Working School Holidays in the Butterfly Project

Maybe quiet on the Betterplace site of late, but we have been through frenetic action, to make sure all of the members had an opportunity to deliver their own social project and what a range of projects we have had!

Gilbert (14) led the way with an intriguing music project in his remote home village of Namberre.  60 children benefited from Gilbert's skill in music, dance and drama over the course of a week, during their holidays and even now, when Gilbert is back in Kampala, the project has endured, with local people taking over where he has left off...

His friend, Eunice (14), has been inspired to start her own music project in Kampala's largest slum area, Kisenyi and she is determined to continue this through this school term.  Eunice has recently become a student of Kampala Music School, through her association with the Butterfly Project and she is a talented singer an song-writer.

Martin's (14) project is to give a voice to local youth in disadvantaged areas, where they have little or no access to internet.  He interviewed local young people in the Acholi Quarter, a slum district in North-eastern Kampala and is developing an enduring web-site and blog, which you can see at http://youth-kireka.blogspot.com/2010/05/welcome-to-youthkireka-blog.html.  The web-site will follow soon.

Samuel (14) is an artist and has been developing his talent, as well as raising the profile of the inadequacy of school meals in Uganda.  Posho and beans is a staple but extremely unpleasant diet for children, which is in most schools completely unvarying from day to day.  He has been working with a local professional artist and has also recruited some other local children to help him create the art.

Debra (17) has grown up in the Acholi Quarter and she has become aware of young girls' plight, some of whom are dragged from the village to become servants in the houses of people in this area.  She has brought them hope, by giving them a day out every week, where they can play and learn, they can support each other with what has been happening to them.

Judith (13) has set up a savings club for girls in the same locale, whereby each saves a small amount of money each week for future times.  Saving is rare in these communities and it not only helps young people to think of their future, it helps them mitigate problems that occur in their daily lives.

Francis (15) has developed a running project, which has created a course in the local area, where local children run early in the morning, just as the sun comes up.  They run for about half an hour, then return for squash and biscuits, spending time then learning about how to keep themselves fit and healthy.  These kids are seriously good runners (as is Francis) and who knows what the future might bring, if they can keep going, but whatever their future, they have a better chance fit and well...

Well these are a taster of some of the projects.  You can always see photos of the project at Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183777&id=639473981&l=4983ac1a69

Kampala Group Sessions Week 2

Week 2 of Kampala coming up.  We will include sessions on "What does a Butterfly do different?", some jazz fusion, the film "Binta's Big Idea" and a discussion, some practice on public speaking on "My Passion".  Also we are trying the Alhambra boardgame, where we encourage them to "strategise to win", we have an art session, where they can try to illustrate their vision on paper.  A session on internet safety and finally we explain how they are to be assessed ongoing.  All between 9.00am and 7.00pm on Saturday.  The Lyantonde group did much of this last weekend.

If interested, there is a Facebook Group "The Butterfly Project, Uganda", that any can join.

Final member for Kampala selected

The third girl for the Kampala group has been selected, so now the two projects have been fully recruited.  Judith has amazing drive for someone of her age and I'm certain she will be a success on the project.

Many thanks to donors who have supported the internet access.  This is such a crucial part of the project, as we have some incredibly influential social entrepreneur mentors, that will need to have frequent correspondence with our Butterflies.

Thanks too to those who have donated bikes and mobile phones.  We still need more mobiles, but it's a promising start.  No USB drives, as yet, so we will have to fund those independently.

We are formalising partnerships with Child Aid Uganda and Life in Africa for the local implementation of the project and we have partners in the wings for seven further Butterfly projects, not currently displayed here on Betterplace - Gulu, Kinkizi, Jinja, Masaka, Kitgum, Rukungiri and Hoima.

Project starts soon, so watch this space!

New SEA Web-site and videos

SEA have updated their web-site now and it has more information about the objectives of Social Enterprise (Africa), showing how Butterfly fits in with its objectives.

