The Pennsylvania State University
The Graduate School
Department of Learning and Performance Systems
MEANING, USES, AND OUTCOMES OF ADULT LITERACY IN A FUNCTIONAL
ADULT LITERACY PROGRAM IN UGANDA
A Dissertation in
Lifelong Learning and Adult Education
by
Anne Odele
© 2018Anne Odele
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
December, 2018 ii
The dissertation of Anne Odele was reviewed and approved* by the following:
Esther Prins Professor of Education Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee
Kimberly Powell Associate Professor of Education (Language, Culture & Society), Art Education, and Asian Studies
Carolyn Sachs Professor Emeritus of Rural Sociology and Women's Studies
Alicia Decker Associate Professor of Women's Studies and African Studies
Susan Land Head of Graduate Program
*Signatures are on file in the Graduate School
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ABSTRACT
This ethnographically informed study explored how 32 former participants in the
Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) Program in rural Uganda used learning from the program in their daily lives, the perceived outcomes of applying the practices learned in the program, and the meanings that literacy held for participants. Learning domains included literacy practices
(reading, writing, and numeracy) and livelihood practices (e.g., agriculture, hygiene and sanitation, income generation, savings and credit). The theoretical framework drew on New
Literacy Studies (NLS) and a critical literacy view of literacy as well as a feminist food justice perspective. These lenses allowed an exploration of various literacies and livelihoods and their significance, and the sociocultural environment that influenced both how adults applied literacy and livelihood practices, as well as the outcomes of applying these practices.
The ethnographically informed study (conducted March–August, 2017) included the following data sources: participant observation of trading at the local markets, choristers at a
Catholic mass, village savings and credit association meetings, and farming activities, among others; 23 interviews with 10 focal participants, literacy participants’ associates (spouse or child, n=10), and local community leaders (n=3); four focus groups with literacy participants; and analysis of official documents and literacy artifacts. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
This study presents a longitudinal perspective of participants’ literacy and livelihood practices over 12 years since the literacy class ended. Literacy practices included various forms of reading (e.g., personal, shared, family records), writing (e.g., contracts, notes during trainings, biblical references, signing names, records of debtors), numeracy (e.g., calculating monetary iv equivalents for goods sold and change during financial transactions, helping children with homework), and speaking English (e.g., to visitors at social functions in the community and when travelling). Participants applied what they learned in the program to livelihood practices including agriculture, environmental conservation, income generation, hygiene and sanitation, care of the family, spiritual growth, and collective savings groups.
The findings indicate that to be more meaningful for poor populations, adult literacy programs must be rooted in people’s social realities. First, participants applied literacy learning selectively based on what they considered beneficial for its functional or instrumental value (e.g., when trading, helping children with homework), economic capital (e.g., from formal jobs and leadership positions in the community), cultural value (self-esteem, confidence, familial relationships, social manners, and social networks), and symbolic capital (in the power to convert economic and cultural capital into material resources and social authority).
Participants contested the hegemonic influence of the Western sponsor, who determined the terms and conditions of operation for the savings and credit association, by establishing a parallel flexible savings and credit system, a social safety net that responded to their needs. This mechanism required no interest, provided instant access to credit with flexible loan re-payment terms, and required no pass books. Similarly, adherence to Christian teaching was challenged when participants sought recourse in traditional healers. Such experiences depict the fluidity of spirituality and melding of traditional and Christian practices.
Participants also resisted some literacy learning considered culturally inappropriate such as making compost manure and using a raised drying rack. These technologies were labor intensive or too expensive. Participants appropriated literacy artifacts (including pit latrines, v granaries, bathing shelters, and plate racks) to denote enlightenment, deriving prestige from the existence of these structures in their homes.
The benefits of participants’ new livelihood practices were mutually reinforcing and included diversified sources of income from selling agricultural produce; value-added processes such as selling peanut butter and other products; and from the collective savings and loan scheme. Participants also sold livestock and related products (e.g., eggs) and hired out oxen for animal traction. The application of literacy learning further led to increased food security and improved health, self-confidence, and family relations.
Second, although the local context determined certain meanings and forms that literacy took (Brandt & Clinton, 2001), participants were nonetheless attracted to particular mechanics of reading and writing. For instance, participants had specific interest in particular literacies: signing names, financial literacy, religious literacy, reading dates, and reading texts such as public notices or official and personal letters. This particularity suggests that literacy itself may be a commodity demanded for its intrinsic value.
Participants defined literacy beyond the mechanics of reading and writing to include the capacity to apply knowledge to improve their lives. This perception of literacy shaped the participants’ identities wherein the ability to translate literacy learning for one’s benefit was synonymous with being educated. As such, participants had their own definition of progress in literacy learning.
Third, with their perceived identities, participants’ access to resources including material, human and training shaped their application of literacy and livelihood practices, to realize instrumental, economic, cultural, and symbolic capital. vi
This research project contributes to scholarship on adult literacy education by demonstrating how the significance of literacy learning is linked to participants’ livelihoods and how literacy is used to manage spousal relationships. It also offers a cultural perspective of literacy in relation to the identities participants developed. The study adds to literature on longitudinal adult literacy by providing a nuanced view of hegemonic influences on local communities and the tension between cultural knowledge and Western knowledge about farming practices, health management, and local social safety nets.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ...... xi LIST OF FIGURES ...... xii LIST OF ACRONYMS ...... xiii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... xv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1 The Awakening ...... 1 Problem and Purpose Statement ...... 4 Study Focus and Research Questions ...... 5 Significance...... 9 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 10 Theoretical Perspectives on Adult Literacy: The New Literacy Studies ...... 10 Critical Literacy ...... 16 Defining Literacy ...... 18 Uses of Literacy ...... 20 Longitudinal Studies on Adult Literacy ...... 21 Feminist Food Justice Perspective ...... 23 CHAPTER 3 METHODS ...... 26 Ethnography and Critical Realism ...... 26 Critical Realism ...... 28 Ethnography in the Compressed Time Mode ...... 29 Research Setting...... 30 International Development...... 30 The Growth Puzzle ...... 32 The “Culture Matters” View ...... 33 Global Imperialism ...... 35 Global Neo-colonialism of Power ...... 35 African Ideology and Consciousness ...... 41 Adult Education and Literacy ...... 42 African Adult Education for Social Development ...... 42 Uganda and the Teso Region ...... 43 Agricultural Sector and Policy ...... 45 Neo-liberal Reforms and Women ...... 47 Gender ...... 48 Gender Needs ...... 49 Women, Politics and Business in Uganda ...... 49 Community Development ...... 50 Historical Background of Teso ...... 51 Current Situation ...... 53 Food Security Situation...... 54 Health Indicators ...... 55 Adult Education Provision in Uganda ...... 56 viii
Research Site ...... 58 Amuge Sub-County ...... 58 Kelim Village ...... 61 SOCADIDO’s Functional Adult Literacy Program (FAL) ...... 64 Sample Selection ...... 67 Unit of Analysis and Units of Observation ...... 71 Data Collection Procedures ...... 72 Focus Group Discussions ...... 72 Interviews with Focal Participants ...... 79 Interviews with Associates ...... 81 Participant Observation ...... 82 Artifacts...... 85 Fieldnotes ...... 86 Researcher Journal ...... 87 Data Analysis ...... 87 Preparation of Transcripts ...... 87 Applying the New Literacy Studies (NLS) Perspective ...... 88 Applying a Thematic Analysis...... 88 Applying a Feminist Food Justice Lens ...... 89 Data Quality and Trustworthiness ...... 90 Reflexivity...... 91 Limitations of the Study...... 96 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS: LITERACY PRACTICES ...... 100 Reading ...... 101 Personal Reading ...... 102 Shared Reading ...... 117 School-Related Literacy Practices ...... 139 Family Records ...... 148 Writing ...... 151 Signing Names ...... 151 Writing Notes during Trainings ...... 152 Using Mobile Phones ...... 154 Numeracy ...... 154 Financial Records...... 154 Calculation and Counting Money ...... 155 Kitu’s Numeracy Abilities ...... 158 Speaking English ...... 159 Chapter Summary ...... 160 CHAPTER 5 FINDINGS: LIVELIHOOD PRACTICES...... 162 Background ...... 162 The Dilemma of the Drought ...... 162 Synergy of Community Development Initiatives ...... 164 Support of Family Members ...... 166 Snapshot of the 2005 Evaluation ...... 167 Agriculture ...... 174 Crop Growing ...... 174 ix
Agronomic Practices ...... 177 Animal Husbandry ...... 189 Environment Conservation ...... 193 Income Generation ...... 196 Hygiene and Sanitation ...... 200 Plate Racks ...... 201 Hand-washing Facility ...... 202 Bathing Shelters ...... 203 Pit Latrines ...... 205 Cleaning the Home ...... 206 Care of the Family ...... 211 Cooking ...... 212 Family Unity ...... 212 Changes in the Household ...... 214 Behavioral Change ...... 216 Spiritual Growth...... 217 Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) ...... 221 Practices Learned but not Adopted ...... 222 Participants’ Perceptions about Educated People ...... 223 Orderliness and Livelihoods ...... 224 Knowledgeable and Development-Oriented ...... 225 Articulate...... 226 Open to Learning ...... 227 Hygienic ...... 228 Perseverance and Hope ...... 228 Responsible ...... 229 Sociable ...... 230 Chapter Summary ...... 232 CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ...... 234 Global Imperialism ...... 237 Sponsors ...... 237 Written Agreements ...... 238 Agriculture ...... 239 Christianity ...... 239 Formal Education ...... 240 Health ...... 240 Civic Records ...... 241 Livelihood Practices...... 241 Cultural Knowledge Confronts Western Knowledge ...... 241 Improved Lives—Appropriating Literacy ...... 242 Implications...... 242 Implications for Research ...... 242 Implications for Practice ...... 246 Implications for Policy ...... 249 Conclusion ...... 251 x
APPENDIX A: Guiding Questions for Focus Group Discussions ...... 252 APPENDIX B: Focus Group Discussion Using the REFLECT Approach ...... 254 APPENDIX C: Primary Participant’s Semi-Structured Interview Questions ...... 258 APPENDIX D: Secondary Participants: Spouse/friend’s Semi-Structured Interview Questions...... 260 APPENDIX E: Secondary Participants: Local Community Leader’s Semi Structured Interview Questions ...... 261 REFERENCES ...... 262
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Declining Livelihoods...... 53 Table 2 Food insecurity in Uganda and Teso region, January 2017 ...... 55 Table 3 Literacy rates in Uganda in selected years ...... 58 Table 4 Profiles of Focal Participants ...... 80 Table 5 FAL program participants involved in different livelihood practices (2005) ...... 168 xii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Map of Uganda with Districts ...... 44 Figure 2. Ranking and mapping exercise with a focus group in the chapel under construction .. 76 Figure 3. Open fecal disposal...... 104 Figure 4. Records of savings in a passbook ...... 107 Figure 5. Passbooks of different VSLAs ...... 108 Figure 6. Receipts for different payments ...... 110 Figure 7. Receipts of different payments ...... 110 Figure 8. Receipts for money paid to fake organizations ...... 112 Figure 9. Constitution for Women’s group ...... 114 Figure 10. Official letter ...... 114 Figure 11. Agreement for purchase of land ...... 119 Figure 12. Agreement for payment of a financial debt ...... 119 Figure 13. Agreement of payment of dowry ...... 125 Figure 14. Witnesses sign the marriage agreement ...... 126 Figure 15. Pages from the Psalms in the Ateso Bible ...... 128 Figure 16. Nomination form to candidacy for local council elections ...... 135 Figure 17. Nomination form: Oath statement ...... 136 Figure 18. Introductory letter for deceased’s benefits ...... 137 Figure 19. Exercise book-math of lower grade ...... 144 Figure 20. School text book ...... 145 Figure 21. Marita's training notes on farming ...... 153
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LIST OF ACRONYMS
CCR Catholic Charismatic Renewal CSO Civil Society Organizations DRC Democratic Republic of Congo EFA Education for All FAL Functional Adult Literacy FGD Focus Group Discussion GDP Gross Domestic Product HIPC Heavily Indebted Poor Countries IDP Internally Displaced Person(s) IMF International Monetary Fund IRB Institutional Review Board LC Local Council LRA Lord’s Resistance Army MGLSD Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development NAADS National Agriculture Advisory Services NALSIP National Adult Literacy Strategic Investment Plan NGO Non-Governmental Organization NLS New Literacy Studies NRM National Resistance Movement PAG Pentecostal Assemblies of God PEAP Poverty Eradication Action Plan PLWA Persons Living with Aids PMA Plan for the Modernization of Agriculture PWD Persons with Disabilities REFLECT Regenerated Freirean Literacy Through Empowering Community Techniques SAP Structural Adjustment Policies xiv
SIDEP SOCADIDO Integrated Development Program SOCADIDO Soroti Catholic Diocese Integrated Development Organization TIP Teso Initiative for Peace UBOS Uganda Bureau of Standards UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization UN United Nations UPE Universal Primary Education VSLA Village Savings and Loan Association WB World Bank YMCA Young Men’s Christian Association xv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to many people who supported me during my doctoral degree program. I will ever be so grateful to God for bringing them across my path just then.
The participants in my study: Thank you for trusting me with your stories and allowing me to continue learning with you. For me, those moments will always be memorable. Without your openness and generosity, this research would not have been possible.
The dissertation committee: Dr. Prins, Dr. Powell, Dr. Sachs, and Dr. Decker. I sincerely appreciate your guidance, keen insights, and support. I thank you for investing your time in me.
My friends: Edith, Patty, Brendaly, Sylvia, Dana, Joann, Carmen, and Fred, thank you for the encouragement, guidance and counsel, and other forms of support that you generously rendered.
Rebecca, Anica, George, and Grace, thank you for everything you did for me.
My family: thank you for pushing me to the end. Toto and papa, thank you for believing in me. Isaac, Winnie, and Aunt Stella, you always went an extra mile for me; I am so grateful.
Joseph, Deo, Tina, and Francis, thank you for holding out so long. May you all be blessed.
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
The Awakening
It was at the end of a brutal civil war in the northeastern part of Uganda that I went back to my hometown to teach at a high school. I had just graduated from the only university in the country at the time. The high school, located in Soroti town, was a camp for Internally Displaced
People (IDP), people displaced from their homes by the war. The IDPs, as they were called, slept in the classrooms and in the open compound at night. At daybreak they were required to vacate the premises. As I reported to school in the morning, I often met the last groups (usually in families) leaving with little bundles of their only belongings. They hung around anywhere around the small town, then returned to their new abodes in the evening. Students lived with family or relatives or rented shanty rooms in the slums, while others walked long distances to school to get an education. Many did not have a meal until they returned home in the evening, and certainly this showed in their poorly nourished bodies. Quite often students were sick and barely got treatment. They struggled to find stationery to take notes. Hardly any research was possible because the school library had only a couple of shelves of encyclopedias donated in the
1970s. For students, textbooks were a luxury they could not afford, so they relied entirely on the lessons in class and the teacher’s notes. All of this affected the students’ learning.
It troubled me that students were caught up in an intricate web of challenges that jeopardized their academic performance or even resulted in dropout from school. I always thought: How could families support their children’s education better? How could families provide for their children in these difficult times? 2
In the meantime, my curiosity about the activities of a Catholic women development group at my parish church led me to join a group of mainly middle-aged women. I was soon appointed secretary to help produce “good” minutes as required by the sponsor, Soroti Catholic
Diocese Integrated Development Organization (SOCADIDO), which had initiated women’s groups all over the diocese. After a couple of months, I reluctantly took up a job with
SOCADIDO as adult literacy coordinator. My reluctance was occasioned by the skepticism I had about the real value of literacy to the intended participants: teaching women (mothers, peasants, small-scale alcohol sellers—at least this is what most women did to eke out a living) to read and write so that they might write letters, write shopping lists, keep records of their business, read sign boards, write minutes of meetings, and so on.
I began researching adult literacy education to understand the field. When I came across
Lalage Bown’s (1990) Preparing the future: Women, literacy and development, I was convinced that this model of adult literacy was relevant to my context. I then began to question the basis for certain uses of literacy among the poor women participants (e.g., writing shopping lists, keeping records of business, taking notes at meetings). During the subsequent needs assessment surveys,
I asked prospective functional adult literacy (FAL) program participants why they desired to participate in adult literacy classes. When they mentioned reasons such as “to keep records of the money I receive” or “to write shopping lists,” I challenged them about how important these practices really were to them, because in my view, they had learned to manage without these activities.
However, the most unsettling for me in different groups was the response, “So that I can also go to Makerere (the prestigious public university in Uganda)!” Even though I knew that I would dampen their spirits (and perhaps lose some of the prospective participants), I demystified 3 the FAL program, pointing out realistically what it might enable participants to do and to become. These were some of the early twists and turns in relating with participants.
Based on the needs assessment survey, I designed and implemented a functional adult literacy program that for 14 years was, for me, a learning project. I was completely immersed into the FAL program, running regular trainings for the FAL facilitators and participating in the national adult literacy forum. I still have vivid memories of riding a motor bike through villages in the Teso sub-region, providing support supervision at the FAL classes, including monitoring
FAL activities at participants’ homes. Over time, I developed personal relationships with facilitators and participants in the FAL program. Assessments revealed positive effects of the
FAL program on participants’ lives (see SOCADIDO, 2005a, 2005b). These results reflected improvements in hygiene and sanitation, food stocks, nutrition, income, and interpersonal relations. This was pleasing to me because I thought, “Perhaps I was engaged in helping households improve their capacities to meet their domestic demands.”
In spite of these achievements of the program, I kept wondering how much of the gains could persist over time. My skepticism about adult literacy carried through to this point as I wondered how real was all that was presented by the participants? Given that beneficiaries often say what evaluators want to hear, I was doubtful about the adoption of prescribed practices.
Could they have acted out to please the program sponsors? What happens after literacy classes end? I was curious about the aftermath of FAL programs. What literacy learning endures among
FAL participants, and why? What are the outcomes of literacy learning several years after FAL classes end?
Literature on longitudinal studies of adult literacy programs is limited. This lacuna in knowledge could inform functional adult literacy programming. Policy makers and practitioners 4 alike should ask themselves: How do adult literacy programs help to address social issues affecting participants, and how do participants continue to use literacy in their daily lives?
Problem and Purpose Statement
There is a dearth of longitudinal, qualitative research on international adult literacy programs (exceptions include Bartlett, 2007a, 2007b, 2008, 2010; Maddox, 2005, 2007, 2008;
Prins, 2010, 2011). Specifically, not much is known about how adult literacy participants apply literacy learning in their lives several years after the closure of literacy classes (Walter, 1999), and yet adult literacy is significant in enhancing individual capacities through knowledge and skills development (St. Clair, 2010). Critical here is the need to understand the outcomes of literacy learning, how adults value literacy learning, and what enables or hinders the application of this learning in specific contexts. With 60% of Africa’s population considered illiterate
(UNESCO, 2017), it is more urgent to enable this population to lead more productive and dignified lives in their social settings. Longitudinal studies of functional adult literacy programs are crucial because they provide a “closer and longer view of learning provision from the learners’ perspective” and help elucidate the “incremental benefits and gains in people’s lives”
(Appleby & Barton, 2008, p. 361).
