleaning it, too -- for one, the amount they charge for cleaning is unreasonably high, and second, I had already paid them more than the cost of cleaning extra for nothing. And she made the mistake of letting slip they'd already found somebody for it, which was how her husband justified charging me, for the delay before they found somebody. I told her the extra money I'd already paid that I didn't owe more than covered the cleaning costs, and she actually accepted that (rather unexpectedly).
Anyway, it was frustrating, and not particularly reasonable, but worked out OK -- it neither required a particularly serious or difficult confrontation nor ultimately really cost me anything I wouldn't have paid otherwise.
And now I'm quite happily composing this from my new and very comfortable living room, and I think I might head downstairs for some fresh vegetables in a few minutes.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Uganda's total ban on used computers
Yes, you've read that correctly. The Ugandan government has completely banned all imports of used computers into the country.
This is ostensibly to curb the accumulation of e-waste, which is admittedly a major problem in many parts of the world, and the government does not want to become a dumping ground for discarded electronics. This is a valid point, and there are certainly many accounts of electronics being brought to developing nations to be sold second-hand, and then discovered to be nonfunctional and dumped.
The dumping and accumulation of e-waste can have disastrous environmental and health consequences, given the high concentrations of toxic (and often valuable) chemicals, encouraging the very poor to (e.g.) burn electronic components to extract valuable metals at the expense of extremely toxic emissions into the air, soil, water, and themselves.
This is a known and serious problem, and one it is reasonable for a state to wish to avoid.
BUT...
New computers are also very, very expensive. Used ones are perfectly capable for basic administrative and internet use, and they are much cheaper. Furthermore, if a well-maintained used computer can last as long (or even nearly as long) as a similar new one, then at the ends of their respective lives, the contribution to e-waste will be essentially identical.
That's the problem with this ban–it's total. It prevents all importers of used computers from doing business. This includes responsible organizations that take very good care to make sure their machines are working, immediately useful, and long-lived. Some go as far as to provide open source software, training, and guaranteed responsible recycling at end-of-life as part of the (low) cost of the machines.
This hardly sounds like the type of dumping the government is trying to prevent, and it needs to realize that a comprehensive ban like this can't help but hurt the country's small but growing IT sector.
In addition to charitable organizations, I can't believe that all of the computer shops on Bombo road, with their shiny, million-shilling laptops and desktops, aren't also engaging in a thriving trade in used machines. And I've never been to an internet cafe that looks like its machines were bought new here.
Therefore, since this is a (little-read) personal blog, is unaffiliated with any organization, and reflects no one's views but my own, I will say what (understandably) no one closer to this can or should, if they happened to feel that way as well: this policy is absurd and will hurt ICT in Uganda.
So, don't deport me, though, ok...?
See stories about the issue from the Monitor here (via AllAfrica), I-Network here, and the Industry Standard (reprinted from Computerworld Kenya) here.
This is ostensibly to curb the accumulation of e-waste, which is admittedly a major problem in many parts of the world, and the government does not want to become a dumping ground for discarded electronics. This is a valid point, and there are certainly many accounts of electronics being brought to developing nations to be sold second-hand, and then discovered to be nonfunctional and dumped.
The dumping and accumulation of e-waste can have disastrous environmental and health consequences, given the high concentrations of toxic (and often valuable) chemicals, encouraging the very poor to (e.g.) burn electronic components to extract valuable metals at the expense of extremely toxic emissions into the air, soil, water, and themselves.
This is a known and serious problem, and one it is reasonable for a state to wish to avoid.
BUT...
New computers are also very, very expensive. Used ones are perfectly capable for basic administrative and internet use, and they are much cheaper. Furthermore, if a well-maintained used computer can last as long (or even nearly as long) as a similar new one, then at the ends of their respective lives, the contribution to e-waste will be essentially identical.
That's the problem with this ban–it's total. It prevents all importers of used computers from doing business. This includes responsible organizations that take very good care to make sure their machines are working, immediately useful, and long-lived. Some go as far as to provide open source software, training, and guaranteed responsible recycling at end-of-life as part of the (low) cost of the machines.
This hardly sounds like the type of dumping the government is trying to prevent, and it needs to realize that a comprehensive ban like this can't help but hurt the country's small but growing IT sector.
In addition to charitable organizations, I can't believe that all of the computer shops on Bombo road, with their shiny, million-shilling laptops and desktops, aren't also engaging in a thriving trade in used machines. And I've never been to an internet cafe that looks like its machines were bought new here.
