Pushing Things Forward

Thursday ended up being a fitting metaphor for the work we have been trying to accomplish in Uganda over the past three years.

In addition to Monday’s plea bargaining session and additional meetings, the primary purpose of this trip was to travel to three of the five Remand Homes in Uganda in order to (i) perform an assessment of the status and needs of the Remand Homes, and (ii) mobilize the relevant constituents for an expansion of the J-FASTER program we established for the Naguru Remand Home in Kampala.  David Nary has done a spectacular job of keeping the ball rolling (and developing further momentum) for J-FASTER, so we have all the pieces in place.

For this Remand Home tour, David put together a crack team.  Joining David and me are Sarah from the Court (Sarah has been working with us on J-FASTER since the beginning), Brian from the prosecutor’s office, Joshua from the Uganda Christian Lawyer’s Fraternity, Kirby Tyler from Sixty Feet (who have heroically funded J-FASTER from the beginning), and David’s driver Daniel.  Since the seven of us couldn’t fit in Daniel’s court car, Daniel secured a court van for our road trip.

Our first destination was to be Mbale in Eastern Uganda.  Our plan was to leave Kampala at 6:30 a.m. so we could make our meeting with the Resident High Court Judge at 11:00, before visiting the Remand Home.  It is often said that when men plan, God laughs.  If this is true, then God ripped his britches in a fit of hilarity at our expense.  I think he is still giggling.

When Daniel arrived to pick up the van in the morning, it was locked up.  The dude with key was apparently still feasting on his morning posho and matoke.  Thirty minutes later, Daniel was rolling.  Another thirty minutes later, we were all rolling.  Literally.

Just as we crested a hill on the east side of town, the gas gauge light came on warning us that we would soon be out of fuel.  And then we were out of fuel.  The customary delay between warning and empty was vaporous.  The engine coughed, sputtered, then went on strike.  Being the experienced driver he is, Daniel avoided the brake like it had malaria, eased onto the shoulder, and began pummeling the horn like he was boda driver who had caught a thief.  All of us scanned the horizon like it was our job, looking for a Shell, Total, or other purveyor of what we needed, and needed badly.  Diddly squat.

What we did see, however, was a gentle down slope for the next kilometer or so.  Chants of “I think I can, I think I can” echoed through my head.  Horn blaring, eyes scanning, breath holding, leaning forward for what seemed like minutes.  “Thar she blows!”  Up on our left, which in Uganda is the side we need, a City Oil station came into view . . . just after the road sloped back up.  We celebrated anyway.

As we hit the bottom of the hill and started to climb, our momentum abandoned us.  The uphill orientation of the van, however, shifted the remaining fumes to at least one of the spark plugs, which fired all it had for the cause, giving us three seconds of acceleration before retreating to its impotence.  It was just enough.  High fives all around.

We had a four-hour drive ahead of us, so we filled one tank . . . and emptied the others (if you know what I mean and I think you do).

“Everyone ready,” Daniel finally asked.

“Ready,” came the unison reply.

Click.  Click.  Click, said the starter when Daniel turned the key.

“Umm, is that a bad sign?” I (the highly trained and keenly perceptive mechanic) quizzically inquired.

Daniel showed remarkable restraint by not throat punching me then and there.  “I must check the engine,” came his calm reply.

Great, I’ll help.  Umm, where is the engine?

Under the front passenger seat, where David was sitting.  That’s a new one.  Like a Ninja, Daniel had the patient opened up and into surgery before I could even get out of my seat in the second row to lend my expertise to the examination.  Fortunately for everyone, my egress was completely blocked by Daniel’s labors.

Checking the Engine

Dr. Daniel quickly diagnosed the problem, closed the patient, and issued his prescription.  “We must push it to start.”

Excellent!  David and I got out – him at the back and me at the open sliding door.  And Kirby got out – a camera.  This was a hallmark moment.

Pushing Things Forward

We recruited several onlookers who must have been members of the Ugandan bobsled team because we had that sucker rolling pretty quickly even on the slight incline.  When Daniel popped the clutch, the car simultaneously roared to life and halted its forward progress.  Simple laws of physics obeyed the Grand Design, the obviousness of which had heretofore eluded me.  When the car’s forward momentum abated, the well-greased sliding door glided along its tracks like a Ugandan bobsled on Siberian ice . . . toward my goofily grinning jack-o-lantern.  Only my cat-like quickness (and my meaty shoulder) averted otherwise certain catastrophe.  Good thing I own the P90X DVDs, or I really could have gotten hurt.  Had I actually taken the DVDs out of the individual wrappers, I might have actually damaged the door.

For the rest of day, every time we stopped, Daniel parked on a downslope if one could be found.  And from the third time forward, I remembered to watch out for the door when Daniel popped the clutch.  On occasion, we had help pushing things forward from locals, and at times we simply had a cheering section as they watched the mzungus wearing the funny clothes push the car.

The rest of the trip could not have gone better.  We made it to the meeting with the judge on time, and he couldn’t have been more receptive.  He was well aware of the J-FASTER program – Chief Justice Odoki had given a report at the recently concluded judicial conference and encouraged its widespread adoption – and was kind with his words of gratitude and encouragement.  Since we had all the players in the meeting – the judge, his registrar, the prosecutor’s office, the defense lawyers, the donor organization funding the enterprise, and the logistical managers of J-FASTER (David and Sarah) – we developed an aggressive time schedule to get the 40 kids currently held on remand awaiting trial (20 capital and 20 non-capital cases) in the Mbale Remand Home.

When Shane Michael and I designed J-FASTER, we thought we were being ambitious in setting up the four-phase process to take place over a three-month period.  With the encouragement of the Resident Judge, we adopted a three-week time table for this session.  I am under no illusions that this time frame will hold, but I am heartened that the Ugandans are not only not resisting this new structure for juvenile justice, but are embracing it enthusiastically.

After a quick lunch, and a quick push start, we drove out to the Mbale Remand Home.  During my three years of involvement with incarcerated juveniles in Uganda, I have only previously visited two of the five Remand Homes.  My first experience was with Ihungu in Masindi, where I met Henry.  Conditions were deplorable there.  My second experience (and now most extensive) has been with Naguru in Kampala, which is a definite step up and at least livable.

The Mbale Remand Home was actually fairly nice.  The grounds are well manicured, the buildings are clean, and conditions are more than adequate for the children.  The staff was professional and seemed genuinely compassionate.  In fact, one member of the staff was recently transferred from Naguru, so he has been through J-FASTER with us and is an enthusiastic supporter.  The new warden there is professional, competent, and pleasant.  At the current time, there are 40 boys and no girls on remand, awaiting trial.

The Tally

Twenty are charged with capital offenses, and twenty are charged with petty offenses.  All forty of these boys now have lawyers, provided by the UCLF.  We took pictures of the boys, verified all the vital information, and worked with the staff to prepare a budget for the upcoming session.

David Interviewing Juveniles

Once again, this meeting could not have gone better.  While the drive home was long, it was quite satisfying.  The satisfaction level climbed two notches when we decided to end the day with a meal at Newab, my favorite Indian restaurant in Kampala.  The goat chops were positively delightful.

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As I was relaying the events of the day to my saintly and sage wife Joline last night, she observed that today’s events encapsulated our experiences in Uganda.  We started out driving the car – making things happen ourselves.  We have now progressed to a point where we are filling the car with fuel and accompanying the Ugandans as they drive.  We occasionally need to get out and push things forward to kick start the engine again, but they are now driving.  We are working toward a day when we will simply be standing to the side and cheering them on.