The global youth service children and youth at Muzinda were not disappointing in the least. Everyone delivered on their part. The morning on Sunday was spent spraying 10 households on the village for mosquito eggs, lava and adult insects. In the afternoon of the same day, the official culmination event began at about 2.00pm. Old colleagues Andrew and Terah joined us on the culmination event as well (I have never been happier to see that duo again -men clearly impassioned for community development). There was a conglomeration of local leaders from in and around the community; health officials; school-teachers and other types whose roles I didn’t quite ascertain at the time. My only concern was that the children and youth remained in charge of the event at all times -It was their culmination event after all- I speak this way because I have had experiences in various African community settings whereby most adults when given a microphone to speak, never want to set it down or hand it back to the event MC. It’s little wonder therefore when leaders in these parts of the world find it hard too, to hand over the mantles of power when that time comes; very obviously, it starts from such small things as microphones and gradually grows in such bigger things like the presidency. However, like I said in one of my earlier posts at this blog, to straighten the shoot, one has got to start young.

Through the 2008 GYSD, this group of children and youth in Muzinda have been active participants (right from the problem identification, to choosing what strategies would work best to solve it) in a community development process that directly affects their lives, to raising community awareness on malaria through youth service; rather than being the passive recipients of development interventions conceived and implemented by development agencies, as is usually the case in many countries under the ‘developing world’ classification. For me, that is something to be proud of for this group. During the culmination event on Sunday, I was impressed by the way the members of the group committee handled the time issue. Joan Birungi, particularly, made for a brilliant event MC. We had the PEDN E.D. and Ashoka fellow, Irene, officiate at the event as chief guest. In her speech to the gathering, she emphasised the role of youth empowerment and leadership within their communities. Irene came in from the city with her little son, Sam, who had his own version of youth service; a recently turned 6-year old lad, Sam insisted on getting together the little children under 5 and teaching them his version of Maths and English -He had a good turn up of 8 avid students- I was amazed to see them appear so attentive to an almost inaudible teacher not more than 2 years their senior. Sam came adequately prepared for this role as well; with his ‘teaching bag’ collection: an assortment of chalk and other teaching aids. Not to mention, he supplied his ‘students’ with pencil and paper, each one. Certainly every bit a promising leader, little Sam surely is! The same group of children and youth donated mosquito nets that were purchased during the service project, towards various members of the community whom they had earlier chosen as aid-recipients basing on the fact that they (the recipients of these items) were coming from the most economically desperate households in the village that they also considered through their own assessment exercise, most at risk of catching malaria. Later, Faridah Nakijjoba, the youth club vice president spoke on behalf of the whole group: “…Our proudest moments during this service event were whenever we would go into the households of the poorest people that were unable to help themselves and gave them our best service to help keep them safe from malaria… the looks on their faces when we were eventually finished with our service…” There is promise of good leadership in this 15-year old girl in every aspect! In Muzinda village is certainly a group of children and youth with very good cause. To put it in the words of Jeremy Fisher, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything”. This group stood up against malaria in their village through the GYSD, an activity that has served greater purpose than mere fun and games. In my opinion, each of these individuals has certainly been a winner in their own right. And personally, they have all gained my respect. On the same day, I received an appreciation certificate that said, “…Zack Lwanga, in recognition of outstanding accomplishment and active contribution during the 2008 GYSD…”. It was a humbling moment for me and I am thankful for that as well. God be glorified in everything.

I cannot summarise all that this group of children and youth have done over the past week into a simple blog post. It has truly been incredible. My blog is not the official GYSD site. You can however, find more GYSD information coming in from around the world on the official GYSD site here. My intention in keeping this blog was/is to share with the world my cogitations and opinions on this brand of community service -giving our bit to eradicate malaria- through the GYSD and even more, to raise awareness about a group of orphaned children in Muzinda village, that are being cared for under a community initiative. Many times, in the developmental work amphitheatre, we tend to group people with common terms such as ‘orphans and vulnerable children’ (OVC) and in our own minds tend to lessen the gravity of the situation that they face with our imposed more familiar term(s). Although the majority of these children are perceived by tmany as ‘helpless’ orphans, while I engaged with them in this service project over the past 4 weeks, the children and youth, I fond out, are also such enterprising individuals. Through this project, they have proved a richness of resolve and commitment to getting things done! It is certainly a group that I would recommend without hesitation for future developmental support should another similar chance come by. And from my 5-year experience in development work now, I have found that the best performing interventions for child support are those that protect and fulfil the rights of vulnerable children by not singling out the children as vulnerable (e.g. orphans) because of one reason or other; such a focus can be detrimental to the children by exacerbating the stigma that is attached to the reason for their vulnerability, e.g. losing one’s parents in the case of orphans