Therefore, since this is a (little-read) personal blog, is unaffiliated with any organization, and reflects no one's views but my own, I will say what (understandably) no one closer to this can or should, if they happened to feel that way as well: this policy is absurd and will hurt ICT in Uganda.
So, don't deport me, though, ok...?
See stories about the issue from the Monitor here (via AllAfrica), I-Network here, and the Industry Standard (reprinted from Computerworld Kenya) here.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Kampala digerati meetup
This weekend there was something of a meetup of the Kampala "digerati" (digerati |dijəˈrätē| plural noun: people with expertise or professional involvement in information technology. Origin 1990s: blend of digital and literati.) at the monthly Kampala Linux User Group (LUG) meetup. This included many passionate Linux and Open Source users and its organizers, who, as I understand it run a couple of web-hosting companies. Very cool, interesting people, with a lot to say (very little of it complementary...) about the state of ISPs in Uganda, the UCC's (Uganda Communications Commission) running of the country's Internet Exchange (IX), which is evidently located in their building's basement/parking garage, on the level where the vehicles are washed. It's dusty, humid, and ill-maintained–not all that unlike a lot of things here, but a pretty crucial part of the country's communications infrastructure.
Additionally, we were told that much of the country's fibre infrastructure is laid approximately 20cm below the surface, as opposed to the recommend 1m.
So that was all quite informative, and we had a wonderful and wide-ranging conversation about these local issues to broader issues of Internet governance.
But the real stars of the show, the people I was most excited to meet, were Erik Hersman and TMS Ruge. Erik was born in Kenya but is now based in the US, and writes the tech-oriented blog WhiteAfrican and founded and writes/edits for AfriGadget. Both are excellent and are must-reads for anyone interested in technological innovation (and not exclusively information technology) in Africa.
He's also very involved in the FLAP bag project, which is a durable messenger-style bag produced by San Francisco-based Timbuk2 with a solar panel integrated into the flap. This isn't a totally new idea, but one designed for the rigors of the developing world is.
TMS Ruge ("Teddy") is one of the co-founders of Project Diaspora, an attempt to channel the success and relative wealth of the African diaspora into meaningful development in Africa. He's also a brilliant photographer and journalist, and seems like a really nice guy. The other co-founder, Tracy Pell, was there too, and has been traveling with Teddy. I hadn't really known of her before, except from the Project Diaspora blog (which I don't read as regularly as many) but she's also very interesting and it was great to meet her as well. Her non-development day job didn't sound very generous with time off, and she was very excited to be able to come to Africa (it was her first time here).
All in all it was a great experience to get to brush elbows with some people who are very respected and influential in this space, and who are experimenting with some really neat stuff.
In other news, I'm sorry it's been so long since I've had much to say here, but it's been busy. Mainly I've been concerned with developing a training manual for other people training future Question Box operators. A number of friends of mine's birthdays were this and last weekend, and one of my best friends here is just leaving for the States, and a few others are preparing to. It's all added up to be a hectic couple of weeks.
Additionally, we were told that much of the country's fibre infrastructure is laid approximately 20cm below the surface, as opposed to the recommend 1m.
So that was all quite informative, and we had a wonderful and wide-ranging conversation about these local issues to broader issues of Internet governance.
But the real stars of the show, the people I was most excited to meet, were Erik Hersman and TMS Ruge. Erik was born in Kenya but is now based in the US, and writes the tech-oriented blog WhiteAfrican and founded and writes/edits for AfriGadget. Both are excellent and are must-reads for anyone interested in technological innovation (and not exclusively information technology) in Africa.
He's also very involved in the FLAP bag project, which is a durable messenger-style bag produced by San Francisco-based Timbuk2 with a solar panel integrated into the flap. This isn't a totally new idea, but one designed for the rigors of the developing world is.
TMS Ruge ("Teddy") is one of the co-founders of Project Diaspora, an attempt to channel the success and relative wealth of the African diaspora into meaningful development in Africa. He's also a brilliant photographer and journalist, and seems like a really nice guy. The other co-founder, Tracy Pell, was there too, and has been traveling with Teddy. I hadn't really known of her before, except from the Project Diaspora blog (which I don't read as regularly as many) but she's also very interesting and it was great to meet her as well. Her non-development day job didn't sound very generous with time off, and she was very excited to be able to come to Africa (it was her first time here).
