Linda N lives in Thailand.

Through her PhD thesis on Buddhist Economics, Linda is working with us (and a group of Thai students who will visit Uganda next spring) on designing a unique kind of learning-by-doing community based school for child-headed families at Opok Farms.

The school community will be modeled after a special "brand" of community found in Thailand called Asoke communities, that operate on sufficiency economy principles and strong inner-value based living. One of the PhD students Linda is bringing to Uganda runs the school at one of these communities. I'd like to experience the school and the community in action for a while, to get a sense of what can transfer, and what might be needed to make the model fly in our particular context. So that's one reason to go to Thailand, in particular.

Another reason is to immerse myself (as in bathe) in completely new waters for a while before moving on to the next phase of my life. When I told Norbert about it, he said "how refreshing" over and over again. I think he might join me for a couple of weeks in Jan, and I'll probably stay on til the end of Feb for a good feel of what I'm meant to learn there.

Linda has a lot of experience in education, which is where I feel more and more that I'm turning in terms of my own career development. So that's a third reason.

4th reason - I've never been to asia yet!

enough thinking. the reasoning to date makes more than enough sense, even to outsiders.

do it. book that flight. its all piss and spit until you book the flight.

Greg Murray said:

enough thinking. the reasoning to date makes more than enough sense, even to outsiders.

do it. book that flight. its all piss and spit until you book the flight.

Succinct, witty and poetic ...... what's not to love about we Australians :)

(of course it's 12:30am so I was none of those things in my last two posts so ta for holding things up, Greg :)

Christina Jordan said:

A trip to Thailand is weighing heavy on my mind.

Should be more like "light in your heart"

Good for you Christina. I follow your life and career closely because all the causes and people you have introduced me to have enriched my life greatly and I ache to give back. Also because you inspire me. Let me know when you are next in Hemet. I live right down the road from there.

God Bless, Barbara

Thank you for these words. Dominique you are right - it should be like a light in my heart, and it is. What has weighed heavy is trying to figure out the family logistics.

As things are looking right now, I will be taking a 1 year sabbatical in 2008, AND we are starting to seriously explore the pros and cons of Norbert possibly joining me for the whole year. Here's an update of how things are shaping up so far:

• Norbert and I definitely plan to go to Thailand together in Jan-Feb to live at an Asoke community.
• Mar-June is still unclear. If Linda's group is coming then we'll stop in Uganda to be a part of making that happen on this end before heading off to the USA. If that gets postponed, however, then we'll probably head off to the USA after a visit with the kids.
• My children will spend Jan-June with their father in Ethiopia, and we will possibly pick them up in Wash DC
• During the summer I'd like to travel some. I'm thinking we'll just buy a car and go. There are relatives and friends I want to visit on both coasts and in between, including many of you. I'd love for you to meet all my wonderful boys. And yes, Barb, this time we will make it down to meet you!
• The kids will spend the fall getting a taste of US public school. We will then head back to Uganda after Christmas.

For Norbert and I, our main objective during this year is to spend time learning about some of the things we both feel we need to know more about as we look toward long term development on the farm. I'd personally like to get my feet wet in education, and actually get some kind of classroom experience. And Norbert wants to learn to be a proper farmer :)

We were google-lighted to find that Washington State University is, coincidentally, the first university in the USA to offer an undergraduate degree in organic and sustainable food systems. Their extension and professional development programs also look very promising, and their main demonstration farm is well south of Seattle, not far from the area where I'd already been planning to live. Thinking that we might have something to offer in terms of an African program connection, I'm wondering what the best way to explore this with the University might be. Norbert will need a visa, and a student visa would work very nicely... heck - maybe they'd even sponsor his tuition if they like the idea of a connection to Opok Farm... thoughts anyone?

If Norbert does come with it will mean that we postpone all further in country project work until 2009 - apart from the farming activity itself. Personally, I think that once we are in the US we will have a lot more opportunity to find all of the resources we need for this project. And at this point, its sounding much more appealing to both of us to take a year out to learn, plan and raise support for the project abroad than to continue in the chaos that Northern Uganda's local political scene has recently become.

What we've learned over the past few months of shopping the farm project around is that there is a lot of money available for resettlement, and everyone is racing for their piece of the pie. I have this mental image of the riots that happen when sacks of grain fall off of the World Food Program truck and spill into the crowd. There are those who make it their mission to knock the sacks down. Dr. Ayitteh's hippos and cheetahs are snarling loudly and visciously tearing each other apart, as everyone gets sucked down into the mud around the money tree. The District Chairman threatens regularly on the radio that he's going to shut all the NGOs in Gulu District down if they don't shape up and get serious. In Amuru District (where the farm is) there is no District Administration in operation yet, which means that no legalities can be finalized. Chaos when every drunk in the IDP camp comes to a meeting to establish the farm's boundaries and deal with existing (and wannabe) encroachers.

And unfortunately, our little group of LiA cheetahs seems to have wandered a bit too far into some heavy hitting hippo territory. We've survived but barely this year through some long and bloody battles. Alas, the hippos show no sign of wearying in their misinformation campaign against us. I've apparently been accused of everything from absconding with school fees to mobilizing child labor to trying to cheat aid agencies. Life in Africa has been bogged down in a costly and operationally disruptive process of trying to recover quite a lot of equipment and furniture that previous associates have not yet relinquished. It's all just so ugly and painful and unpredictable. Just this week, the bigger picture of how crazy things are in the Gulu feeding frenzy right now has become clear. Basic instinct is telling us that the best thing to do might be to just back off for a while, and let the hippos who are angry at us settle down.

