Twekembe – “REAL SMILES!”
First and foremost, I SAW MY FIRST UNITED JERSEY TODAY! Glory, Glory Man United!
Charles asked if I would be willing to write an article about his organization Twekembe Slum Project, so part of today’s entry will double as that.
Today 15 Georgia State University students and 3 faculty members descended into the slum of Kampala. Led by Chandia Kato Charles, or better known simply as Charles, is the director of the Twekembe Slum Project (TSP) we visited two schools within two slums.
A little background first about the TSP. Twekembe, as explained by Charles, means “let’s get together and work together.” TSP is a non-profit, community based organization started in 2009 by Charles who set out to engage the community. The organizations vision is to uplift people from poverty and promote sustainable urban development by improving the standards of sanitation and overall welfare of the residents of Kampala slums. This is done through education, work-related demonstrations and enterprising opportunities. It’s mission, to stimulate a sense of insight into all aspects of life, effect change, and influence policies aimed at giving second opportunities to vulnerable groups, such as orphans, youths, widows, elderly, and disabled. TSP also looks for ways to uplift the status of single mothers and ways to help the HIV/AIDS affected population cope with everyday life. TSP aims to engage youths in slums into charitable works aimed at improving their sanitation, economic, social, human and educational status. TSP’s goal is to improve the well-being of mankind and the environment.
A little more about Charles and his volunteers. He grew up in a Naguru slum north of central Kampala. He attended school and received a scholarship for college through rugby. He used to be on Uganda’s National Rugby team. We were joined today by Charles’s half-brother Martin and Michael a young man who credits Charles with help raising him. Both do a lot of volunteer work with Charles and other community organizations.
Our first stop was to Masajja Slum. Masajja is Lugandan for “many men.” TSP is working to build public wells throughout the slums. A community run was organized to help pay for the project and one completed well was funded by Uganda Stove through TSP. Rasta Man met up with us at the start of our walk or rather hike down through the slum. He is a local “celebrity” of sorts who makes films and movies about life in the slum. Another man Mr. Brown or Teacher Brown met up with us and showed us the school he runs and operates at no charge and on a volunteer basis. He teaches the kids English and other basic subjects before they are sent to the larger school.
The kids sang us a song and we taught them to Casper Slide. Apparently it was the first time they were performed for by visitors. Then the mayhem began. SELFIES!!! Whenever I pulled out my phone to take a picture the children swarmed to the point of violence to get into the photo. They LOVED seeing themselves on our phones. They all kept coming up to us and saying, “picture?” or “selfie?”
On our way out of the slum I asked Dr. Swahn if there was any place in Kampala where we could develop some of our photos and give them to the school. She loved the idea and I believe that outing is being planned. I also asked how much it would cost to have a few more benches made for the classroom. She said that a bench would be pretty inexpensive. I’m hoping that at the end of the trip if anyone has any Ugandan Shillings left over we can pull our resources and donate to the school.
Masajja is different from other slums because most of the houses are built out of hand molded mud bricks. Teacher Brown and Rasta Man took us through the build site. Once made, the bricks are transported to market in trucks and sold for 200 USH each.
Next we visited slum name where the “main” school is located. Parents Care Infant Academy has 366 students from kindergarten to Primary 7 (14yrs). There is one teacher per grade with anywhere from ~20-60 students per class. The school is called Parents Care because many of the students are orphans whose parents have died from HIV or other causes or whose father or mother might have died during the civil war in Northern Uganda.
Before our trip, we collected donations in the form of clothes, tooth brushes, tooth paste, and stuffed animals or “dollies.” We gave one suitcase to Mr. Brown’s school and one to Parents Care.
We had lunch at Coffee at Last very close to Parents Care. Rollex’s are a staple food in Uganda. They are made of rolled chapatti filled with a fried egg, vegetables and cheese. Most of the time they are easily found being sold on the street from carts but Dr. Swahn advised we stay away from those and instead try a Rollex here. It was very filling and a “small” was massive. I also got my first Ugandan Coca-Cola because Michael ordered one and it just sounded good.
After lunch we went to the Makenya Craft Market. Like most open air markets, it was very overwhelming and I bought EVERYTHING; purses, jewelry, a Uganda futbol jersey, parachute-ish pants, a woven bowl, and other gifts (I don’t want to give anything away ;). In total I spent about 124,000 USH which is approximately $37.50. Before we got off the bus, Dr. White told us not to haggle too much because this market and selling these goods are these peoples livelihoods and to us, $37.50 might not be all that much but to them it might be food and shelter for a week. As we piled back on the bus a surprising number of us said that they even bought things they didn’t really want. Jibril said it’s hard to refuse an old black lady. He came out with a very nice leather framed painting that he said he didn’t really even like but at the time felt he had to buy. I personally found myself buying more things are certain vendors just in order for them to break some of my larger bills. But all in all I like all of my purchases and have made a gift list of family and friends.
Once back at the hotel we were given 45 minutes to nap, relax, shower and change before heading out for dinner and a performance at the Ndere Cultural Centre. Mr. Rwangyezi Stephen is the founder and acted as the MC for the performance. They performed many traditional dances from all over Uganda. It was truly remarkable. Ndere is also a school, so all the performers are also students. They danced for 3 hours and then asked us to join them on the dance floor and when we left, one of the performers was still dancing.
