Development Values Indicators

Development of a country is measured by certain factors such as infant mortality rate, gross national product and literacy levels. While considering these factors I started wondering if these were culturally biased? Development is another word for progress towards specific values. I am including a list of values various Ugandans have shared with me and translated it into development language.

1. Household capacity to host guests and extended family.
2. Average familial relations per person
3. Gross National excitement expressed during football matches
4. Number of muzungus (white people) well hosted
5. Inter-neighbor walkway usage
6. Gross output of wedding invitations
7. Average financial contribution to the educational development of another family member
8. Gross expertise as measured by white hairs

Compare with traditional development indicators here

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uganda_statistics.html

Awefulness Suffering Aid

Here is the story as explained by the Ugandans I have met. AIDS hits Uganda and people start dieing off. People start using condoms to save their lives. Anti retroviral are introduced and people can start living a "positive life". People are less interested in using condoms and the HIV infection rate increases.

My time is short so I will blurt out some raw, unrefined thoughts for your digestion.

Here are my thoughts.
If anti retroviral were not invented until later, would vast cultural change regarding condom usage have taken a stronger hold in society?
One level deeper
Is a certain amount of suffering needed before long lasting change is made? Europe suffered war after war calumniating in two world wars before Europeans created institutions that would decrease the likely hood of another war. Maybe a certain amount of awfulness needs to be expressed and told as stories in a culture before a furious drive for reform is born.

Other Thoughts

What if aid and development never came to Africa? What solutions would have been created by what I have experienced to be a hard working and innovative people? What African solutions is the world missing because the west is giving easily available and cheap solutions away? I was in a woodworking shop where all the mechanical tools were antiquated tools donated by Italy after the woodworking industry there took a change for digital technology. What tools would Africans develop if no free tools were given as charity? Could a woodworking technological breakthrough occur in the outskirts of Gulu, Uganda, due to the right amount of need, innovation and time?

I look forward to developing some of these thoughts more and forming stronger connections, but for the meantime I am sharing them with you.

Ask three times, teach a class of women entrepreneurs

I remember learning during one of my intercultural courses that in some cultures you must make a request numerous times before it is understood as legitimate. So after learning that the Rotarian Host of the North Kampla club was also a director of a Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited, I was very interested. I brought it up once in the car that I would enjoy getting involved somehow. Then I brought it up again the next day as we were eating lunch. I brought it up a third time, feeling as though I would be a pest, but this time she opened up the phone and made the arrangement. I thought it would be like other meetings I have scheduled with entrepreneurs where I would walk through their businesses and they would describe the various functions of equipment. You can imagine my surprise when I walked into an office and was led into a room filled with nearly a dozen women and was asked to present on my experience developing entrepreneurs. The whole thing went like a charm.
“Alex, what would you say to those women who think that they need a plenty of capital to start a business?” asked the coordinator. “I would say the less capital you have to start with, the less you can lose.” The students responded with clapping and laughing. The ladies were with me after that and the rest of the presentation went well. I continued to explain how I see entrepreneurs getting into trouble when they throw too much money at a business and don’t grow organically.
While making this presentation and answering their questions, I stared to incorporate what I had learned speaking in Uganda.
“If you are working in the business and not on the business, you can not what?... grow”
“Your employees are not your family, they will leave you and you must be, what?..prepared, how?..by training plenty of people”
The women had plenty of questions regarding mostly human resources interesting enough. One lady told me how she can control her employees from stealing eggs from her chickens. Another lady asked how she can retain her best employees. Another one asked what type of crafts the Muzungus (white people) like. I answered their questions and spoke passionately and practically about business development. I was encouraged to see the ladies busy writing down suggestions.
All in all I could tell these were true entrepreneurs. They were excited about growing their business and always keeping their eyes open to the next opportunity. They pressed for practical answers to their questions and were quickly on to the next thing once the meeting was over. I just turn of fire while doing entrepreneurial stuff and this was the best experience of Uganda so far.

Just Quotes

“Amongst the Acholli, blood is still thicker than the baptismal water” Dr. William (PhD. In Theology)

“Bow and arrow is better than a gun. If the robber sees a gun he will know that you must fire a warning shot. But if he sees a bow and arrow, he will know that he will get stung”

Alex: So, I see some Rastafarians here. What do they do here?
David: They join bands and live off the generosity of others.
Alex” Ok, I was wondering if it was the same as in America

“The man is Afraid of getting married too soon, his wife may lose discipline”

Alex: She looks a little light, is she from Uganda?
David: Yes, she may have the blood of some of your brothers and sisters