All in all it was a great experience to get to brush elbows with some people who are very respected and influential in this space, and who are experimenting with some really neat stuff.
In other news, I'm sorry it's been so long since I've had much to say here, but it's been busy. Mainly I've been concerned with developing a training manual for other people training future Question Box operators. A number of friends of mine's birthdays were this and last weekend, and one of my best friends here is just leaving for the States, and a few others are preparing to. It's all added up to be a hectic couple of weeks.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Typography update
Unsurprisingly (it is Google, after all) the Blogger platform on which this blog is hosted is smarter than I am, and looking back at previous posts I see that it's been correcting my stupid double-space-after-periods habit all along.
And I bet those of you (you know who you are) who said it looks better with two didn't even notice, since this is written in a kerned font, and the period already creates the larger white space your eyes are looking for. I certainly didn't. (Note also that I'm almost certain this is the standard in print publishing, as well, and has been for a long time).
But yeah, now I really don't have a reason to stop it (and can even justify it to an extent since I often draft these posts in monospaced text), and will therefore worry even less about it since it gets fixed on its own thanks to Google's magic before it reaches the interwebs. Admittedly, when I'm writing documents for public consumption, which I'm typically not, I suppose I should make more a point to do that find-and-replace as part of my final proofing, though.
And I bet those of you (you know who you are) who said it looks better with two didn't even notice, since this is written in a kerned font, and the period already creates the larger white space your eyes are looking for. I certainly didn't. (Note also that I'm almost certain this is the standard in print publishing, as well, and has been for a long time).
But yeah, now I really don't have a reason to stop it (and can even justify it to an extent since I often draft these posts in monospaced text), and will therefore worry even less about it since it gets fixed on its own thanks to Google's magic before it reaches the interwebs. Admittedly, when I'm writing documents for public consumption, which I'm typically not, I suppose I should make more a point to do that find-and-replace as part of my final proofing, though.
Interesting sight walking home Friday afternoon...
I really wish I could've taken a picture of this, but 1) don't want to tempt fate when armed people are involved, and 2) everyone walks so much slower than I do here that dropping back enough to do it inconspicuously would've been really hard.
But anyway, walking down the street in front of me, having gotten off of a big truck, was a group of maybe five or seven guards. They weren't police, must've been a private security company (Ugandan rent-a-cops, I guess), probably guards for rich houses/compounds going on for the night shift, and got dropped in a group to walk to their respective places.
Anyway, so just kind of idly looking at one, noticing their guns and so forth, and then I see one of them is holding hands with another. Better yet, he's just holding onto the other one's pinky. It was cute, I dare say (though I certainly wouldn't have dared say so to them). And then shortly thereafter those two and one on their right were all three holding hands in a row. The one on the right had an AK-47 slung on his other shoulder.
I really wish I could've taken a picture of it and then captioned it something about how the US military could learn a thing or two...
Although, of course, in truth it was just a casual friendly thing. I haven't noticed it often but I have seen it before. And it's important to note that Uganda is, I gather, a country that is by and large extremely homophobic. For instance, I've heard talk of a law that would ban any and all discussion of homosexuality. Not exactly the first step toward anything better. Anyway, I can't say I really know a great deal about the state of the issue here, except that it's really quite bad, and I don't have a great deal of exposure to local news, so most of what I know is from the Ugandans who hang out at La Fontaine.
The point of the story was just the amusing anecdote about the three big tough armed guys in military garb walking along all holding hands. Alas, I don't have a picture to prove it, though.
But anyway, walking down the street in front of me, having gotten off of a big truck, was a group of maybe five or seven guards. They weren't police, must've been a private security company (Ugandan rent-a-cops, I guess), probably guards for rich houses/compounds going on for the night shift, and got dropped in a group to walk to their respective places.
Anyway, so just kind of idly looking at one, noticing their guns and so forth, and then I see one of them is holding hands with another. Better yet, he's just holding onto the other one's pinky. It was cute, I dare say (though I certainly wouldn't have dared say so to them). And then shortly thereafter those two and one on their right were all three holding hands in a row. The one on the right had an AK-47 slung on his other shoulder.
I really wish I could've taken a picture of it and then captioned it something about how the US military could learn a thing or two...