This study draws upon the ideological or sociocultural conceptualization of literacy as a social practice, contrary to the autonomous view of literacy as a decontextualized technical skill with predetermined cultural effects (Street, 1984). Within the sociocultural approach, I employ the New Literacy Studies (NLS) and critical literacy perspectives to analyze my findings. NLS emphasizes “what people do with literacy, the meanings they attribute to it, the social relationships and cultural practices connected to literacy practices, and the ways in which social structures and power relationships shape [literacy] participation and the uses of literacy” (Prins, 5
2010, p. 419). On the other hand, critical literacy emphasizes power and empowerment (Freire,
2000), as well as agency and identity (Bartlett, 2010; Perry, 2012). Functional adult literacy programs aim to link the application of skills acquired through literacy to economic development
(Ouane, 1992). In this study, functional adult literacy encompasses livelihoods, hygiene and sanitation, and care-work, vital for a family’s sustenance. I apply the feminist food justice framework (Sachs & Patel-Campillo, 2014) to analyze structural inequalities that shape the livelihood practices. These lenses permit an exploration of various literacies, the different ways that people apply the literacy learning in their lives, and the related consequences, as well as the socioeconomic and political factors influencing the use of literacy learning.
Longitudinal studies on adult literacy programs show that there were social benefits including increased confidence and learning respectful and appropriate conduct (Bartlett, 2007a;
Prins, 2010), and minimal economic gains (Maddox, 2008; Prins, 2010), with outcomes influenced by complicated relationships and by participants’ perceptions of being educated
(Bartlett, 2007b). As such, literacy has no predetermined effects, but literacy outcomes are a result of particular cultural factors (Bartlett, 2008). Therefore, a sociocultural understanding of the outcomes of literacy application is necessary to develop a broader perspective of literacy.
Study Focus and Research Questions
In this ethnographically informed study, I explored how 32 former participants of the
Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) program in Soroti, Uganda applied literacy learning from the program in their daily lives after the program ended. I employ a sociocultural perspective, and specifically a New Literacy Studies (NLS) (Barton, Hamilton, & Ivanič, 2000; Street, 1984) and a critical literacy lens (Freire; 2000; Lankshear, 1994) to explore participants’ literacy practices.
As an analytical tool, NLS enables the recognition and categorization of different literacy and 6 livelihood practices among the study participants. “Literacy practices” and “livelihood practices” are means by which the variations in the uses and meanings of literacy in specific contexts may be understood, as opposed to regarding literacy as a decontextualized set of functional skills
(Belfiore, Defoe, Folinsbee, Hunter & Jackson, 2004, p. 1). Literacy practices are therefore embedded in social and political institutions and in sociocultural activities. The outcomes or consequences here are understood as the results or effects over time of applying the literacy and livelihood practices. In this study, livelihood practices includes those not previously acknowledged, or practices not embraced by participants for reasons not explicated in the literature. In so doing, the study valorizes participant’s views, rendering a platform to present counter-stories that challenge meta-narratives regarding the value of literacy learning, including literacy as a means to acquire higher education and jobs.
I also use the feminist food justice approach to analyze participants’ livelihood practices.
The feminist food justice lens exposes how policies in agriculture, environment, health, local governance, education, trade and related social structures (Sachs & Patel-Campillo, 2014) may influence livelihoods, health, and the psychosocial and social outcomes of literacy learning.
My research questions are:(1) How do former literacy participants use the learning from the FAL program in the domains of (a) reading, writing, and numeracy and (b) their daily livelihoods, and why? (2) What are the perceived outcomes of applying these practices? (3)
What meanings does literacy hold for the participants?
Methods I used ethnography in a compressed time mode to conduct research in a rural village in northeastern Uganda (Jeffrey & Troman, 2004). Purposive sampling was used to select one case
(Stake, 1995), a former FAL class whose participants were involved in a variety of livelihood activities. Maximum variation sampling (Flyvbjerg, 2006) was used to constitute four focus 7 groups based on age, sex, dis/ability, marital status, wealth, and education status. Data included
23 interviews and 184 hours of observation. I used NLS and feminist food justice perspectives as my interpretive and analytic strategies. NLS was apt for identifying literacy events and related social practices and what they meant to participants. NLS was also suited for understanding the power dynamics in different literacy practices. The feminist food justice approach revealed how different policies shaped the participants’ application of livelihood practices.
Findings
I argue that participants applied literacy and livelihood practices for their instrumental
(functional), economic, cultural, or symbolic value. These gains were often intertwined and supportive of each other. Literacy learning was operationalized in literacy practices categorized as: personal reading, shared reading, family records, writing, and English; and in livelihood activities including agriculture, hygiene and sanitation, family life. Literacy learning enhanced food production and income generation capacities, as well as participants’ health and relationships. Participants applied recommended farming practices that fostered crop growing and livestock rearing, leading to improved yields. Business development skills boosted income- generating activities, enabling the payment for school, medical care, food, and clothing, as well as the village savings and loans association bills and investment in agriculture, among others.
Reading religious literature and engaging in personal and group prayer promoted Christianity.
Practicing virtues such as love, respect, unity, and hard work enhanced relations in families and helped participants develop self-confidence and social networks, which further encouraged the application of literacy learning. FAL conferred credentials that enabled participants to acquire jobs. Certification for completion of the FAL program earned participants jobs in local governance councils. Lastly, symbolic capital was derived from literacy artifacts such as pit 8 latrines, bathing shelters, plate racks, rubbish pits, and granaries, which were scripts that testified to participants’ literacy, and signaled social authority.
However, the realization of these benefits was contingent upon the availability of time, knowledge, and material resources. Development actors were instrumental in providing the much-needed resources. The findings show that pro-poor policies could enhance achievements of literacy learning. Participants selectively applied literacy learning; it was embraced, contested, resisted, and appropriated for different purposes. Literacy was used for protection, for instance, when travelling and in agreements and financial transactions. Literacy conferred status, and it was also used strategically to manage spousal relationships and win men over.
The study demonstrates how Western hegemonic forces in the village savings and loan associations (VSLAs), schooling, health, Christianity, and in agriculture shape people’s material and spiritual lives in remote, rural, Ugandan villages. For instance, the terms and conditions guiding the operation of the VSLAs were set by the donor and found wanting by the locals. The attaching of a parallel savings and loan account, which was culturally responsive to the people’s needs, in the above example, challenges the aptness of the VSLA structure. The study further shows how local knowledge confronts Western knowledge, by challenging the appropriateness of modern technologies like the raised drying rack and the use of compost manure. Besides, when hard-pressed with ill health, participants resorted to local traditional healers for respite.
This may demonstrate that there were limits to the perceived efficacy of western medicine and
Christian belief.
Participants defined literacy beyond the mechanics of reading and writing to include the capacity to apply knowledge to improve one’s life. This perception of literacy shaped the participants’ identities and arguably spurred the application of literacy learning. 9
Functional adult literacy programs must, therefore, be rooted in rural people’s social realities—more precisely, in their livelihoods—to be more meaningful. I further assert that while governments and international educational agencies consider numbers in defining success, my study shows that numbers may not count as much as the importance of the capabilities gained to participants. Turning the gaze to recognize the significance of capabilities gained by individual participants highlights the value of FAL programs. For the poor, capabilities gained from FAL programs may enable individuals to actively engage in community development.
Significance
The study contributes to adult literacy theory and practice in the following ways. First, it adds to the burgeoning literature on longitudinal adult literacy. Second, it highlights the importance of linking literacy learning with participants’ livelihoods, and it also emphasizes the need to support the application of literacy learning with necessary resources. Third, it offers a cultural definition of literacy as embracing the capacity to apply knowledge to transform one’s life. The study sought to explore how participants applied literacy learning in their lives and the related reasons for doing so. It also sought to examine the outcomes of applying literacy practices and the participants’ perceptions of literacy. This study was intended to inform more meaningful and relevant adult literacy programs. The findings are therefore relevant to policy makers, adult literacy educators, and researchers.
Overview
This dissertation is organized in six chapters. Chapter 2 provides a review of the literature and Chapter 3 discusses the research design. The next chapters present the findings on literacy practices (Chapter 4) and on livelihood practices and participants’ perceptions of literacy
(Chapter 5). Chapter 6 presents the discussion and conclusions. 10
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, I explore literature relevant to my study that inquires how former FAL participants apply literacy learning from the FAL program in their lives, why and with what outcomes. I also seek to find out how the FAL participants understand literacy. Accordingly, I discuss the New Literacy Studies (NLS) perspective and the feminist food justice lens that I used to analyze the data; I then explore existing longitudinal studies on the uses and outcomes of adult literacy education. Lastly, I review the key points and how they contribute to my theoretical framework.
Theoretical Perspectives on Adult Literacy: The New Literacy Studies
Theories of adult literacy education contest what literacy is, how policies and approaches should be designed, and what modes of assessment could be used. The current ideologies cluster around what Street (1984) termed the “autonomous” and “ideological” models of literacy, the latter of which is rooted in a sociocultural perspective of literacy. In this study, I employ the sociocultural and critical literacy lenses to analyze the data.
From a sociocultural perspective, literacy is a social practice rather than the acquisition of skills. Street (1984), a scholar in the New Literacy Studies—a strand within sociocultural literacy theories—was the first to juxtapose autonomous versus ideological models of literacy. In the autonomous model, literacy is conceptualized as a technology—a set of neutral, decontextualized skills that one either possesses or does not possess. One was therefore either literate or illiterate, with the illiterate considered deficient and, therefore, in need of a set of skills to acquire literate status. Proponents of this view (Goody & Watt, 1963; Goody, 1977; Olson, 1996; Ong, 1982) claimed that literacy had predetermined consequences for individual cognition and society. In 11 this view, “literacy allowed the emergence of a self-reflective, critical individual who can begin to cut himself loose from superstition, communal prejudice and parochial loyalties” (Fiedrich et al., 2003, p. 74), and leads to “progress,” “civilization,” “individual liberty and social mobility”
(Street, 1984, p. 2).
By contrast, the ideological model of literacy frames literacy as a set of social practices that exist in multiple forms and are influenced by cultural and power dynamics. The ideological model provides an analytical tool for exploring how former literacy participants apply literacy, including what people do with reading and writing, with whom, how and where, and how social, political, economic, and cultural factors constrain or enable those acts (e.g., Barton & Hamilton,
1998; Baynham, 1995; Hamilton, 2000; Hamilton, Barton, & Ivanic, 1994; Maybin, 1994;
Prinsloo & Breier, 1996; Street, 1990, 1993, 2005; Wagner, 1987). Unlike the autonomous model, NLS does not regard literacy as a quantifiable variable. NLS scholars raise questions about what kinds of literacy are used rather than whether a person is or is not literate.
NLS’s interdisciplinary approach, drawing on research from cognitive psychology, sociology, anthropology, education, and linguistics, lends a multifaceted understanding of literacy. NLS scholars recognize that literacy has no universal meaning because cultural contexts influence people’s understandings and uses of literacy. NLS scholars recognize that time and societal changes are constantly shaping the meaning, uses, and outcomes of literacy (Brandt,
2001; Collins & Blot, 2003; Heath, 1983; Street, 1993 in Bartlett, 2012). Neither is it assumed that literacy necessarily empowers or leads to (causes) economic or cognitive development or any other outcomes.
The NLS framework promotes the analysis of “literacy events,” or observable activities where literacy plays a role, and “literacy practices,” or context-specific ways that literacy is 12 used(Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Heath, 1983). Literacy events are observable, whereas literacy practices are only inferred because they connect to unobservable beliefs, values, attitudes, and power structures. Thus, the analysis of print and written texts may reveal important sociocultural factors influencing the application of literacy (Perry, 2012).
In NLS, the focus moves from “individual, discrete skills to reading and writing as cultural practices” (Prinsloo & Breier, 1996, p. 18; see also Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Barton &
Ivanic, 1991; Baynham, 1995; Belfiore et al., 2004; Street, 2001),acknowledging the collaboration characteristic of literacy tasks with its associated implications in different circumstances. For instance, relying on literacy mediators may not necessarily signal a positive, supportive literacy environment, but may be an unavoidable necessity to accomplish a given literacy task (Prins, 2010).
NLS scholars believe that reading and writing take on meanings through the processes in which they are taught to the learner (Kalman, 2005, p. 75; see Barton, Hamilton, & Ivanovic,
2000; Lewis et al., 2007; Papen, 2010 in Bartlett, 2012). NLS scholars reject the idea of analyzing literacy independent of the context in which it is used, because they assume that the meaning of literacy depends upon the social institution (e.g., schools, literacy programs) in which it is embedded (Gee, 1990; Heath, 1983; Street, 1984). Therefore, it must be recognized that participants’ learning is influenced by the sponsor’s values and the literacy curriculum.
Further, NLS has argued against claims that literacy acquisition per se inherently promotes economic development, pointing out instead that particular social and economic environments influence given literacy practices and outcomes. Notwithstanding this, Fiedrich et al. (2003) challenged some of the assumptions undergirding the manifest displays of “acquired” capabilities. Their study showed that participants may conform, resist, and appropriate literacy 13 and livelihood practices for various reasons. Recognizing the value that literacy program participants attach to literacy learning is therefore vital in understanding their actions (Ekundayo,
2002; Blaak, Openjuru & Zeelen (2013). Given practices may have symbolic, functional, or economic value.
However, the process of adoption and adaption of literacy learning is thus strewn with liberating and colonizing tendencies and is often messier than the notion of a linear adoption of skills that is usually portrayed. I situate my study in this context, seeking to understand the application and outcomes of adult literacy learning including the contradictions apparent in the application of these practices.
Accordingly, I ally with Smith (2012), who asserted that indigenous peoples recognize the knowledge of their environment as well as their capabilities to act as agents of their progress.
As such, some of the literacy learning may (or may not) be seen to have uses and outcomes as commonly understood. Given the inherent association of adult literacy with modernization, I see my study also as a way to challenge the often taken-for-granted imperial enterprise couched in
“development” language. In fact, Fiedrich et al. (2003) maintained that:
the expectation that women who join adult education quasi-automatically embark on a virtuous spiral of progress prevents us from recognizing how women use adult education strategically, expressing their own vision of progress as they go along….It is highly likely that learners—women or men—appropriate education in ways that appear awkward, perhaps even objectionable, to outsiders. (pp. 228-230)
Recognizing the various ways that participants use literacy learning may reveal what is important to them, which may not necessarily be acknowledged as such by program providers.
Furthermore, understanding participants’ uses of literacy learning may draw attention to the participants’ own perception of progress that may differ from the outsiders’ notion of development. This calls for cultural sensitivity in the implementation and assessment of 14 functional adult literacy programs. I therefore concur with Solórzano and Yosso (2002) who suggested that there is a need to decolonize [our] minds and develop a sense of authentic humanity by telling a counter-story of [our] experiences. In this regard, I am asking: What has the FAL program meant to the indigenous participants?
Literacy, Kalman (2005) asserted, can potentially empower underprivileged groups if educational programs are well planned in response to their situation. On the other hand,
Robinson-Pant (2004) advocated for the involvement of men (in this case, spouses), noting that the exclusion of men from adult literacy programs may pose a challenge in the adoption of new practices, such as family planning (Robinson-Pant & Mulukutla, 1998). The study seeks to find out how the FAL program responded to the participants’ needs and explore the influence of spouses in the adoption of new practices. I use Kalman’s (2005) typology of literacy uses to examine the application of literacy and livelihood practices in different domains (e.g., business, religion, agriculture, health, public offices, public events like the communal mass, home, travel, elections). Here I explore how the literacy practices are applied, seeking also to understand any deviations from the prescribed norms of usage and why this may be the case.
NLS encourages an openness in the analysis of outcomes of literacy use, recognizing that outcomes in given contexts may be beneficial or problematic (Aikman, 1999; Maddox, Aikman,
Rao, & Robinson-Pant, 2011; Radway, 1991; Rockhill, 1987). Thus, ideological approaches would ask questions such as: “What kind of literacy is being introduced?” “Why?” “How?” “To what effect?” This contrasts the parallel questions in the autonomous approach: “What impact did literacy have on X group or individual?” (Robinson-Pant, 2000a, p. 3). For heuristic purposes, the literature categorizes these consequences—seen as benefits—under several broad domains: livelihoods, personal life, relationships, education, health behaviors, self-esteem, and 15 psychosocial outcomes. St. Clair (2010) observed that consequences are unpredictable since literacy practices are applied at will, depending on the need, one’s capability, and environmental influences.
Fiedrich et al. (2003) were critical of the taken-for-granted effects of literacy education
(see also Aikman, 1999; Maddox, Aikman,& Robinson-Pant, 2011; Puchner, 2003; Radway,
1991; Robinson-Pant, 2000b; Rockhill, 1987). They also elucidate the often unrecognized ways that participants take hold of literacy to suit their own purposes.
Gee (1990) raised the need to consider literacy practices as involving not just reading and writing, but also “ways of talking, interacting, thinking, valuing and believing” (p. 43). Referring to “the aspirin bottle problem,” he argued that to effectively accomplish a specific task (reading the label), one needs to know about medication in general and also, importantly, the ideological and political issues regarding drug companies, social relations, and the structure of society. For example, the reader would need to know how and why certain medications are made and who can produce, market, and even consume certain products. Similarly, the FAL program explored social factors related to phenomena such as schooling, prevention and management of common diseases, environment conservation, farming practices, family life, and related topics discussed in the classes.
The sociocultural model of literacy also encourages that assumptions about what literacy is and how people adapt and adopt literacy practices (Kulick & Stroud, 1993) be revisited continuously. Studies of vernacular literacies (Ahearn, 2001; Barton & Hamilton, 1998) and “the creative adaptation of literacy practices to negotiate institutional demands and social relations” indicate that literacy is a product of “ongoing, complex sociocultural negotiations and as such, cannot be defined a priori (Bartlett, 2010, p. 6). NLS scholarship therefore challenges the 16 mainstream perception of literacy by acknowledging that literacy participants are not passive, but, rather, they join literacy programs with expectations, experiences, and personal values that shape what and how they learn.
Critical Literacy
Although the socio-cultural perspective of literacy recognizes power differentials in literacy practices, the critical literacy perspective foregrounds power and empowerment, as well as agency and identity (Perry, 2012). The most well-known critical literacy theorist, Paulo Freire, placed consciousness at the heart of literacy. Literacy meant that learners connected with the world through the word (print), understood the world, and with this understanding attempted to change their world (Freire, 2000). Thus, literacy was more than applying cognitive skills or mechanically reading text. “Literacy makes sense only in these terms, as the consequence of men’s [sic] beginning to reflect about their capacity for reflection, about the world, about their position in the world, about the encounter of consciousness” (p. 106).
Critical literacy aims to equip students with tools to identify and critique, analyze and assess texts for the values and ideologies they promote (Lankshear, 1994). The model is concerned with who accesses literacy skills, what it means to them, and how they use the skills.
However, some versions of this approach tend to construct literacy in deterministic terms, assuming that critical literacy instruction automatically leads to liberation and empowerment— similar to the autonomous model in which literacy purportedly causes economic development and other instrumental outcomes (Bartlett, 2010).
Bartlett (2012) problematized Freire’s critical literacy studies framework for “his theory of power, specifically the notion of knowledge, his understanding of teacher-student relationships, and his concepts of dialogue and conscientization” (p. 11). Accordingly, she 17 recommends the following in order to address the above limitations: (1) That researchers consider the types of literacy and types of literacy pedagogy being provided as well as the ideologies of literacy held by teachers and students, (2) that researchers make analysis of power relations represented in and conducted through literacy their central task, and (3) that practitioners abandon the philosophy of certitude and the “one right story” and instead adopt a practice of continuous scrutiny of their social analysis (Bartlett, 2010). This critique of Freirean pedagogy guides me in the analysis of the FAL pedagogy and its power dynamics.
