A group of women yell and chatter as they swat at flies that cover the fish lying all around them, drying in the sun.<\/p>\n
A woman stands under swaying trees and sings about the potholes that cover the city.<\/p>\n
High-heeled shoes climb the incline of the mall. Red dirt covers every tree and plant that whizzes past the window.<\/p>\n
The taste of matoke. Haze from the smog. Gomasis. Luganda. Uchumi. Gulu. Mityana. Little Suns. Darkness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, what?\u201d I blink and refocus on the face in front of me. There they are. My roommate\/family\/friend\/stranger\/professor standing in front of me, with an expectant smile and eager eyes, all asking the same question.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow was Uganda?\u201d Different faces, same question.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was \u2026..<\/p>\n
All the memories and senses come flooding back \u2013 from the fish women of Gulu to the morning tea. The senses don\u2019t translate to words in my mouth.<\/p>\n
\u2026.great. Really great. It was incredible actually. The company I worked for was inspirational. It was also really hard to adjust and learn how to do work in a developing country. Completely worth it though.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so it goes: Different faces, same answer.<\/p>\n
But there is so much to be said about what happened, about what will happen because of Uganda. Good thing blogs exist.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Going to Uganda was the result of my time as a Global Social Benefit Fellow at Santa Clara University. I was placed with two other students with the company Solar Sister, based in Uganda. Solar Sister is a solar lantern distribution company that uses an Avon style distribution model, employing women to sell different solar products in the communities they live in. The company operates on the motto, \u201cLight, hope, opportunity,\u201d and through this motto, women across Uganda have not only provided safe alternatives to Kerosene, but also redefined their roles in the household.<\/p>\n
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I arrived in Uganda hopeful, excited, nervous, and na\u00efve. For weeks I had been researching and preparing to work with Solar Sister. The main objective for our time in Uganda was to conduct market research for the company and create a series of promotional tools in the form of commercials, videos, infographics, and pictures to help the enterprise expand and get more funding. We had our REI outdoorsmen hats and moleskin field notebooks (the sign of a true field researcher!), ready to take on the world, or at least the solar revolution in Uganda. Within thirty minutes of stepping off the plane our understanding of how work would be conducted in this country changed.<\/p>\n
As we rode in the taxi from the airport, the reality of our environment sank in. I realized that all my preparation, reading, and experience in the states did not prepare me for this. I felt nervous. And my hat suddenly felt really stupid.<\/p>\n
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Uganda continued to give us lessons in flexibility, but the country was a gracious teacher and with every challenge, there would be a person or an option that only could happen in Uganda; the power goes out? No worries because all the phones have a torch on them. The locals in the village do not speak English? Someone will gladly translate for you. Baboons are blocking the road? Someone will feed them jackfruit and you will drive on. Afraid to film in Gulu for the first time? A local Solar Sister will become your personal guide through the developing village. Every day a new experience would change how we interacted with the country, how we loved the country. Solar Sister truly took care of us while we were there and over the course of six weeks, we Muzungus (the Luganda word for white person) became Solar Sisters.<\/p>\n
Of course, it is hard not to feel included when the entire Solar Sister office is in one 12\u00d715 room and my Ugandan coworkers have a penchant for trying to hold my hand while we work in the office. When we were not in the office, bonding through shared space, I would be in the field, visiting different towns and filming as much as I could without getting in trouble (I will never think of fish the same way again after a particularly angry encounter with some local women at the Gulu market). Through these field visits I gained invaluable technical experience learning how to shoot documentary style. I also learned more about the nature of Solar Sister and how one light can actually change the life of some people. On my computer now are countless clips of Ugandans telling us that having solar light allowed them to pay for school fees, get a better house, become married, or be healthier. Each of these stories is an example to the incredible change Solar Sister is making in Uganda. I could write endlessly about the amazing women we met who used Solar Sister as a platform of social change in their communities and in their families, but sometimes the most poignant moments of remembrance are found in the completely ordinary instances of the everyday:<\/p>\n
One day I was having a hard time getting a component of a project to work and my coworker, Zaina, could sense something was wrong.<\/p>\n
Zaina: You are having a hard time?<\/p>\n
Me: Yeah, this is going to be difficult.<\/p>\n
Zaina: You will be ok?<\/p>\n
Me: Of course. I can handle it, no problem.<\/p>\n
Zaina: Mm hmmm. That\u2019s right. Because you are a strong woman.<\/p>\n
Me: As are you.<\/p>\n
Then she takes my hand and interlocks our fingers together, in an upraised fist, and in her smooth Ugandan accent looks at me, saying, \u201cGirl Power.\u201d<\/p>\n
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And even in the moment, I remember thinking, \u201cYes\u2026 this is\u00a0it<\/em>.<\/p>\n This is what Solar Sister is \u2013 this is what Uganda is about. On the surface it may be about solar light, opportunities through new income, or the hope for a better future, but at its core, it is about women understanding their own worth and acting on it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So whenever someone asks me, \u201cHow was Uganda?\u201d I want to tell them everything. I want to tell them of the solar installations, of the matoke and goat stew, of the cab drivers and private hires, the weather and the people and everything in between. Because to me, it feels necessary to know these things in order to know what living and working in Uganda was like.<\/p>\n Maybe I am over thinking it though, and Zaina had the right approach. Maybe in the future, when someone asks me the same question, I will interlock my fingers in theirs and in my best Ugandan accent say, \u201cGirl Power.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2026.Or maybe I will show some pictures instead:<\/p>\n Pictures of Uganda<\/a><\/p>\n \n \n \n A group of women yell and chatter as they swat at flies that cover the fish lying all around them, drying in the sun. A woman stands under swaying trees and sings about the potholes that cover the city. High-heeled … Continue reading