Although, of course, in truth it was just a casual friendly thing. I haven't noticed it often but I have seen it before. And it's important to note that Uganda is, I gather, a country that is by and large extremely homophobic. For instance, I've heard talk of a law that would ban any and all discussion of homosexuality. Not exactly the first step toward anything better. Anyway, I can't say I really know a great deal about the state of the issue here, except that it's really quite bad, and I don't have a great deal of exposure to local news, so most of what I know is from the Ugandans who hang out at La Fontaine.
The point of the story was just the amusing anecdote about the three big tough armed guys in military garb walking along all holding hands. Alas, I don't have a picture to prove it, though.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Single versus double spaces after periods
I’ll admit it, I learned to type wrong. I put two spaces after periods when I’m not consciously thinking about it (which is most of the time) which is pretty much incorrect in modern times, as I understand it. It’s a relic of monospace typewriter fonts, which require it for visibility. It’s also good practice in the digital world when using monospace fonts. But outside of a terminal, most people never really do use monospace fonts (like Courier, for example). With kerned fonts it’s considered unnecessary and incorrect, I’m told, and is especially un-OK on the Web.
Well, I’ve put two spaces after every single sentence (except at the ends of paragraphs, of course) on this blog so far, and I apologize. But while for short posts like this I have the willpower to stop myself, I’m pretty sure for long posts it’s going to be the same story. I will, however, begin to do what I should do with other documents (although I don’t typically), which is to correct my bad habit with software, and do a quick find-and-replace.
I’ll try, and we’ll see how it goes. If all else fails, I can always switch the stylesheet to use a monospace font…nobody doesn’t like Courier New, right?
[Edit: rather ironically, given that this is a post on typography, I submitted it by email which totally destroyed the formatting, so I had to go back through and redo all of the spacing and line breaks.]
Well, I’ve put two spaces after every single sentence (except at the ends of paragraphs, of course) on this blog so far, and I apologize. But while for short posts like this I have the willpower to stop myself, I’m pretty sure for long posts it’s going to be the same story. I will, however, begin to do what I should do with other documents (although I don’t typically), which is to correct my bad habit with software, and do a quick find-and-replace.
I’ll try, and we’ll see how it goes. If all else fails, I can always switch the stylesheet to use a monospace font…nobody doesn’t like Courier New, right?
[Edit: rather ironically, given that this is a post on typography, I submitted it by email which totally destroyed the formatting, so I had to go back through and redo all of the spacing and line breaks.]
Monday, August 10, 2009
This absolutely made my day
And should, I think, make the next few weeks a lot more fun, too. Plus, I've been asked to play at a wedding a few days after my return to the US, so brushing up and learning some music is an absolute necessity. And will be a lot of fun.
I've missed playing trumpet, sort of without realizing it until suddenly I had a reason to think to pick it up and play. I guess from now on I've just got to travel with one (that and constantly have something to be preparing for). I learned my lesson this time, and rented this, and it's not ideal, but it works. And has a very nice (if a little small - but not too bad) Schilke mouthpiece.
I "crafted" a practice mute out of a soda bottle, toilet paper, and a rubber glove (as the cork) to permit freer practicing in my small apartment attached to the landlord's house. Its tuning leaves a great deal to be desired (but so does the horn's own tuning) but its back pressure is adjustable via holes in the bottom of the bottle and with them pretty closed off its pressure and volume are pretty comparable to the (substantially more expensive) Silent Brass mute. Not that the Silent Brass isn't preferable, but it isn't here with me, and this is.
Mbale Visit
Note: an extended power outage this weekend delayed my posting this even further than my delays in writing it did
There's so much I could describe from my visit to Mbale I'm not quite sure where to begin. First of all, driving along the main roads was not all that different than say, the road in from Entebbe. And passing through and stopping in towns like Jinja and Mbale itself also wasn't that different. They have much the same character and feel (so far as I could tell) as Kampala, if somewhat smaller, slower, and less crowded. But the people you saw on the street, the cars and bodas and mutatus, all looked and feld tabout the same to me. Of course, I'm not terrifically in tune with Ugandan life, either, so I'm sure there are many subtleties of this that I'm missing (things like language, accent, and so forth). Everything was a bit cheaper than in the city, of course, and the bigger downtowns were like the small trading centers in what some people call suburbs (I'd just call them not the city center, as to me Kampala feels like a relatively small city) like Ntinda or Kitintale in Kampala. But not fundamentally different.
