Lisandro is a Peace Corps volunteer that I got in touch with through a mutual friend. He is fabulously lucky to be living in a picturesque little village in the eastern mountains of Uganda--it's true, even without water and electricity I consider him lucky! After our Thanksgiving weekend I followed him home to get a glimpse in the life a first month Peace Corps Volunteer. He's working as a health educator, but has a lot of freedom to do basically whatever work he desires, related to his assignment or not. He has encountered the problem that everyone living and/or working in Uganda faces nearly everyday: corruption. I've heard some say that the corruption in Uganda is the worst in all of Africa. I've had few conversations where it hasn't come up. Everyone suffers from it--in the government, the schools, the NGOs, the churches, the justice system, even among friends, few aspects of life are not impaired by it. Everyone knows it's happening, but few (if anyone) do anything to stop it. This is the main complaint I hear from people about President Museveni, that he's done nothing to curb the corruption. It's a huge constraint on the economics of the country, it under-powers many well meaning organizations, and it creates a general atmosphere of mistrust and helplessness. When I've asked locals how they think the problem can be solved, they all say there needs to be a change of government.
Museveni has been in power over 20 years, he came into power through a coup and made many promises as an interim government working towards a democracy. There have been three elections since he's led the country, but there are many who feel they were far from free and fair. I don't believe that you can consider a country a democracy when there has never been a peaceful transfer of power, the ruling government changes laws and even the constitution in order to retain power, and essentially throws any opposition into jail. So while many citizens in Uganda feel a change of governing leadership is necessary, few have confidence that they can make it happen. The activist in me screams that you have to stand up for what you want, protest, write letters, sign petitions, boycott! But people don't want to stir up any trouble or violence (recent history has created a great deal of fear towards acting against the government), they don't want to go to jail, so they accept the status quo and just go on with their life.
Apparently Ugandans like to talk politics while they drink, so I had a long talk at a birthday party (over Malwa, a local millet based brew, which frankly looks like disgusting sludge, but actually isn't that bad) with a young man who was put in jail for working for the opposition during the last election. It scared him sufficiently that he stopped working for the party and voted for Museveni. He felt that the only way to make anything happen was war, and he didn't want that, so what could he do? I told him about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, Gandhi and the independence movement, Nepal's protests to oust their king, and Burma's recent protests against their government. He seemed intrigued and encouraged.
The fact is that many of the people here feel helpless to change things. They're riddled with handouts from NGO's and manipulated by the government until they're convinced there's not much they can do for themselves. They even respect the medical opinion of a white man who's not a doctor (despite their mistrust of the west) over that of a local nurse. (Lisandro and I encountered this at a visit to a health center--the people were worried about giving their children vaccines. In the past western pharmaceuticals came and tested drugs in Africa, often to the detriment of their well-being, so this is a legitimate concern. We assured them that they were getting the same vaccines that we ourselves had as babies.* There was also a rumour that Americans thought Africans were having too many babies, so we were giving them these "vaccines" to strelize them. We pointed out that since these vaccines started being used in Uganda 20 years ago the birth rate has gone up!) I have long felt that empowerment is the key.JPG)
to creating positive changes--for the individual as well as the nation--and everything I see here tells me that's precisely what's missing. The question is how to organize the masses, educate them, and give them confidence to stand as a community to peacefully demand an accountable and democratic government. I feel I need many more Malwa induced discussions before I find that answer!
Museveni has been in power over 20 years, he came into power through a coup and made many promises as an interim government working towards a democracy. There have been three elections since he's led the country, but there are many who feel they were far from free and fair. I don't believe that you can consider a country a democracy when there has never been a peaceful transfer of power, the ruling government changes laws and even the constitution in order to retain power, and essentially throws any opposition into jail. So while many citizens in Uganda feel a change of governing leadership is necessary, few have confidence that they can make it happen. The activist in me screams that you have to stand up for what you want, protest, write letters, sign petitions, boycott! But people don't want to stir up any trouble or violence (recent history has created a great deal of fear towards acting against the government), they don't want to go to jail, so they accept the status quo and just go on with their life.
Apparently Ugandans like to talk politics while they drink, so I had a long talk at a birthday party (over Malwa, a local millet based brew, which frankly looks like disgusting sludge, but actually isn't that bad) with a young man who was put in jail for working for the opposition during the last election. It scared him sufficiently that he stopped working for the party and voted for Museveni. He felt that the only way to make anything happen was war, and he didn't want that, so what could he do? I told him about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, Gandhi and the independence movement, Nepal's protests to oust their king, and Burma's recent protests against their government. He seemed intrigued and encouraged.
The fact is that many of the people here feel helpless to change things. They're riddled with handouts from NGO's and manipulated by the government until they're convinced there's not much they can do for themselves. They even respect the medical opinion of a white man who's not a doctor (despite their mistrust of the west) over that of a local nurse. (Lisandro and I encountered this at a visit to a health center--the people were worried about giving their children vaccines. In the past western pharmaceuticals came and tested drugs in Africa, often to the detriment of their well-being, so this is a legitimate concern. We assured them that they were getting the same vaccines that we ourselves had as babies.* There was also a rumour that Americans thought Africans were having too many babies, so we were giving them these "vaccines" to strelize them. We pointed out that since these vaccines started being used in Uganda 20 years ago the birth rate has gone up!) I have long felt that empowerment is the key
.JPG)
to creating positive changes--for the individual as well as the nation--and everything I see here tells me that's precisely what's missing. The question is how to organize the masses, educate them, and give them confidence to stand as a community to peacefully demand an accountable and democratic government. I feel I need many more Malwa induced discussions before I find that answer!*You may remember that I posted a blog questioning the use of the flu vaccine a while back. I want to point out that while my concerns about many vaccines are still firmly in place, that doesn't mean I'm against vaccination on the whole--these babies need to be getting the polio, hepatitis, diptheria, tetanus, diptheria, etc, because the fact is that some of them are getting these diseases before they are even old enough to get the vaccine. The situation is desperate and the people working to make sure these children get the vaccines they need to survive deserve our praise.
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