Brandt (2001, 2009), another critical theorist, employs the notion of sponsorship to analyze the relationship between individual literacy development and large-scale economic forces. Sponsors are
Any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy—and gain advantage by it in some way …. Sponsors are a tangible reminder that literacy learning throughout history has always required permission, sanction, assistance, coercion, or, at minimum, contact with existing trade routes. (Brandt, 2001, p. 556)
Analysis of sponsorship may help distinguish literacy practices among social groups and show how different literacy practices operate in different “economies, which supply different access routes, different degrees of sponsoring power, and different scales of monetary worth to the practices in use” (p. 561). In Brandt’s analysis, literacy acts as a commodity—one that individuals and groups may appropriate, misappropriate, or even reject. Brandt criticizes NLS scholars for exaggerating the power of local contexts to determine the “meaning and forms that literacy takes” (Brandt & Clinton, 2002, p. 337) and argues for a restoration of the
“somethingness” of literacy in which literacy itself is a participant in literate events and practices, suggesting that it is precisely the technology of reading and writing that people may be attracted to. 18
Defining Literacy
The purpose of this research study is to describe how former FAL participants applied literacy learning in their everyday lives, the consequences of applying these skills, and the participants’ understanding of literacy. My study investigated how literacy is defined by participants and related this to the common view of literacy in the local community, as well as the policy definition of literacy in Uganda. The way that participants understand literacy may influence what they do with it (Rogers & Street, 2012). I wished to explore this relationship, particularly any tensions between the dominant view of literacy and how former FAL participants use and value literacy in their daily lives.
Drawing on the sociocultural perspective of literacy outlined above, this study explored how the participants applied literacy and livelihood practices in their everyday lives, that is, how they “take hold of” and use literacy for specific purposes (Kulick & Stroud, 1993; Robinson-
Pant, 2000b). I explored how participants perceived the effects of adopting and/or adapting particularly literacy and livelihood practices. My interest was to find out the extent to which the outcomes reflected the participants’ aspirations and explain any contradictions. In this study, an appreciation of literacy as implemented in the FAL program was crucial to understanding the apparent uses of literacy learning, the contextual influences on the adoption and adaption of literacy and livelihood practices, and the impact of applying literacy learning.
Following Rogers (2011), I define literacy as a “situated social practice that is not only influenced by local understandings and cultural norms of interaction but is also a product of ideology and power relations” (p. 562). In adopting this broad lens, I aver that literacy occurs among people (the social element) and in a cultural context that comprises a distinct set of social practices, including socioeconomic activities, language, beliefs, values(e.g., agriculture, selling 19 vegetables, managing a restaurant, helping children with school work, and participating in church), and so on. The forms and uses of literacy may vary across contexts, and literacy is not a discrete technical skill that one possesses or not (Basu, Maddox, & Robinson-Pant, 2008; Barton
& Hamilton, 1998).
Literacy is now widely seen as “beyond individual attributes” (Basu et al., 2008, p. 1), a set of activities and practices in which people (whether officially illiterate or literate) engage, using different strategies such as mediation. Such social practices vary from place to place and are changing. New literacy practices are springing up (for example, digital literacies). Literacy then is multiple—religious, commercial, school, academic, and so on. And literacy goes well beyond the encoding and decoding of letters and words; it is “multimodal and multimedial”
(Basu et al., 2008, p. 1). Rather, I think of literacy in the FAL program as situated competence, social practices that are specific to given contexts and that enable one to accomplish tasks that require a given level of awareness, and where reading and writing may or may not be required
Literacy practice requires more than the act of reading and writing, and may include aspects such as awareness, the art of expression (speaking, gestures, silence, etc.), and thinking, interacting, acting, valuing, and believing (Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Gee, 1990). Literacy may not be an individual activity, but rather a collaborative undertaking relying on mediators, peers, friends, or family members. I concur that literacy learning and practice are mediated by the social, economic, and political environments in which it is practiced. For instance, the choice and emphasis of themes taught such as defilement, domestic violence, alcoholism, and so on varied between literacy classes.
Deborah Brandt (2001) defined some terms that are useful in clarifying literacy-related concepts used in this study: 20
Literacy learning refers to specific occasions when people take on new
understandings or capacities. The FAL program was intended to promote literacy
learning.
Literacy development is the accumulating project of literacy learning. My study
investigates whether and how literacy development has taken place since the
conclusion of the classes.
Literacy opportunity refers to “people’s relationship to social and economic structures
that conditions chances for learning and development.” (pp. 6-7)
In using this frame, I also examine whether participants have literacy opportunities, or whether they are living in conditions where they have few occasions or resources to engage in literacy practices. Therefore, in this project, I asked participants to reflect on all three concepts: literacy learning during the project; literacy development during and after the project; and literacy opportunity after the project and in their current lives (that is, what opportunities they had to practice and benefit from literacy). A limitation with the NLS lens is that it does not explain how learning occurs, thus we may not understand from a psychological perspective the variation in learners’ literacy and livelihood abilities. In the next section, I will review longitudinal studies on adult literacy. Below I briefly review the significance of literacy to its users.
Uses of Literacy
I explore the different categorizations of literacy learning below. This study shows that functional, economic, and cultural capital were exploited by the participants to position themselves as educated people. Literacy education programs facilitate the acquisition of various kinds of capital. These could be categorized as follows: (1) functional capital, the application of requisite skills in given contexts (Betts, 2003; Burchfield, 1997; Maddox, 2008; Robinson-Pant, 21
2000a, 2000b; Papen, 2007); (2) economic capital, acquired through certification for a job
(Brandt, 2001; Fisher, 2009; Graff, 1979, 2010; Kalman, 2005); (3) cultural capital, apparent in forms of language, social manners, self-esteem, and social networks (Bartlett, 2007a, 2007b;
Bingham & Ebert, 2000; Li, 2002; Prins, 2010; Purcell-Gates, 2006); and (4) symbolic capital, found in the power to convert economic and/or cultural capital into material resources and social authority (Aikman, 1995; Dyer & Choksi, 1998; Fiedrich et al., 2003; Malan, 1997;Robinson-
Pant, 2000b; Street, 1995).
Longitudinal Studies on Adult Literacy
In this study, I draw on longitudinal qualitative studies in literacy education (Bartlett,
2007a, 2007b, 2008; Maddox, 2008; Prins, 2010) that highlight the importance of cultural, social and political factors in shaping the meanings, uses, and consequences of literacy education.
These studies further point out the different understandings that participants hold of literacy.
They also emphasize the different value attached to literacy education by participants of literacy programs. Although adult literacy is significant in facilitating other development processes (St.
Clair, 2010) by enhancing individual capabilities, “little is known about how adults [defined as low or non-literate] use and value literacy or what consequences they perceive it to have in their lives” (Walter, 1999, p. 46). Determining a shared understanding of what literacy means and its value to the users (utilitarian, symbolic, or otherwise) may therefore facilitate the shaping of relevant adult literacy goals for program participants (Bartlett, 2008; Papen, 2005; Prins, 2010;
Prinsloo & Breier, 1996; Robinson-Pant, 2000a, 2000b, 2004).
Longitudinal qualitative studies provide a “closer and longer view of learning provision from the learners’ perspective,” and are informative of the “incremental benefits and gains in people’s lives” (Appleby & Barton, 2008, p.361). Prins's (2010) study with 12 Salvadoran 22 participants six years after closure of the literacy classes showed that participants experienced gains in the psychosocial and interpersonal domains rather than in the economic sphere; however, some of these gains—especially those pertaining to interpersonal interactions— diminished after the class ended. Prins (2011) further emphasized the unpredictable consequences of participating in adult literacy classes. For instance, participants valued and strove to practice social mores regarding “respectful [and] appropriate conduct,” which in their perception was akin to being educated.
Ethnographically informed research, Appleby and Barton (2008) suggested, also garners
“details of lives, situated and local but as well located in different or broader contexts” (p. 361).
These aspects may be lacking in the short-term or quantitative studies. Maddox’s (2008) ethnographic study in Bangladesh illustrated how former participants’ literacy skills enabled them to cope with various vulnerabilities: “Literacy acquisition enabled marginal improvements to their functioning, agency and capabilities” (p. 201). Prins (2010) and Maddox (2008) pointed out that certain impacts of literacy education can be overlooked yet they matter to people living in dire need. For instance, participants in my study obtained increased household income by managing small business activities. With this income, they paid off school, medical, and food bills, and kept active financial accounts with their village savings and credit associations
(VSLAs).
Analyzing participants’ experiences may also reveal processes in their individual lives that influence the education of adults (Reder & Bynner, 2008, p.12) and, as Reder (2012) affirmed, “more life-wide and lifelong trajectories of adult learning and development” could be better understood (p. 1). Bartlett's (2007a) findings from a 24-month ethnographic study with 41 impoverished participants in two literacy programs in Brazil revealed how outcomes of literacy 23 education are shaped by complicated relationships and by participants’ perceptions of being educated. Bartlett (2007b) focused on identity formation, in which adult learners attempt to
“perform literacy” using cultural artifacts. Identity is seen as an “ongoing social process of self- making in conjunction with others through interaction” (p. 53) that defies the dominant view in social development of a static identity. Bartlett (2008) revealed that “literacy” has no predetermined effects, but that literacy outcomes are a result of mediating contextual sociocultural factors. Longitudinal studies may therefore inform more effective international adult literacy programming.
Of the few longitudinal qualitative studies in adult literacy in the developing world, most were completed shortly after the closure of the adult literacy classes; involved only women participants; were large scale; or involved few participants. Besides, these studies were in different continents and countries, hence different cultural contexts (Bartlett, 2007, 2008;
Maddox, 2007; Prins, 2010, 2011). By contrast, this study took place 12 years after the literacy classes ended and provides in-depth, qualitative data. I will explore below the feminist food justice perspective.
Feminist Food Justice Perspective
A feminist food justice perspective (Sachs & Patel-Campillo, 2014) is appropriate for the analysis of the livelihood component of my study. Feminist food justice aims to address “deep power inequalities based on sex, race, patriarchy and class” (Sachs & Patel-Campillo, 2014, p. 405) and seeks to shift responsibility to the state and other development structures to create supportive structures and ensure the implementation of related policies. Structural inequalities glaringly visible at the research site call for radical shifts in policies to facilitate food production and marketing at various levels. Such policies could include tax reforms, incentives (e.g., 24 participatory budgeting at all levels of governance), and zoning ordinances that create spaces like farmer field schools to promote “community-led farmer-to-farmer learning networks” (p.
402).The emphasis for poor women in these efforts would be on “crop diversity … nutritional quality and flavor of food” (p. 402).
Another pillar of this approach consists of “revaluing food work that feeds families” (p.
402) by fostering an appreciation that gender roles are interchangeable, through, for instance, more male involvement in food preparation and nutritional concerns. This perspective could enhance reshaping of educational systems to promote child involvement in different kinds of activities notwithstanding their sex. Communal agriculture and food exhibitions could offer spaces to jointly showcase family achievements in food production and preparation, while emphasizing “the joys and pleasures as well as the work of food provision” (p. 402).
The third pillar, providing good food for all, confronts structural gender inequity and advocates for an alteration in both gender relations and the distribution of resources. Feminist food justice theorists challenge gender inequities “in access to resources for production, water, and knowledge that often limit women’s ability to produce food for their households, the access to which would more adequately address the long-term need for food availability” (p. 403).
Although it negates the view that market mechanisms can enhance food stability, the feminist food justice approach argues that “an intersectional approach to food stability would prioritize social safety nets tailored to protect women and other marginalized populations at various scales of governance, including the household, community, region, and nation” (p. 403). Proponents of this framework uphold “food quality, safety, and nutrition, as well as adequate water and sanitation” (p. 403) as vital in food utilization for health. In my study, this perspective is suited to analyzing women’s role as key actors in food production and utilization. 25
This literature on feminist food justice draws my attention to how policies in agriculture, environment, health, local governance, education, trade, and related structures may influence livelihoods, health, and the psychosocial outcomes of literacy learning. I also pay attention to the influence of these policies and structures on different groups of people including men, women
(married, widowed), children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly.
Chapter Summary
The few longitudinal, qualitative studies on adult literacy have highlighted the importance of cultural, social, and political factors in shaping the uses and consequences of adult literacy education. These studies also showed that literacy participants may hold different understandings of literacy and have further emphasized the different values that participants attached to literacy education. I draw on the NLS perspective because it enables me to identify different literacy practices and the related consequences of applying them. The framework enables me to relate identities that participants take up with their perceptions about their literacy and/or livelihood practices. It also allows me to explore the immediate and broader contextual factors that enhanced or discouraged the use of these capabilities (Bartlett, 2008; Papen, 2006;
Prins, 2010). A feminist food justice lens was suited to tracing the development of participants’ capabilities because it elucidates how contextual policy factors influence the application of livelihood practices. In the next chapter, I discuss the methods that I used to collect the data.
26
CHAPTER 3
METHODS
In an attempt to explore the literacy and livelihood practices of former participants of a
FAL program, I employed a qualitative research design. This study took place 12 years after the end of the FAL classes, and attempts to determine what literacy learning endured among the former FAL participants from an informed viewpoint afforded by ethnographic methods. As
Davies (1999) noted, longitudinal studies are invaluable because of “their greater sensitivity to change, the increased likelihood of being able to distinguish fluctuations from fundamental changes, and the greater depth of ethnographic understanding achieved from the multiple perspectives that such research facilitates” (p. 174). From a longer-term perspective, therefore, I explore how former participants of a FAL program apply literacy learning in their day-to-day lives (if at all), why they apply this learning (or not), and the perceived outcomes of applying the literacy and livelihood practices in their lives. I further attempt to compare the participants’ literacy and livelihood practices in 2005 (at the close of the FAL program) and 2017. The research questions are as follows:
(1) How do former literacy participants use the learning from the FAL program in the
domains of (a) reading, writing and numeracy; and (b) their daily livelihoods, and
why?
(2) What are the perceived outcomes of applying these practices?
(3) What meanings does literacy hold for the participants?
Ethnography and Critical Realism
Ethnography I used ethnographic methods in this research study to explore the uses and outcomes of literacy learning among former FAL participants and the contextual factors that influence the 27 application of the literacy and livelihood practices. Ethnography is suited for this study because the researcher “describes and interprets the shared and learned patterns, values, behaviors, beliefs and language of a culture-sharing group” (Creswell, 2007, p. 68). Ethnography involves extended observations of the group and entails immersion in the setting as the researcher observes and interviews the group (Agar, 1980; Clifford, 1986; Creswell, 2007; Davies, 1999;
Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 2011; Hammersley &Atkinson, 1995).
Ethnography is particularly appropriate in this study not only to glean the array of uses to which the participants have employed the literacy learning in their context, but also to understand the factors that shape the application of the literacy learning. It privileges a holistic perspective of the group, including “cultural aspects such as the social structure, the kinship, the political structure, and the social relations, or function among the members of the group”
(Fetterman, 1998, as cited in Creswell, 2007, p. 68). The researcher can “share firsthand the environment, problems, background, language, rituals and social relations” of research participants (Van Maanen, 1988, p.3) that will enhance an understanding of the context in which the participants apply literacy learning.
Ethnography has the capacity to explain “why people responded as they did, the context in which they responded and their deeper thoughts and behaviors that governed their responses”
(Creswell, 2007, p. 40) while doing so “from the emic perspective” (Spindler &Spindler, 1987, p. 20, as cited in Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995, p. 217). This approach is suitable for understanding how and why former participants of the FAL program apply literacy and livelihood practices in their lives, and how they feel about using these capabilities.
Accordingly, ethnography is suited to understanding how participants use the learning from the FAL program, because the learning may be translated into an array of literacy and 28 livelihood practices that are best captured in cultural portraits through extended observations, interviews (individual and group), and reviewing artifacts. The combination of these ethnographic methods enabled me to develop a detailed description and explanation of the behaviors of the culture-sharing group (Hammersley &Atkinson, 1995), specifically the use of the literacy learning.
Some strands of qualitative research bear inherent political and ethical value and thus give voice to the “marginalized and otherwise muted groups and/or in challenging the powerful”
(Hammersley, 1995, p. x; Creswell, 2007). This research will explore issues of “power, empowerment, inequality, inequity, domination, victimization” (Creswell, 2007, p. 70) in relation to how the participants use (or not) the learning from the FAL. The desire to share the perspectives of rural Ugandan women whose experiences are seldom included in research is the impetus for this study.
Critical Realism
This dissertation is grounded in a critical realist position. This perspective
accepts the existence of a separate social reality whose transcendentally real nature makes it a possible object of knowledge for us. In its recognition of the separation, yet interdependence, of the two levels of social structure and individual action, critical realism encourages a kind of explanation that builds on the creative tension between theoretical abstraction and descriptive detail. (Davies, 1999, p. 25)
This perspective allows the researcher to complicate analysis of the findings while remaining grounded in the data. Davies (1999) argued that although it is widely applied in social research, the critical realist position is seldom acknowledged as such. I do acknowledge a value-laden orientation, in appropriating elements of critical realism in this ethnographic study.
Critical realism recognizes the influence of the researcher on the research through their biases, background, history, experience, theoretical perspective, and philosophical orientation 29
(Davies, 1999, p. 25). This calls for reflexivity on the researcher’s part in order to produce a trustworthy account of the study. As Van Maanen (1988) noted, “A culture is expressed or constituted only by the words and actions of its members, and must be interpreted by, not given to, a field worker” (p. 3). As such, acknowledging and spelling out my influence on the study is paramount.
Therefore, aligning with critical realism is apt for this ethnographic research because it privileges reflexivity while enhancing the capacity to research other cultures. In so doing the polarity between a positivist and the interpretivist position characteristic of ethnography is diffused (Davies, 1999). Because critical realism upholds multiple perspectives as opposed to
“meta-narratives” (Davies, 1999), it is appropriate in a NLS theoretical framework. I draw on this capacity to explore the varied uses of and factors supporting the application of the literacy learning in the day-to-day lives of the participants, as well as the outcomes and what they mean to the participants. This perspective may also elicit counter-narratives regarding the use (or absence) of literacy learning. Further, “the theoretical basis of ethnographic research and the deployment of research methods” provide nuanced explanations of cultural phenomena (Davies,
1999, p. 26). Finally, Hammersley and Atkinson (1995) argued that because qualitative inquiry tends to have political and ethical dimensions, it may give voice to the marginalized and consequently challenge the powerful.
Ethnography in the Compressed Time Mode
Prior to 2017, I coordinated the FAL program while working with SOCADIDO.
Notwithstanding the importance of an extended period of time in the field owing to time constraints, I employed ethnography in a compressed time mode (Jeffrey & Troman, 2004).
Ethnography in the compressed time mode “involves a short period of intense ethnographic 30 research in which the researchers inhabit a research site almost permanently for anything from a few days to a month” (p. 538). During this period, the researcher attempts to access relevant people and places at a given research site; observational field notes form a key part of the data. I employed ethnography in a compressed time mode because it enabled me to capture the details of the contextual “routines, tensions and disturbances” (p. 538), overt and less covert through observation, interviews and document analysis, notwithstanding the relatively limited duration of time.
The drawbacks with the compressed mode of ethnography arising from the limited time in the field, Jeffrey and Troman (2004) suggested, could be overcome by drawing on relevant studies for analysis. As well, rather than focus on the length of observation in ethnography, it may be more prudent for the researcher to foreground their “observations in critical reflection on the nature of one’s participation and its suitability to the particular research circumstances, and the relationship between the researcher and the researched” (Davis, 1999, p. 74). I followed these recommendations in carrying out this research for the study, thus enhancing its rigor.
Research Setting
This section describes the research site, including the geographic, economic, political, and educational contexts in which participants learned and practiced literacy. I then focus at length on agriculture-related phenomena because agriculture is the major livelihood. I also address health, gender, and education because these topics were covered in the FAL program.
International Development
SOCADIDO’s work is an example of an international development program that sought to improve people’s lives through community development programs focused on improving livelihoods of the rural marginalized poor. Viewing the FAL program and participants’ 31 socioeconomic conditions and livelihoods through the lens of the international development agenda helps explain why entrenched poverty, illiteracy, and related problems exist in rural
Uganda, and the solutions that various scholars and policy makers have proposed.