Before I discuss the really interesting parts, let me say that (very generously) Grameen generously paid for all of our (Barbara's and my) accommodations and food, which was excellent. Now, they hadn't told us one way or the other ahead of time (which I took to mean I'd better be prepared) but Barbara had taken that to suggest they'd be paying. I don't know, since they never tell me anything about these, I didn't really expect to hear anything ahead of time either way.
Speaking of them never telling me anything, they pushed up the call time (that really is the first phrase that springs to mind -- that's the Cal Band in me talking) by half an hour and didn't tell me, so I met Barbara at the main road (early) having gone out to get a rolex but planning on going home (which is quite close to the MTN PubliCom office) to get my stuff, and then had to rush back home and practically run the (short but uphill) way to the MTN office to get there only about five minutes late. Barbara had gone ahead and told them I was on my way, so I wasn't going to get left behind, but I didn't want to hold up the show. I really should have known better though -- don't get me wrong, these guys are great, but for all its organized, Western-NGO-ness, Grameen sure has developing-country-time down. This level of hurry-up-and-wait puts Cal Band to shame. I rushed to get there at 10:35, and we ended up leaving their office at like 1:00. And we were chronically behind time the whole trip.
Anyway, they put us up in a rather nice, very Western hotel in the town of Mbale, which was comfortable. I really didn't know what to expect as far as accommodation (as, again, nobody tells me any details about these things) but it's clear Grameen's got some funds budgeted for this stuff. Nothing the least bit rural about it, but it was comfortable. The power was out a lot though, but I was able to charge my computer fully for the day I needed it for hours (for the focus groups) and between its battery and the external battery I have for my iPhone (necessary as my data connection and digital camera) I was able to keep everything charged enough. I also took my film SLR and took a lot of pictures on it. I've gotten them developed, but they may not make it to Flickr quite as soon because I'll have to scan them. They came out alright, but the color is a bit washed out and it's a bit grainy; I blame the (unknown) age of the film (given to me by a coworker in the States, and probably kind of old). I also got a roll of color-process black and white film developed, though, and it has some absolutely beautiful pictures. I'm quite pleased with that one.
Back to the trip, the first day we just drove there. I think something had been tentatively scheduled for that afternoon, but thanks to Grameen's flagrant disregard for punctuality, that definitely didn't happen. We got there in the early evening, ate dinner and discussed our discussion points, and then turned in. The next day we had all of the focus groups. The drive out to where the first CKW, named Agnes, lives, was my first real exposure to completely rural life.
The roads weren't so good once we left the main road. Most of the small country roads were dirt or gravel, and while far from smooth, were functional. There was an abundance of tropical greenery all around, sometimes taller and more forest-y, other times opening up into bigger meadows. The plots (or "gardens" as they're often called) of small farms were scattered among this, somethimes quite densely, other times only occasionally. I suspect some I did not even recognize as such, especially bananas. Some, like maize, were more distinct from the surrounding flora, and stuck out more.
Agnes' house was small, but not tiny. We did not see the whole house, either, and were just in what I'd assume was the living room, as there was a couch and a bench and some chairs (likely not its typical arrangement but set up for the meeting). It was lit by a single unshaded lightbulb hanging from a rafter, in addition to the natural light from the windows. The ceiling was not enclosed but appeared to be the underside of the roof. The floor was smooth concrete. The other house we visited, Patrick's, seemed a good bit larger. Its construction was similar, and its floor, too, was concrete, but rather than standing alone it had a wall which enclosed a small courtyard and seemed to possess an attached outbuilding that looked like it may have housed other people (perhaps farm or domestic workers?). He was clearly relatively well-off based upon this house and the fact, as we were told, that he has another house as well. It was electrified, as well, at his own (relatively high) expense, as I will address below.
The focus groups themselves were informative, much like the ones in Kampala a few weeks ago. Again, we discussed the CKWs' preferences among the different AppLab services (Google SMS, AppLab's own CKW-oriented SMS tools, Question Box) as well as trying (relatively unsuccessfully) to ascertain how many households CKWs are capable of reaching. All in all it was interesting, though likely not interesting enough to anyone outside of the associated projects to bear repeating in detail here.