I, for one, simply don't have any more stomach for more of the ugliness we've seen and experienced during this past year. Norbert is also becoming exasperated at how crazy the local operating environment up there is. Perhaps if we can get some distance from it and focus on learning more about some of the more substantive things we want to do, we can get a better grip on ways to handle all that better. And maybe by the time we come back Gulu's post-war free for all will have settled down a bit. That's our hunch anyway.

Of course, on a personal level I am amazed and excited that Norbert is actually open to exploring the idea of taking this break with me. I think it would be really great for us to experience this sabbatical year as a couple, and I think the knowledge we both hope to gain would be really important for the future of the farm. On the downside it probably means slowing down progress on some important fronts. We're still thinking it all through, but it's nice to be exploring some potentially positive flip on what might be gained from a temporary withdrawal.

Comments from the peanut gallery welcome :)

I, of course, am thrilled. Actually living on the same continent with you would be wonderful but actually living near enough to visit and work together....fantastic. Plus, I am so excited that Norbert may be coming.

Definitely think that, given the circumstances, backing off from Gulu is a good idea. Let the feeding frenzy chew itself up and when you go back, hopefully things will be calmer and things can move ahead more smoothly.

Christina Jordan said:

....What we've learned over the past few months of shopping the farm project around is that there is a lot of money available for resettlement, and everyone is racing for their piece of the pie. I have this mental image of the riots that happen when sacks of grain fall off of the World Food Program truck and spill into the crowd. There are those who make it their mission to knock the sacks down. Dr. Ayitteh's hippos and cheetahs are snarling loudly and visciously tearing each other apart, as everyone gets sucked down into the mud around the money tree. The District Chairman threatens regularly on the radio that he's going to shut all the NGOs in Gulu District down if they don't shape up and get serious. In Amuru District (where the farm is) there is no District Administration in operation yet, which means that no legalities can be finalized. Chaos when every drunk in the IDP camp comes to a meeting to establish the farm's boundaries and deal with existing (and wannabe) encroachers.

....It's all just so ugly and painful and unpredictable. Just this week, the bigger picture of how crazy things are in the Gulu feeding frenzy right now has become clear. Basic instinct is telling us that the best thing to do might be to just back off for a while, and let the hippos who are angry at us settle down.

I read this in the paper today. http://newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/59 2034

This is typical of what the 'feeding frenzy' can create. It seems this church is using children who are lured with promises of scholarships for the simple purpose of getting money from a Canadian donor. And I would bet that once the money was recieved, the children would be mostly sent home with nothing. I remember hearing about organizations in Kampala that were recieving money to help street kids. Whenever they needed more funds or the donors were coming to visit they would round up children, bringing some from the villages, to show off. But once that was done the kids were just turned out on the street. Greed does ugly things to people.

I partially blame the donors for this situation. I think they are well intentioned but they make it too easy to pull off these scams by not paying good enough attention.

I can immagine what must be happening in an area like Gulu. The mere name is now a worldwide hot button for donations. Everyone wants to help and too many on the ground want to get their hands on the money. It makes it very difficult for an honest organization to function fully.

I am back in Ubon over night so have a reasonable internet connection.

As you can probably guess I need to think over what happens here. I have a commitment this year for the 600,000 baht I need to bring the 6 of us to Uganda. I just don't know if that money will be there next year. Delaying a year makes my degree take a year longer which may or may not be a good thing - at my age you never know. ;-) I probably need to make a decision soon as I am scheduled to present the project at an International UNESCO conference in December and probably shouldn't if we are not going.

It probably makes sense to slow down but from my perspective and trying to manage the logistics of maybe having 8 people coming from here....argghh...

When I left the students this evening I gave them a project to make a translation of 2 video segments on Sisa Asoke and the school. We will edit the video and put in English voice over. So far this week we have learned to make bar soap, liquid dish detergent, liquid laundry detergent, a special herbal face soap (liquid) and an herbal masque. Also the kids made 1 ton of organic fertilizer today.

The group has also worked on deep listening skills and communication and trust building.

I will be meeting with my adviser tomorrow morning and I will see if he has time in his schedule to consult with me on this.

What exactly is the school schedule in Uganda?

[Deleted by author on 16 Oct 2007 14:44 PDT: duplicate]

Linda, how much is 600,000 baht and what is it intended to cover? In particular I am wondering if any of it is meant to cover in country accommodation, which is our most pressing logistical challenge on this end.

There is always a 3 week school holiday usually starting in the latter part of April

sounds like y'all had a great time!

That is only for 6 of us....2 people are considering joining at their own expense.

That includes the in country expenses estimate (padded a little) that you gave for the volunteer experience on onet.

At the moment I am having a very, very bad day and for the first time in 10 years thinking seriously about going home.

And I can't find my Mylanta.

Sorry you are having such a bad day, Linda. Maybe my longing to go home is contagious, or maybe after 10 years away it's natural to start longing to re-ground in our native culture.

That includes the in country expenses estimate (padded a little) that you gave for the volunteer experience on onet.

Some logistical points to consider:

• the volunteer accommodation in Gulu can sleep 6 people
• My vehicle can sit 7 people plus a driver and uses shs25,000 ($15) in a roundtrip to the farm from Gulu. To transport more people to the farm daily you'd have to rent something. The roads are really bad.
• to engage in community building activities at the farm, we'd need to get other people/participants transported out there too.

In the context of the Razoo proposal we've been discussing constructing basic lodgings out on the farm itself. Possibly we could use some of the money allocated for your group's accommodation toward that, but it seems to me the differences in cost structures for pulling this off are even more complex than that.

Rather than being constrained by one figure from one source, I think we'd be better off looking at the bigger picture of what's needed to make what we want to happen happen, and see how far we get with what we know we already have and how much we need to raise from elsewhere.

Linda, here's one key question - does your group plan to spend all of the time at the farm or do you also want to spend time in Gulu and/or other parts of Uganda?