Being and Nothingness and Honey

I had been walking though the market today. A market of fish guts, hair salons, fabric, fruit, and fun. I saw all these flys and bees swarming around this one stall and had to check it out. Initially, I thought it would be some sort of bucket that traps insects so people could eat them later, just like the grasshoppers a while ago, but in fact it was just honey. I asked the lady and she opened the honey pot which was also full of bees swimming for their lives. I asked if people eat the bees and she said no, then I asked for 2000 shillings worth of honey. I got a little plastic sac full of honey and one live bee just for good measure. I walked around the market some more and started to feel a little sun stroked, my brain started to slow, eventually I was just standing at an intersection desperation trying to make my dehydrated brain decide whether to turn left or right. Just then and there a man asked me how I was doing. He was at a motorcycle repair shop, so i figured he had nothing monetary to gain by interacting with me. I said it was hot and he asked me to sit down on the bench. I sat there next to him for five minutes not talking, just sitting, just being. It made me think, this is it! This is what I try to achieve while in other places. A state where I can just be with other people, and not engage in an economic transaction, not interview them for information, just be. When I type it here on the blog, it doesn't look as significant as it felt while I was there, but I think there is something significant here. Eventually, one of his friends asked what I was doing with a live bee in a clear plastic sac. I told him it was my guard bee. After a confused look, I explain that if a robber comes to me I will release the bee and then made a gesture with my hand to indicate an angry bee chasing and stinging a robber. The joke spread through out the cycle shop. Just being and joking.

Flexibility and what?..Objectives

One of the interesting speaking patterns I have heard here in Gulu is a sort of professorial way of delivering information, but instead of explaining it, I will demonstrate it to you.
I have locked down an other intercultural skill that is necessary for effectiveness and it has to deal with flexibility. In much of the literature regarding intercultural competence, flexibility, holding judgment, and dealing with ambiguity are all skills with high value. But I have found that that being too, what?.. too flexible, is also not favorable. Yesterday, I was a little too flexible and I spent my day waiting for people and once they arrived, it was too late to accomplish the tasks I was hoping to accomplish. So to accomplish, what? Tasks, I should have taken off on foot and arrived at my destination. Why?..too accomplish what I need to do in the time I have. So it seems that the intercultural skills in not just flexibility, but it is the ability to know when to push for a conclusion, and when to go with the flow. Push for conclusion, when?.. When it involves something that needs to be done in a limited time and when you don’t have to cajole too many people. Go with the flow, when? When there are too many individuals to influence or when the stakes are low. Why?..because you don’t want to burn yourself out or ruin relationships by driving too hard for your way each time, but you also don’t want to be thinking on the plane on the way back home, I spent all my time waiting for others.

Is white a color

I was in my host David’s car after returning from a traditional wedding called an introduction. My butt was tired and my legs were weak from sitting during the 5 hour ceremony. ‘’How many people were there” I asked. “Maybe 500 or 600” my host responds. “I think I was the only white person there” I observe. “Yes, it was nice to have some color”. I smile slowly to myself, finally I am in a country where I can add some color.
I have already blogged on handholding, so why not dig right into another taboo? Color here is not spoken in hushed terms here as it is back home. My whiteness is acknowledged and attributed to several personal characteristics.
“I like this Nile Special Beer, it has a rich taste.”-Me
“Yes, the whites like it.”-Lady sitting next to me

“These grasshoppers are pretty good and crunchy”-Me
“The whites are usually terrified of them”-My laughing host

“Why are the children all crying?”-Me
“They are afraid of the white skin”-Preschool teacher

As an interculturalist, it is liberating to finally be able to talk about culture and color in un-hushed tones.



Too all those who think kids are colorblind, I have some video of some screaming children I would like you to watch. Stay tuned.

Some of the infants here are afraid of my whiteness. While entering a preschool a small child started crying, then others started crying as well, soon the whole preschool was crying. I asked the teacher why they were crying and she told me in good humor, that they were afraid of my white skin. We had a quick laugh and one of the members of my team started singing and clapping, and the eruption of sobs soon evaporated. But thinking back, I was wondering if the same things happened in the United States with an Ugandan and a room full of white children. What shame the teacher would face. Would the children be required to take diversity training? Would a cover up explanation be used, “they are just tired”.
I was also wondering if I was ever terrified by a different color person. All of these kids who are crying are before the age when they store memories of experience, so I doubt of anyone could recall if they had the experience. But my Brazilian Boss in Japan tells the story of the first time he saw a black person. He started to cry because he thought the person was all burnt. I wonder what explanations kids are coming up with for my white skin.

Intercultural Questioning, Child Solidiers and Mud Huts

Intercultural communication tips.

