The Beginning: My life and job anew

I have taken the position with Invisible Children. I will be in charge of the Internship Program, coordinating the Interns when they come to work for three months at a time (what I just did this summer). I will also be arranging all volunteer trips, and coordinating the activities and projects they will be involved in while here. This is a paid (finally) position that will allow me free housing and food as well. Pretty sweet deal, as I will also be dedicating every other waking hour on a project that I am most excited about…

Jolly Grace Okot, the woman in the Invisible Children film who first introduces the filmmakers to Gulu, and who now serves as the Country Director for the Organization in Uganda needs help. For the last decade, well before Invisible Children, she started an after-school program called HEALS. Standing for Health, Education, Art, Literacy and Sports, it serves a vital role in giving a stable foundation to over 200 vulnerable kids that lack any community or parental support due to this 21-year long war. HEALS serves as a place for play therapy, a program that Jolly was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for. Besides paying the children’s school fees, and giving guidance and health education, it encourages children to explore their creative and active sides. It provides art therapy, painting and photography lessons. It provides sport competitions. Most importantly in my opinion, it also preserves Acholi culture, which has quickly disintegrated within a generation due to the war and desperation of the majority of Northerners stuck in IDP camps. The children learn and perform traditional Acholi dances and learn the songs and instruments, and drums of their past. Elders and respected community members serve as mentors and instructors in this incredibly vital program for the community. It is a place of life, which anyone can witness on a Sunday afternoon, as the children perform their dances in the front yard of the HEALS center. Their dancing was recently captured by a photographer for Reuters and was circulated around Worldwide media outlets, becoming a “top ten photo of the week” most seen worldwide.

The funding for this dynamic program has been funded mostly by Jolly’s salary and random donations from visitors. It needs a consistent means of income. The idea to start an income generating restaurant has been ongoing idea for over a year. Led by Jolly and Katie Bradel, a San Diegan that has lived in Gulu for three years, together the two rented a great space in the middle of town. Now back in California, Katie is working on raising funds while I am going to spend the next year opening and running a coffe and tea house. As the first income-generating business of its kind in Gulu, it will be an interesting project that I am so excited to take on. It will combine a lot of my interests and past experiences, and allow a lot of creative freedom to design it. The intention is to serve great food and drink- fair-trade coffee and tea from East Africa. As well, this café will serve as the only venue that encourages creativity and supports local artists. Artwork will adorn the walls from the many talented but unacknowledged artists in the area. Local musicians will be encouraged to perform as well. It will be a place for locals and Westerners to come together. A relaxing “third place” that will give everyone an oasis from the harshness and chaos of life outside. It will equally give the foreign NGO workers the chance to be reminded of what quality service and atmosphere feels like. And for the locals, I am hoping that it will serve as cafés historically have in many societies. A place to share new ideas, to exchange thoughts and move from “survival” mode towards social progress, creativity and revolution.

It will also be the future goal to add wireless internet, which is accessible but expensive, to further bring in business. The café is to be called Kope, which means “no worries” in Lwo. If all goes well, Kope Café is scheduled to open in November. I will much more consistently be writing about the process of opening up this café. It will be a true challenge, but much like the Lorry plowing past obstacles, I am focused on the end goal. Stay tuned.