Young people promote development

Travelling with MS is always an exchange of cultures. Photo: Anette Nielsen.

IN 2003-2004, MS brought together five organizations from Uganda for a series of workshops about new ways and possibilities in youth work. The meetings resulted in the Youth Co-operation Program (YCP) and in five work camps in 2004 in Uganda and southern Sudan with participants from several countries, among them Uganda, Sudan, and Kenya.

The camps revolve around a 2-3 week stay, where young people work together with a local community on a specific task and theme. The purpose was both to get the local community involved in information work, and to strengthen the capacity of the organizations in the long term.

"I am thirsty, but I must travel 2 kilometers on a broken-down
bike, fill 2 jars at a water hole, ride back with 30 liters of water
and boil it over an open fire before it’s drinkable! I guess I’m not
thirsty anyway."
Palle Larsen, participant in a work camp on sports,
health work, and sanitary conditions.

As a new addition, every work camp contained activities that trained the participants in making information campaigns and to improve sanitary conditions and the environment in the local communities.

Mime show about diarrhea

The practical work was followed up by information to the local population. But how to inform, when some of them only speak Luganda, one of many languages in Uganda? One could try using gesticulation and sign language, but this would perhaps not be the best way to convey a message in a short time.

Instead, some of the participants performed a small mime show at several locations in the village. The spectators laughed loudly when Mr. Abu pretended to be peeing in the water hole, and when Mr. Nilson pretended to be doing a bit more than that. However, everything quieted down when the rest of the group came down with serious diarrhea from drinking the water.

The more you give, the more you are given. Photo: Anette Nielsen.

Peace and conflict resolution

In all the work camps, the participants experimented with methods to involve young people in themes such as hiv/aids, health, ethnicity, and gender.

Sports became the means to involve the young people in discussions on sanitary conditions in Bukomero Village outside of Kampala. In Masindi, theater got the discussion on hiv and aids going; in Teso, music, dance, and song motivated the young people and the refugees in Soroti to the extent that it became possible afterwards to put peace and conflict resolution on the agenda.

Another important aspect of the YCP project has been to create a network among the five youth organizations that enables them to learn about, and from each other.