Full Disclosure

     I have spent the past two weeks trying to establish the character of this blog.  I knew I wanted it to be a means of communicating my experience with friends and family and also hoped it would start a conversation about the refugee experience.  Beyond that, I wasn't sure how it would develop.  However, In my first three weeks here, before even leaving for the Nakivale Refugee Settlement, I ran into a personal and moral crossroad.

     When I first arrived, our organization's director showed me around Uganda and introduced me to the many incredible  projects he has imagined and brought to life.  It is still hard to believe that one man (with, he'll want me to include, the help of many volunteers) has done so much for the people of Uganda.  I was sent to visit his school for orphans and vulnerable children, assist with his micro-loan program that helps small businesswomen in the Ssese islands, and deliver medicine to one of his clinics.  These are just a few of his many projects and despite being here for a month now, I continue to hear of additional projects he has in operation.  The most incredible part of his work is that it is sustained solely by volunteer fees and donations.  He is a master of monetary efficiency and ingeniously solves massive problems with minuscule budgets.  Compelled by the work his organization does I thought I'd format this blog in a way that would also promote his work and maybe bring in a few more donations.  But that was after just the first two weeks.

     As my third week in Uganda came around, I was having more and more conversations with our director and my co-workers about how business operates in Uganda and what a nightmare it is to ever have to deal with the government.  I've been in developing countries before and I've studied and researched corruption for years and yet I wasn't prepared for how an opaque and unaccountable government operates in reality.

     I have now discovered that everything in Uganda has a price and that that price often gets in the way of little things like freedom and human rights.  Most things I have seen and have been told, I find trivial and am not terribly bothered by.  So what if a traffic cop asks you for money in order to get you out of a ticket.  I'm sure that happens in America sometimes too.  However three weeks ago, when we started preparing to head to the Nakivale Refugee Settlement to begin our needs assessment, the government workers' blatant disregard for international law and the rights of refugees was too much for me.  At that moment I wanted to tell everyone I knew how government staff was abusing its people and taking advantage of arguably the most vulnerable population in the world (but more on that later).  I grabbed my computer and started writing down everything on this blog, but before I hit publish, I thought about our organization again.  I could not safely promote our organization and simultaneously report the abuses of the Ugandan government.

     I talked with my family, friends, my director, and my co-workers trying to determine what would be most beneficial to the work of the organization and most honest to the narrative of the refugees.  Eventually we decided upon full disclosure of our experiences.  This blog will report everything I see, every obstacle we run into and who is responsible.  I want to paint an accurate picture of what life is like for a refugee and what challenges honest organizations face when trying to help them.

     That being said, in order to protect the work of my organization, I will be omitting names and specifics that may incriminate or tie them to anything I write.  What I publish here represents my perspective and my experiences.  Ultimately, I will be leaving in December while this organization remains in Uganda continuing to persevere through the challenges of non-governmental work in a developing country.  While I want to accurately represent the plight of refugees, I want to do so without jeopardizing the organizations' reputation or work.  It kills me to have to choose but I cannot offer details on both.  So I am committing to full disclosure when it comes to day to day activities, processes, and operations - good and bad - but selective disclosure when it comes to names and details about the organization for which I am working.  I hope to still convey the impressive scope of this group and ask that if anyone wants more information or is interested in donating to them or maybe coming and volunteering themselves, that they send me a private message.  I would be more than happy to connect you with more information.