On Monday morning I met with a journalist from the country’s leading daily. She wanted to have a review of what had transpired during the GYSD event. She mentioned to me that along with her photographer they had failed to locate the culmination event venue the previous day because they had left their directions behind and had therefore driven back after an hour of fruitlessly searching. When we had talked on phone then, I was disappointed to learn that she had instead preferred to meet with me later in the evening or early in the morning the next day in the city as opposed to finding her way back to the event venue then with my directions; and therefore being able to see the children and youth highlight their service at culmination event. I felt that meeting with her (the journalist) would instead shift the focus of the service project from the children and youth to myself and if she had missed being a part of the event, then she (and the newspaper that she represented, alongside with her) would have missed something truly magical. Nonetheless I commend her effort for making the attempt to get in touch.  However, it’s also the same thing that I had earlier emphasised to a section of the adults at the culmination event who had insisted on ‘helping’ the children with handling the catering for the guests. “No”, I had said finally, “It’s about the children. I don’t care if they make mistakes as they go about it, we adequately prepared for this and every activity has got a youth-led team that’s in charge of implementing it. There is certainly room for mistakes, so the children/youth can learn to do a better job next time”. And I can’t say the children under performed. If anything, they out-did themselves. To re-iterate myself, it was such a brilliant performance from all of them. For all the effort that the children and youth have been involved in over the past week, fighting malaria, the # 1 killer in the country and in Africa, the media represented the service project under the “News in brief” category. See online article. Well at least they got Faridah’s name spelled right.

I joined the same group of children and youth for an evaluation meeting the next day and everybody was all smiles and praises for the day, “It was amazing last Sunday ‘uncle Zack’, I loved the fact that people listened to us” Jane, an 8-year old member of the group told me later. At some point during the service project, I left Jane my umbrella after she convinced me that she indeed had to endure rainy mornings too on her way to school sometimes. The next day, her mother came over to me and gave me a very big ‘thank you’ hug. That’s the kind of love that you find in this place. “What I liked about the whole GYSD is that we achieved our goal”, William the club president said in his own evaluation. “I wasn’t happy with the fact that the DJ closed down the music when the event was over… I expected him to stay on through the night”, Mary-Daphne, the group Treasurer said in hers. Prossy, one of the group leaders was lost for words herself, “Eh…eh…eh…hmm…”, was all she could muster at the time. Everyone seemed to agree unanimously though, that they enjoyed the entire service project and learned quite a number of useful lessons from too. “I wouldn’t change a thing if I were to do it all over again”, Samuel, another member of the group said. When I am asked the question, ‘what do you love in life?’, I always respond, ‘I love to see people happy’; in that moment for me, time could have stalled and I wouldn’t have another care in the world when I looked at the over 50 bright smiles facing in my direction.

Way forward

The bigger challenge for this group of children and youth now remains the fact that there is still a high number of desperately poor people in their village that could do with some more support to enable them fight malaria in their households as well. During this service project, although a considerable number of people were supported to do this, the need among many others is also quite prevalent and stands out like a sore thumb. In the words of Oliver Twist, (they) need more! Whatever can be done to support this group to continue to fight malaria can still be done! Through the GYSD, the children and youth showed the adults in their village what could be done to avert the danger of malaria in their community and that where there is a will, there certainly is a way. GYSD has also left important structures and polished individuals of all the children and youth that have been involved in this service project. The same group could certainly be up to another community-focused developmental task. After we finished our evaluation meeting, I went out of my way to support the same group develop their own rules and guidelines to enable them keep their new-found assets as a group and together we also developed templates that the club would use in managing their (future) finances. I must say again, I’ve never met a group so eager to learn before, as this one! As I left their village, I was very happy to see that some of the youth were also engaged in some kind of economic activity as well. Mike and Kenneth; the latter being the only member of the group with a (functional) mobile phone incidentally, were making ‘chapatti‘ -an Indian flat bread delicacy, for sale in the little trading centre. Of course I couldn’t resist buying off him all that they had just made. In turn, I passed on my purchase to William and Grace to take with them back home and share with the rest of everyone. “Thank you”, both had said. Once again, it was a repeat of that moment I had only last Saturday with Faridah when she had said the same, albeit for a different purpose. Now I can start to write my own report of the event, a task that might keep me busy over the next two nights. As you can see, GYSD is still far from over.

—
I want to say thank-you to all those that have been involved with me over the implementation of the GYSD in Uganda. To those who have taken the time to read from this blog. I am humbled by the thought that such a small thing could yet be so big in only just a short while. GYSD was a first for the children in Muzinda but from the look of things, it has certainly left a permanent footprint in their village. I want to say thank you as well to all our sponsors both locally in Uganda and in the United States. Thank you to all that have become involved and I hope that we can take this bond into the future. GYSD event reviews from around the world shall be available at this website at the end of June 2008. I attended my last meeting with my GYSD colleagues on Monday afternoon. But before I’m finally gone, I shall post some more photos within these pages to share with all of you some of the precious memories of the GYSD service project now that the group members have signed the photo release forms. Until another time… God bless you all.