The “discovery of poverty” (Escobar, 1995, p. 106) in the underdeveloped countries after
World War II served to justify further sustained intervention by the developed countries, ostensibly to alleviate poverty. The solution to poverty in the underdeveloped countries was seen to be economic growth measured in terms of per capita income (Escobar, 1995; Inkeles & Smith,
1974); thus, development was equated with consumption (Rostow, 1959).
Subsequently, the success of the development agenda, it was widely believed, was contingent upon modernizing the indigenous peoples (Blaut, 1993; Inkeles, 1975; Smith, 2012).
Social historians, however, perceive the intervention popularly framed in development terms as an effort by the wealthy and privileged to dominate and control the less privileged (Escobar,
1995; Fiedrich et al., 2003).
A center-periphery political and socioeconomic relationship evolved and has thrived with the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mediating development
(Harvey, 2005; Peet, 2003; Williams, 2008). Scholars have problematized development for its dualistic nature, creating wealth for some while depriving others of wealth, thereby exacerbating structural inequality in the dependent countries (Cardoso & Faletto, 1979; Frank, 1966; Mitchell,
1997). In addition, they point at the disconnect between the way that people’s lived experience shapes their definition of development and the “development” that is thrust on them (Wallerstein,
1988). As such, the development trajectory yields multifaceted outcomes, overall winners and losers (UNDP, 1996). In an assessment to the UK government, Oxfam (2000) decried this situation as “morally indefensible, economically inefficient, and socially unsustainable. Left 32 unattended, extreme economic inequalities between countries are likely to generate political instability and undermine the very foundation of multilateralism” (as cited in Rugumamu, 2012, p. 101). In an attempt, therefore, to understand development in the developing world, Uganda inclusive, I explore these issues.
The Growth Puzzle
“The greatest puzzle in economic development is why sustained economic growth is so hard to achieve,” stated Jeffrey Sachs (2000, p.29), a Professor of International Trade at Harvard
University, director of the Center for International Development and economic adviser to governments in the developing world, including Africa. Sachs has also been instrumental in the respective countries’ adoption of open economic policies (Harrison, 2000).
The literature on international development includes two opposing views to explain this ever-present dilemma of poverty and injustice in developing countries. Over the past few decades, some scholars (Ake, 1994, 2000; Amin, 2012; Hartzenberg, 2012; Mamdani, 2011;
Mazrui; 2010; Mkandawire, 1999; Ninsin, 2012; Ranger, 2004; Young, 1994; Zeleza, 2008, etc.) have attributed the global South’s impoverishment to the prevailing political, economic, and social relationship between the global North and the South. Other scholars (Etounga-Manguelle,
2000; Grondona, 2000; Harrison, 2000; Huntington, 2000, Landes, 2000; Porter, 2000; Sachs,
2000) have dismissed this view and suggested that cultural factors may be a more viable explanation for the under-development of the region. In fact, to Landes (2000), a proponent of the “culture” stance, “culture makes almost all the difference” (p. 2). Following the former camp,
I will argue in this study that center-periphery geopolitics (Wallerstein, 1988) strongly influence political, social and economic life in the African continent, and Uganda in particular. 33
The “Culture Matters” View
The “culture matters” view elucidates how people’s actions are influenced by their beliefs. In literacy learning, therefore, the appreciation and adoption of literacy and livelihood practices may be contingent upon underlying value systems. I argue that the literacy learning in
FAL shaped more favorable attitudes among participants that promoted the adoption of relevant literacy and livelihood practices. Participants’ cultural values played a limited role in inhibiting the application of the literacy learning in their daily lives.
Culture is perceived subjectively as the “values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations, and underlying assumptions prevalent among people in a society” (Huntington, 2000, p. xv). Culture is both a dependent and independent variable; thus, it affects and is affected by specific contextual factors, to influence economic progress. According to the proponents of the “culture matters” view, the universality of values and the standard to which all peoples should and must aspire are enshrined in numerous clauses of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. Some of these articles that are relevant to this research include:
Everyone has a right to life, liberty and the security of person…human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief…All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection…Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives…Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services. Everyone has the right to education. (UN, 1948)
Besides, Western progress—marked by a longer, healthier, less burdensome and more fulfilling life—is apparently a worldwide goal (Harrison, 2000). But for all their virtue, people can possess maladaptive cultural features that may result in untold suffering of people when others mete out violence in different forms and scales (Edgerton, 2000). He argued that the repercussions of such actions, not uncommon in the developing world, would not favor economic growth. To the extent of a nation’s malevolent practices impinging on the economy, therefore, countries 34 determine their development since value systems influence economic outcomes (Grondona,
2000).
There is increased pressure for countries to internalize the production paradigm (Porter,
2000) in order to survive in the global market. The “laggards” whose economic policies and behaviors do not meet the global standards are punished by losing foreign investment. The assumption here is that foreign investment will always positively impact the local economy, and thus have wide appeal. Unsurprisingly then, “political leaders are increasingly accountable to wider economic forces, even if not to local citizens … Indeed the forces in the new economy are so strong that economic culture is no longer a matter of choice” (Porter, 2000, p. 27). What implications does the tilt in the balance of forces for national accountability have?
The education system is key in this enterprise of national economic development because it should create innovative thinkers, but only if the system encourages critical thought and discovery. This aligns with Sachs (2000) who maintained that innovation begets innovation, thus propelling economic growth. By implication therefore, Africa’s human resource base, apparently, has not supported such growth. This was not helped when the colonial powers, to protect their position, did not carry out market reforms in the colonies lest this would empower local inhabitants and undermine foreign rule (Sachs, 2000).
Focusing on the personal characteristics of Africans, Etounga-Manguelle (2000) criticized African dispositions and practices for their lack of a future-orientation, diligence, individualism, and daring. This cultural mindset shared across the continent jeopardizes development initiatives. He thus advocates for the adoption of western values in order for
Africans to master their own future and “determine their own destiny through participation in the political process” (p. 75). 35
Global Imperialism
To explain the quandary of the African continent, Uganda inclusive, some scholars take a historical analysis of Africa’s political economy. Ninsin (2012) observed that modern (capitalist) civilization had its roots in the industrial revolution and has spread globally. However, “the pursuit of accumulation on a world scale epitomized in this global expansion has not been for universal benefit” (p. 9). In global imperialism then, are significant economic stakes.
Accordingly, the controversy over the importance of globalization to Africa “is perceived and interpreted differently depending on who are beneficiaries and who are losers” (p. 10). In this subjective analysis, I will explore two issues as relevant to this study: global neo-colonialism of power and African ideology and consciousness.
Global Neo-colonialism of Power
The early manifestations of modernity in Africa took the form of slave trade, mercantilism, imperialism, colonialism, and apartheid (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013). This was propelled by “the insatiable appetite for opulence of the few (nations and people) that continue to rule the world, and not for the benefit of the whole of humanity” (Ninsin, 2012, p. 9). At independence, nations aspired for a new humanity in which the values of freedom, equality, social justice, and ethical co-existence would thrive. But this hope turned out to be largely illusionary (Ake, 2000; Agbese & Kieh, 2007; Azarya & Chazzan, 1998; Cooper, 2002; Foltz,
2002; Grosfoguel, 2007; Karlström, 2003; Mamdani, 1996; Mignolo, 2007; Mkandawire, 2003;
Muiu, 2009; Muiu &Martin, 2009; Ninsin, 2012; Olukoshi & Laakso, 1996; Smith, 2012;
Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo, 1994; Zizek, 2009). My research into international development through adult literacy programming led me to significant moments that defined specific approaches employed to influence economic development in Africa. 36
Neo-colonial policies. Neo-colonial policies decry the focus of government on its people as the basis for its interventions and instead uphold market-based policies (Tikly, 2004).
Following the oil shock of the 1970s, multilateral and donor agencies introduced policies of trade liberalization, export-led growth, and the creation of favorable conditions for foreign direct investment that included cuts in state expenditure, charging user fees in public services like education, water, and health care, as well as eliminating price controls to basic commodities
(Tikly, 2004). In practice, for Africa as in many other developing economies worldwide, this translated into structural adjustment programs (SAPs) and conditional lending, which meant that costs were transferred from the post-colonial states to households.
In the post-colonial state, however, antagonism between the government and the citizens arose from the “practices and politics of the postcolonial power routine, institutionalization and broadcasting within a terrain dominated by colonial matrices of power” (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013, pp. 79-80). In other words, the new policies and services were perceived as detached from improving the welfare of the people, causing unrest. I concur with Ndlovu-Gatsheni who defined this state of affairs as neocolonization.
Failing policies? The postcolonial neocolonized state was devoid of strong essence, and in the face of popular contestation, resorted to the use of coercion for its legitimacy (Mamdani,
1999). The World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dictated on “limited state and dominance of market forces as a solution to the problems of governance and development bedeviling Africa” (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013, p. 80), as states were seen as undemocratic, corrupt, unaccountable, and lacking transparency.
The corollary was—and in many respects still is—the biting poverty, huge external debt, and the authoritarian nature of the liberal regimes. Poverty metamorphosed into a multi- 37 dimensional phenomenon comprising lack of a stable and adequate income and “the lack of access to health, education, housing, portable water, and employment; poor sanitation, and pervasive sense of social insecurity” (Ninsin, 2012, p. 16). As Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2013) commented,
The success of the economic reforms seizing control of Africa’s economies has hinged on two revolutions—the revolution in transforming the African state from a Leviathan to a referee; and the revolution in re-subordinating the resurgent masses to the hegemony of capital and Africa’s ruling classes. (p. 13)
The one-size-fits-all economic and social policies were bound to fail.
Further attempt at neocolonial policies. During the post-Washington consensus, the focus of intervention shifted from economic growth to social and human capital. Seeking to democratize the postcolonial state in the 1990s, financial aid was tied to progress toward good governance (World Bank, 1995). Thus the rise of the democratic developmental state, “a state that is capable of working to fulfill the democratic and developmental aspirations of the majority of people within its borders” (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013, p. 93). The key distinction of the democratic developmental state was its institutions: firstly, “formation of strong and broad-based alliances with society, and ensure effective and active participation of citizens in decision- making,” and secondly, “building autonomous institutions free from control by capricious and venal cliques bent on fulfilling personal selfish agendas” (p. 93).
Africa witnessed a new generation of African leaders1 who “were committed to the reconstruction of the African state in the direction of the fulfillment of popular demands for economic development and democracy”; however, the new leaders “degenerated into
1 These leaders included Thabo Mbeki (South Africa), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda) , Meles Zenawi (Ethiopia), Isaias Afewerki (Eritrea), and Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria), who were less authoritarian and less dogmatic than the founding fathers of the postcolonial states of the 1960s and the military leaders of the 1970s (Ottaway, 1998, as cited in Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013, p. 94). 38 authoritarianism of varying degrees” (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013, p. 94). The subsequent national social, economic and political policies have, over time, had significant implications for the welfare of the people of Uganda, the research site. It is the absence of real democracy, save for the “multiparties, competitive elections and formal political rights” that citizens react to in the form of social unrest and political agitations for a new form of politics and social economic rights (Ninsin, 2012, p. 25). As such, different organizations, including civil society organizations, NGOs, faith-based organizations, and youth, women, tribal, and occupation/trade groups raised concerns such as autonomy in association and operation, inclusive governance, and corruption.
Political and economic struggles. Citizens in various African countries sought other channels toward freedom from the state, including“ suffer-manage” in depravity and crisis
(Vambe, 2008), escape for example by migration (Sisulu et al., 2007), creation of systems parallel to those of the state, for instance corruption, black market smuggling, and resorting to other means of justice (Azarya & Chazan, 1998), secession, and “self-enclosure” or withdrawal
(Muzondidya, 2010; Azarya & Chazan, 1998). The above strategies delineate multiple avenues to freedom taken by citizens. This brings into question the legitimacy of the postcolonial state and the assumed freedoms experienced in the “independent” states. The strategies also show the subtleties in the contest for citizenship and popular sovereignty (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013). During this study, the suffer-manage strategy saw the participants live through the famine crisis on one meal a day of a morsel of food.
Heavy indebtedness. In this study, participants’ access to basic services such as health and education influenced their application of literacy learning. Yet a country’s heavy indebtedness curtails government revenue and jeopardizes its capacity to provide essential 39 services including health and education to its citizens (Easterly, 2001). Unfortunately, critics suggest that the state of indebtedness sustains a vicious circle of poverty because of the flawed premise on which it is based (Amin, 2012, Mkandawire, 1999, Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013, Ninsin,
2012). In about a decade, the WB and the IMF had initiated a Heavily Indebted Poor Country
(HIPC) program in response to the heavy indebtedness of the countries and their citizens’ entrenched poverty. But again, under stringent conditions, “sweeping privatizations and radical tax reforms designed to raise tax revenue” provided bleak outcomes because “the countries qualifying for the HIPC status were already in debt repayment areas ... Quickly as many as 32
African governments became HIPC” (Ninsin, 2012, p. 14). Below is a snapshot of the Ugandan and Zambian cases:
Uganda had been acclaimed for its diligence as the first country to qualify for the HIPC status. After years of being a HIPC country, however, it was still unable to service its debt despite debt relief of $1 billion. The country’s external debt had grown at an average of $108 million annually over the few years following accession to HIPC, increasing from $3.4 billion in 1998 to $3.83 billion in June 2002. Zambia also found its debt burden unsustainable. Each year, the government had to pay over $200 million just to service the country’s external debt; in 2003 alone the Zambian government had to find more than $300 million to service its external debt. (Ninsin, 2012, p. 15)
Nevertheless, how important, in fact, was the debt relief? Apparently, this mattered.
Amin (2012) highlighted that Germany’s reparation payments after World War 1 amounted to
7% of its total exports, yet the developed nations considered it “too high” and Germany’s
“adjustment” into the world market “impossible.” Accordingly, Germany repaid its debt on softer terms, owing to its strategic position in the world polity. After World War 11, under the
Marshall Plan, U.S. aid to Europe in 1945-1950 was without interest and not to be repaid.
Escobar (1995) noted,
As Georges Bataille, following French economist Francois Perroux’s 1948 analysis of the plan argued, with the Marshall Plan, and for the first time in the history of capitalism, the 40
general interest of society seemed to have taken primacy over the interests of particular investors or nations. (p. 33)
However, the Marshall Plan and subsequent foreign aid seem to have lost their human face.
Ostensibly to raise national revenue, African states resort to levying heavy taxes on their citizens.
However, critics of increased taxation in African states (Amin, 2012; Mkandawire, 1999;
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013; Ninsin, 2012) point out that this does more harm than good to individuals and the economy.
The flawed argument for Africa’s integration into the global economy. The neo- colonial economic reforms derive their legitimacy ostensibly from Africa’s economies being either “not fully integrated, or not integrated sufficiently in the world economy” (Ninsin, 2012, p.9). Yet Samir Amin’s (2012) dissenting voice pointed out the following. First, the level of
Africa’s integration into the global system was the highest globally in 1990 at 45.6%2 , and was maintained through the 20th century. However, because capitalism aims not to maximize production and productivity but instead “chooses the volumes and conditions of production that maximize the profit rate of capital” (p. 42), then the premise is erroneous. Second, despite its full integration in the world system, Africa is passive and thus maladjusted. “This lack of autocentricity is at the core of Africa’s multiple development crises, which is the classical case of development of underdevelopment” (Ninsin, 2012, p, 19). Thus, the urgent call by scholars, politicians and citizens for African centered development policies. However, Rugumamu (2012) identified broader requirements: “The continent lacks not only the requisite policy instruments and the institutional and technical capacity to reap the much-heralded benefits of globalization,
2 This is the ratio of the extra-regional trade to GDP. 41 but most especially, individual national economies are too weak to respond decisively to the rigorous demands of the world economy” (p. 102).
African Ideology and Consciousness
The second issue I explore in the literature is epistemological colonization, that is, the
“colonization of Africans imagination and the displacement of African knowledges” (Ndlovu-
Gatsheni, 2013, p. xi). I follow authors who argue that African ideology and consciousness has been distorted by the hegemonic powers that exert heavy influence on, and define, what are considered progressive global values, which are imposed on African people (Cooper, 2002;
Ladau, 2005; Mamdani, 1996, 2001b, 2009; Mbembe, 2001; Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2008, 2009b;
2010; Zeleza, 2006). The diverse explorations of thought in this context help elucidate important moments in the African trajectory. For instance, Mamdani (2001b, 2009) traced the Rwandan genocide, one of the worst in modern history to issues of identity-based forms of violence.
Similarly, the Sudan question to date is predicated on a segregated people. In Sudan, different ethnic groups were elevated and enjoyed favors from the colonial masters while others shrunk in depravity, causing chronic deep-seated conflict.
Zizek (2009) recognized an apparent design in contemporary capitalism’s attempt to camouflage its exploitative tendencies through a process of “culturalization” of politics and reflected:
Why are so many problems today perceived as problems of intolerance, rather than as problems of inequality, exploitation or injustice? Why is the proposed remedy tolerance rather than emancipation, political struggle, even armed struggle? The immediate answer lies in the liberal multiculturalist’s basic ideological operation: the “culturalization of politics.” Political differences—differences conditioned by political inequality or economic exploitation—are naturalized and neutralized into “cultural” differences, that is into different “ways of life” which are given something that cannot be overcome. They can only be “tolerated.” … the cause of this culturalization is the retreat, the failure of political solutions such as Welfare state or various socialist projects. Tolerance is their post-political ersatz. (Zizek, 2009, p.19) 42
Thus the African authors’ call for a home-grown research effort to diagnose and formulate the problems of the African continent “and avoid ill-focused, positivistic, shallow and prescriptive narratives divorced from complex historical, discursive and epistemological terrains that reproduce political and economic crises and problems that bedevil Africans today” (Ndlovu-
Gatsheni, 2013, p. 6; see also Ninsin, 2012). In the next section, I explore how adult education and literacy in the research site were shaped by adult education philosophies, as well as government policy.
Adult Education and Literacy
African Adult Education for Social Development
I draw on Nyerere’s (1976) philosophy of African adult education for social development to inform my analysis. In agreeing with Nyerere’s view of the role of adult education, I explore how the FAL program outcomes aligned with social development. Nyerere’s philosophy of social development centers on people’s expanded consciousness, which gives them power over themselves, their environment, and their society (p. 78). In this framework, people’s liberation from oppression by humans and nature is cooperatively accomplished. Accordingly, education must be an integral part of life to contribute to development. Like Freire (2000), Nyerere pointed out that education is never politically neutral as it raises consciousness about issues and challenges people to change their situations. Using this framework guides me to examine how the FAL program may have influenced the participants’ awareness of pertinent issues in their lives and the actions they took to change given situations in their lives.
Nyerere (1976) likened adult education with its different domains to a spider web where
“the different strands of which knit together, each strengthening the other, and each connected to the others to make a coherent whole” (p. 83). Perceived as the foundation course, people build 43 off adult education in line with their specific learning needs. Nyerere made the point that in this way, adult education can be a beginning of lifelong learning. However, he emphasized the need to use local resources, participatory learning, and the mutuality of learning. Using the African adult education for social development lens will enable me to explore the integration of literacy and livelihood practices, participants’ further educational pursuits, and the methods and resources used during the FAL program.
Uganda and the Teso Region
This research was carried out in a remote rural community in the Teso region of northeastern Uganda (see Figure 1). Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa with a population of 39 million and a population growth rate of 3.2%, one of the highest globally.
Uganda’s human development index stood at 0.493 and with a rank of 163 out of 188 nations in
2016, marking it as one of the poorest countries in the world. The Teso sub-region includes the districts of Soroti, Kaberamaido, Katakwi, Amuria, Bukedea, Kumi, Ngora, and Serere in the eastern part of Uganda. It has a total land area of 12,864.3 sq. km (Ministry of Planning and
Economic Development Abstract, 1997). With the population of the region estimated at
2,207,800 (approximately 7% of the total national population), the average population density is
148.7 people per sq. mile (UBOS Population Projections, 2014). The population is largely composed of the Iteso, Kumam, and Bakenye tribes.3Intermarriage between these tribes has since blurred the distinguishing features for each, and the predominant language is Ateso, with
Kumam and Lukenye also spoken.
