I Left My Heart in Uganda
Emma Blackman had been fascinated by East Africa for years. In May 2009, after finding a vacant volunteer position in Uganda, she left her home and dedicated six months to aiding a village in the central south near the Tanzanian border. For the most part, Emma helped out at the local school called KAASO, a primary school for orphans. Over the course of her stay, she grew so attached to the children and community that she has returned every year since. Over this time Emma founded a personal project called I Left My Heart in Uganda, which is dedicated to gaining exposure and much-needed funds for the community.
EM.PRESS writer Alannah Skinner spoke to Emma about her story, cultural boundaries, the need for education, and how feminism is active in Uganda today.
EM.PRESS: Emma, needless to say, your work is inspiring and incredibly rewarding. How have you developed personally from your journey, and how did you cope with the obvious cultural differences whilst living In Uganda?
Emma: On my first trip to Uganda I was battling my way through a minefield of misunderstandings. The culture is so different from my own and it was so hard to know how not to offend, and what is actually helpful rather than a hindrance. It's a slow learning curve and something that requires a phenomenal amount of patience. What I've learned over the years is that nothing beats time in the village. Every time I go back I experience and understand more, so I do all I can to try and bridge between two worlds.
EM.PRESS: You make it sound easy.
Emma: Easier said than done!
EM.PRESS: The statistics say that primary school attendance is reasonably good in Uganda, but the numbers drop to just 20% attendance for high school. In terms of your experiences, what are the challenges for the education system in Uganda?
Emma: Yeah, it's a pretty tragic figure. One of the greatest challenges is that there are so few educated parents so parents don't understand the value of education and pull their children out of school to help on the land. There are a huge number of sustenance farmers who require their children to help put food on the table rather than 'wasting' time on books and lofty ideals. It's a mindset shift that's going to take a while to come around but I believe it's happening slowly, which is a huge step in the right direction. One of the other major barriers to secondary education is the cost of food, uniforms, tuition and textbooks. It adds up quickly, especially so when you have upwards of seven children.
EM.PRESS: Have you noticed a cultural difference in the education of boys versus girls?
Emma: Uganda is actually very good with gender equality. Unlike many other parts of the world, girls are just as likely to get an education as boys, and girls who excel definitely succeed. They are not restricted in their ambitions and are encouraged to strive for their goals. There are of course still the typical gender roles in the home but in the classroom girls generally outperform boys. I think something interesting to note is that there is a general movement in developing nations towards empowering women. It's commonly stated that donor funds are utilised more effectively when given to women, as they're the ones with hungry children to feed. When I first went to Uganda in 2009, there was a Woman's Empowerment Group, largely comprising widows and elderly women from the local community who gathered each week to learn English, to weave mats and, most importantly, to run a micro-loans system that enabled them to fund their projects such as piggeries, banana plantations and poultry projects.
EM.PRESS:: And it’s these grassroots projects that are effective because they set up investment opportunities that bring benefits in the future?
Emma: Exactly.
EM.PRESS:: The public sphere sounds very promising for Ugandan women. But what kinds of gender discourses exist behind closed doors and in the home?
Emma: Of course you still find the typical gender roles. The women, of course, will bring up the children but often they will still be working in the fields with their babies strapped to their backs. Perhaps I have a somewhat idealistic view of Ugandan society, but the area that I am involved with has some incredible female role models. They do all they can to encourage both girls and boys alike to pursue their passions and succeed in all they strive for, whether their ambitions are traditional or not.
EM.PRESS: Speaking of role models, are Ugandan feminists such as Sylvia Tamale, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and even Irshad Manji common knowledge or even inspiration for these young women?
Emma: I think in our rural village context, local older women are more likely to be role models for the girls who grow up inspired by them. The children are so isolated there with no TV, phones, Internet, even newspapers. Thus role models are more likely to come from within the family and community. Of course, as people grow up and move away from the villages to secondary schools and eventually cities, national role models will come into play but I believe that the local role models are more important in these early stages of life.
EM.PRESS: As you know, the feminist discourse in first world countries revolves around topics like filling the pay gap and removing the stigma about women's choices to have children. But in Uganda, what are the feminist foundations that are emerging there, and how do they differ from the feminism that people like you and I are familiar with?
Emma: I think that the most important thing for girls in Uganda is to ensure that they are educated academically, and taught to be careful in the realm of sexual health. HIV and AIDS are still major issues in Uganda and children at school need to be educated about the dangers of unprotected sex from a young age. If girls can get through those delicate teenage years and remain focused on their studies, they are likely to emerge determined young women, eager to succeed. The Ugandan Minister of Education is a woman and already that’s to be a huge step in the right direction for a third world country.
EM.PRESS: In Australia, it’s safe to say we definitely take the right to access health and education for granted. What would you say to people who are inspired by your work?
Emma: The best advice I can offer anyone who is seriously inspired, is to go to a developing nation. Soak up all you can and listen rather than speak. Taking the time to understand the culture is the most vital thing you can do, and once you have a grasp of that, you can understand the needs of the community by understanding their way of life. On my first trip to Uganda, people asked me if I was going to the village to teach. I used to smile and simply say, "No, I'm going to learn".
Emma Blackman is the face behind I Left My Heart in Uganda, an ongoing project that aims to shed light on village life in Uganda as well as raise awareness and funds to enable local children to attend school. For more information about new projects and how you can help, visit www.ileftmyheartinuganda.com