Social Enterprise (Africa) Web-site

Also check out the videos from two of the Butterflies on Youtube.  They say what they are hoping to achieve out of the project, which starts officially in September 2009.

The young people on the project

This is the LYANTONDE GROUP

Francis - he is 14 and very bright, but with a few gaps in his knowledge (What are dinosaurs?). He is adept at people skills and motivation and, while lacking in confidence right now, he is going to be a leader that people like to follow. You can tell from his aspirations that he sees his future as a social entrepreneur.  With support on this project we can make it happen.

Recheal (Rachel?) - she is a very mature 11 and probably scored strongest over all of the tests. She is a very stable personality and is the kind of person you go to for good advice. I'm sure she is leadership material, but she stood back to let the older kids show their potential in that particular test. She maybe needs some coaxing into social entrepreneurship, but she had some great ideas as to how to achieve change.

Stellah - she is a quiet 13, who preferred to stay out of the limelight, but she performed well in many of the tests we did and showed herself to be ethical and could take a leadership role, when it was uncontested. She'll need someone to bring her out of her shell, but I feel that once out, she will bring a very valuable contribution to the group.

Manisuli - he is 12 and quiet but charismatic unassuming leadership material. He has no problem asking questions (to his credit) and we found him taking to the computer faster than anyone else, soon becoming the group expert on ICT, without dominating the computer's use. He seems very bright too - correcting Francis' spelling on quite a few occasions. He's self confident, but never arrogant.

Dorah - she will be 11 very shortly and was sent by her school as she is clearly highly intelligent. Because of her age she lacked a bit of confidence in the group, but was gradually finding her feet by the end of the weekend. We expect great things of her in the future, but she needs more stimulation and tougher challenges to her intellect than she is currently getting.

Joshua - he is a 13 year old intellectual type, who has not been given the chance to be an intellectual yet. He's popular, but very quiet and seems to draw his confidence from somewhere, when he gets up on stage. If we can help him find it, Joshua will find an expert niche, which I think can be used to create social change in the future - perhaps in agricultural development, seeds, processing or something else technical.

This is the KAMPALA GROUP

Eunice - it will be a privilege for you to know Eunice (13). She is a talented artist and composer and has a desire to use music to create an NGO in Kisenyi to support young people living there. She is thoughtful, intelligent and knowledgeable and quite confident. What she does need is support, as her personal circumstances are difficult.

Philip - he is a 12 year old unlike I have met before. He has exceptional people skills and a kind of incisive leadership quality from someone much older. He is very determined and acts tough, but I feel that he is very warm-hearted and has very high aspirations for himself and the programme. It's a shame you can't meet him through this page, as I can't really do him justice.

Debra - she is 16 and from the Kireka Acholi Quarter. She is stubborn, but is someone reliable but inspirational too. She is both a thinker and a doer and these are important qualities for the future. What she does need is some inspiration from a professional woman:)

Ivan - he is 15 and is a boarder in one of the most disadvantaged Kisenyi schools. From a very poor family he aspires to be their breadwinner, in the absence of another, shouldering this burden focusing on his education. He is interested in Shakespeare and very informed on social issues. To me he will be the group's stabilising influence, but will need support through his issues at home.

Gilbert - he is 12 and you will unlikely meet anyone nicer. He enjoys dance and ballet and is part of a dance academy in Makere Kivulo, a disadvantaged area near Makerere University. He has varied talents and a kind of confidence gained from spending a lot of time on stage. He needs some guidance but an infectious energy and likeability, which will ensure others will follow him.

What we have done so far...

A few people have asked for a summary of activity so far on the project, so this is what we have done.

Firstly, it was important to start to understand the thinking of young people in Uganda.  The vibrancy and enthusiasm for change in Nigeria amongst the young people had encouraged the original development of the concept.  Additionally, the enthusiasm amongst adults in the rural areas for the project was remarkable.  Discussions with adults in Uganda have without exception been positive about the concept of the project.  They realise the scale of the educational need and that innovative projects are required as well as existing techniques.