Cheers,

Zack Lwanga

That group of children and youth are certainly very hardworking. We were done in a few minutes and ready to move on to the next house. Today as we worked, I was following orders too from the group president. It was essential for all of them to learn that leadership structures must be respected -by everyone. By 1.00pm, everybody was tired and in need of a break. Luckily for all of us, I had brought with me a large bunch of the long-finger sweet bananas and even though I had left them at our central meeting point, someone brought them over to us as the clock struck one -at just the right time. As we relaxed while eating our savoury bananas and listening to stories being told, we were informed lunch would only be ready in the next couple of hours; another group of the youth had stayed behind at our central meeting point cooking food for our lunch. It is the same group that I saw first when I had just gotten back earlier at 11.30am and left the bulk of my load with. There were about 30 young men and women with me in the group that was doing the clean-ups around the village. I asked about how it went with the well while I was away earlier on in the morning and at first, I got no response. When I prodded further, there were mischievous grins on the faces of a few while others only chose to look away. Finally Milly, one of the youth and also publicity secretary of the group was bold enough to inform me that they had decided not to go to the well because it (the well) had ‘spirits’ that did not want any interference -by way of cleaning or clearing- upon ‘their well’. If at all we had pressed on, the well would ‘shift’ to somewhere else. She further told me, it had already done this (shifting to another place) twice before when people had tried to clear the bushes around it, etcetra… Three more of the youths confirmed this and a series others said it was only superstition. There ensued a heated debate of sorts on belief in ‘spirits’ versus the people’s need for a clean and easily accessible water source, as well a place free of mosquitoes. John, the most vocal of the youth, insisted that as a result of the bushes around ‘that well’, the village suffers a high rate of mosquitoes and expressed the urgent need for everyone to participate in the clean-up. A few others threatened to lay down their tools if they had to deal with the well. It was quite interesting to watch the exchanges as at this point, even the most silent of the group said something. At the end of it all, William, the president asked for my opinion and I suggested that we should all go take a look at the well and then make an informed decision as to what our way forward would be. However, I insisted, our going did not have to be interpreted as a sign that we would do anything there just yet.

The village well is located in some kind of chasm bordered at one side by tall overgrown hanging trees and the other by high savannah grass about a metre tall. There exists however, two small meandering footpaths that finally merge into one leading towards the well itself. To draw water, one has got to bend down, dip the water container into a small pool and then draw out their container filled with water. The water is quite clear and seems to emanate from the ground beneath the pool and then runs into a small stream through a clearing that finally disappears into the bushes on the south side of the well. I’m sure that this finally finds its way into a bigger stream and then eventually into a larger water mass somewhere -perhaps even the Victoria itself! Who knows! To be honest, the place has a creepy feeling about itself and that was only during the daytime. It could be about the noise made by the trees as they wave high up in air due to the wind, or it would be about how the same trees grew forming a frightening curve over the well, or just the deathly silence that envelopes the place so you can even hear the bushes brush against each other as you stop to listen. Whatever the case, if one said it was haunted at night, the ambience of the place when we got there was the kind that would certainly paint a terrifying picture. We had an interesting discussion -the group and I- while we were there though and at the end of it all, I mentioned to the group that it was certainly unsafe for us to work in that area as we could never know what lurked behind those bushes. For one, there could be a mamba snake and we were not quite prepared to handle that kind of crisis. I also said to them much as we were doing a community service, personal safety came first and with that in mind, there would be certainly no way for us to endanger the lives of fellow group members by starting on something which we weren’t sure how it would finish. The well would be for another day, I concluded, possibly when we (or another group) are better prepared. I could sense John’s disappointment in my binding decision as he lowered his head into his hands. He had certainly put a lot of preparation into this activity. Perhaps some psyche too as well. I waled over to him and said I was sorry but my responsibility was for everyone’s safety as well. And to me, that came first! We continued to talk for about another 20 minutes until I requested for us to leave and head back for lunch. While we left, I had to make sure I was last behind everyone else; I certainly did not want an epic here with the ‘monster’ snatching the last one from behind and that person not being me. If I dealt with the ants, I thought I could too, any ‘monsters’ or whatever else was there! As we continued on our way towards the lunch venue, Faridah snuggled up behind me and said, “Thank you”. Looking into her eyes, I am sure she was relieved we didn’t have to do anything at the well. The gravity of her thank you was spell-binding; it wasn’t the same obsequious ‘thank you’s” that one was fond of hearing in the city. It was from the heart. “You’re welcome”, I said to her back.

After lunch we had a fascinating planning meeting for the next day; dispensing roles and responsibilities. Everybody seemed up to the task. Of course the proof of the pudding would only be in the eating -the next day! We did a couple more homes and then one borehole that serves at least 600 people in the village -including digging an extension to its drainage to enable water flow more freely. At least the latter water collection point was more fun to deal with. Everybody -even the 3 – 5 year olds- seemed to quite enjoy the activity. And most of everyone wanted to have their picture taken. I ran out of space on my camera memory cards so I deleted a few of the earlier pictures and we took a couple of group photos -that way everybody could be equally represented, I said to them. I check my email using my phone and I can see one from the leading daily’s deputy news editor. They would like to be a part of the culmination event the next day. Another is from Jon Camfield from the Washington YSA office, he expresses his desire to feed my blog URL into the GYSD Twitter account. And there’s a few more wishing us very well the next day. I pass on the best wishes as soon as I can read them out to the team. It’s truly amazing technology; in a little village cut off from the rest of humanity, without a single power line nor a fixed phone line, and there we were accessing information from halfway across the world on the screen of a little device, the SEP910i. I mention to Daphne, who is also group Treasurer that I would be coming at about midday the bext day because I had to ensure that everything that is supposed to be coming to this village from the city for the culmination event, actually gets there. She would have the same responsibility as I, only in Muzinda this time. I bid my goodbyes and leave in the cold evening for my home in the city. It’s almost dreamlike as I type this out now on my computer in my comfortable house to know that I have had such a rich experience from various extremes this day. My lats are hurting badly though from too much slashing and digging activity. I hope I’m in shape for tomorrow. It shall be the culmination event if you have been keeping track of events here. Untill the morrow then.