3 The key distinguishing features of these ethnic groups are their languages and livelihood practices, which stem from differing ancestry, The Iteso are of Nilo-hamite origin, speak Ateso, and are agro-pastoral subsistence farmers. The Kumam speak a Luo dialect and incorporate some fishing in their agro-pastoral practices. The Bakenye are of Bantu descent speak Lukenye and are a largely fishing community with some crop growing. 44
The Ugandan economy heavily relies on agriculture, which accounts for 25 percent of its
Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This sector employs more than 70 percent of the labor force, the majority being small holder farmers (World Bank, 2015). The GDP growth rate is 4.5%, rendering Uganda one of the world’s poorest countries, with a GDP per capita of US $1718; more than one third of the population lives below the poverty line, and the working poor (who earn $3.10 a day) constitute 60% of the population. Inflation is 4.3% while the total unemployment rate stands at 3%, and the youth unemployment rate is 6% (UNDP, 2016).
Administratively, Uganda is divided into regions, districts, counties, sub-counties, and parishes.
It is a multiparty democracy, with the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party in leadership over the last 30 years.
Figure 1. Map of Uganda with Districts 45
The people of the Teso sub-region derive their livelihood from subsistence agriculture alongside livestock rearing and experience a bimodal type of rainfall of about 1000-1200 mm per annum, with two cropping seasons. In addition to the main farming livelihood, the communities are involved in trade of both crop and livestock products, together with other merchandise.
Besides the traditional livelihood strategies, a number of off-farm activities have evolved, including bicycle and motorcycle “taxis” (locally known as “boda boda” cycling) and petty trade,4 blacksmiths, fish, charcoal, and local brew (locally known as “ajon”5) trade, brick making, stone and sand quarrying, among others. Over time in the region, trading of agricultural produce (maize, sorghum, and millet) in the markets in Kampala, South Sudan, and Kenya has increased, while “high regional demand for Ugandan maize in Kenya, South Sudan, Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi is an important driver of observed maize grain price increases” (USAID, 2016a, p. 2).
The vegetation in the sub-region is savannah grassland. The soils are mainly sandy loam with a variation from sandy to loamy soils depending on the terrain. The area is endowed with lakes, rivers, and vast wetlands. The region is composed of one livelihood zone Eastern-Central
Low Land, Cassava, Sorghum and Groundnuts zone. The crops grown include cassava, sweet potatoes, sorghum, finger millet, peas, groundnuts and rice; while cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, and poultry are also reared by households.
Agricultural Sector and Policy
The FAL program focused on improved agricultural practices asa strategy to address food insecurity. It is important to view the participants’ agricultural gains and challenges in light of
4 This is a response to joblessness, declining land availability due to increasing population that has also led to migration to neighboring Abim and Napak districts (USAID, 2014). 5“Ajon” is an alcoholic drink made from millet and/or sorghum, both being staples grown in Teso. 46 the broader agricultural policy and practice environment in Uganda. As in much of the developing world, agriculture in Uganda is gendered with regard to roles of men and women but also in access, use, control, and ownership of resources (Agarwal, 2003; Rocheleau, Thomas-
Slayter,& Wangari, 1996; Shiva, 2001). “Women are central to food systems throughout the world” (Preibisch & Grez, 2010, p. 292) and women’s labor, often on small land holdings, involves hard work and little monetary gain (Jarosz, 2011; Preibisch & Grez, 2010;Shiva, 2001).
For many poor women whose source of food is the small family farm, arduous work often expresses a care ethic that focuses on nourishing themselves and others (Leach, 2007).
Notwithstanding the above, the dynamics of agricultural production in Uganda have undergone major changes over the recent past.
About 80% of Uganda’s population depends primarily on agriculture for their livelihoods, and the sector continues to dominate production in the national economy (WFP,
2013).The majority of households classified as “poor” are engaged in agriculture. The implementation of neo-liberal policies, including the government’s Plan for Modernization of
Agriculture (PMA) that advocates for the commercialization of agriculture, was considered a means to combat poverty nation-wide. However, criticism of the results of this policy points to widening income disparities (Bahiigwa, Rigby, &Woodhouse, 2005; Craig & Porter, 2003;
Dijkstra &Van Donge, 2001; Ellis & Bahiigwa, 2003; Francis & James, 2003; Hickey, 2005) that particularly affect women (SAPRI, 2006). This situation is exacerbated by weather vagaries, since Ugandans depend almost entirely on rain-fed agriculture (Bahiigwa, 1999; USAID, 2010).6
6Variability in climate and the frequency of extreme weather events have increased significantly in recent decades. Droughts are more severe since the 1970s, especially in the tropics and subtropics (USAID, 2007). In fact, Uganda had five droughts between 1991 and 2000, compared to only eight in the previous 80 years (WFP, 2013). Similarly, the worst flooding in decades also affected large portions of the north and northeast of the country in 2007. The floods in 2007, for example, damaged or destroyed infrastructure including schools, health centers, roads, bridges and homes. Emergency responses by the Uganda government and humanitarian agencies to this occurrence included provision of temporary shelter, food, drinkable water, sanitation facilities, and medicines to a total 47
The distinction between food and cash crops is blurred since food crops such as beans, maize or groundnuts are more marketable as cash crops. Besides, production targeting the market is prioritized over production for domestic needs with women taking more charge of production functions (Fiedrich et al., 2003). Today middlemen penetrate villages to purchase produce, giving women more opportunities for trade. Politically hailed as development, market-oriented agriculture is implicated in the recurrent seasonal food shortages. Nonetheless, farmers cite shortage of capital and credit as their single biggest constraint to improving production and productivity (Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group [CSBAG], 2017).
A national survey showed that almost 60% of households did not have food that they would normally have to eat due to lower food production levels (UBOS, 2010). This is contrary to the National Development Plan’s (NDP2) need to boost agricultural production and productivity considered key to sustainable economic growth necessary for driving Uganda into middle income status (MAAIF, 2017). International development policies, however, have apparently exacerbated gender disparities in Uganda as shown below.
Neo-liberal Reforms and Women
Current policies, including the Poverty Alleviation Action Plan and decentralization, have had mixed results. The foundational Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) of the 1980s, emphasized market-led growth, privatization, and increased exports, with important results:
From the findings, there is overwhelming evidence that the impact of SAPs takes a political economy dimension, with some groups benefiting from the reforms and others being adversely affected by the same reforms, especially the poor and vulnerable groups. For example, women and men’s roles in the economic and social domains continue to reflect a fundamental imbalance in their access to and control over resources and productive activities. Furthermore, the reforms have had the effect of substituting government’s provision of services and increasing the responsibilities that have disproportionately fallen on women. In addition, liberalization has increased the burden population of 184, 956 flood-affected persons (FAP) with food assistance totaling to 3,057 metric tons of food at a full ration for one month (WFP, 2013). 48
of women in a typical rural family who often carry the greater portion of workload. It has also worsened the food security situation as households responded to price signals within limited resources and technological base by increasing cash crop production at the expense of food crop production. (SAPRI, 2001, p. 7; see also Bahiigwa, Rigby, & Woodhouse, 2005; Craig & Porter, 2003; Dijkstra & Van Donge, 2001; Ellis & Bahiigwa, 2003; Francis & James, 2003; Hickey, 2005)
Although the literature highlights the urgency to equip women with requisite skills for increased production important to sustain households, it also foregrounds the need to sensitize men and women to the gender imbalance in regard to roles, access, use, control, and ownership of resources as a major step towards gender equity and the realization of all the other benefits of adult literacy education. The literature on agriculture above suggests that literacy learning may promote production and marketing.
Gender
The Uganda government’s focus on women’s emancipation long before the FAL program began created opportunities for the development of women including women’s associations, interventions targeting women such as the FAL program, increased entrepreneurship, and household and community leadership. Acknowledging the existence of this space and the attendant opportunities it afforded is central in understanding the gains that the participants made in their lives. Attention to women as a target group for development peaked from the 1980s onward, attracting resources from donors and NGOs globally. The rationale in this part of the world was that women were often excluded from participation and hence from benefiting from mainstream development, thus exacerbating gender inequalities. In addition, there were more benefits in improving the welfare of women through enhancing their capacities, hence the popular saying, “Train a woman, train a nation.” Focusing on women was further justified as the fruits of development were more effectively shared in the household than when channeled through men. 49
Gender Needs
Accordingly, I use Moser’s (2012) framework to categorize participants’ gender needs. A fundamental assumption of gender planning is that men and women have different needs because of the different roles that they play and also because of the different levels of control over resources. Moser classifies gender needs into practical and strategic gender needs. Practical gender needs are specific to contexts and relate to basic needs for human existence. They are responses to important deficiencies such as food, housing, water provision, and health care.
Strategic gender needs, on the other hand, are identified needs arising from women’s
“subordinate position to men in society,” and they relate to “gender divisions of labor, power and control and may include such issues as legal rights, domestic violence, equal wages and women’s control over their bodies. Meeting strategic gender needs helps women to achieve greater equality” (p. 39). Strategic gender needs, like practical gender needs, are contextual in nature, but aim at achieving “more equal and satisfactory organization of society than that which exists at present”(Moser, 2012, p. 39).
Women, Politics and Business in Uganda
The involvement of women in the National Resistance Army (NRA) that waged a successful guerrilla war led by incumbent President Yoweri Museveni and toppled power in
1986 re-positioned women in politics and society generally. Against this background, middle- class women, academics, and development workers successfully influenced the government to become gender sensitive (Tripp, 2000). A ministry for women was established as well as a strong, well-organized women’s movement. Indeed one of the legacies of the current regime is the “unlocking of women’s capacities and productivity” (Fiedrich et al., 2003, p. 21). Several affirmative action measures were taken to increase women’s participation in politics at local and 50 national levels, higher education, and employment in especially women- and National Resistance
Movement (NRM)-aligned organizations. Further, legislation to better protect women’s rights in the domestic realm was passed.
Community Development
In impoverished communities, community development interventions often become a focus for governments and non-government actors. SOCADIDO, one of the development actors in the region, implemented a FAL program with a goal of contributing to improved livelihoods.
However, a historical perspective of community development efforts in Uganda and an understanding of the complexities of community development work in Uganda, as in many parts of the developing world, is premised on a deficit perspective. In faulting the natives, the
“modernization” mission lost its appeal as it was regarded by its critics as a means to detract
“from the fundamental changes in the basic structures of capitalist liberal democracy, inherited from colonial rule and carefully protected in negotiated independence processes” (Fiedrich et al.,
2003, p. 43). However, “empowerment” easily substitutes for modernization, since in both cases the mission is to enable someone to overcome something: personal deficiency in the former and dysfunctional institutions—social, political and economic—in the latter. Accordingly, development programs, including skills training, leadership, non-formal education, and literacy programs, are implemented to afford opportunities for participants to develop the capacity to manage their lives better.
In relation to this study, Fiedrich et al. (2003) underscored the need for contextualized interpretations to avoid exaggerated accounts of empowerment when the social environment is discounted. For instance, issues of hygiene and sanitation have a long history since colonial times in Uganda and Bangladesh (Friedrich et al.’s research site), thereby increasing the 51 propensity of participants to adopt related practices that would mark them as modern. Similarly, the economic crisis of the 1970s opened up spaces for women’s entrepreneurship, thus affecting gender relations in Uganda (Decker, 2014) and the adoption of a gender policy by the government in the 1980s enhanced women’s achievement in different ways (Tripp, 2000).
Kalman (2005), Robinson-Pant (2000a, 2000b), and Fiedrich et al. (2003) showed how agency may be manifested in acts of appropriation, resistance, conformity, accommodation, and collaboration for purposes different from the Western view. In her research in Sudanese refugee camps, for example, Greany (2008) concurred with Fiedrich et al. (2003) that strategies women participants adapt as they “wriggle and wrangle within their specific circumstances are more realistic than being confrontational” (p.59). In these forms of agency, Macleod (1992) noted,
“power relationships should be viewed as an ongoing relationship of struggle, a struggle complicated by women’s own contradictory subjectivity and ambiguous purposes” (as cited in
Ahearn, 2001, p. 55).
A common source of frustration in development practice arises from equating individualistic tendencies with progress as opposed to the sense of community inherent in indigenous cultures. Fiedrich et al. (2003) urged development practitioners to transcend this bias and “struggle to understand non-linear and non-individualized forms of agency and power relationships that underpin them” (p. 4). The above text may suggest that when adult literacy programs are conceptualized from a skewed development paradigm, a conflict with cultural values may render some practices and values difficult to adopt.
Historical Background of Teso
Prior to colonization, Teso was an acephalous or chiefless society (Jones, 2009; Okalany,
1973; Vincent, 1977) with clan leaders. Teso was and continues to be a patrilineal society. 52
Following colonization, Teso region made remarkable strides in adapting to cotton growing, which “helped transform the fortunes of the Uganda Protectorate” (Thomas & Scott, 1935;
Vincent, 1982, as cited in Jones, 2009, p. 73). Soon the Iteso thrived on cotton, which enabled them to stock large numbers of cattle7, which became a symbol of wealth and status.
However, a period of reversal, strewn with economic and political challenges, hit the region. With the global economic collapse of the 1970s, cotton lost its value as a cash crop. In the 1980s-1990s, serious political upheaval gripped the country, and particularly the Teso sub- region. The loss of many lives and property, together with long internment in IDP camps8, devastated the Teso economy9, reducing the people to dependence on humanitarian assistance.
Jones’s (2009) survey data below in a village in Teso reflects the stunted nature of recovery in the Teso sub-region as a whole since the insurgency period10. Table 2 shows that the average wealth in 2002 was only one-fifth of what was reported in 1985.
7 “Up to the 1970s, it was not uncommon for the richest man in a sub-parish to own two or three hundred head. Cattle were a way of signaling social status, a way for boys to become men, providing the most important part of the bride-price paid during marriage negotiations” (Lawrence, 1957; Vincent, 1968 in Jones, 2009, p, 48). 8People were hastily herded into internment or concentration camps by the Museveni government with the aim of wiping out insurgents from the villages. This exercise “was characterized by extreme and unforgiving violence (Vincent, 1999, p. 122 in Jones, 2009, p. 53). 9“As soon as the cattle raiders hit a particular area, the local economy floundered (Henriques, 2002, p. 18). The raiding involved not only the stealing of cattle, but also the burning of huts, the theft of ploughs and hand-hoes, and the looting of stores of grain and flour (Mudoola, 1991, p. 244)” (Jones, 2009, p. 48). 10He compares the household wealth or assets which included livestock (cattle, goats, sheep, chicken,etc.) and household items such as mattresses, bicycles, sewing machines, iron boxes, and so on among 88 households in 1985, 1991, and 2002. Notwithstanding the associated limitations such as the interviewees’ ability to recall with precision the changing market prices for items, the author comments that the data are a crude indicator of the collapse of the region’s economy and “are much more in line with popular opinion than the national survey data”(Jones, 2009, p. 57). 53
Table 1
Declining Livelihoods
Year Combined asset wealth of the 88 Asset wealth per household households surveyed 1985 Ush 287,594,525 Ush 3,268,120 US$ 164,340 US$ 1,867 1991 Ush 35,588,900 Ush 404,419 US$ 20,337 US$ 231 2002 Ush 58,390,575 Ush 668,529 US$ 33,366 US$ 379 Source: Jones, 2009, p. 57.
Current Situation
The Teso sub-region has experienced intermittent environmental and socio-political upheavals. The region continued to witness insecurity caused by perpetual cattle raiding by the neighboring Karimojong warriors (1950stodate); the invasion by the Lord’s Resistance Army
(LRA) rebels in 2003; the erratic weather patterns that caused flooding in 2007 and 2010; and prolonged drought in 2008, 2009, 2016, and 2017. These occurrences have often caught the targeted communities unaware, causing havoc and exposing them to extreme economic and social conditions (SOCADIDO, 2012). Repeated disasters have resulted in severe consequences on human settlement, health, agricultural productivity, and physical infrastructure.
Today, the Teso sub-region is almost fully settled into near-normal life mode after the insurgencies. Communities are active and intent on their own recovery and the improvement of their quality of life. The resilience of the people is evident in the persistent attempts at development initiatives spearheaded by various actors, including government, civil society organizations (CSOs), religious organizations, and individuals. Increasingly, development actors point out the need to enable communities to dialogue and collaborate with local governments 54 directly, while holding the governments accountable, as a way to create sustainability in development efforts (Mutengu, 2011; SOCADIDO, 2014; UK Aid Match, 2014; USAID, 2016a;
WFP, 2013). On the other hand, SOCADIDO (2012) recognized the resourcefulness in communities, noting that:
The grassroots communities are capable of coming up with solutions that are significantly responsive to their local conditions when provided with resources over a sufficient amount of time. Their solutions are also more integrated and holistic (i.e., risk reduction combined with environmental protection, cultural preservation, poverty reduction, improvement of basic living standards and income generation). Women are natural though invisible disaster responders and mitigators. This is highlighted in the role they play in their families and communities (in health, education and childcare) and in their work outside the home. Their roles need to be seen, recognized and resourced. (p. 4)
Food Security Situation
Following the most recent long dry spells in Uganda (May-July 2016 and October-March
2017), “the proportion of food-secure population (phase 111) has declined from 83% in July 2016 to 69% in January 2017. An estimated 10.9 million people experienced acute food insecurity
(phase 2 and 3), of which 1.6 million (5%) are in a crisis (phase 3)” (USAID, 2017, p. 10). A national mapping of the food insecurity situation showed 10% of the population in Teso in crisis,
57% in stressed, and 33% in minimal phases. Unfortunately, the research site was among the worst-hit areas in the country—crisis phase—with neither food availability nor food access. This pattern has been recurrent. For instance, the same agency described Teso and Northern Uganda
11The USAID (2017a) described the IPC Phases as: “Phase 1: Minimal More than four in five households are able to meet essential food and non-food needs without engaging in a non-typical, unsustainable strategies to access food and income, including any reliance on humanitarian assistance Phase 2: Stressed Even with humanitarian assistance, at least one in five households in the area will have the following or worse: Minimally adequate food consumption, but are unable to afford some essential non-food expenditures without engaging in irreversible coping strategies Phase 3: Crisis Even with humanitarian assistance, at least one in five households in the area will have the following or worse: Food consumption gaps with high or above usual malnutrition, OR are marginally able to meet minimum food needs only with accelerated depletion of livelihood assets that will lead to food consumption gaps Phase 4: Even with humanitarian assistance, at least one in five households in the area will have the following or worse: Large food consumption gaps resulting in very high acute malnutrition and excess mortality, OR extreme loss of livelihood assets that will lead to food consumption gaps in the short term Phase 5: Even with humanitarian assistance, at least one in five households in the area will have an extreme lack of food and other basic needs where starvation, death and destitution are evident.” 55 as presenting “a few pockets of stress (phase 2) in areas that are prone to flooding” (USAID,
2017a, p.7), adding that “this may suggest an urgency to enhance food production and conservation, while simultaneously addressing disaster risk reduction mechanisms” (p. 9). Table
2 below compares the percentage of the population in Uganda and in Teso sub-region that was affected by food insecurity in January 2017.