Sitting around outside with the male CKWs at one of the houses while the women had a women-only gender-oriented focus group was also fascinating. I don't tend to find myself in a casual setting with rural Ugandans very often, so getting to just chat informally with them about things ranging from CKW/Question Box related stuff to the lack of rain this season and the high costs of electrification in the country. Interestingly, both houses we visited did have electricity. The second one, whom I spoke to about this, said that the power company requires the individual to pay for the pole, the meter, and the wire to the house. Yet once the pole is in place, any other nearby house can be wired for only the cost of the meter and line. Presumably nearby households may at times pool their money to buy the pole? He didn't say. In any event, all of those remain property of the power company, as well, of course. If my memory serves, he said that the pole cost around $300, which sounds like an easily-borne one-time cost to us from the US -- but relative to the incomes of rural farmers in Uganda that is very, very high and a major investment.
The next day, before we headed back to Kampala, we visited the Busano Subcounty Headquarters, a building where the area's important meetings are held. We were pleased to see a great deal of agriculture information posted up on the walls inside by the local CKW. When we arrived people were beginning to gather for a meeting there (I did not catch what for), so we had a chance to interact with some of the non-CKW community members. This was, for me, the most interesting and the most unlike what I had already done or seen.
None had heard of Question Box specifically, but we told them about it and provided them with flyers on it, which now advertise a direct line that farmers may call themselves, rather than going through their CKW. It remains to be seen how heavily this is used, as it does require the caller to pay for the airtime.
Nevertheless, we got several questions from the people there and the area's CKW, Joseph, featured in the video seen below, called into Question Box for them. One had a question about her cow. Another had a question about TB Question Box could not answer, but 6001, the Google SMS search for agriculture and health topics (there is also a general search, much like Google SMS in the US, as well as the intriguing craigslist-via-sms called Google Trader). Another asked us more trivia-type questions: who is the richest person in the world? Who founded the Catholic Church?
There is no doubt they enjoyed the service, and hopefully will at least continue to utilize it through Joseph. I am not sure, though, how valuable they saw it with regard to their livelihoods -- that remains to be seen. Still, as it is free for them through their CKW, hopefully they will continue to use it and benefit from it. That's the important thing. Of course, while Grameen's CKW program is set to expand substantially over the next few years, we do also want Question Box to be sufficiently valuable and accessible that individuals consider it worth their while to call directly.
I think I have a somewhat deeper understanding of who we are trying to reach, their circumstances, and what they want to know than before; this trip was eye-opening on a number of levels, as well as quite inspiring. Seeing not just the person on the other side of the phone -- the CKW -- in action, but to see the people asking the CKW questions, and hopefully being helped by their answers, whether about a concern on their farm or just satisfying their curiosity, was very deeply rewarding. It makes the fairly abstract work from an office in the city feel much more connected to the reality of the people we're trying to help.
There's so much I could describe from my visit to Mbale I'm not quite sure where to begin. First of all, driving along the main roads was not all that different than say, the road in from Entebbe. And passing through and stopping in towns like Jinja and Mbale itself also wasn't that different. They have much the same character and feel (so far as I could tell) as Kampala, if somewhat smaller, slower, and less crowded. But the people you saw on the street, the cars and bodas and mutatus, all looked and feld tabout the same to me. Of course, I'm not terrifically in tune with Ugandan life, either, so I'm sure there are many subtleties of this that I'm missing (things like language, accent, and so forth). Everything was a bit cheaper than in the city, of course, and the bigger downtowns were like the small trading centers in what some people call suburbs (I'd just call them not the city center, as to me Kampala feels like a relatively small city) like Ntinda or Kitintale in Kampala. But not fundamentally different.
Before I discuss the really interesting parts, let me say that (very generously) Grameen generously paid for all of our (Barbara's and my) accommodations and food, which was excellent. Now, they hadn't told us one way or the other ahead of time (which I took to mean I'd better be prepared) but Barbara had taken that to suggest they'd be paying. I don't know, since they never tell me anything about these, I didn't really expect to hear anything ahead of time either way.
Speaking of them never telling me anything, they pushed up the call time (that really is the first phrase that springs to mind -- that's the Cal Band in me talking) by half an hour and didn't tell me, so I met Barbara at the main road (early) having gone out to get a rolex but planning on going home (which is quite close to the MTN PubliCom office) to get my stuff, and then had to rush back home and practically run the (short but uphill) way to the MTN office to get there only about five minutes late. Barbara had gone ahead and told them I was on my way, so I wasn't going to get left behind, but I didn't want to hold up the show. I really should have known better though -- don't get me wrong, these guys are great, but for all its organized, Western-NGO-ness, Grameen sure has developing-country-time down. This level of hurry-up-and-wait puts Cal Band to shame. I rushed to get there at 10:35, and we ended up leaving their office at like 1:00. And we were chronically behind time the whole trip.