I thought I would be joinining my young friends for this morning’s clean-up activity but it shall not be so as I have to attend to urgent matters in the city -which if left unattended would actually cost us a lot over the course of the service project- so in a way, I shall still be serving the youth service, albeit, from a metropolis location this morning. Hopefully I can be back with the children and youth in a few hours to participate actively in the community clean-up exercises to eradicate malaria.

When I’m finally done, I have to cross from one end of the city to another -literally miles apart- with a bag on my shoulders that weighs about the same as two AK-47s. In the name of global youth service. As I cross one road, I get a chance to see a reflection of myself in one of the many glass windows that make up some of Kampala’s skyline. I think I look like a tourist -complete with backpacker, waist bag, dirty jeans and sweat on my brow. I had only gotten into the city to meet one person and provide my signature on a few documents but it has now escalated to meeting at least 10 people. All of them service providers. Over the past week I had to memorise 50 names replete with their corrresponding faces. In this line of work, it is an added bonus to have such a good memory. When you can refer to people by their names, you overcome the first obstacles other people have to deal with in breaking down that personal barrier during communication. However, now, again in the city with so many service providers -most of them also new people to me, I think I shall save my mind’s memory space for more daunting tasks; I decide to refer to them as I save their contact numbers in my phone by the service(s) that they offer. Perhaps at another point, I shall be able to get their names too, but surely not now. A few examples from my call long now include: t-Shirts lad, music lad, printery lad, food lass, etc… The irony is that they all refer to me by my name -some my full name- whenever we are talking. Of course, I am saved by the bell, in this case the native vernacular, which leaves us room for refering to people by various titles. To me each of the males becomes, “Mukulu” and the females, “Mama”. Matters don’t get any better when some of the former perhaps embarassed by the flattery title choose to call me, “Loodi”, a variation of the English term, ‘lord’. Now wouldn’t that be the epitome of flattery, of course except to a few people such as the rag-tag LRA in Central Africa Republic that really think of themselves as ‘lords’ of some sort.

It’s fast approaching 10 o’clock and I have to get back to that little village. After setting things together, I call one of my colleagues, Tom and let him know of my progress and a few things that I would like for him to follow up on later that same day in the city. Tom seems to be only getting out of bed; he sounds quite groggy and tired on the phone. I’m sure he had a long day the day before. It’s only fair that he has gotten some rest. I am also assured that he will certainly be in great shape tomorrow during the culmination event because there, everybody will need their energy! While we talk on the phone, I jokingly tease him about missing out on the youth service today, and more especially for him, taking a bit of the village delicacy with him back home. The locals lightheartedly refer to it as: “mutambuzadembe” (he who walks peacefully), or ‘pork’ for the uninitiated! Over the past 3 weeks whenever I’ve travelled over to Muzinda with Tom, he’s been true to going back home with not less that a kilogramme of the prize item. And when he does, I decline to travel with him back. My reasons are only personal; among the group of children and youth that we are dealing with in this village are a few muslims. The whole group looks up to me as an inspirational patron-of-sorts. I would surely sacrifice a few things to set a good example and keep them together -including staying away from pork for the benefit of the muslims. The children and youth are not only just members of a club/group now. They are also my friends. And already, there’s a level of trust that we have mutually entrusted into each other. Each of them now has also gotten my personal phone number written down somewhere. To some of them, it’s treated as though it were some kind of exquisite relic -this I say because only last evening, I saw in a book that belonged to one of the children, it was written down somewhere at the back and decoratively adorned with various designs and caligraphy. It’s quite interesting how such a simple thing can mean so much to someone. Surely, I am every bit happy to have been a part of this activity. When these thoughts flow through my mind, suddenly the backpack I’m carrying seems not heavy anymore. And to think that in another 120 countries on each continent around the globe, there’s someone going through about the same as I am, all in the name of Global Youth Service, I’m reassured that indeed the world will become a better place. We are in this together.

—

While most people are only waking up to begin their day in my house, and by extension, in most of the city, I am usually only just completing my last email to send out for the morning. So it was, today as well, when I was sending out the final “preparations email” for the GYSD to my colleagues this morning. I only spent the night reading up on various malaria case studies from a recent UNICEF report.

I had little faith in plans to visit Muzinda again today, especially after looking at my day´s schedule. Much as we had shared out the work to be done, I found myself having to follow up on almost each and every item. The frequency of calls from the children and youth group to my phone has also increased drastically over the past 2 days especially. If I am not talking to Daphne, it`s Milly, Kenneth or William. And with every call comes a learning lesson. I think I am pleased with how this service project is going. There has certainly been a lot to learn -for both the group and I. A little towards 3.00pm, I found out from another phone call that the group were actually waiting for me so “we could plan together the new strategies for our first practical community service”. It came as such a surprise because I thought that this was something the group president and his council could ably do on their own. When I learnt that they had been waiting for me since they had finished doing the community awareness that morning, I shuddered to think of how they would feel, especially the younger ones, if I didn´t turn up at all. Immediately, I began to prepare myself for another gruelling journey. I got to the village a little after 6.00pm and found all members of the group seated outside on the pouch with their eyes fixated on the little cul-de-sac that feeds directly into the
compound from the feeder road just a few metres away. To say that they were pleased when they finally saw me come up that cul-de-sac would be an understatement. And on my part, it was such an honour and blessing to have them there with me. We had to make use of the little available daylight very soon because Muzinda village does not have power, and that juxtaposed with the high prices that people have to pay for fuel would not make it fair for us, in my opinion, to consume any available fuel at the home at all. My other concern was about the girls getting back to their respective homes safely. Luckily, we were able to finish everything we had to do and say as the last ray of daylight was being sucked back into the horizon.

