Welcome to the Machine

Last week we received a visit from the “Double Delphine”: Delphine Pinault, the CARE Uganda Country Director, and Delphine Mugisha, the program manager who developed my position, and their small entourage. It looks like we will we need to move to a bigger office, but larger available buildings are hard to come by in Arua. Delphine M. asked me to mentor the initiative managers here to help in their writing.

For my entire career, except my first three years out of law school, I either practiced solo, or as a partner in a partnership with a few employees. Probably eight people were in my largest law firm.

Meital at swearing in

Working in the Peace Corps meant I would a supervisor (called a “champion”), for the first time in 30 years. As readers know, this was Meital. In the beginning, it was a bit difficult, because I felt she was a little too “mothering” but eventually we became rather collegial, and now I love her like a sister. She complemented my writing, and gave me the confidence to apply for my current position. Meital was supposed to be the champion for the five 3rd year extension volunteers. However, last week it was announced she was leaving the Peace Corps at the end of October, for undisclosed new opportunities. She has been on leave, so I don’t know more yet. I wish only the best for her.

Of course there were a few other people above Meital in Kampala, and the whole Peace Corps agency from it’s D.C. headquarters across more than 60 countries. But generally volunteers get a lot of autonomy in our scattered isolated locations. In Bugiri, Adams was my “Supervisor”, but he was very much like one of my small business clients. ATEFO was a small NGO hanging in there, scrambling to attract donors for projects. I was never shy about giving Adams my two cents, or rather 2 shillings, about running his little enterprise, and he respected my work experience.

Today, the Peace Corps is humming very quietly in the background, as I now have become a very tiny cog in a big machine called CARE International. Wikipedia states “For the fiscal year 2016, CARE reported a budget of more than 574 million Euros ($688 million US) and a staff of 9,175 (94% of them local citizens of the country where they work)”. I don’t know if the CARE employees in the north with me exceed 50 yet, but they are increasing every week. The home office in Kampala seems more involved too.

As small as my role is, I have important responsibilities and deadlines, and there is more pressure to perform. I am taking some things off my hard working team leader Carly’s plate. She has been a patient “boss”, and I enjoy her. I have met my soon-to-be new boss Julius, who visited while he waited for visa approval. When he returns next week from his home in Kenya, there will be a small overlap with Carly before she heads back to Melbourne for a well-deserved break. I hope Julius and I will get along well.

I can’t say there is much “fat” in this office. Everyone works hard, including every Saturday. The senior staff has to go to so many meetings, both in the office and at the settlements, and yet I can understand the necessity of them. This sprawling refugee crisis is complex with lots of moving parts.
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I was a lawyer for 16 years before obtaining my first P.C. Many of you remember Dictaphones, and word processors? My lawyer friends reading this blog will recall legal research in law libraries, piling up open law reporters to photocopy cases, then cutting and taping cited opinions into hand-written briefs in legal pads to give to a word processor tech. My last two years in the villages were strictly low tech. I taught financial literacy using lessons printed on grain sacks or on white sheets of paper taped to a wall or a tree.

Today at CARE, all of the initiative managers have to use laptops (unlike ATEFO staff), and the entire CARE organization uses Microsoft Office 365 in the cloud, which is new to me. I struggle to figure out elements of Excel, PowerPoint and Word software. Back in the day I would delegate: “Fix this, so it looks this way”. Now I really need to learn how to do more, but fortunately the younger staff are quite patient to respond to my requests for guidance. I always joke with Ugandans, “My brain is not as ‘spongey’ as before.” I mean it more for learning local language, but it applies to learning software and its tricks.

I have not been able to get out as much for interviews and story writing. Story writing is a different discipline than legal writing. I had hoped my blog experience would be helpful, but….. my Peace Corps colleague Ruwani in the Kampala office, edited one of my stories. She did such a good job, I was sincerely humbled! I need to step it up!

The road from my home to town lies next to a dormant golf course. It is said the caretaker died, and that was that. Cattle is herded now.

I have lots of little hills and gullies around me. A common sight throughout Uganda, washing boda bodas in a creek.

Just up from the boda guys, ladies were digging sand. I asked what they were doing with it, and the lady pointed to a sand pile twenty feet away and said “We will sell it!”

In this nearby gully, there were always kids playing, bathing, or clothes getting washed. I paid 500 shillings to a lady down there who insisted I pay to take this pic when I asked permission.