A Glimpse into Katanga | Joe's Mini-Series
July 2nd 2023, I arrive into Entebbe Airport following a 40 hour travel day into what I can only describe as semi-organised chaos. Multiple converging queues into one set of passport control desks was an Englishman’s nightmare. Regardless, I arrived excited to embark on a fantastic month in the '“Pearl of Africa”.
My name is Joe Williams. I have grown up and lived in Nailsea (Somerset, UK) for 19 years of my life and being able to see the impact that has been made across all of the team supporting at HFL over the years has been inspiring. Which is why, when an opportunity arose to visit the team in Katanga, stay with the fantastic family of Francis and Dorcus and get to witness the beautiful sights of Uganda, it had to happen!
For those that don’t know, HFL enable families in Uganda to realise their potential towards living a self-sufficient life. It started in 2012, by providing the opportunity of education, for children whose families were finding it hard to bring in enough money to pay for food each day, let alone school fees. Today they continue to facilitate a sponsorship programme, which seeks to relieve the pressure from families to choose between education or nutritious food.
Why am I Volunteering in Uganda?
My background from a working perspective is in the world of business analysis. Google defines a business analyst as: “a person who processes, interprets and documents business processes, products, services and software through analysis of data. The role of a business analyst is to ensure business efficiency increases through their knowledge of both IT and business function.” That sounds far too corporate but I guess it does give an overview of what I do!
How does this apply to HFL? Following Hope for Life’s strategic review, the local team identified the need to improve their processes and how they use their systems. This included things like improving processes that span across different locations and trying to reduce the amount of reliance on paper. I came out with the aim, where possible, to suggest different ways of working to support these changes and highlight any additional improvements where suitable. HFL wants to ensure their staff grow and gain new skills whilst working, so whilst I was there, we also tried to upskill and share any knowledge on digital systems and soft skills that were relevant.
I will be writing a couple of blogs summarising my time in Uganda and this first blog is to give an idea of Katanga as a first-time visitor and to give an idea of what a day was like working out of the office.
Left to right: Molly, Joe, Maureen, Rebekah, Brendah
My First Day in Katanga
It is a Wednesday morning, we are leaving Francis and Dorcus’ house on the outskirts of Kampala. The drive in is around 45-60 minutes depending on the traffic and depending on how many boda bodas are tearing up the road! (A boda boda is the equivalent of a motorcycle/scooter). The drive goes past many roadside markets, bustling villages and endless activity. You’d think that there was just a morning rush hour, but it seems no matter the time of day there is always something going on.
We arrive just after 9am, park up and head into Katanga. Katanga is sandwiched between two main roads. And if you didn’t know it was there, the towering buildings almost cover it off entirely. We turn off the main road and walk towards one of the entrances of Katanga. As you walk through, you’re met with families and individuals sitting together, welcoming you with smiles and conversation. I spent a little bit of time learning some Luganda (one of the many languages spoken in Uganda) and a few Luganda phrases in response to their morning conversation seemed to go down well. For example, If I was to ask them how is their morning I would say Wasuze otya (pronounced Wa-su-zay or-tcha) and in response they would normally say Nasuze bulungi (pronounced Na-sue-zay bu-lon-gee) meaning my morning is good.
We walked throughout Katanga to get to the office and there were many items of washing hung up, individuals doing various tasks of crafts and food outside their homes and a constant buzz of activity. The constant buzz of activity generated consistent noise and there were very little areas of silence. You would have many different smells as you walked through, it varied from a smell of deep fried food that would make you hungry, despite eating breakfast already, to other smells like sewage that would do the opposite! The consistent thing walking throughout all of Katanga… the friendliness of all that lived there.
I didn’t know what to expect before I arrived and whilst it was quite overwhelming the first few times, by the end of the four weeks when people started to recognise and remember you, it felt a little bit like a family.
We arrive at the office, to see 4 wonderful individuals. Rebekah, Maureen, Brendah and Molly. These alongside Dorcus, Francis and Joshua are the HFL Uganda based dream team. Throughout the early morning the team would be busy running the Girl Care sessions, discussing current situations of families and children or supporting the various visitors into the office to ask for support/guidance. The team were always such full of fun and life and were incredibly patient with me butchering the Luganda dialect. Mid-morning slowly became one of my favourite times of the day, it was morning teatime with what I can only describe as a donut like snack with a sugary tea. For those tea purists that like it with only milk and no sugar, I implore you if you ever get a chance to try the tea made by Brendah - Delicious!
Early afternoon I sat in on one of the Girl Care sessions. 10 girls and young women attend 3 sessions a week in the HFL spaces and on this particular Wednesday morning, Brendah was running a session on entrepreneurship and business. As part of the first session, we had an open discussion around what our dreams were and why.
The responses of the women will stay with me forever. A lot of them would like to be hairdressers or chefs or run hotels. But it was the answer to why they want to do these things that was amazing. Nearly all of them said that they wanted to do their jobs because they wanted to improve situations for other people.
Whether it was making other people look beautiful with haircuts or providing good food for others to enjoy. It always seemed to centre around bettering others’ situations. It struck me that with all the challenges and poverty they have faced growing up that their intentions and hearts are as good as anyone I’ve ever met.
We then started the weekly fellowship session. This was worship led by the staff, followed by sharing of a message and prayer. The beautiful music and singing would stretch throughout Katanga. An awesome outpour of positivity. It came across that faith plays a massive part in these individuals' lives and was a reassuring source of hope.
Following the session, the team would then go and either do school or family visits or continue to work in the office before heading home. I learnt that these school and family visits are so important. The team will visit families regularly to ensure the children/young women are getting enough support at home to help them achieve their goals. They will also do schools/vocational visits to check-in with the teachers and tutors that the children/young women are developing well and if any further encouragement is required to help them.
Joe with Dorcus, Molly, Rebekah, Maureen, Brendah
It’s fair to say this was quite a contrasting day to what my usual working day would be. A usual Wednesday for me would be working from home, walking from an upstairs room to a downstairs room and back! It was amazing to see how well the HFL team interact together and how intertwined they are to this community. The relationships they have with those that live in Katanga was like that of a family. The team are a true inspiration.
My next article (coming out in the next couple of months) will be delving into a little bit of the detail of what we have achieved in the time I was there and an insight into how that can potentially shape the future of how the charity operates. For those that like detail – this will be of particular interest!
Find out more about Hope for Life read more stories from those they work with, or donate to provide more opportunities to children, young women and families in Katanga