Community involvement requires educating the public about a project/s and inviting the whole community to participate in the same at different points of the project implementation. When we discussed this with the children`s and youth`s group a few days ago, I had no idea that John was gonna be a little shrewd too about how he intended to garner community involvement in the service project. “I told them to come so they would watch a movie later at the end”, John told me he had informed various people as a strategy of acquiring a large turn-up on Sunday, when the malaria action club would be highlighting its community service to the general public in what would be the equivalent of the village square. Of course this new revelation by John presented a twist to our service project. What was John thinking? I decided to leave it out of my list of things to worry about for the time. More important was to ensure that we were actually committing ourselves, each to their responsibility, as we had agreed earlier. Strong follow-up is crucial to the success of any service project. It is not always the most glamorous work, but it is critical to ensuring a good experience for all involved, and for the organizers’ ability to conduct future service projects. Tomorrow we shall be meeting very early in the morning to start with the community well. Back in the

GYSD kitchen, my colleagues are chasing after service providers to ensure that they indeed deliver in time when they say that they will. As we wind up the day in this

small village, I can’t help but consider the many striking similarities that Muzinda has got to that Ethiopian village that I watched on the IRIN documentary just yesterday

morning. In the trading centre, old men wobble over board games played with cowrie shells as women roast meat, presumably for sale, just a few feet away. In another open hut, men with stained teeth sip on a thick liquid with locally-made straws out of a big brown pot. Everyone seems to be totally oblivious of the buzzing sound that emanates from the bushes just growing even into the little road that cuts through this petite town. The mosquitoes continue to make a vocal display of their territorial advertisement. It warms my heart to think that tomorrow, their populations size will have dwindled, hopefully greatly.

Twelve hours ago now, I received a phone call from Milly. Milly is one of the youth participating in the service project at Muzinda. She is also the group’s elected mobiliser. Before we started on this service project, her ‘mother’ was quite apprehensive about her ‘daughter’s’ ability to even speak in public. “Milly is a very shy girl… I don’t know if she will even do anything (in the service project) “, Betty confided in me. When Milly called me, she was updating me on progress of the door-to-door malaria campaign that they have been carrying out all week since last Tuesday. From the excited voices in the background, I could tell that there were at least 5 or so other members of the same group with her as she made the phone call. To confirm this, I asked about individual members’ progress and there and then, I got spot-on responses. Some of the answers were being shouted out, I could hear by other people in the background. My earlier guess was wrong. There could have been more than 10 other people there with her! It was heart-warming hearing them all give responses and also the feel of excitement as they did -obvious proof that they were really enjoying implementing the service project. We had spoken for about 3 minutes and had only barely finished when Milly said her goodbyes. I knew it had to be the money that they were paying for the phone-call and then almost placed a call back to them but stopped when I realised that what had just occured was also an important learning lesson. Budgeting. Since we had committed to calling each party at different times, they would have to call me again in the morning as well, I am sure they were implementing a very good practice by limiting the amount of time that they spent on the calls. And after all, the important information had been passed on. Milly was quite eloquent herself while we spoke on the phone. I’m sure she has been more than hardworking during this past week. Clearly, her ‘mother’ shall be impressed this Sunday!

We’ve had a few challenges preparing for the culmination event on Sunday – some many last minute items that we needed to consider- but I’m sure it isn’t anything that cannot be sorted out. A couple of my colleagues are already becoming very (and I emphasise the ‘very’) nervous about the preparations and not quite amused at how ‘simply’ I am taking it myself. Like the cliche goes, “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”; for the most part of the past 3 weeks now, I have been having very busy nights as I work my way towards a successful GYSD event. For the past 2 days, I haven’t had any sleep at all. I just finished with the media release a few minutes ago and in a another minute, it shall be halfway around the world -isn’t the Internet such a powerful tool? As well, I have reading Uganda’s strategic paper on malaria control -a 54 page document written by the malaria control programme of the ministry of Health. There have been quite a few segments that have really caught my eye, and I would like to quote some here:

“All people living in Uganda are at risk of being infected with malaria parasites and suffering attacks of malaria…”; “The malaria problem is made difficult by many factors. These include the increasing resistance of malaria parasites to chloroquine and sulphadoxinepyrimethamine which leads to treatment failures; climatic changes which lead to epidemics, weak health systems with poor access to health care facilities, and poor access to knowledge about appropriate health behaviour in the population, which leads to delay in treatment or wrong treatment.”; and this one, “However, knowledge on recognition of disease [in Uganda], which is critical in case management, was still very low. Only 34% linked fever to malaria, 18% associated malaria with cold, 14.5% associated malaria with headaches, 11.7% mentioned joint pains, and 10.6% body weakness. Malaria was mainly considered a problem of children (75%).”