However, were there kids out there, who had aspirations to be social entrepreneurs?  Clearly most have no idea what a  social entrepreneur, like most of the general public anywhere in the world.  So, we started by presenting the project to schools in Kisenyi, the largest slum area in Uganda.  We briefed them on what we were looking for and asked them to send us young people who were academically good, but also had other positive abilities - leadership, a talent of some kind, a overt desire to help others etc.  We then interviewed many many children, from 10 to 16 years old.

From this we gauged that there were perhaps 10-15%, who were interested in being changemakers.  Others had no aspirations at all or were focused on specific professions or career paths.  Some were clearly only interested in their own welfare and were completely excluded, regardless of their other abilities.

We then travelled to Lyantonde and met with Child Aid Uganda, who are partnering with us for the rural project.  We also brought some of the prospective Butterfly project members to Lyantonde, to see how they would react to some of the hardships in these rural parts and where they saw their role in the future.  Almost all reacted in a way that showed they were consciencious citizens, who cared about their country and their fellow human beings.

Then we ran two testing weekends - one in Kampala and one in Lyantonde.

The weekends were geared to assessing each participant against the criteria for selecting a social entrepreneur.  Essentially we have researched the various character qualities that are needed to become a successful social entrepreneur - from academic ability to leadership, verbal to numeric aptitude, altruism to organisational ability, aswell as thinking skills, creative ability and higher level thinking.  Each quality was linked to a specific test and young people were invited to be assessed over a whole weekend.

We selected six young people from Lyantonde - 3 boys and 3 girls, aged 10-14, whose personal objectives for the project have been highlighted in a previous blog post.

Then we selected five from Kampala - 2 girls, 3 boys - who each possess the qualities we need as changemakers for the future. 

In the meantime, we have established links with several international social entrepreneurs who have offered their services to the project as mentors to the young people, steering them in the right direction with their projects, but also providing some career guidance and moral support, when needed.

Since then, we have started to link each one onto internet over this Summer period, so that they can start to liaise with their mentors.  The programme will start in earnest, when they return to school in September.

One person can make a difference

One thing that has struck me when meeting with young people in Uganda is how much more committed to change they are than their elder peers and adults.  Somehow, as they grow older peer pressure causes disillusionment, the environment causes a conditioning that there really is no way out of poverty.  In other countries we simply do not accept this and strive (in many cases) to change our circumstances.  We have role models for people who have done this and an education system, which provides us with the tools to do it.

Young people are passionate about change, yet they are not empowered to make change.  They are all forced into an education system, which is sub-standard in the main, and told under no uncertain terms that they must succeed in it or end up in the gutter, when they grow up.  Whilst this may be true, their prospects can be little better, even with high grades at school.

Uganda is an exciting environment, but it is not stimulating.  Even in Kampala, there is minimal arts, variety in the shops, creative entrepreneurship and outside most of the entrepreneurship is sealed within large tea plantations, where locals cannot enter.  Children desperate to play to stimulate their creative skills resort to bottle tops instead of marbles.  They draw hopscotch squares on the red earth with sticks.  Some even use scrunched up pieces of paper in a kind of Subbuteo game.  Music is loud and dominating and lacking in stimulus.  It's used as a veil to avoid reality, a crutch, when feeling depressed or disillusioned, not as a purveyor of positive emotions.

Ugandans are also heavily discouraged to demonstrate their feelings.  Guns are everywhere on the streets, protecting banks usually, but also the more expensive restaurants and hotels.  The government, whilst not bandying its power, implies that it will be ready with teargas, if any complain about them.

I can only imagine that the Ugandans feel disempowered, just like the African Americans did in the 50s and 60s.  Where government seemed not to care and there was no vehicle for progress.  One person thought differently and not only changed America to a more equal society, but probably changed it to the country where black people have most chance of success on the planet.