Table 2
Food insecurity in Uganda and Teso region, January 2017 Phase 1 (Minimal) Phase 2(Stress) Phase 3(Crisis) Uganda 69% 26% 5% Teso region 33% 57% 10% (Adapted from USAID, 2017a)
Health Indicators
The FAL curriculum covered topics in health. According to USAID (2014), the Teso sub- region had 68% access to clean water, which is slightly above the national average of 65%, with a 91% functionality of water sources. Sanitation coverage in Teso region was 77% with
Okunguro district scoring lowest in the region at 59% (USAID, 2014, p. 20). The clay soil type in Okunguro district results in damage of pit latrines and contamination of water sources due to water logging. Yet, “general hand washing is also not widely practiced (39%) in the region, thus predisposing the population to diarrhoreal [sic] diseases” (p. 20). Disease prevalence, especially diarrhea and malaria, slightly affects food utilization, as households have to dispose of food to raise money to meet medical costs (Browne & Glaeser, 2010; USAID, 2014). With an under-five mortality rate of 0.024 per 10,000 children per day, and a child mortality rate of 0.011 per 10,000 children per day, the USAID (2014) report suggested that “the mortality rates in the region are not alarming and within manageable level” (p. 20). 56
Adult Education Provision in Uganda
Adult education programs in Uganda fall under the Ministry of Gender Labor and Social
Development (MGLSD) and are implemented by Adult Literacy Office in the Community Based
Services Department at the districts. In the Ugandan context, adult education is defined as all learning processes, activities, or programs intended to meet the needs of various individuals considered to be adults by society, including out-of-school youths forced by circumstances to play the roles normally played by adults (MGLSD, 2008).
Adult education in Uganda dates to the pre-colonial era when missionaries taught converts to read and write. This was followed by mass literacy campaign in which learners were taught to believe what they read, alongside skills for responsible citizenship that were demonstrated by practices in various domains, for example in agriculture, food storage, and hygiene (Ssekamwa, 1997). Later the colonial administration, of necessity, introduced a better formal education to select a few natives who would later replace the colonialists at independence
(Cooper, 1996). Thus, the legacy that segregated education in Uganda bears is that of individual transformation through enlightenment, earning one a privileged social status. To create a civic spirit, the colonialists introduced clubs such as the Mothers Union, YMCA, Salvation Army, and
Catholic Action to detribalize and foster democratic organization among the natives (Fiedrich et al., 2003).
Oketch and Carrhill (2001) revealed that in a bid to eradicate illiteracy, a combined government and NGO effort supported literacy programs after independence. The moderate results achieved were soon disrupted by perpetual civil strife that, more or less, brought an end to adult literacy education in Uganda. However, the a sudden boost to adult literacy came in 2001 after the program had been acknowledged by government and included in the Poverty 57
Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) as a priority for poverty eradication (MGLSD, 2008). The
Ugandan government, which plays the most significant role in the promotion of literacy through both formal and non-formal education, adopts the UNESCO definition, and distinguishes between basic and functional literacy.
Accordingly, for basic literacy: “A person is literate who can with understanding read and write a simple statement on his everyday life.” On the other hand,
A person is functionally literate who can engage in all those activities in which literacy is
required for effective functioning of his group and community and also for enabling him
to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his own and the community’s
development. (UNESCO, 2006, p. 22)
Although in Uganda, literacy programs may have different definitions for literacy, they all delineate the individual’s ability to understand printed text and to communicate through print
(NALSIP, 2001).
However, the NALSIP recognizes the pluralistic concepts of literacy skills as continuous rather than as fixed levels of mastery, explaining that it is useful to regard a certain level of fluency in reading and writing as “basic” in the sense that its attainment greatly facilitates the further development of these skills. The document points out that these skills are of special importance due to their responsiveness to a wider variety of situations and are a base upon which diverse activities and further learning can build. “Literacy is therefore seen as a key learning tool for knowledge, skills, values and attitudes required by human beings to develop their capacities and to participate fully in development” (EFA, 2006, p. 1). Current efforts by government and non-government actors reflect a staggering scenario with government funding only 15% of the
NALSIP budget (MGLSD, 2011). 58
Although 74% of Ugandans were deemed literate in 2017, rural-urban and gender disparities are high, as shown in Table 3.A number of factors explain these disparities. Urban areas attract literate people for formal employment. The literate people will more likely send their children to school for some education. Culturally, women were denied formal education, and most of the older female population lives in rural areas. Notwithstanding the change in the trend with the government Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy, girls’ completion rates are lower than boys’12.An emerging phenomenon is an increasing dropout of boys at elementary school, as seen in the research site (UBOS, 2017).
Table 3
Literacy rates in Uganda in selected years 2005/2006 2009/2010 Male Female Total Male Female Total Urban 89% 83% 86% 90% 86% 88% Rural 74% 58% 66% 77% 62% 69% Total 76% 63% 69% 79% 66% 73% 2012/2013 2016/2017 Male Female Total Male Female Total Urban 89% 77% 83% 91% 84% 87% Rural 74% 50% 61% 77% 61% 68% Total 78% 57% 67% 81% 67% 74% Source: UBOS (2014, 2018)
Research Site
Amuge Sub-County
Amuge sub-county is located in Okunguro district with a population of 166,230 (51% females), and Sanghai county. Of the 10,828 households in Okunguro district, 71.2% are headed by males, 28.8% are female-headed. Besides, a total of 30 households (0.3%) are headed by
12 Completion rates for boys and girls were 21% and 15% in 2012/13, and 14% and 12% in 2016/17. 59 children aged 10 to 17 years, while 19.4% of the households (2,099 households) are headed by youth between the ages 18 and 30. Households headed by older persons, aged 60 years and above were 2,723, accounting for 25.1% of the total number of households (UBOS, 2017).
Widowhood is on the increase resulting from chronic illness, HIV/AIDS, and killings by the
Karamojong warriors to the north of the district. A recent phenomenon has been the emergence of child-headed families, which is attributed to orphan hood in very difficult circumstances of poverty such that the children have to almost entirely fend for themselves as a household, with little if any support from relatives. Older persons may live independently from their children, thus constituting a household, or may take over responsibility of orphans, bouncing back as key providers in households where one or both parents died.
Sanghai county (population 60,332) comprised three sub-counties including Amuge.
Apopong parish is one of three parishes in Amuge sub-county and mostly surrounded by a lake
(a sort of peninsula). Apopong is the most densely populated parish in Amuge sub-county, with an average of seven people per household. Amuge sub-county comprises three villages—Obule,
Aminit, and Kelim—and was historically inhabited by the two ethnic groups—the Iteso and the
Bakenye—with the Iteso constituting more than 80% of the population. The former participants of the FAL program hailed from these three villages. A dirt road, the “Emong-Okunguro highway”13 is a dirt, all-weather road and major access route from Soroti town through Amuge sub-county into Okunguro district. Mayi trading center is an emerging hub attracting travelers and traders from the neighboring districts who purchase produce and fish cheaply from Mayi.
Apopong parish also enjoys ferry transportation that links Okunguro district to Tiling district to the south. To enhance its position in the Teso sub-region, the government made and fulfilled
13 With its sarcastic overtones, for the failure of the government to attend to the often extremely dilapidated Soroti- Moroto road, a major highway linking the eastern part of the country to the furthermost northeastern sub-region. 60
(albeit long delayed) its political campaign promises to construct the access road and the ferry transportation.
Apopong’s economic activities were mainly agriculture, fishing, and trading. The national household survey carried out in 2014 showed that 84.7% of households in Sanghai county live off subsistence farming as the main source of earning, compared to 69% of all
Ugandan households. The report indicated that households engaged in either crop growing or livestock farming comprised 97.4% of the households in Sanghai county. This data may suggest that some households produce food but do not sell their produce. However, regarding meal consumption in 2014, 14.5% of households in Amuge village ate less than two meals a day, compared to the national figure of 11%. The situation was worse in the Sanghai county, with
26.9%, but worst in Okunguro district, which registered 28.7% of households that had less than two meals a day. That such high figures could be registered immediately after the harvest season
(the census took place between August 28 and September 7, 2014) may suggest inadequacy of food stocks and point to the feeding patterns in households, and overall to inadequate nutrition
(UBOS, 2010; FANTA-2, 2010). In Okunguro district, 95.2% of households had at least one member engaged in a non-agricultural, household-based enterprise, indicating that agricultural products alone did not sustain households.
As one looped into Amuge sub-county from Soroti town, one noticed the scanty vegetation cover soon after the swampy portion of the road. I recall that about 20 years back, before the road was constructed and we travelled on a motorable track into Okunguro district, this area had thick tree cover. The settlement of mainly mud and wattle (dirt and reeds) and unburnt brick walls with either grass or papyrus thatch has expanded closer to the swamp. There are countable iron-roofed houses with burnt-brick walls. The permanency nature of construction 61 materials determined the status of the dwelling, for instance, mud and wattle, and unburnt bricks and grass constituted a temporary dwelling. On the other hand, permanent dwellings comprised burnt brick walls with cement plastering and iron roof. The Household Survey Report indicated that 11.9% households in Amuge village (compared to 44% countywide) resided in dwellings constructed with permanent wall material. Similarly, 10.7% households in Amuge (compared to
70% nationally) resided in dwellings constructed with permanent roof, while 8.6% and 35% in
Amuge village and countrywide, respectively, resided in dwellings constructed with permanent floor. Of the households in Sanghai county, 84.5% had temporary dwellings, with 99.5%
(numbering 10,777) rated as not decent.
The water basin (five minutes’ drive across on the access road) was part of Lake Bisina that lies in eastern Uganda. Again, the water basin never dried up, especially at this time of the year (March-May) when the rains were expected back to offset the agricultural season. The terrain was largely flat and sloping slightly toward the lake. With the rich sandy-clay soils,
Okunguro district was renowned for perennial good crop yields and livestock production.
However, because of the soil type, pits easily collapsed, posing a challenge in the construction of latrines with reasonable depth or stability, contributing to one of the lowest latrine coverage of
36% in Sanghai county, against a national figure of 90%. In regard to waste disposal, 36.5 %
(representing 3,954 households in Sanghai county) properly disposed of solid waste into rubbish pits and pit latrines.
Kelim Village
Most of the activity during the research took place in Kelim village. The most conspicuous feature in Kelim village was Mayi trading center. Mayi “center,” as it was popularly called, was a line of small buildings on either side of the road that emerged after the construction 62 of the Emong-Okunguro access road in 2001. The 40 or so structures14 along the Gweri-Katakwi road constructed in commercial style, with residences at the back while the front could serve as a shop. About 12 shops, randomly scattered, traded in produce, motor/bicycle spare parts, or essential commodities (e.g., soap, salt, sugar, matchboxes, paraffin, basic clothing, etc.). There was also a hair salon, a medical clinic, and a video hall. Between the road and the buildings was a 15-meter corridor on each side of the road. Under two trees, at two different spots, bicycle artisans repaired bicycles in this space. Outside the shops on some verandas, the shopkeepers sat with friends sometimes playing “mweso” (a popular local board game) or listening to music as they watched the traffic on the road or kept an eye on small solar panels that were re-charging under the sunshine. Although 52% of households countrywide used kerosene lamps, only 32.9% in Okunguro district did, suggesting that 67.1% used solar energy (UBOS, 2017). All households in Amuge sub-county used wood fuel for cooking, akin to the 94% households that used wood fuel nationally. There were more promises from the government to link piped water from the lake and to install electricity in Mayi trading center (Fieldnotes, interview with LC 1 Aminit village).
The primary school. The primary school was a key feature in Kelim village as even the
Damasiko Health Center 11, a single house, was largely non-functional two decades ago. Adodoi primary school had a spacious compound15; five classroom blocks of three classrooms each easily spread out with a line of four staff houses opposite the school. At one end of the staff houses was a huge mango tree that was used for many community meetings. The FAL class had
14 These were more or less complete, but there were many incomplete structures too, particularly at the periphery, indicating a continuous expansion of the trading center. 15 By Ugandan standards, the numerous sprouting educational institutions are crammed up together with barely any space (e.g., for a school playground, school assembly, or even just for the school population to hang out). 63 met in this space in the past. This Catholic-founded—but now government-run—primary school had a chapel at the back, adjacent to the school playground.
The school children spread out in the compound during recess, usually playing among themselves. The enrollment was just average considering the existing infrastructure, and this was for two reasons: the staffing level was low and the dropout was high, especially in the upper primary classes. However, as I noted in my discussion with the school head teacher and one of the senior staff on paying a casual visit to the school, “the famine amplified the low attendance as many children either reported to school for the earlier part of the day and then left, or kept away from school altogether” (Fieldnotes, 05/02/2017).
Education. Drawing on the UBOS (2017) data, I use the county data as a proxy for
Amuge sub-county, because sub-county statistics on education were not available. With the introduction of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy in the mid-90s, the national gross enrollment in primary education soared to more than 100% from about 65% (UNDP, 2017). The removal of fee-payment was a strong incentive for the poor to enroll in primary education. In
Okunguro district, the average net enrolment was 84.5%, falling a little below the national figure of 87%. Girls’ enrolment was 86.5%, higher than boys’ enrollment (82.5%). However, the transition to high school registered a dismal 27.6%, with 29.3% of boys and 25.6% of girls participating in secondary education.
In Sanghai county, girls drop out for various reasons including early pregnancy and early marriage. Girls aged 12 to 17 years who had already given birth in 2014 numbered 331 representing 7.1%, or one in every 15 girls in the age group. An increase in age from 17 to 19 years, however, doubled the number of girls who gave birth by 19 years of age to 850 or 14.3% of girls in that age bracket. This trend may indicate the vulnerability of girls around these ages 64
(12-19 years). From an individual perspective, “vulnerability is a state of being in which a person is likely to be in a risky situation, suffering significant physical, emotional, or mental harm that may result in his/her human rights not being fulfilled” (MGLSD, 2004 as cited in UBOS, 2017, p.4). Confirming this phenomenon, 901 girls (5%) between the ages of 12 and 17 years had ever been in a marriage union.
However, in Sanghai county, persons aged 6 to 15 years who did not attend school totaled 6,835, representing 13.4% of the age group, meaning that one in every six children did not attend school in 2014. The number of male unschooled children was slightly higher than the females, standing at 14.8% males and 11.9% females.
According to UBOS (2017), illiteracy was defined as lack of the ability to read and write with understanding in any language. Given the high dropout from school, 10,943 (41%) persons
18 and above were illiterate. Males aged 18 years and above who were illiterate were 27.7%, while females aged 18 years and above who were illiterate were 53.3%, twice the number of boys. These figures were about 2% higher than the national average figures for dropout, which stood at 40.4%, 26.2%, and 52.3%, for the overall, boys, and girls, respectively. In Sanghai county, a total of 2,810 (23.4%) persons aged 18-30 years were illiterate, while illiterate persons aged 60 and above were 3,149 accounting for 72.1% of the age group.
SOCADIDO’s Functional Adult Literacy Program (FAL)
This research study was conducted at the Soroti Catholic Diocese Integrated
Development Organization (SOCADIDO) that sponsored the FAL program in the rural north- eastern region of Uganda. SOCADIDO, the Social Services and Development department of
Soroti Catholic Diocese, came into existence with the creation of the Diocese in 1981. The 65 organization operated in all the districts that form Teso sub-region of eastern Uganda (including
Amuria, Bukedea, Kaberamaido, Katakwi, Kumi, Soroti, Ngora, and Serere).
SOCADIDO’s community development interventions variously targeted women, men, children, youth, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and persons living with HIV/AIDS.
Specific development initiatives were in agriculture, health, water, and sanitation, environment conservation, micro-enterprise, gender and development, development education, formal education, and functional adult literacy.
The goals of the Functional Adult Literacy program were (1) to enable adult learners to acquire reading, writing and numeracy skills; (2) to raise awareness about relevant issues to the participants (e.g., health, agriculture, hygiene and sanitation, environmental protection, income generation, and family life) for improved of quality of life; and (3) to enable adult learners to participate in decision making in the family and community.
Participants expectations on joining the FAL program included: (a) To learn to read and write so that they could interpret medicine dosages correctly, read sign boards, help children with school-work, read and write letters (personal and official), take notes during community meetings/trainings, calculate sums of money correctly, read the Bible and prayer books, and so on and (b) to learn about issues including agriculture, health, nutrition, home management, environment conservation, civic education, psychosocial support, and so on. Kitu, for instance, desired to learn how to read sign boards and calculate sums of money to manage her business that entailed travelling to Soroti town; Dadas wished to polish her literacy skills in order to sing in the church choir and take notes during trainings; Amojong joined the literacy class to gain knowledge and skills to improve her food production and home management. The FAL program employed a combination of approaches in literacy facilitation including the traditional, 66
Freirean16, and REFLECT17 methods. Freirean methods entailed discussion of a visual or audio prompt (e.g., photo, picture, poster, role play, riddle, song, dance) with social or political relevance and then using that prompt and ensuing discussion as the basis for literacy lessons and identifying how to take action to address community problems. The REFLECT approach, on the other hand, might include using mapping, diagramming, matrices, ranking exercises, calendars, and other visual methods to identify and discuss community issues such as poverty, market for agricultural produce, environmental conservation, domestic violence, and so on. These activities involve the use of literacy and numeracy.
Although the core group began as a Catholic women’s community development effort, participation in FAL was open to non-Catholics. I coordinated the FAL program for 14 years
(1995-2009) while working with SOCADIDO. During this period, five cohorts of 51 classes
(1,500 participants) graduated from the FAL program after participating in the program for two years on average.
This study, seeking to find out the uses and outcomes of literacy learning, involved participants who graduated in 2005. This group was identified by SOCADIDO as one that most likely continued to apply literacy learning because the group was involved in various literacy- demanding activities. Accordingly, this group would provide a longitudinal perspective on the uses of literacy learning.
Participants in the FAL program were predominantly women (99%) whose expectations were to: learn to write their names, count and calculate sums of money, read text such as
16 The use of codes for conscientization in literacy teaching. 17 A fusion of Freirean and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques, REFLECT stands for Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques (see Archer & Cottingham, 1996). 67 personal and official letters, learn improved farming, hygiene and sanitation, and environment conservation practices, among others.
The FAL program combined literacy (reading, writing, and numeracy) learning with livelihood education (i.e., the functional component), providing training in a range of domains. These included among others agriculture, micro-enterprise development, health (HIV/AIDS, hygiene and sanitation), environmental conservation, and family life education. The program planners’ assumption was that participants would translate the literacy learning into literacy and livelihood practices to improve their lives.
Sample Selection
In seeking to understand the uses of literacy and its related outcomes, a multi-sampling strategy was employed. I elected to carry out the study on a FAL class that was sponsored by
SOCADIDO 10 years ago. The organization sustained its relationship with the former FAL participants through community development groups. Having worked with SOCADIDO in the
FAL program then, I had access to the participants, a key determinant in choosing the study setting. I employed a case study approach that enabled me to garner a nuanced view of the uses of the literacy learning within the bounded entity (Stake, 1995) of the former adult literacy class because of its closeness to “real-life situations and its multiple wealth of details” (Flyvbjerg,
2006, p. 223).
Purposive sampling: Literacy class. To select a literacy class, I enlisted the help of
SOCADIDO staff and their administrative records to purposively sample one information-rich case (class). I worked closely with one staff member, my assistant in applying the REFLECT methodology during the focus group discussions. The first selection criterion was that 10 to 12 years had passed since the class graduated. Choosing 2005 as the focal year narrowed the choices 68 to 22 literacy classes. Second, I reviewed SOCADIDO records to determine which classes had especially active members, that is, people who were involved in development-oriented18 activities at personal, household, and/or community levels. I reasoned that groups with more active members might encounter more situations that required using literacy. I selected a class that had 32 participants who had graduated in 2005. Five of those had since passed away.
Maximum variation sampling: Focus group participants. After selecting the case
(literacy class), I met with my assistant facilitator for the REFLECT method and the former FAL facilitator to constitute four groups of eight participants each. With the aid of both the FAL class register and the facilitator’s knowledge of the former FAL participants, we used maximum variation sampling to form groups with a cross-section of participants with varied characteristics.