Today is international malaria day. The service project that we are implementing at Muzinda through GYSD is also our effort to realise Millenium Development Goal (MDG) number 6. That international malaria day falls today, during our service week, is a blessing of God, I would consider, since it comes quite critically amid the peak of the children’s and youth’s efforts to create public awareness on malaria through service. Quoting our press release, “PEDN… following a special focus group which identified malaria as their primary cause for concern, the youth in this village have created a club designed to lead educational campaigns to better inform residents of the harmful causes of the disease. For two hours every Saturday and Sunday leading up to Global Youth Service Day the youth have been working with their local municipality officials and trained health workers to teach both younger children and residents at large about preventative measures that can be exercised to keep the deadly disease at bay, as part of their youth service project. This Saturday, April 26th 2008 and during Sunday, April 27th 2008 morning, the same group of youth shall be involved in clean-up exercises around the village in which they shall clear overgrown bushes, drainages, and boreholes on the village; construct bathrooms (using locally available materials) and also spray households for mosquitoes. All of these activities are intended to make the village safer from malaria cause, and by extension reduce the cases of school absenteeism due to malaria illness.”

Today is gonna be another busy one. I shall be back here to update again soon!

The Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) is one of the most expansive youth networks in the world today, linking diverse movements and thousands of organizations in over 180 countries and territories. GYAN works to facilitate youth participation and intergenerational partnership in global decision-making; to support collaboration and incubate global partnerships; and to provide tools, resources, and recognition for positive youth action that improves our world. For more information, please go to: www.youthlink.org

MILLIONS OF YOUNG PEOPLE ARE CHANGING THE WORLD DURING THE 20th ANNUAL GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY, APRIL 25-27, 2008

WASHINGTON—(April 21, 2008) – Millions of young people in countries from Cambodia to Peru, from Pakistan to Liberia, from Mexico to Mongolia, and from more than 100 other countries, are implementing community service projects during the 20th Annual Global Youth Service Day on April 25-27, 2008.

Spanning three days, April 25, 26 and 27, 2008, GYSD involves millions of young people across the world, with the help of mentors, parents, and teachers. Young volunteers will address important community needs through service and service-learning projects addressing climate change, literacy, poverty, human rights, and many other issues.

“It’s an honor to work with Global Youth Action Network who is committed to youth serving around the world. GYAN’s leadership increases the scale and visibility of youth service year-round, and helps young people everywhere play a leading role in addressing important community needs, by giving their time, energy, commitment, and idealism,” says Steve Culbertson, president and CEO of Youth Service America. “Millions of young people serving together on Global Youth Service Day performing strategic service sends a powerful message of hope and healing around the globe,” Culbertson adds.

Project Samples:

• Natal Voluntarios in Brazil expects more than100,000 young people to participate in hundreds of projects around the country, with a common focus on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Also, an annual “State Volunteer Week” has been implemented to coincide with GYSD. As in past years, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will officially commemorate Brazil’s GYSD events, and has stated that “Global Youth Service Day [is] the most expressive, global celebration of youth volunteerism.”

• In Iraq, the Iraqi Democratic Coalition for Youth Empowerment will engage 160 youth from all over Baghdad in presenting first aid trainings in several primary and secondary schools. The participants will learn how to treat burns and other injuries and will receive first aid supplies in order to be prepared to respond to emergency situations.

• In Russia, the Russian Volunteer Development Center of IAVE will organize close to a million participants in this year’s celebration. The organization works to encourage more Russian citizens, and especially youths, to get involved in service in order to strengthen socio-economic conditions within the country. This year they will carry out a wide range of activities and events in 15 different regions of the country, under the theme of “Russia Youth Generation – Energy of Health and Kindness.”

• In Indonesia, the Lembaga Manajemen Pendidikan Indonesia (LMPI Foundation) will bring together youth from more than 75 schools from 7 different cities across the country, in projects that will benefit more than 60,000 students. The theme this year is: Strengthening our Global Future through Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship. Young people will perform different service projects within their schools and educate themselvesabout important global issues that affect their communities.

• In Haiti, the two lead agencies are mobilizing thousands of youth throughout the country in an effort to raise awareness about environmental sustainability. The Association Jeunesse Excalibur will plant a thousand trees along with participating local organizations. The Center for Thought, Education and Debate is planning a forum on environmental issues, as well as a conference in Port-au-Prince with members of the Youth Ministry to discuss issues affecting young people in Haiti.

• In 36 countries in Africa, young people are coming together to affect positive change in their communities. In Kenya, 14 youth organizations are organizing all over the country in order to celebrate the important contributions of young volunteers. In Zimbabwe, the Organization of Rural Associations for Progress has organized several impressive campaigns this year including the refurbishment of 35 rural schools, a city clean-up, an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign and much more. In Sierra Leone, African Youth for Peace and Development is planning a clean-up campaign in an orphanage as well as an elderly home in order to render services to this community as well as to educate youth volunteers on the realities and needs of the underprivileged and handicapped. Meanwhile Service for Peace-Sierra Leone will have a forum on peace, non-violence and tolerance in four different communities throughout the country to highlight alternative methods for achieving social change.

