Human Nature

Today I sat in on a women’s empowerment and banking meeting called co-save, a grassroots 12 month bank that allows the women to save money, collect interest and take out small loans. At the end of 12 months, depending on how much money they have saved, they will be able to pay medical fees, school fees or start a small business like a clothing store, food stand or fireplace construction. Once the rural women succeed at this, they are encouraged to continue or work with the World Bank micro financing projects.

Martin, a URF staff member encouraged me to bring a chair to the meeting. Once we arrived a blue tarp was set out of the ground for the women, our laundry line swung in the background and a cow and calf called to each other nearby. Not many people know their ages here, so I could not ask the ages of the women, but they looked to be in the range of 16 to 65. I could not imagine sitting on a chair, at my young age, while these women, who were informed about the meeting sat on the floor. I politely declined my seat and joined the women on the tarp, hoping that despite the language barrier, they saw my gesture was one to establish equality.

After a few minutes three people dressed in suits and fancy dresses arrived, their hair immaculate and with an air of superiority they sat on a bench and began to call out numbers and passed out bank booklets that belonged to the women. If you were not quick enough, your book was dropped onto the dirt. Two women on the tarp moved closer to the front and began to pass the booklets back. Money began to be passed back and forth from the women on the tarp to the people on the bench and totals were penciled into a small record book. All of the women on the tarp spoke Lugandan so we could not converse, except to say hello and how are you (Oolioatcha, jendi, calle). They looked at me with interest and mild amusement as my feet fell asleep from sitting on the hard tarp and I tried to shake them out inconspicuously. After an hour of the meeting I pulled out a notebook and begin to draw a picture of the women’s traditional dresses. A young boy in the audience looked at me, wondering what I was doing, I passed him my journal, and with glee he began to pass it around, everyone smiled and warmed up to me. A couple of the young women in the group took the pen and paper, and after a bit of encouragement from me, drew their own versions of a dress.

One woman in the group with a very stern face looked at me, and transforming her features with a smile, appeared almost girlish and flirty, she motioned for me to draw her. We both laughed at the same time and I drew her picture, and then passed it over to her. All of a sudden the meeting stopped, the people in the suits on the bench began to smile and the picture was passed into every pair of hands. The man at the front on the bench walked to the back of the group and into the group of women on the tarp to take a look. The picture was met with laughter and smiles. When I received it back, a note was written next to it, "Good drawn –G." The meeting carried on more casually than it had before, the people on the bench were laughing and started to tease women in the audience, the women teased back.

In the afternoon I taught the students at the Uganda Rural Fund secondary school computer classes on Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Office Word , typing and Movie Maker. The 9am to 5pm day ended with making health and leadership presentation talks for the week on public speaking, breastfeeding and weaning and HIV/AIDS.