We selected participants in each group who would later highlight the “significance of various circumstances” (Flyvbjerg, 2006, p. 230) that might shape how literacy is deployed, including age, sex, dis/ability, marital status, number of children, wealth and education status, and literacy and livelihood capabilities.
Extreme case sampling: Focal participants. I used extreme case sampling, ideal for maximizing the utility of information from small samples of unusual cases (Flyvbjerg, 2006), to select eight19 focal participants, two from each focus group, for in-depth interviews and participant observation. The focal participants selected were outstanding successes in the application of the literacy learning based on “member-identified” categories (Lofland, 1976, as cited in Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995, p. 37) of the uses of the literacy learning. The categories
18 Development-oriented activities may follow the trajectory of the topics covered in the FAL class including agriculture, health including HIV/AIDS, income generation, environment conservation, civic education, responsible parenthood, etc. 19 Ten focal participants were interviewed and followed. Two participants were replaced when they did not show up on the appointed day for the interview. However, in the course of the research they expressed a desire to be interviewed and followed up. I took the discretion to bring them on board especially because they bore some aspects that the other focal participants lacked. 69 included literacy and numeracy use and livelihood practices such as crop growing, animal rearing, poultry keeping, and vegetable growing. Others were hygiene-related such as pit latrine, bathing shelter, plate rack, rubbish pit, and kitchen, among others.
Since my substantive interest was to explain how the former FAL participants applied the literacy learning in their lives and the outcomes of applying the literacy and livelihood practices, my criteria for selecting the focal participant were: (1) involvement in several literacy and livelihood practices and (2) significant outcomes realized from engaging in the literacy and livelihood practices. I will next explain how I proceeded with the selection of the focal participants.
At the end of each focus group discussion, I requested that two participants volunteer to participate in in-depth interviews, with the goal of shedding more light on how they apply the literacy learning in their daily lives, as well as the challenges and benefits of applying the literacy learning. I informed the participants that I would accompany them in daily activities that were related to literacy learning. I clarified that this closer study of the two volunteers’ activities would involve visiting their homes and various sites where they engaged in literacy and livelihood practices, such as their farms, market, church, school, and so on. I also informed them that at some point I would interview a close associate, such as a spouse, child, or friend, about how they apply the literacy learning.
The members of the groups were forthcoming as in each of the four focus groups more than two people volunteered to participate further as focal participants. However, the groups discussed which participants would best represent the group. On one occasion as I waited outside while they decided who would best “represent” them among the volunteers, I could follow the 70 conversation that went on inside the classroom. I later wrote in my fieldnotes (3/11/2017) as indicated below:
Participant 1: I don’t have some of those things (the facilities) … Participant 2: For me it is only a latrine that I don’t have, it recently collapsed, and I have not re-placed my lorena (fuel conserving stove)…. Participant 3: But you need to be able to read and write too! They are looking at the two areas...improving your life (livelihood practices) and the literacy… Participant 4: I have many of them (artifacts of the livelihood practices) but I can write only my name…. Participant 2: I write only my name. If it wasn’t for the work I do (livelihood practice20) how could I support my family singly…. I manage my work
There was a din as everybody was talking about what they had in place and what they could read and write, some more excitedly than others. Then someone seemed to take charge:
Participant 5: Hey, we are spending too long. Let’s decide on the two people... There is w, x, y (names the volunteers). Z, did you also volunteer, I am not sure…
Then they compared the standing of the four volunteers, decided on the two participants and called me back into the room. They presented the two names.
But there was something unsettling about the criteria for selecting the two participants, which is reflected in my analytical note below:
Who determines which skills and practices thereof that a participant should learn, have and deploy? Supposing a participant has no use for the literacy skills, do we penalize them for not using them? Who are the ‘we’ and what is our agenda? What is the participant’s agenda? Which agenda counts? Which agenda should count? How do the two (agenda) fit with each other? ‘Should they even fit’? It seems tricky/not straightforward to point out who is (or who is not) progressing here based on the criteria I have given…
As I reflected further, I felt guilt. Was I imposing a lens that did not quite matter to the participants in the application of their literacy abilities, I asked myself. What was I overlooking here or even failing to see? Then I thought, we had an agenda at the beginning of the FAL classes, which was to improve the quality of life. Consensually, it was expected that increased
20 She religiously ran a micro-enterprise. 71 awareness, coupled with literacy capabilities, might contribute to lifting participants out of food and income deficiency and poor health. This could be measured while allowing for flexibility in individual participant’s choices of what to focus on, given their specific contexts. Therefore, if individual participants thought that they indeed applied literacy abilities to their contentment, I would examine how literacy learning had contributed to a given condition. In short, I would measure perceived change in the participant’s lives.
In this study, the close associates of the former FAL participants (e.g., spouse or friend) of the four former FAL participants were recruited to provide further information on the use (or not) of the literacy learning and the related outcomes. Similarly, three local community leaders— the civic, religious and opinion leader—were interviewed on the contextual factors influencing the use (or not) of the literacy learning.
Unit of Analysis and Units of Observation
My units of analysis and my focus of the study were the former FAL participants because they had the capacity to inform or reveal the topic studied (Babbie, 2007; Baptiste, 2008): how participants applied literacy learning in their daily lives. Interviews with spouses of the former
FAL participants are my units of observation, as they will shed light or provide additional information on the unit of analysis.
Further, the artifacts that the former FAL participants used, including documents and objects, will be both units of analysis, because they illuminate other ways that the former FAL participants used the literacy learning, as well as units of observation, as they provide more information on how the literacy learning is translated into specific literacy and livelihood practices. Thus, they will be useful in triangulation (ox-ploughs, yoke, ox-cart, sprayer, etc.). 72
Data Collection Procedures
I gained entry to the field through SOCADIDO, my former employer. The research began in March and ran through early August 2017, when I had my last de-briefing meeting with the participants. I went to the research site quite irregularly as my schedule depended on local circumstances such as disease, famine, and politics.21 I commuted from Soroti town to Kelim22 village, which was a 30-minute drive, making 23 trips in all. I made more trips in March and
April and two in May before I picked up again at a rather slow pace in June and July (I spread the trips so that participants would have some time to work in their farms) and culminated on
Aug 5 with the de-briefing meeting with all the study participants.
Qualitative research privileges a multi-method approach to data collection so that triangulation of the different data types helps “counteract various possible threats to the validity of the analysis,” while “the difference between the sets or types of data may be just as important and illuminating” (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995, p. 184; see also Fetterman, 1998).
Accordingly, my data sources were focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, participant observations, documents and artifacts, and my field notes. These data sources complemented each other throughout the field work, enhancing a nuanced understanding of how the participants used the literacy learning in their daily lives.
Focus Group Discussions
With the help of my assistant facilitator, I conducted four focus group discussions (FGD), which were held in several locations: one in the Grade 7 classroom of the primary school, two in the Catholic chapel behind the school, and one other under a big mango tree about 20 meters
21 Teso was severely hit by meningitis and hepatitis B, so I waited for clearance by the WHO before I could venture. Then famine gripped the district including Kelim village. In May, there were contentious political campaigns for the Members of Parliament that were wrought with violence. 22 All place names and participant’s names have been changed to protect their identities. 73 from the chapel. Unlike the two-hour duration that Onwuegbuzie, Dickinson, Leech, & Zoran
(2009) recommended, each of the focus group discussions of eight participants lasted about three hours. We (my assistant and I) found this “extension” necessary to exhaustively discuss the graphic (see below) while maintaining a coherence of ideas that would be lost if we broke off the discussion to continue later.
At each of the FGDs, I read the consent form to the participants and obtained their unwritten consent. My reason for seeking unwritten consent, as indicated in the IRB, was not to raise undue expectations that endorsing a document invites in this part of the world. However, I clarified to the participants that if they wished to withdraw from the study at any point they should feel free to do so. To avoid my motives being misconstrued because of my previous role in the organization, I emphasized that the purpose of the study was not to fault anyone but simply to find out what people were doing with the literacy learning.
The FGDs were audiotaped, and this facilitated the generation of data and insights on how, why, and what the outcomes were of applying the literacy learning, as well as the contextual factors influencing the application of the practices, information “that would be less accessible without the interaction found in a group” (Davies, 1999, p. 105). I used a semi- structured set of guiding questions to give some direction to the discussion. However, we (the assistant facilitator and I) kept probing at length to understand clearly the link between, for example, a named practice and the literacy learning and/or a named outcome.
FGDs were not only culturally appropriate in this setting (given the communal mindset), but the use of the graphic “Our Literacy Journey” promoted both participation and learning among the participants, and it facilitated a transparency in the selection of the eight focal participants. This is in keeping with Smith (2012), who decried the passive role of indigenous 74 peoples in the predominantly “extractive” research promoted by elites. The FGDs and interviews were conducted in Ateso, the main local language in the study site. Although there were Bakenye participants as well, they were proficient in the Ateso language and were comfortable with using it during the focus group discussions and the individual interviews with no translation required.
I interacted with the study participants at the focus groups as required of ethnographic methods (Atkinson, 1990, Britzman, 1995; Clifford, 1986; Creswell, 2007; Davies, 1999;
Emerson et al., 2011; Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995; Jeffrey & Troman, 2004). First, because I hail from the Teso region and lived in Soroti town during the research, I learned the latest nuances in spoken language, which I applied during the study. This helped create some ease as it showed from the outset that I was more or less like them. To further diffuse social distance, I dressed simply to fit into the community. Then I also ensured that my assistant took the photographs during the focus groups, which helped in two ways; first, it avoided disrupting the discussion since I noticed that more attention was cast on me, and secondly, I did not appear as sophisticated23—using this technology—at least at the beginning.24
My previous relationships with participants helped me establish rapport and also lengthened the focus group because of the exchange of greetings. Besides the cheerfulness on meeting the participants, I also shook hands with and hugged them by way of greeting, as we would a long-lost friend. “Thanks for remembering us … I/we did not think we would ever see you again!” was a refrain I heard when I met each focus group. I took time to inquire after their
23 I discovered from the outset that the participants were aware that I left SOCADIDO to go overseas for studies, so perhaps I was now considered “exotic” and these were some of the markers that might reinforce rather than diffuse the social distance. 24 During later encounters with the participants at the individual interviews and observations, it seemed inevitable that I should do the photography myself. 75 individual and household/family well-being, listening intently as they briefly relayed their different touching stories, which often ended in “Konye ejeni elope” (but God knows it all).25
So they took turns greeting me; it was not rushed. Sometimes, we looked each other in the eye, that understanding look; I read pain, and then we hugged one more time. Some of the situations included the death of loved one—including former FAL participants some of whom had recently (three months prior) succumbed to hepatitis—a terminally ill family member, or failing vision.
For some, it was more on the brighter side. They would say, “Oh, of course I am much older (now)” then, as if to justify the “agedness,” proceed with a tone of pride and a sense of accomplishment to report the advent of “brides” and grandchildren into the families. In one case of a visibly changed participant, I recall replying teasingly a few times, “Oh, that’s why you look so different … you have put on weight26, and you are looking even younger, hey!” And we all laughed lightly; then I moved on to greet the next participant. Amidst the protracted greetings, I heard the comment from all the four groups (sometimes directed at me or as the participants talked amongst themselves but didn’t mind me hearing27) that I had changed: I was grown, I was much bigger (read: fatter) than I was at the time of their FAL classes. I always smiled back and added, “That shows I am older, too!” Such was the excitement at meeting again after 12 good years! These kinds of verbal exchanges and other warm non-verbal cues set the atmosphere that I believe was more relaxed than formal during the focus group discussions, and the tone carried through the research period.
25 This might express a belief in God’s Almighty power to permit and prevent anything from happening, so all is well if it has happened. Also, it was sometimes used to mean God will avenge an injustice. 26 This has a different connotation among a more traditional section of the population in Teso today than among especially the “modern” population. Putting on weight is regarded as a sign of stability—physically, psychologically, and emotionally. It indicates that one is being taken good care of, especially by the husband. Presumably, this was a good thing given the context of the famine. 27 I also understood that this may have been a polite way of passing the message to me. 76
I found the graphic “Our Literacy Journey” that we drew on the ground or floor, to be particularly helpful in getting the participants to re-present visually their personal goals in the literacy program, in the form of a journey that they embarked on 12 years ago with a specific purpose. The focus group discussion painted a picture of what each participant was doing
(literacy and livelihood practices) and the outcomes of engaging in specific activities. In addition, the journey symbolized their individual aspirations.
Figure 2. Ranking and mapping exercise with a focus group in the chapel under construction
Participants agreed that a road from Kelim primary school (where we were) to Toroma
Catholic church or the mission (as they called it) would represent their literacy journey. They drew a road that ran from the center of the picture (where I am standing; see Figure 2) along the 77 blue cards and curved where the participants stand, to end next to the participant carrying a baby.
The three cards at the beginning bore the goals of the FAL program, which the participants indicated were their learning goals as well. The subsequent cards were identity markers along the road, for example the center, a primary school, the sub-county headquarters, the roundabout at the town council, and the mission, which helped to clarify the literacy journey.
After a discussion on the other side of the room where we ranked and scored different literacy and livelihood activities that the participants engaged in, participants came back to complete the map by indicating the point where they thought they might be, given their personal aspirations in the FAL program and what they had achieved with the literacy capabilities. In the graphic above, participants stood toward the end of the graphic, implying that they applied literacy learning in their lives to a larger extent, but needed to do more because—as they claimed that the ranking exercise showed—there were some practices that they did not do but felt that they should.
At the end of each focus group discussion, the participants stepped forward to indicate on the graphic the point they thought they had reached on this “literacy journey,” which, to an extent, also indicated their perceived achievements in relation to their personal aspirations of the literacy education. The participants then explained why they thought they had reached that point on the literacy journey. It was interesting to watch them thoughtfully shift along different points on the literacy journey as each sought their perceived level relative to each other. As previously explained, at the end of each focus group discussion, we selected two participants deemed to be applying the literacy learning relatively more than the others.
During the FGDs, I also endeavored to manage group dynamics to minimize their potential negative impact on the outcomes of the group discussion (Newman, 2008; 78
Onwuegbuzie et al., 2009). For example, I changed my strategy from letting participants speak at will to calling on specific individuals who I thought were rather reserved or overshadowed by the other more vocal participants. I also engaged everyone in constructing the graphic (especially indicating slight changes they wished to make so that the graphic “truly” represented the
(physical) route that they had chosen to draw).
For instance, one group drew the route from Apapai trading center to Soroti town to represent their literacy journey. But one participant who earlier admitted that she was shy about her speech impairment (and the others always laughed at her expression, intelligent though her submissions were28) expressed dissatisfaction with the graphic on the ground pointing out that in reality there were curves along the Gweri-Katakwi road that did not feature on the graphic. The group agreed with her and with my prompting, all began indicating other key features that were omitted from the graphic, like mini-trading centers, the huge television mast a few kilometers before Soroti town, and so on. These features were helpful in aiding the participants, at a later point during the discussion, to locate their positions on the graphic in relation to their accomplishments with the literacy learning.
While moderating the focus group discussion, I also took notes that informed further questions to ask. An assistant moderator proficient in the REFLECT method helped in co-facilitating and later in analyzing and interpreting the FGD data (Onwuegbuzie, 2009), which included the transcripts and the field notes. This was especially significant in developing a shared understanding of the meaning of what was said and unsaid, as well as the actions, consciously or unconsciously done during the focus group discussion. The insights we shared were helpful in illuminating the contextual issues surrounding the application of the literacy
28 I tried to boost the lisping participant’s esteem by overly commending her and even repeating what she said to the group so that they might think differently about her. 79 learning. In addition, these insights helped us sharpen the probing questions to hone in on exactly how the literacy learning influenced the participant’s adoption and application of specific practices.
I took particular interest in argumentative interactions, including divergent views during the focus group discussions as these tended to enrich the data and strengthen the descriptive, interpretive, and theoretical validity (Maxwell, 2005) related to the emergent themes, thereby increasing understanding of the different uses of the literacy learning (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2009).
For instance, although it seemed obvious to a participant that her colleague should place a stone next to the activity “weeding” (because all the group members weeded to increase chances of getting a good harvest), this participant was skeptical and argued that there were times that she did not weed her crops because not only was the ground too hard to dig, but also the crop was damaged by the drought. This clearly showed how farmers may not engage in weeding when they do not see the possibility of a return on investment. In this case, the weather hazard was an environmental factor that precluded the application of a livelihood practice: timely weeding.
Interviews with Focal Participants
In total, 10 focal participants were interviewed instead of the projected eight. The other two participants offered to fill in the gap when the intended participants failed to turn up for the interviews on the appointed day. Since they were rated highly by the group during the selection of the focal participants, and later approved of by the other focal participants, I recruited them.
However, the intended participants showed up later and requested to participate as previously agreed. I recruited them too as I saw no harm in having the four of them. The table below shows the profiles of the 10 focal participants. 80
Table 4
Profiles of Focal Participants Pseudonym Age Marital status Number of Ethnic Highest grade children group completed Asipo 48 Married 10 Atesot 5th grade Kitu 43 Widowed twice 5 Mukenye none Salume 44 Married 6 Atesot 3rdgrade Amojong 67 Widowed 9 Atesot 8th grade Ilebere 51 Married 9 Atesot none Apulegeria 65 Married 3 Atesot none Connie 47 Widowed 7 Atesot 7th grade Sikola 46 Separated 8 Atesot 3rd grade Malisa 46 Married 8 Atesot 4th grade Dadas 44 Married 6 Atesot 7th grade
I conducted in-depth interviews with six of the focal participants in the chapel behind the primary school, and three interviews took place at participants’ homesteads. Using the semi- structured interview script, my questions explored how participants applied the literacy and livelihood practices from the FAL program, the perceived change (if any) in their literacy and livelihood practices owing to the literacy learning, the perceived impact of applying these practices, and the contextual factors influencing the application of the literacy learning.
During the interviews, I also reviewed with them the documents that they kept. I attempted to understand what documents they kept, the source of the documents, why they kept the documents, and the benefits of keeping these documents. I then followed participants around their homesteads as they showed me the different facilities that they had constructed such as pit latrine, bathing shelter, kitchen, fuel conserving stove, goat house, kraal, houses/or huts where they slept, granaries, clothes lines, and so on.
Although I did privilege open-ended questions, interviews allowed for conscientious probing and facilitated the elicitation of in-depth information and reframing of perceptions. One account that a participant gave indicated that she had learned to grow vegetables. I asked which 81 kind of vegetables and her response was: tomatoes, spinach, onions, and cowpeas. I was taken aback by her response because cowpeas are a staple, traditional pulse grown and eaten in Teso and some parts of Uganda. I gently but firmly said, “But we grew cowpeas prior to attending the
FAL classes, didn’t we?” Then she corrected herself, “I learnt to plant these vegetables in a kitchen garden.” This is one instance where probing did not merely add information but transformed an account (Mishler, 1997). Planting a kitchen garden eased procurement of vegetables since one could have a variety of greens in the garden at the backyard. It also was a marker of adoption of modern practices.
The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. I transcribed nearly word-for-word and had very detailed notes. This was an attempt to preserve as much of the participants’ own words as possible that would aid in producing a cultural portrait.
Interviews with Associates
I conducted secondary source interviews with close associates of the focal participants.
These were the husbands or sons that the focal participants recommended, which furnished me with the information regarding their perceptions of the literacy and livelihood practices that the participants apply in their daily lives and why they applied these practices. The associates also explained the perceived challenges and benefits of applying the literacy learning, as well as the difference in the literacy and livelihood practices in the pre-and post-FAL program phases. The interviews with the associates yielded information that aided in data triangulation by confirming issues that the former FAL participants had raised, but also added and clarifying information.
Two cases illustrate this.