Global Youth Service Day is the largest youth service event in the world and is a year-round effort to expand the impact of the youth service movement. The initiative launches new service organizations, policy changes, and sustainable service programs to create a culture of engaged youth.

Sunday
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I thought we would be able to keep the planning stages of the project as low-key as possible, using public transport at all times and minimising unnecessary expenses at least until the culmination event on GYSD. However, from my experience yesterday, I am recommending nothing short of a powerful 4WD if we are to sustain ourselves under this severe weather, especially whenever we shall have to deliver logistics this week. For now, the roads are simply inaccessible during the rains, to state it mildly. For the farmers though, this is also a time to smile -one of the ones that I talked to expressed his concern though about the “extreme” strength of the rains this time around- given that they have had a long spell of drought since last year. “You win some and lose some. You never win all,” his colleague says with finality. I am only just getting to the village at this point on Sunday and I’m sharing the shade of a leaking roof with these two gentlemen, obviously farmers, before I can continue to the meeting place with the children and youth. I am slated to be there at 2.00pm and it’s only 5 minutes to the top of the hour. I’m going to brave the rain and walk through the seeping mud now. In my book, time is certainly of the essence. As I make my way out of “our shelter”, I can hear shouts of, “You must be mad going through that rain” coming behind me. Surely, I must be, I concur -but undeterred in my effort nonetheless!

By the end of the day, together with the children, we had drawn up a thorough plan for the following week and also developed a budget for the necessary tools and materials for the service. It is very apparent that everyone is feeling a certain sense of significance at the meetings, especially when their opinions on various matters are sought. Certainly the idea of having 6 different groups was excellent! Sam is very cheeky (in a good way) during the meetings, but at some points he seeks to draw all attention to himself, thereby dragging the meeting… when I ask him to take the video as each group makes their presentation, it’s the others’ turn to return the favour as they constantly mimic his apparent fascination with the device. Surely, we are having fun! William is the club president. However, I have to remind him every so often of his role in the club as he usually forgets (or so I think) it and acts the role of the typical “back-bencher”. At some point I seek to inquire from him whether he has taken note of an important point that we have collectively agreed upon and he responds by asking his vice, Faridah, to “ensure that it is written down”. I cannot interfere at this point but I’m fascinated nonetheless! Surely, these young men and women are like the clichéd saying, the “leaders of tomorrow”. If we are to get some things right, we really have to start young! It’s 7.30pm by the time I’m finally leaving this village for my home in the city. I am very sure that at some point next week, I shall pitch camp here -the constant travel is getting to me- until the GYSD is over. After I have travelled back to Betty’s and bade my farewell, I’m ‘escorted’ by at least 10 of the youth to the nearest point for me to get onto the familiar motorcycle public transport, and there begin my journey back home. The torrents of “Uncle Zack” that I have heard today have surely done their best to deafen my ears to the tag. I’m also out of saliva reminding people that they can simply use “Zack”. The few that have taken heed have instead gone a step further themselves, it’s now “master”… “this master”, “that master”. I feel like an old school teacher already! I am gonna run away!!! Finally I’m on my way again; needless to say that it started to rain again once I got onto the main road. That I was drenched is only putting it mildly. But that is a story for another day. All in the name of global youth service. Surely, something good has to come out of this! I got home a few minutes after 10.00pm and thought that I could get my notes together, write my analysis and also prepare myself for the following week, but that would not be the case… I only woke up in the morning again at 6.00am. Where did all the hours in between go?

Saturday
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Saturday went well with the children and youth sharing their experiences on malaria. The one crucial question that was posed and challenged everyone was, “If the mosquitoes carry and spread malaria, how come they don’t themselves die of malaria?”. This question later escalated into “How come the mosquitoes do not spread HIV, which incidentally, is also found in blood?”. For Roger, a 4 year old member of the group, that was the least of his worries as he was more interested in playing hide and seek with an imaginary friend while everybody else tried to put forward their theories on the issue of controversy on the floor. We had just gone through the malaria cycle before these issues cam up and on my part, I really wanted for the children and youth to realise the answer to the questions by themselves. 20 minutes later, we didn’t seem to be making any progress and Thomas was himself looking equally puzzled as well, although not forgetting to glance at his watch every so often. At this point, the group had broken out into two teams with one suggesting that that the mosquitoes were only carriers, although not telling us quite why; and the other group proposing that it was just “their nature”, i.e. to spread malaria but not HIV. The situation reminded me of a similar one I had several years ago now in my Biology class. Once again, I explained the malaria cycle to the group, borrowing the same lessons my Biology teacher used with us, while we had a similar disagreement. At the end of this process, John, the most outspoken member of the group said out loud that he had gotten it all then. “The key to our disagreement is over saliva and blood”. Eureka!! He had indeed gotten it as when I asked him to explain what it was that he had gotten, he indeed tackled it all very well emphasising how the mosquito does not inject its host with any blood but its own saliva secretion that is usually filled with the plasmodia parasites that cause malaria. Surprisingly, John is also an “out-of-school” youth and from my encounters with him, I’m very sure he is one of the brightest young men in this village. The reason he is out of school is because there wasn’t enough money to send him any “higher”. I carried my notebook computer along on this visit and with a few minutes to go, I insert the IRIN DVD on malaria into my player, for the children and youth to watch. It’s 6.00 o’clock and Thomas is already gone now. “Why didn’t he wait for you?” one of the smaller ones asks me. “I think because he lives further than I do!”, I cover for my colleague. As the children and youth watch the malaria documentary, you can almost hear a pin drop. Surely, it’s a very attentive class -the silence is only interrupted with sporadic laughs at the points where the children in the one Ethiopian village highlighted are shown giggling under their mosquito net. Of course to them the reality has already set in, the little Ethiopian boys in the mud hut whom they are now watching on the screen, could very well be some of them that are sitting right there.