So, this is what Butterfly is about.  The numbers are unimportant.  We are not doing the same as every other educational project out there, where large number outputs generate the cash.  Frankly, I think the money is better spent assisting capable young people to be the ones who will spend their lifetime developing educaitonal projects, because they know the value of education themselves.  Or they will spend their lifetime improving the living conditions of people, because they have lived in the slums or amongst the rural basic earth, but they have experienced better and want others too as well.  Or maybe they have artistic skills, which have given them international acclaim and they can develop a means to pass on their artistry to other Ugandans in the future.  Or maybe they see people die every day, due to malaria and AIDS and they have the passion to change their society so that in future these deaths do not occur.

If we believe that these Butterflies will fly away, then I think we are judging them by our own self-interested standards.  These young people have already proved themselves to care about others, to be selfless and to be ready to give things up for others.  That's what a committed social entrepreneur will do and so will these young people in time do.

Rural Aspirations

The selected members of the Butterfly Project in the rural areas were asked to state what they would like to gain from the project and they had some varying views.  What is interesting is how positively that they are taking the project and how much early understanding that they have for its objectives.  Anyway, here goes:

FRANCIS

 I wish to teach people how to improve their farming skills so that they can get what to eat and sell to earn some income to fully support their families like taking children to school.

 I wish to build facilities that can help the people in my home area for example schools , hospitals, latrines for the most vulnerable people, markets and other facilities that can improve the lively hood of the rural people in my area.

 I wish to be a good a member in the community, who can live by example to the young people in areas like leadership, development and in the political areas.

 I wish to concentrate on learning how to use and apply computer knowledge. This may include learning how to use the internet. As this will help me access many people who seem important to me like the butterfly project officials, friends from all over the world and get to know more about the world.

MANISULI

 Providing help to less privileged people for example those in Kinuuka village. The assistance may include provision of safe water, food, house hold requirements and constructing for them houses and latrines.

 Helping the orphans get access to school, scholastic materials and other necessities that can help them gain the minimum standards of education.

 Improving the games of the pupils at school for example foot ball, volley ball and other games so as the children enough playing opportunities.

RACHEL

 First of all I want to get involved in the project activities as they are shown in their Programme. I am ready to participate in all activities set by the project.

 Secondly I wish to get more friends in this project with which we can share ideas.

 Also to get exposed to out side countries as I hope to get chances of visiting some countries outside Uganda. This will help me to know how other countries differ from Uganda in areas like relief, climate, physical features, language and the nature of people in those countries.

 More to that; I wish to acquire more skills which can help me to live happily in this world; I want to get this by copying from some of the leaders in the butterfly project.

 More to that to learn more technology as I hope to learn how to operate a computer as it is the system commonly used by educated people these days.

 Through the butterfly project I wish to develop my talents as I expect to be provided with some musical instruments and novels at the same time be taught how to use them.

 Also I wish to develop my capabilities in communication skills and other life skills. This will help me deal in a global world that is competitive.

JOSHUA

 The ability to obtain basic education that can help me when dealing with the people around me.

 Assistance to attain a good health environment that can help me achieve the goal to helping the magnified people around me.

 A chance to have access to my own computer such that I can get the skills to communicate to the people.

STELLA

 I would like to obtain computer skills and applicability.

 I would like to get access to internet for easy communication with the people around me most especially those I the butterfly project.

 I wish to learn how to solve social problems in my area.

 I wish to get help in opening up new projects in my area for example a water project to solve the problem of water shortage.

 I wish to find means of getting electricity to help my area because we don’t have access to power.

DORA

 I would like to have access to a computer and the internet. This will help me do my work properly and have a better means of communication with the people who help me for example my mentor and the coordinator butterfly project.

 I would like to tour some new places so as to understand other places their structure and appearance and as well understand their livelihoods.

I hope you find the above a unique insight into the thinking of the young people on the project

Social Enterprise (Africa) Travel Blog

There is quite a lot of background information on the recent visit to Uganda at www.socialenterpriseafrica.blogspot.com.