Anyway, they put us up in a rather nice, very Western hotel in the town of Mbale, which was comfortable. I really didn't know what to expect as far as accommodation (as, again, nobody tells me any details about these things) but it's clear Grameen's got some funds budgeted for this stuff. Nothing the least bit rural about it, but it was comfortable. The power was out a lot though, but I was able to charge my computer fully for the day I needed it for hours (for the focus groups) and between its battery and the external battery I have for my iPhone (necessary as my data connection and digital camera) I was able to keep everything charged enough. I also took my film SLR and took a lot of pictures on it. I've gotten them developed, but they may not make it to Flickr quite as soon because I'll have to scan them. They came out alright, but the color is a bit washed out and it's a bit grainy; I blame the (unknown) age of the film (given to me by a coworker in the States, and probably kind of old). I also got a roll of color-process black and white film developed, though, and it has some absolutely beautiful pictures. I'm quite pleased with that one.
Back to the trip, the first day we just drove there. I think something had been tentatively scheduled for that afternoon, but thanks to Grameen's flagrant disregard for punctuality, that definitely didn't happen. We got there in the early evening, ate dinner and discussed our discussion points, and then turned in. The next day we had all of the focus groups. The drive out to where the first CKW, named Agnes, lives, was my first real exposure to completely rural life.
The roads weren't so good once we left the main road. Most of the small country roads were dirt or gravel, and while far from smooth, were functional. There was an abundance of tropical greenery all around, sometimes taller and more forest-y, other times opening up into bigger meadows. The plots (or "gardens" as they're often called) of small farms were scattered among this, somethimes quite densely, other times only occasionally. I suspect some I did not even recognize as such, especially bananas. Some, like maize, were more distinct from the surrounding flora, and stuck out more.
Agnes' house was small, but not tiny. We did not see the whole house, either, and were just in what I'd assume was the living room, as there was a couch and a bench and some chairs (likely not its typical arrangement but set up for the meeting). It was lit by a single unshaded lightbulb hanging from a rafter, in addition to the natural light from the windows. The ceiling was not enclosed but appeared to be the underside of the roof. The floor was smooth concrete. The other house we visited, Patrick's, seemed a good bit larger. Its construction was similar, and its floor, too, was concrete, but rather than standing alone it had a wall which enclosed a small courtyard and seemed to possess an attached outbuilding that looked like it may have housed other people (perhaps farm or domestic workers?). He was clearly relatively well-off based upon this house and the fact, as we were told, that he has another house as well. It was electrified, as well, at his own (relatively high) expense, as I will address below.
The focus groups themselves were informative, much like the ones in Kampala a few weeks ago. Again, we discussed the CKWs' preferences among the different AppLab services (Google SMS, AppLab's own CKW-oriented SMS tools, Question Box) as well as trying (relatively unsuccessfully) to ascertain how many households CKWs are capable of reaching. All in all it was interesting, though likely not interesting enough to anyone outside of the associated projects to bear repeating in detail here.
Sitting around outside with the male CKWs at one of the houses while the women had a women-only gender-oriented focus group was also fascinating. I don't tend to find myself in a casual setting with rural Ugandans very often, so getting to just chat informally with them about things ranging from CKW/Question Box related stuff to the lack of rain this season and the high costs of electrification in the country. Interestingly, both houses we visited did have electricity. The second one, whom I spoke to about this, said that the power company requires the individual to pay for the pole, the meter, and the wire to the house. Yet once the pole is in place, any other nearby house can be wired for only the cost of the meter and line. Presumably nearby households may at times pool their money to buy the pole? He didn't say. In any event, all of those remain property of the power company, as well, of course. If my memory serves, he said that the pole cost around $300, which sounds like an easily-borne one-time cost to us from the US -- but relative to the incomes of rural farmers in Uganda that is very, very high and a major investment.
The next day, before we headed back to Kampala, we visited the Busano Subcounty Headquarters, a building where the area's important meetings are held. We were pleased to see a great deal of agriculture information posted up on the walls inside by the local CKW. When we arrived people were beginning to gather for a meeting there (I did not catch what for), so we had a chance to interact with some of the non-CKW community members. This was, for me, the most interesting and the most unlike what I had already done or seen.
