K-ja.

Karamoja is a tricky place. Africa is a tricky place. Development is a tricky business (occupation).

I have good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks. I usually have one terrible day per week. 1 out of 7 isn't bad right? The problem is those days force me to wonder just what the heck I am doing here, why I chose to do what I do and what I want to do next year when the 'ol contract is over. Those are tough questions to be asking myself on a weekly basis (and with 9 months left on the contract).

But as I said, Karamoja is tricky. Thursday was my terrible day this week, but today (Saturday) was great. I went to Nadiket- our awesome irrigation scheme that helps 68 households produce vegetables for personal consumption and sale. It was great to sit with them in a big community meeting to discuss the plans for the place and hear from them. They have made over 300 dollars so far. They have abandoned their previously environmentally destructive occupation of chopping down trees and burning them for charcoal. They no longer have to risk their lives to climb the mountain looking for such trees. They know that this garden and this project is their opportunity to transform their livelihoods. It was great to see how much they love the project and how they have taken the ownership.

They now call me their father, their papa, their white man. They ask when is our white man coming to visit us? (I got bogged down for a while with other projects and wasn't able to visit them). I feel proud of this, as weird as it is to say. I hate the racial divides of black and white and I hate that a white man has to be the one to bring help, but I still at least feel appreciated. I feel as though my commitment and hard work has been noticed and appreciated. It is days like today when things do make sense around here. When I feel like staying forever and when I feel like things are on track.

Pray for rain. I was in a discouraging meeting this week with Uganda's Minister of Disaster Preparedness and he is asking for blanket food distributions to take place immediately. Yes, food aid does help keep people alive and the Karamojong are definitely hungry because food is scarce but it also destroys work ethics, creates dependency on handouts and generally speaking is a step backwards. It would sink my program (food for work). Why work when we can cry about how hungry we are and they will give us free food? All that to say, it's time for rain, for crop production, for self sustainability. It's time for WFP to go back to Rome and for SP to move on to other development projects. So... pray for rain.