With more of the world speaking English as a second language than as a first, I think it is important to distinguish the difference in how commutation can be done effectively. The first rule is that although English is limited, a person can still be very intelligent. Although this seems like a stupid observation, I find it is an important one to draw attention to. Simple words do not indicate simple thoughts. So the challenge is to ask questions in simple words, but ones which can allow for a complex response.
For example, when asking a question, I typically ask the question that I want answered instead of the literal question that I have. For example,
I have the question, what type of people build these thatched huts, how does society pass on this traditional building technique, and are only certain people building these.
This is a complex question and I am more interested in getting the answer than asking an elegant question. So I think to myself, what question is simple, quick and will provide an answer that is satisfying to my questions. I asked this one instead,
can all people build these thatched huts if they wanted too? **answer below
Walla this seemed to work. Because the person read into my question and honoured it by providing a full answer, my curiosity was satisfied.
Also, I find that providing a context is helpful for leading a person to answer the question you are curious about. For example here is one that I asked today at the World Vision Camp that provides counselling to former child soldiers:
A lot of the mental health therapies from the west. Do you provide therapy to child soldiers that involve traditional dancing or other truly Ugandan forms of therapy? **answer below
If I were to ask just the question part, in my experience, I would not gotten an answer in the direction that I was hoping for.

Answer Key

Thatched huts are part of a traditional Acholii man’s education. Boys learn to construct one and smear the outside with dark mud which makes it look beautiful.

The Ugandan forms of therapy involve traditional dance. Which provides a rhythmic way to exercise, connect with history and connect with a larger sense of family. Also, a sense of global relationship is formed by creating a pen pal network. When former child soldiers get and send mail to their pals in the US, they feel like the world cares about them. Also play therapy and art therapy are used for both assessment and therapy tools.

Taboos and Handholding

I am now in Gulu. While at the Acholli Inn I was introduced to my host, Dr. David. He is a doctor and a teacher at Gulu university. One thing that was interesting was that he reached out to hold my hand while showing me around the area. It was interesting to have my cultural boundaries tested. In all my travels, I have rode atop dangerous buses with the cargo, slept in ancient temples, ate snakes, alligators, beating hearts, escaped robbers, awoke in clinics. But somehow of all things,.. gentle hand holding sounds my taboo alarms? I would like to think of myself as able to be comfortable and find my place in many cultures. It is infact a large part of my identity to be able to blend and navigate various cultures. So here I am holding hands with a respected Doctor reducing myself to the lowest level of intercultural competence. "what will others think", "what is communicated by this hand holding", "what is the most masculine way to hold hands", "should I use a tight grip, weak grip, interlocking fingers"., what is the length of time I should be holding hands. These are the ideas going through my head. It is so silly to be so pressed with something so simple. What a funny taboo.
Did men in the USA hold hands or were they at least more comfortable with physical contact before homosexuality came out of the cultural closet? Did the debate regarding gays force all male to male contact to become taboo in US society? Is this why guys get wasted to the "i love you man" state?, in order to reaffirm bonds that are taboo in hetro culture?
I will embrace hand holding here. To challenge myself and my intercultural abilities. It is nice to have a challenge, especially something so simple and friendly.

Missing God's Time Auto Repair and Good Fats

While in Ghana I noticed a strong evangelical fervor that spilled into the commercial districts. I could find places like "GODS TIME AUTO REPAIR" and "Praise Him Hair Salon" and "Matthew 2:12 Bakery" but there are no such places I have discovered yet here in Kampala. In fact I am seeing less small store front churches here. Other things I am noticing that are similiar such as the illustrations of products on the walls of small businesses, corrugated tin roofing, advertisements focusing on raising a healthy family. Yea that is one thing that is interesting, it is the same as I remember in Ghana, but the advertisements that focus on health. While health in the US involves mostly stopping the obesity epidemic, the focus here is proper nutrition. One popular advertisement is for blue band which boasts a good mixture of fats and vitamins. Yes they actually boast good fats!

Your Welcome!

So one of those snippy things Minnesotans do when you have been too rude to thank someone is to say “your welcome”. This in turn demands a response to the effect of
“why I am just like a chicken with my head cut off, too busy to thank all you people for the hard work, please excuse me. Thank you so much, really thank you.”
“no thank you necessary, please just go ahead.”
“no I really mean it thanks, I really like what you have done and this makes my life just so much better, I have just been so distracted lately. Who am I of all people to not thank, I am such a fool.”
So why am I detailing this truly Minnesotan dialogue while I am suppose to be telling stories of Uganda? Because, “your welcome” means something completely different, yet is much truer to the words themselves. People here often say “your welcome”, meaning I welcome you here. I find that I have to control my internal response in my head, which sounds much like Garrison Keillor, have I not properly thanked this. Then I remind myself that I am in Uganda and different codes exist. It is funny to find two comments which are exactly the same, but mean quite different things. Although, much of Minnesotan is spoken with a hidden meaning.

In Uganda: Opening my eyes.

When I arrived, I strove to make my senses super aware to take in as much as possible.  The smells in the airport were unique, a combination of different industrial cleaning materials and incense smoking out of a store. On the midnight drive back to the hotel, I heard the insects chirping in a unique way. It sounded like a long buzzer going off,almost like a computer sound. I visually overwhelmed. Despite coming and going through the door several times,  I just noticed the side door to my host family this morning. What else am I not seeing due to the overwhelming stimuli. Can I force myself to keep my mind awake to take it all in?

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It is one in the morning and my flight leaves in 16 hours. The house is now quiet and I have packed my bag.