1. 14 Jan


    February 20, 2012 Dear Andrea, Today I was supposed to buy 29 headbands and 10 bracelets from Group A. I saw them yesterday…they looked great. Today the headbands were piled neatly on the table. I found this confusing because I thought the people were going to sell them as individuals and contribute a percentage of each sale back to the group. I started the meeting and the group discussion meandered back from “How are we going to do sales today?” to “Are we going to distribute the money from the first time we bought?” to “How much money were we supposed to distribute to which people?” We spent a long time reviewing, in precise detail with lots of arguing and translating, how much we’ve received in contributions from the members (30,000), how much we spent on the first round of supplies (18,000), how much we bought from the ladies (59,000), how much we spent on the second round of supplies (17,000), how much we have now (54,000). The first time we bought headbands, there was some confusion because the people made them together. Some people did a lot of work, and others a little bit and, a few did none at all. The ladies didn’t track or enforce how much work each person did and, in the end, they decided not to share the money equally, so we went through the list of members (which isn’t even precise because some people signed up and never paid their 1000 contribution and some people signed up and paid but never came back to do any work) and decided who was “active” – helped make the headbands and who was “inactive” – didn’t help. At the beginning of Feb, we decided that there were 14 active members who would share half of the first profit = 59,000/14 = 2,500, but instead of giving out that money at the following meeting, I placed the next order for 29 headbands and 10 bracelets. Woops. Which brings us to today with 30 people in the room arguing about it all and god knows how many headbands on the table and we haven’t figured out how we are going to buy today. So after a lot of speeching and translating, the people decide that they are going to sell their headbands as individuals, not as a group, which is when they all stand up and grab for the headbands on the table and start arguing about who’s is who’s. I fold my hands in my lap and decided I’m not going to buy anything today. We talk about leadership and distribution. I encourage them for the 95th time to have a meeting and create a leadership structure. I remind them about the importance of distributing supplies fairly and communicating and working together. We talk about record keeping and finances. When I get up to leave, the people say, “What if the rats eat our headbands and they are all ruined by next week?”

    February 20, 2012

    Dear Andrea,

    Today I was supposed to buy 29 headbands and 10 bracelets from Group A. I saw them yesterday…they looked great. Today the headbands were piled neatly on the table. I found this confusing because I thought the people were going to sell them as individuals and contribute a percentage of each sale back to the group. I started the meeting and the group discussion meandered back from “How are we going to do sales today?” to “Are we going to distribute the money from the first time we bought?” to “How much money were we supposed to distribute to which people?” We spent a long time reviewing, in precise detail with lots of arguing and translating, how much we’ve received in contributions from the members (30,000), how much we spent on the first round of supplies (18,000), how much we bought from the ladies (59,000), how much we spent on the second round of supplies (17,000), how much we have now (54,000).

    The first time we bought headbands, there was some confusion because the people made them together. Some people did a lot of work, and others a little bit and, a few did none at all. The ladies didn’t track or enforce how much work each person did and, in the end, they decided not to share the money equally, so we went through the list of members (which isn’t even precise because some people signed up and never paid their 1000 contribution and some people signed up and paid but never came back to do any work) and decided who was “active” – helped make the headbands and who was “inactive” – didn’t help. At the beginning of Feb, we decided that there were 14 active members who would share half of the first profit = 59,000/14 = 2,500, but instead of giving out that money at the following meeting, I placed the next order for 29 headbands and 10 bracelets. Woops.

    Which brings us to today with 30 people in the room arguing about it all and god knows how many headbands on the table and we haven’t figured out how we are going to buy today. So after a lot of speeching and translating, the people decide that they are going to sell their headbands as individuals, not as a group, which is when they all stand up and grab for the headbands on the table and start arguing about who’s is who’s. I fold my hands in my lap and decided I’m not going to buy anything today.

    We talk about leadership and distribution. I encourage them for the 95th time to have a meeting and create a leadership structure. I remind them about the importance of distributing supplies fairly and communicating and working together. We talk about record keeping and finances. When I get up to leave, the people say, “What if the rats eat our headbands and they are all ruined by next week?”

     

  2. 13 Jan



    Good Words.

    Sometimes I can’t find the right words to express how I’m feeling. Luckily, there is help…

    25 Handy Words that simply don’t exist in English. (thanks to sobadsogood.com)

    1 Age-otori (Japanese): To look worse after a haircut

    2 Arigata-meiwaku (Japanese): An act someone does for you that you didn’t want to have them do and tried to avoid having them do, but they went ahead anyway, determined to do you a favor, and then things went wrong and caused you a lot of trouble, yet in the end social conventions required you to express gratitude

    3 Backpfeifengesicht (German): A face badly in need of a fist

    4 Bakku-shan (Japanese): A beautiful girl… as long as she’s being viewed from behind

    5 Desenrascanço (Portuguese): “to disentangle” yourself out of a bad situation (To MacGyver it)

    6 Duende (Spanish): a climactic show of spirit in a performance or work of art, which might be fulfilled in flamenco dancing, or bull-fighting, etc.

    7 Forelsket (Norwegian): The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love

    8 Gigil (pronounced Gheegle; Filipino): The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute

    9 Guanxi (Mandarin): in traditional Chinese society, you would build up good guanxi by giving gifts to people, taking them to dinner, or doing them a favor, but you can also use up your gianxi by asking for a favor to be repaid

    10 Ilunga (Tshiluba, Congo): A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time

     

  3. 12 Jan


    fastcompany:

    A campaign to stop overfishing features photos of celebs in their birthday suits, cuddling up with marine creatures to draw attention to overfishing. It’s safe for work, unless your boss hates fish.

     

  4. 12 Jan


    Headbands!

    Headbands!

     

  5. 11 Jan



    A heartwarming tidbit for you from the vault. Recorded in Jinja, Uganda on February 2, 2012. 

     

  6. 10 Jan



    First they came for the communists,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

    Then they came for the socialists,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

    Then they came for the jews,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

    Then they came for the catholics,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a catholic.

    Then they came for me,
    and there was no one left to speak for me.

    — Martin Niemoller was a German pastor and theologian born in Lippstadt, Germany, in 1892. Niemöller was an anti-communist and supported Hitler’s rise to power at first. But when Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion, Niemöller became disillusioned. He became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to Hitler. In 1937 he was arrested and eventually confined in Sachsenhausen and Dachau. His crime was “not being enthusiastic enough about the Nazi movement”. Niemöller was released in 1945 by the Allies. He continued his career in Germany as a clergyman and as a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after World War II. His statement, sometimes presented as a poem, is well-known, frequently quoted, and is a popular model for describing the dangers of political apathy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came…
     

  7. 9 Jan


    One of the lovely ladies, Betty, on sales day with her bags. 

    One of the lovely ladies, Betty, on sales day with her bags. 

     

  8. 8 Jan



    Amber's Old Blog

    From November 2008: 

    “Right now it is dark and there is a small, naked Ugandan child spinning with his? her? towel outside of the internet cafe. I am sweating and my forearms are sticking to the wooden desk. But it is dark and breezy, so the walk home should be nice. I am enjoying each day and new experience. My plan is to return to the market each day and become a “regular” so I will get not so expensive mzungu prices. I hope your day to day is going well and you do not have sweaty forearms.”

     

  9. 7 Jan



    tumblrbot asked: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?

    fancy pens with liquid ink. 

     

  10. 7 Jan



    gymnastics was never my thing…

    but i’m going to try this tumbling anyway. 

    Greetings from A.Bernadette, Amber speaking. How are you? I am fine.