Personnel issues

This is my tenth mission to Kabale to build up the project together with the Ugandan team. Slowly by slowly we are composing a team we can rely on. That is not easy, because Ugandan work habits are very different from European ones. So both sides have to adapt to each other. At the same time the challenges in the work with children and youngsters with intellectual disabilities are unknown to Ugandans.

Even the target group seems to be unknown. When we ask candidates for a job what they know about the project they usually say we work with children who are lame or don’t hear or see. If not they say we are working with children who are mentally disturbed. Once we have pointed out we work with children who have intellectual disabilities, people may think these children can’t learn at all.

Consequently, planning for children with intellectual disabilities is also new. Within the district there are only a few facilities for them. These centers focus on custodial care. A dynamic educational approach focusing on teaching functional skills we have not seen. And what about participation of youngsters with intellectual disabilities in economic activities?

Teachers may not understand the challenge that is in the work with these youth. More, work habits in Uganda and Flanders (Europe) are also very different. One day I read an article of Ian Clarke in a Ugandan newspaper, explaining that Ugandans will promise you all and everything when they come to ask for a job. But the majority will not fulfill their promises: once at their post they lean back and wait for the salary to come.