It is quite a challenge juggling my daily responsibilities at my place of work with my new role as coordinator of this GYSD service project. But for God, I can’t say exactly how well I manage to pull it all off. Just yesterday I had to cancel an evening meeting with some dear friends because I thought I wouldn’t have the time then to go through the other sections of the 100-page planning toolkit. It’s a small price to pay however, especially in the hope that at the end of it all, there shall be tens of children and youth in this small village who shall be implementing various strategies to keep the number one killer at bay. And as they do that save a few more shillings for their families that would otherwise have been spent on malaria-medication, to buy them a new school uniform or have a second (and third) square meal each day too. The thought of that cycle warms my heart so and at the end of the day, gives me more zeal to juggle my responsibilities ably the next day. Surely, I cannot wait for April 27th.

I’m at my work-desk right now where I’m supposed to be reviewing a financial work-plan for the next quarter and pass on my comments for the same. I’ve had to put that on “pause” for now because I’ve been dealing with spreadsheets all morning and the human brain can have its limits too at times. Blogging seems to work wonders as a stress-reliever so here I am again. I keep on interrupting this with intermittent phone calls that I have to attend to and one of those calls is informing me of an urgent need to go by the GYSD – Uganda “control centre” before the end of the day, which invariably, also signals the beginning of the weekend in this little nation. People go into the overdrive here during the weekend. Therefore, if you get such a call, you must attend to it, lest you risk losing that piece of information to the following week, which for most people begins the next Monday (not Sunday!). Tomorrow, when most people shall be enjoying the start of their weekend, I shall be again in a little obscure village, off the Kampala-Masaka highway, co-facilitating a community session on malaria awareness, prevention and fundraising through youth service. Later, I am also scheduled to guide the service week action planning along the GYSD aims of:

1. BUILDING the capacity of an international network of organizations that promote youth participation, service, and learning.
2. EDUCATING the public, the media, and policy-makers about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders around the world.
3. MOBILISING youth and adults to meet the needs of their communities through volunteering.
4. LEARNING and sharing effective practices in youth service, youth voice, and civic engagement globally.

Reflecting once again on the Muzinda service project, I can’t believe how better informed and passionate I have become of the malaria situation in our world today, over the past 14 days especially. It’s surprising, even to me, that I am now quoting accurate facts and figures off the top of my head about malaria. I hope after next week, it can be some of those children and youth in the new club in my shoes because by then I shall have gone back to my more mundane duties and responsibilities as a DW, BM and SE.

And in other news, my colleague at the YSA office in D.C., Nandini Assar, has (finally) sent in that long-awaited communication, just as I prepared to call it a day today. It reads in part: “…Thank you for bearing with (me), and (I) wish you every success in your project…” I didn’t lose a moment in forwarding it to my colleagues here. Certainly signals a good service week indeed of contributing to decreased productivity and mortality rates as a direct result of malaria in this little village.

“To walk the journey of one thousand miles, one must start with one step” -Chinese proverb

Thomas on the other hand, called me ‘a poor time manager’ yesterday… I cost him watching an English Premiership football match (I think) a couple of weeks ago now while I dillydallied with my goodbyes to the old women in the community before we left. We had gone on the visit together. Sometimes it isn’t possible to extricate yourself from a visit like this one, especially in a rural setting, as opposed to what would be the case in an urban setting. As a development worker in rural African communities, these are some of the first lessons that one has got to learn. Thomas certainly comes from a different background. Some things are only practical and you cannot explain to someone as easily. I guess he will have to learn this lesson by himself. Experience in rural African communities has taught me that if you would like to leave at say, 5pm, you would be better off beginning your goodbyes at 4pm, so that by the time your host escorts you outside the house and you are taken around the new crops in the garden, shown the new neighbours, and the chickens that won’t lay eggs anymore, it is indeed 5pm! I took Thomas’ accusation in a stride and I’m sure I’ll be thinking upon it for at least a week before I can finally dismiss it. Meanwhile I requested him to take charge of managing the time at all events in the service project until its culmination on the GYSD. It would sure be interesting to see how that goes…

On another note, I think I’m comfortable with the latest tweaking that I’ve done with the blog design here. I had some unsure moments there so I consulted D.K. to provide an independent assessment since it would be the first time she was viewing the site too anyway. Instead of providing criticism, she was more keen on reading every blog post and mimicking the ‘uncle’ episode I blogged about, between laughs. In a little while, I shall share the site address with my workmates and the entire GYSD and YSA team as well. So if you’re reading from here for your first time, you are welcome, please pass on the link and support the idea for a global youth service project in any way you can in your local community. And for more information on this particular service project and how you can be a part of it too, you can get in touch with me here.