Co-operatives in Northern Uganda have invited Six Canadian Co-operative Association volunteers to help them measure their enterprises against international standards using CCA’s Development Ladder Assessment Tool (DLA). Follow Linda Archer’s exciting account of their 2-week mission working side-by-side with Ugandan co-operators as they plot the path forward for their co-ops and credit unions. The result is a snapshot of how the co-op is doing - and a set of benchmark scores for measuring progress as they grow their co-operative enterprise.

Monday 29 October 2012

Day 3 - But wait there's more...

I already told you a bit about day 4 but I have something to add. I was having trouble with the cellphone that I'd been given and a cellphone is very important here and may well be my only way to stay in touch with my partners here as well as those at home. My Ugandan partner Isaac - I told you about him earlier - took me to buy a new one. I have ABSOLUTELY no idea where we ended up but it was a kind of market area, very crowded and busy with more traffic than you can imagine. It took a lot longer than we thought and we were very late for the next session. As an aside, the concept of time is very loose here and if you ask people to come at 9 you'll be lucky if they arrive by 9:30 and probably more like 10.

So, the long and short of it is that we had to get back fast and the traffic was outrageous and very confused with cars and motrocycles going every which way - if there are rules of the road they are definitely not paid attention to at all and its every man/car for himself. They have these motorcycle 'taxis' here. You negotiate the price to your location, hop on and get the ride of lifetime. As a caucasian woman I definitely am not a common customer of these as you can well imagine. I was wearing a skirt so had to ride sidesaddle and hung on for dear life. Issac asked him to go more slowly which he did but that just isn't possible in that kind of traffic. The reason they get there quicker is that they weave in and out of the buses and cars and are often very close to them and of course - no helmets. So I hopped on, held on to my purse as well as the driver and away we went. At one point we completely lost sight of Isaac and that's the only time I had a niggling thought that what would happen if my driver took me somewhere other than where I wanted to go but just then Isaac appeared in my line of sight again. I arrived safely and the quickest way possible. Cliff, if you're reading this don't be concerned I'm perfectly safe.

I have to be ready to move onto Lira where I'll be for the next 2 weeks. The adventure just gets better and better every day.
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1 comment:

  1. Nicky Fried1 November 2012 at 11:10

    Your descriptions are evocative of my years growing up in Zimbabwe. Hope you are coping with the heat - nylons determinately unnecessary!

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