I am enroute to Uganda to work for a local NGO called Mother’s Heart Uganda for four months. It is undeniably the scariest thing I’ve ever done. It is also the biggest risk because I have no idea what I will do after or what will come of this.
Make no mistakes. I’ve given the matter enormous amounts of thought. But without having experienced the act, I do not know who I will be in 4 months, let alone what I will do.
And that is terrifying. I suppose one can never be certain who you will become, but at least I’ve generally had an idea. I’ve never been this uncertain.
So why?
I’ve written countless answers to this question in the months before coming, and none seem satisfactory to share. I get emotional and passionate and grandiose and judgmental.
So perhaps in the coming months, I will give the full answer I keep rewriting. The short answer is I knew deep in my heart that I could not continue to live a life without helping others. The big question then was “How?” and a multitude of scattered thoughts thereafter brought me here. To this plane going to Uganda.
There are some questions about the in between I can answer.
Why go overseas? Why not do something locally?
I’ve given this one a lot of thought. Going overseas was not certain and I did actually apply to various non-profits in America including teaching in schools in Detroit.
But eventually I decided that if I’m going to spend time on an issue, I want it to be the issue at the root of the problem. And I wanted it to be an issue with deep roots.
After much thought, the issue I choose was global poverty for woman.
Why this issue?
I chose this issue because I care about climate change. Part of the reason why I felt so strongly about doing work that helps others was from the frustration that arose from my first career job. I was getting paid an absurd amount of money to work on AI. As my company started to falter, I was still getting paid to build a product that likely no one would use after my company ended. It felt like a frustrating waste of time and brain power, resources that could be used on a problem like climate change. An issue that was not only global and huge in magnitude but also time sensitive.
But climate change is not a root issue. Not too long ago, Drawdown published a book (free on their website) on existing solutions to climate change. They did the math and ranked the impact of each solution based on CO2 offset. Educating girls was solution number 6 and family planning was solution number 7. (Source: https://www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank).
These two solutions ranked above switching to renewables and frankly, ranked higher than just about anything I could have done in the US.
These two issues are undeniable linked as well. Poverty is sexist and family planning and lack of education for girls are symptoms of poverty’s disproportional impact on woman. So that’s how I choose global poverty for woman as the issue to focus on.
Why this NGO?
Mother’s Heart Uganda not only works with exactly the issue I was looking to work on, they are also founded by a Ugandan. Jerimiah, the founder who deserves his own post, started the Nonprofit after doing his master thesis in Public Health about why maternal mortality rates are so high in this region of Uganda. Rather than getting a well paying job in the city after graduating, Jerimiah moved here to start a non-profit implementing solutions based on his findings.
Based on Jerimiah’s research, maternal mortality rates are high in this region specifically for 3 regions.
1- Lack of health knowledge among woman that giving birth outside the home is dangerous.
2- Lack of income in the community. Although the health clinic is free, it is far and the fare for a motorbike is more than some people can spare.
3- The lack of health knowledge is a symptom of the general lack of education in the community, especially for girls.
So Mother’s Heart Uganda is focusing on implementing 3 solutions.
1- Building and funding an affordable, reliable school.
2- Skills training workshops so woman can generate an income.
3- Health education focused on reproductive and maternal health. This also includes HIV/Aids training as it is linked to sexual health education.
Although it is new, I was thrilled to find an NGO run by a local Ugandan. It implies the NGO has an implicit understanding of the language, culture and background, things that are essential to build trust in the community.
In coming overseas, I was also hyper aware complexes foreigners have when helping overseas such as “White mans burden” or just general lack of deep communication in the community. I’m even aware of how dependance that can grow from well intentioned aid and volunteers. I had a fierce internal debate on whether I will do more harm than good by coming here for these reasons. Truth is, as much as I’d like to believe I’m helping, only time will tell. But by at least with a local NGO, this effect is minimized. It is also why I choose to come for 4 months. The longer you are present, the better you can understand the true needs of the community.
So in reality, I was extraordinarily blessed to find Mother’s Heart Uganda.
I do not know what the next four months will hold. I wish I could do longer. Four months both seems like too long and too short a time. A long time to be away from family while living in a rural location. Will I be able to handle 4 months of carrying drinking water, little electricity and bucket showers? But four months seems too short to know the community, especially as a foreigner. If I came here to help, shouldn’t I have committed a serious amount time?
This is only an example of the many contradictory thoughts occupying my mind about this journey. It accurately reflects the big uncertainty the next four months will be.
I literally have no clue -0!- of what the future four months will hold. But I will find out soon enough starting tomorrow.
