A Small Glimpse into Village Life — Rural Living in Central Uganda
Interconnected walkways link the vast dispersion of villages and townships scattered across Uganda’s ubiquitous countryside. Maps for this complicated system of paths exist only in the memories of the navigator, making it nearly impossible for an intruder like myself to find his way when meandering off one of the few main roads. Trails wind and curve their way up steep slopes, through dense vegetation, and sometimes cut directly across someone’s property to link up with another path hidden behind their home.
I live on the outskirts of a village called Lutetee. Deep in my village, very few people have running water or access to the electrical grid. Out of the dozen or so residents from Lutetee that we interviewed during the market research assessment phase of our solar project, all but one person burned kerosene lanterns for lighting — the one who didn’t was the beneficiary of a solar system granted from a program operated by Heifer International. A stroke of luck equivalent to winning the lottery considering the number of eligible applicants for such a program.
I am fortunate in many ways relative to others who live in my area. My home is no more than 500 meters away from the main highway that connects us to the nearest city, Masaka. This highway passes from Masaka to Mbarara, a city in the western region of the county that you’d drive through on your way to Rwanda or the Congo. In other words, I have more access to the closest trading center (Kyabakuza) and Masaka than nearly all the other 100,000 residents who live in my county. Unlike the vast majority of my neighbors, my host family’s home is equipped with grid electricity. All things considered, I’m spoiled here. Separation of duties and household responsibilities is extremely traditional in Uganda. As a guest (and a man), I’m not allowed to cook or contribute to hardly any of the household chores… only this week was I finally successful in convincing my host family to allow me to wash my own clothes, which is a labor some process when done by hand. Sure, there is no Wifi or flushing toilet at my homestay, but to say that I’m roughing it would be to disregard the living conditions of my temporary neighbors.
One surprising element of our survey results to me was that nearly everyone owns a cell phone, and not only that but mobile money is a big business in Uganda. Telecom is basically controlled by two monstrous companies: MTN and Airtel. To send money, all you do is text a number with the amount — like Apple Pay and other similar services — and the money is withdrawn from your mobile account. To reload your account you have to deposit cash at one of the many MYN or Airtel outlets — no banks involved, just the telecom company. Almost everyone uses mobile money here. The telecoms charge significant fees to both the sender and the recipient, so life is good for MTN and Airtel. Driving down the highway in Uganda you’ll without a doubt see hundreds of homes painted with advertisements from the two companies as they flash their logo any way they can. Don’t be fooled, these are not Airtel retail outlets… these are people’s homes.
You might be wondering how residents charge their cell phones without electricity. Small business owners here and there earn a nominal daily fee to recharge phone batteries. It’s cheap for customers mostly because what these companies are really after is your mobile money credits. Two-thirds of the individuals we interviewed reported having mobile money credits stolen by the businesses where they charge their phones. We are talking about flip phones manufactured in the early 2000s — no password or pin to gain access to the phone, no protection from theft. A lack of regulatory oversight makes stealing mobile money a common practice. Careful you are texting the appropriate person/company for your payment! I’m told once you hit send that money is virtually unrecoverable unless you pay a personal visit to the MTN/Airtel headquarters in Kampala.
Every community member we interviewed relies on farming to support their families — there were two respondents who also run small businesses, but for the most part if you live outside of one of the few large cities in Uganda, you’re a farmer. Not the farming like we do in the States… where massive, technologically advanced planters systematically drop seeds into perfectly arranged rows, and a single farmer family can cultivate several hundred acres of land. I’m talking about intense manual labor farming. I’m talking about grabbing a hoe and sowing your seeds wherever space permits. You will regularly see someone climbing a tree to retrieve its papaya, bananas, jackfruit, or mangoes. If you want to uproot your potatoes, cassava, or yams — better grab a shovel and get to work. I have yet to see an irrigation system — not usually a problem with an average annual rainfall of 51 inches… but it’s rainy season right now, meaning it typically would be pouring every day — it hasn’t rained in a week.
A typical Ugandan family maintains less than two acres (depending on the size of the family — statistically the average Ugandan woman has 5.8 children, however, the largest family per our survey was 17). As you can imagine, much of the yields are consumed by the families themselves — not to mention if you are fortunate enough to own goats, chickens, pigs, cows, or other animals with mouths to feed. Not everyone is so well-off to own livestock — not even close. Owning animals puts you in a somewhat exclusive group and can give you a big advantage financially.
When modern banking and financing isn’t available, you’ll take whatever edge you can get to improve your family’s quality of life. Village members often pool their funds together to form small savings and loan groups. Each month members can buy additional shares in the pooled capital and will earn interest on loans distributed to other members. Mortgages aren’t a thing in rural areas either. A new family might start off by building a small two room home (not a two-bedroom home, two rooms; a living area and a sleeping area). Over time they will then add on to their home — as money and labor allow.
Given that agriculture employs nearly 80% of workers in Uganda, it can be a bit difficult to sell your production as your neighbors are often growing the same assortment of fruits and vegetables as you are. Maize, coffee, and tea are usually sold off, but beans, cassava, bananas, and potatoes are four of the primary food staples of the Ugandan diet. There are more bananas than can reasonably be consumed by one family, so you’ll see several bunches of bananas make their way to town tied to the back of a bicycle, which in Uganda are used as much for getting the rider from point A to point B as they are to carry extremely heavy loads. It’s quite impressive to see a man in flip flops pushing a 100+ lbs load of bananas or water jugs attached to a bicycle up a steep hill.
Hardly anyone owns a car in this part of Uganda — making transportation difficult for goods and inhabitants alike. Most people walk when traveling within the 10km diameter that they spend most of their lives — boda boda motorcycle taxis are also a viable option to get around locally, but at UGX 1,500 each way (about $0.40) they are beyond the budgets for many people living in rural areas. Not to mention if you’re living deep in the village, you might have to hike 7 or 8 kilometers just to reach a roadway where hailing a boda boda is even possible. In spite of challenging living conditions for many people, a deep sense of pride and genuine happiness and passion for life is widespread here. Each morning joyful singing fills the air as my host mom celebrates the new day with her three nieces, who came to live with her because of the quality of schools accessible in this area.
Our solar initiative is progressing nicely, a few unexpected obstacles with our original suppliers aside. After two weeks of collecting market data, we spent this week vetting several solar suppliers in the Masaka area. We identified one supplier that can deliver larger home solar systems (12-amp/12-volt battery, 15-watt solar panel, 4 lights, a mobile charging connector, and a rechargeable radio) directly to our customers for UGX 200,000 apiece — about $54 which includes installation and a one-year warranty. The systems are manufactured by a German company called Sunshine Solar.
Surveys completed by our target customers have indicated a strong preference for larger solar systems and at this price point we should be able to deliver quality systems to more families. Our position will be financier — we will purchase the systems in cash and allow recipients to pay us back over 3, 6, or 12 months. As an accountant my mind goes immediately to how are we going to collect our receivables once we are up and running. Without credit cards and bank accounts our options are limited to paying high fees for accepting mobile money or going door to door to collect payments. Neither is ideal but we will play it as it lies. As of yesterday, we’ve received our first orders and our small team is hitting the ground this afternoon to hopefully identify more customers. We currently have 30 or so people who have expressed interest — not bad for three weeks of work.
