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.