None had heard of Question Box specifically, but we told them about it and provided them with flyers on it, which now advertise a direct line that farmers may call themselves, rather than going through their CKW. It remains to be seen how heavily this is used, as it does require the caller to pay for the airtime.
Nevertheless, we got several questions from the people there and the area's CKW, Joseph, featured in the video seen below, called into Question Box for them. One had a question about her cow. Another had a question about TB Question Box could not answer, but 6001, the Google SMS search for agriculture and health topics (there is also a general search, much like Google SMS in the US, as well as the intriguing craigslist-via-sms called Google Trader). Another asked us more trivia-type questions: who is the richest person in the world? Who founded the Catholic Church?
There is no doubt they enjoyed the service, and hopefully will at least continue to utilize it through Joseph. I am not sure, though, how valuable they saw it with regard to their livelihoods -- that remains to be seen. Still, as it is free for them through their CKW, hopefully they will continue to use it and benefit from it. That's the important thing. Of course, while Grameen's CKW program is set to expand substantially over the next few years, we do also want Question Box to be sufficiently valuable and accessible that individuals consider it worth their while to call directly.
I think I have a somewhat deeper understanding of who we are trying to reach, their circumstances, and what they want to know than before; this trip was eye-opening on a number of levels, as well as quite inspiring. Seeing not just the person on the other side of the phone -- the CKW -- in action, but to see the people asking the CKW questions, and hopefully being helped by their answers, whether about a concern on their farm or just satisfying their curiosity, was very deeply rewarding. It makes the fairly abstract work from an office in the city feel much more connected to the reality of the people we're trying to help.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Question Box: "Who is the richest person in the whole world?"
Joseph, a CKW from Mbale, demonstrates Question Box, asking a question supplied by one of the farmers at the Busano subcounty meeting house (Mbale district) where we met and observed them.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
(Digital) photos from Mbale on Flickr; film, not yet
My post about the trip is about half-written, I'm still polishing it up, but it should be up later tonight. In the mean time, here are all of the pictures from the trip I took on my iPhone. Now, there are probably 40 or so on film (and I've gotten it developed), but they will be a pain to scan, so I'll only do a few of the better ones, when I get a chance. They are a bit grainier than they should be, and the color isn't excellent, which makes me think the film is rather old. This is unfortunate, since I've got another three or four rolls of it, but am not sure how I feel about using them except maybe for effect.
I might see if I can get more here (I'm sure I can, and maybe even cheaper than in the States). If it's available and affordable, I think I'll spring for 800, since 400 is a bit inconvenient indoors and I didn't bring my flash, nor do I really know how to use it; as it's an older camera its synchronization isn't very fast, so you need to use slow shutter speeds (no faster than 60, and slower than 60 sort of defeats the purpose) and do a lot of manual correction in the aperture to get an acceptable exposure, and I've never learned the technique. Also, it's rather bulky.
Anyway, I also got the roll of color-process (C41) black and white film developed that had been in the camera for (I think) a couple of years or so. It has some very, very nice pictures on it, some of which I may scan and put on Flickr at some point. Of course, since it uses color chemicals it doesn't have the extreme sharpness of real black and white film, but (especially compared to the deteriorated color film) it looks quite sharp, although the color (or lack thereof) isn't totally consistent. Some have a cooler, subtly bluish cast, whereas others tend toward sepia. This may be a printing issue, though, I'm not sure. In any case, I'm happy with the results.
I might see if I can get more here (I'm sure I can, and maybe even cheaper than in the States). If it's available and affordable, I think I'll spring for 800, since 400 is a bit inconvenient indoors and I didn't bring my flash, nor do I really know how to use it; as it's an older camera its synchronization isn't very fast, so you need to use slow shutter speeds (no faster than 60, and slower than 60 sort of defeats the purpose) and do a lot of manual correction in the aperture to get an acceptable exposure, and I've never learned the technique. Also, it's rather bulky.
Anyway, I also got the roll of color-process (C41) black and white film developed that had been in the camera for (I think) a couple of years or so. It has some very, very nice pictures on it, some of which I may scan and put on Flickr at some point. Of course, since it uses color chemicals it doesn't have the extreme sharpness of real black and white film, but (especially compared to the deteriorated color film) it looks quite sharp, although the color (or lack thereof) isn't totally consistent. Some have a cooler, subtly bluish cast, whereas others tend toward sepia. This may be a printing issue, though, I'm not sure. In any case, I'm happy with the results.
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