This problem has four answers

This week we were visited by Joyce’s niece, Teddie (also called Constance). She is a soft spoken, articulate woman and seemed intent on sharing her story with us. We are wondering if she needed us to hear about the rest of the country, beyond the Kampala region we are experiencing.

Teddie has a diploma in fine arts from a school in Lira, in northern Uganda. When we asked why she would go so far away when most students here go to the Makarere University, she explained that she went because she received a scholarship. After graduating in 2003 she stayed there to teach until 2005. She was distraught, however, as she watched her students become child soldiers in the long-standing conflict nearby. She shared stories with us that are far too painful to write about here.

Teddie has 2 children: Marvin is 7 years old. When he was born, his father denied his paternity, leaving Teddie to raise him on her own. More recently she married and had John Carlos who is just 14 months old, and they live in Soroti , which is about 5 hours travel from here. Soroti is in the Eastern part of Uganda, near Kenya. The climate is drier there (they have had no rain for two months now), and many of the people are “pastoralists”. That means they continually move together with their animals, in search of water and pastures, and do not have permanent homes. Cattle rustlers are a problem and most live very temporary lives.

All around Teddie’s home are IDP (internally displaced persons) camps, which are filled with thousands of Ugandan women and children. Many have fled the conflict in the northern and eastern parts of the country, although the men have stayed behind. She says that life is very hard there; poverty is rampant and many cope with poor living conditions. Both Sundays we have been in Uganda, we noted that the worship leaders prayed about the country’s conflict and for the children caught in them.

Although she has a background in fine arts, Teddie dreams of being an HIV/AIDS counsellor. She is already trained and shared with us some of the wisdom she has gained in both her life and her education. Whatever the problem is, she said, “money will not solve it”. Instead, she named the four things that are essential to help solve any problem, whether personal or global:

1. Empathy
2. Caring
3. Acceptance
4. Confidence

These are what people really need to receive, she said. Things will get better when a person (or a people) are welcomed just as they are and then helped to believe in their own abilities.

We received her comments as genuine gifts from God because we have been discussing exactly this issue. Clearly, from everything we have heard and experienced in the past two weeks, money is not what people here need. Perhaps more accurately, money alone is not what people need. For example, a woman might say she wants money to buy a cow, so that she can make money selling milk. If she does not have the skills to properly care for a cow, keep a ledger, and market her product well, however, her business will take time and effort but not yield results.

Through many in depth conversations, and by observing our surroundings, we have learned that the current generation of parents places highest priority on educating their children. Business skills, however, have been regarded with suspicion because traditionally, Muslims and people from India have dominated the small business sector. A shift is occurring now with the youth who are discovering that entrepreneurial skills are essential to their success because their chance of getting jobs in the current system is nil.

It made us recall the comments of Irene Mutumba. In her opinion, people in Africa have become quite accustomed to the financial aid that comes from the western world. It has left many believing that they are not able to improve their lives without being given money from others. What we need is not to buy a cow, but to share genuine friendship with a poor woman, understand her situation, and then work together with her to help achieve her goals.

We recognize that this is a complicated process. We also can see why just sending money would be so much easier.