One case was Apulegeria’s son who, when younger (about 12 years) and while studying at Kelim primary school, understood the health dangers of not using a pit latrine for fecal 82 disposal. He began digging a pit at home for a latrine, but his mother always got furious and ordered him to “stop wasting time,” arguing “go and weed the cassava instead” when she found him digging the pit. At some point she spanked him for insisting on his latrine project even after he tried to tell her the benefits to the family of having and using a latrine. “But I did not give up,
I insisted further. I would get up to dig the pit in the moonlight,” he said. I asked why he would do this. He explained that when at school he used a latrine, and because he knew the benefits, he wanted to use a latrine at home too. This was telling of the influence of schooling on individual health practices.
The other case was of Kitu’s 16-year-old son who spoke at length about the circumstances surrounding his father’s death. Kitu mentioned the mysterious death of her two husbands and son, stating that at different times, “they were found in the lake.” Her son revealed that the three were murdered over a recurring land conflict, the reason his mother bought land and settled elsewhere with them. Perhaps Kitu deliberately avoided the subject of the underlying cause of death, which her son thought he might share with me; after all, it was a great achievement in his eyes that the family had apparently overcome the challenge. He contrasted his mother’s accomplishments with his father’s irresponsible drinking behavior that had left them no inheritance upon his death.
Participant Observation
Fieldwork, the hallmark of ethnography, relies on participant observation to “investigate experience and represent the social life and social processes that occur in a setting” (Emerson et al., p. 352). In total, I spent about 184 hours doing observations with varying levels of involvement. Observing the focal participants apply the literacy practices enabled me to catalogue opportunities for reading, writing, and numeracy in the community, which was 83 significant in putting the participants’ experiences in context (see Kalman, 2005, on cataloguing literacy-generating and demanding situations).
As participant observer, I attended the Catholic mass where I observed five focal participants singing from the Kopotu Keturoto hymn books; one focal participant was a choir member of the Adodoi chapel. I not only observed three focal participants trading in three different markets—Apapai (daily market), at the auction markets at Apapai, and at the “ferry”— but I also bought some of their foodstuffs. This way, I experienced firsthand the confidence of the participants as they received cash and returned the correct change to me. In fact, I deliberately went by the weekly auction market on the Tuesdays that I was carrying out my research in the area to buy some foodstuffs from them and learn more about their work. The trading in the market involved, among other things, counting money and giving back change, as well as assisting fellow traders and other customers with change.
Two focal participants invited me to visit the Village Savings and Loan Association
(VSLA) that they had initiated. I observed them (as group chairpersons) follow the group accounts in their books and write the figures of the sums of money against each member’s name as the members handed in their weekly savings. The focal persons later compared their records with the treasurer’s records as they balanced the VSLA’s books.
Further, I observed at each meeting the former FAL participants writing their names on the attendance sheet and checking to ensure that they had spelled their names correctly. Later at each of the focus groups, a participant I randomly selected helped to count and write the scores for each activity earlier discussed (e.g., reading personal letters=5) on a number card. In addition,
I observed the focal participants reading portions of the documents that they kept and had 84 willingly shared with me. Finally, in her home, I observed a FAL participant sing a hymn from
Kopotu Keturoto, followed by reading a text from the Bible.
Most of the observations were done at the premises of the focal participants. I observed the focal participants during the in-depth interviews and also during the follow-ups to glean how they applied the livelihood practices. Besides observing livelihood practices in public arenas like the Catholic mass at the primary school, transactions at the market and at the VSLAs, and the focus group discussions as earlier mentioned, I also observed them during the interviews and as they went about their agricultural activities in the homesteads, on their farms, and at the communal wetland.
I was not able to attend two community meetings attended by focal participants: the
School Management Committee meeting and the government Local Council III (LC 3)29 meeting at Amuge sub-county. The first was called off due to lack of quorum, and I could not attend the second because I received insufficient advance notice (the focal participant failed to reach me because her phone malfunctioned).
A major dilemma I faced was the observation of people in public settings. While I had obtained permission to observe the participants of the study, some situations arose that I felt uncomfortable about. A case in point was the Catholic mass that drew the Catholic community from the whole sub-county especially because it marked the second stage in the progress of about 70 children to the sacrament of Holy Communion. But perhaps heightening the
29A Local Council (LC) is a form of local elected government within the districts of Uganda. There are six levels of Local Councils. The lowest level is the Local Council I (LC 1 or LC I), and is responsible for a village or, in the case of towns or cities, a neighborhood. The area covered by Local Councils II through IV incorporate several of the next lowest level, while a Local Council V (LC5) is responsible for the entire district. In theory, a problem at a local level is relayed up through the various levels until it reaches an LC with sufficient authority or power to resolve it, while centrally planned directives are relayed downward until they are implemented at the local level. Each Local Council has a certain number of identical positions, such as Chairman, Vice-Chairman, etc. The Local Council does not transfer nationally. Instead, the national government appoints Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) to represent its interests at the district level. 85 significance of the ceremony was the fact that the priest rotated between the 30 or so chapels, making each visit in a space of at least two months coveted by the communities. Nevertheless, I did not obtain permission from the big congregation of relatives, friends, and regular church- goers to be observed. The highlight, however, was when the priest (a family friend) mentioned to me, “I did not know that you were coming!” And yet, I was there not primarily to attend the mass (as he initially thought) but to do research. Neither did it occur to me to inform the parish priest that I would attend the mass.
Artifacts
I also examined documents or written/printed material together with objects related to literacy learning. These included leaflets, posters, booklets/pamphlets, and books on specific subjects, newspapers, religious literature, FAL participants’ notes and personal records (e.g., financial records), and objects such as fuel-conserving stoves, handicraft items, pit latrines, plate racks and so on, related to the literacy learning. These artifacts reflected what the participants read and wrote, as well as their livelihood practices. The analysis of functional literacy artifacts allowed for exploration and corroboration of ideas (Spradley, 1980), thus strengthening the trustworthiness of the data.
Program Documents
Related documents such as records of group activities that the different FAL participants may be involved in may reveal instances of the application of the literacy learning. SOCADIDO documents such as the SOCADIDO Evaluation SIDEP for HOPE program, 2005, (SOCADIDO,
2005a), the SOCADIDO Group Assessment Report, 2005, (SOCADIDO, 2005b) and subsequent
SOCADIDO project plans and assessments were also analyzed for background and historical data. This shed light on the context of the intervention and the earlier adoption and adaption of 86 practices among the FAL participants. However, as Rogers and Street (2012) indicated, useful qualitative data after the closure of the FAL program, on the uses and effects of the literacy learning, from the participant’s own viewpoint was limited. The available program reports from
SOCADIDO contained brief accounts of the FAL program.
Fieldnotes
My fieldnotes sometimes took the conventional form of writing descriptive narratives of what I had observed, including what I heard, saw, smelled, touched and tasted in/and or from the field. Other times, on returning to Soroti I recorded in everything I could remember that I thought spelled a message. I did this in two ways depending on the circumstances30; sometimes I recorded a detailed and “complete” audio account, and other times I simply mentioned words and/or phrases like a name and an action, or an object, or a place and the people present and the activity going on at the time I was at the scene, for instance, “Arya-P5, Gina-P3,” indicating the mother’s and daughter’s primary education levels. I later (usually the next day) reflected on my recording and took notes. In the case of the above for instance, I noted, “The FAL group chairperson divulged her daughters’ education levels in a very personal story she shared as we rode together from the ferry to Obule village.” This was important because the two women had reported lower education levels, I guess, in order to attribute the changes, they experienced to the
FAL program.
After almost every field visit, I used my data sources—including fieldnotes integrated with my analytical perspectives, transcripts from interviews and focus groups, documents, artifacts, and photographs—to identify emerging themes and develop nuanced explanations for the application of various literacy and livelihood practices. Writing the fieldnotes challenged me
30 The inconsistency was due to occasional power outages and catching up with other demands that necessitated travel that night to the city, such as IRB, passport renewal, and visa interviews. 87 to “observe more finely and systematically, to consider both the mundane and the dramatic and to attend to others’ activities and concerns” so closely in order to capture fresh perceptions
(Emerson et al., 2011, p. xxi). The fieldnotes certainly served as reminders of various research issues, but they also aided in verifying information.
Researcher Journal
I kept a journal of my reflections on the study, in which I captured transient conceptual ideas, my personal reactions to data collection, as well as points of decision. Journaling helped me not only to keep close to the data, but also provided a roadmap during the data analysis stage.
Data Analysis
Preparation of Transcripts
I had all 43 hours of the focus group and interview recordings transcribed by both myself and a service provider, retaining them in the Ateso language. I listened repeatedly to the recordings in order to know my data. I then translated into English only specific excerpts that I fathomed I would use in the final write-up. To ensure accuracy, I sampled a few transcripts and listened to the audio recordings as I reviewed the written transcripts.
Close reading of the transcripts with my fieldnotes and reflexive journal enabled me to draw conceptual elements together that illuminated the uses of the literacy learning, why participants applied the literacy learning, supportive and hindering factors, and the related outcomes. By this stage, I had begun developing hunches regarding the likely key themes in my data. My analysis began at the conceptualization of the research problem and informed subsequent stages of the research (Maxwell, 2013), especially because I had carried out a similar pilot study in the Teso sub-region in the summer of 2015. 88
Applying the New Literacy Studies (NLS) Perspective
I drew on Deborah Brandt’s (2001) conceptualization of literacy development to explore my substantive interest: How do former FAL participants apply the literacy learning in their daily lives, and what are the outcomes? Brandt argued that “the cultural and social organization of a particular economy creates reservoirs of opportunities and constraint from which individuals take [and apply] their literacy [learning]” (p. 34). My analysis was therefore guided by the following questions: What did the participants learn from the FAL classes? Which practices do they apply in their daily lives, and why? What enables these practices? What hinders these practices? What are the outcomes of applying the literacy and livelihood practices?
The sociocultural perspective of literacy guided me to find out how the participants understood literacy and the value they attached to it. Accordingly, I coded transcriptions of the recorded interviews into categories of the different uses participants have for the literacy and livelihood practices (e.g., reading Biblical verses, writing sums for a child to work out, spraying for disease control, planting a kitchen garden), and the outcomes of enacting these capabilities
(e.g., spiritual growth, improved performance of the child, healthier livestock and convenience in procuring vegetables for the diet) (Kalman, 2005; Papen, 2007). I meticulously used participant- generated categories (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995; see also Davies, 1999; Finnegan, 1992) to represent the cultural values among the participants.
Applying a Thematic Analysis
Thematic analysis, as defined by Boyatzis (1998), is a process-oriented methodology that organizes qualitative data. Using thematic analysis informed by the NLS perspective, I searched across my data set of interviews and focus groups, my written and audio fieldnotes, and researcher journal to find “repeated patterns of meaning” (Braun & Clarke, 2006; see also 89
Creswell, 2007; Emerson et al., 2011; Riessman, 2008). I adhered to my questions in identifying the key meanings across the data. For instance, I identified the following cross-cutting activities that were common to the participants: land selection, land clearing, ploughing (first and second times), planting, weeding, pruning, spraying, harvesting, drying and storing, which I wrote on word cards. I then created categories from the coded practices by considering the common features, for example, I named the heap of cards with the above “livelihood practices: agronomic practices/crop husbandry.” Next, I clustered the categories with the same goal (e.g., crop and animal husbandry practices under food production).
My inquiry led me to code the reasons for the application of the literacy learning, supporting and hindering factors, as well as the outcomes of applying the literacy learning.
Drawing on my experience with FAL and from the larger body of scholarly research on the topic
(Creswell, 2007, p. 193), I then interpreted my findings. Data analysis typically centered on holistic description and the search for themes shedding light on the case, and allowed for cross- case analysis with a strong emphasis on context (Stake, 1995).
Applying a Feminist Food Justice Lens
From a constructionist framework, the analysis focused on “the sociocultural contexts, and structural conditions, that enabled the individual accounts that were provided” (Braun &
Clarke, 2006, p. 85). I also applied a feminist food justice perspective (Sachs & Patel-Campillo,
2014), which, combined with a constructionist lens, allowed me to examine the socio-economic- political environment that influenced the use and outcomes of the literacy learning, particularly with regard to agriculture and care work. I traced similarities and differences in the participants’ responses (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995; Riessman, 2008) and attempted to relate this to the different demographic groupings: men, women including widowed, married, separated, youth, 90 middle-aged, elderly, and the disabled. I further traced relationships between the emerging categories in order to write the description and explanation for the use (or non-use) of the literacy and livelihood practices and the outcomes thereof, among the participants.
Data Quality and Trustworthiness
I related the different types of data to reduce likely threats to validity of the analysis
(Britzman, 1995; Davies, 1999; Emerson et al., 2011; Hammersley &Atkinson, 1995; Maxwell,
2013) and sought to “use and balance the tension between analytic propositions and local meanings (Davies, 1999, p. 202). I also attempted to sustain a balance between discussion and illustration to develop the “persuasive force” in ethnographic writing (Atkinson, 1990).The analysis of the data was meant to develop “a rich, concrete, complex and hence (truthful) account” of how the literacy learning is applied in the participants’ day-to-day lives (Van
Maanen, 1988, p. 3).
I have kept the word “truthful” in parenthesis because I believe that the account I produce is subjective, being tremendously influenced by (1) my person (what I bring to bear on data collection, analysis, and writing, including my background, personality, gender, education, theoretical perspectives, and scholarly writing style, among others), (2) participants’ perceptions, and (3) the perspectives of the scholars whom I engage in this inquiry. Notwithstanding the relativity in rendering this account, I hope, through detailed description, to present a contextualized account of the use of literacy learning within the framework of adult literacy scholarship. I leave the transferability of my findings to the discretion of the reader.
Memberchecks. I carried out member checks during the walks and rides with different participants in the village. Often getting from one point to another required the help of a participant for directions, and Amojong, the group chairperson, often did this. Or I picked a 91 participant from one point and we went together to her home or to a given destination, as was the case with Asipo and her husband to their orange orchard. I also rode with Salume to her groundnuts farm, with Malisa to the sub-county headquarters for a community meeting, and with
Apulegeria to her home for a follow up on her agronomic practices. I walked with Connie to her
VSLA meeting across the village. These 10-20-minute rides and casual chats with the focal participants offered me opportunities to glean relevant messages and to inquire, if offhandedly, about what was not so clear or convincing to me from the focus groups.
Debriefing meeting. During the debriefing meeting held with all the participants in early
August at the end of the research, I presented the data I had collected and asked for their views about it. I asked whether it represented their views, what they thought about the findings, and if
(or not) anything might be done to address some emerging issues. There was general agreement that the findings were representative of the participants’ views, but with further clarification made on some practices, as well as enabling or hindering factors to the application of literacy learning. For example, even though the participants insisted that everybody weeded their crops in a timely manner, Salume pointed out that over the past couple of months, she did not weed all her gardens because the crop was scorched beyond recovery.
Peer checking. I also met separately two officials with vast community development experience in the Teso region. I presented my findings to them and had informative discussions that enhanced the quality of the study.
Reflexivity
A “native ethnographer” is considered a researcher who researches his or her own community, wherein the researcher and researched share defining physical characteristics and a cultural heritage. I fit this definition of a native ethnographer. However, the complication I met 92 during the research was underscored by my perpetual consciousness and attempt to assimilate into the local community. I therefore concur with Davies (1999), who asserted that the native ethnographer may find it as complex to research their own community as a “foreigner” would and may have to negotiate many unseen situations arising from their “insider-outsider” status. In agreeing with Davies, I recognize that the nature of the intricacies surrounding researching one’s own community may vary, and therefore awareness about and preparedness for surprising situations may be helpful. I also acknowledge that because human interaction is inevitable and sometimes unpredictable, the research process is never a given. Neither can familiarity with the community guarantee success of the research activity.
I speak Ateso fluently and this, I believe, tremendously narrowed the social and psychological gap. Indeed, I capitalized on some expressions that were distinct to my mother’s maiden home in the same district, Okunguro. Participants were often amused at these expressions, but overall it signaled that in a sense I was still rooted among them. I also captured the children’s names during the focus group discussions and was later able to communicate with interest and at a more personal level in the homesteads, which proved helpful in breaking the ice.
However, my social status deriving from my education, including my studies overseas, previous work with FAL, and now being associated with SOCADIDO again, may have simultaneously created some false expectations and real fears.
The expectation of receiving more support (possibly, as I seemed to perceive, reviving the FAL program) or fear of losing an impending opportunity may have influenced some participants’ responses in the research. For instance, I found out while chatting with their mother
(a focal participant) that two participants had misrepresented their formal education level, perhaps to exaggerate the impact of FAL program in their lives. I politely but firmly put it across 93 to the participants that it was important that they gave honest accounts as telling lies was not helpful. I reiterated that the research findings were not in any way linked to any reward or penalty from SOCADIDO; this was an independent study.
Each participant received an equivalent of two meals, one at the first round of interviews/FGDs and another at the closing debriefing meeting. However, I may have demoralized the participants at such a critical time of the famine by not offering more than the equivalent of a meal at each meeting. Indeed, the participants needed some relief food, as the strain of the hunger was evident in their emaciated bodies, the repeated and sometimes loud yawning by early afternoon. Yet even though they were seemingly stretched, the reassurance of some money at the end of the session was motivation enough to keep them participating.
A dilemma I quickly resolved while fearing for the consequences had to do with a meal I was offered at the second visit to Kelim village. I always knew that the offer of food or a meal from the community to a “guest” was to be politely accepted as a sign of respect. However, I turned down the offer because I thought it just was not right to rip the participants of the dregs they lived off at this critical time. I also did not want a precedent set, which would gravely affect the research, if every host had to entertain me with food that they could barely lay hands on. So I explained that I really appreciated their kindness but in the circumstances, I very honestly thought that it was unrealistic to present me with a meal. I said that a time would come when we would share a meal. This would be after a good harvest, but not just yet. Then I finished by requesting that the food be given to the children. I really hoped they were not scandalized, and that they had understood my stance and taken it positively. The participant who invited me to the meal was apparently dismayed, but after a while, she regained her comportment and actively participated in the discussion. There were no more offers of food after this, although there was an 94 uneasiness about the limitation. I repeatedly reassured the participants that we would have a meal after the harvest when people had some food and that they should not mind about this overwhelming situation. The last debriefing meeting in August took place after sorghum harvest so participants had some food supplies. However, they pooled resources together as at previous gatherings to prepare a meal that they shared with guests.
I was regarded a liaison officer of sorts, to enable the participants to procure what they had been denied from SOCADIDO. This was the case of a focal participant who lamented saying that she would probably be much better off if she had received her cow from SOCADIDO. She was the prospective recipient of the “revolving fund” or “pass-on-the-gift” as it was known then, but her co-wife did not (until then) pass her the calf as designated in the project. She sought my counsel on how to handle the matter. I referred her to the SOCADIDO staff who oversaw the district activities.
My familiarity with the place, the people, and the FAL program may have helped minimize the exaggerations common in program evaluations, since the participants usually say what they think the evaluator would like to hear. I realized that there was initially a seeming reluctance to acknowledge how other development actors’ efforts (or did they not see the link?) enabled some literacy learning and livelihood practices. The support included cows, goats, and agricultural seed from SOCADIDO, their own “seed” capital that participants injected into various activities, and so on. I became more critical about the responses I received in relation to what I perceived in the environment and discreetly member checked these responses.
Being a woman, middle aged, married, and a mother earned me the participants’ trust, especially when I was closely interacting with women. These identities indicated a stable and responsible woman. The participants always asked me, too, about the number of children I had 95 and their sexes. Somehow, this made it easier for the women, especially, to share information without so much sensitivity to difference. While my femininity may have helped win the confidence from the husbands of the FAL participants, the men did not open up as much as the women did. Only one husband, a church leader who was present at the community mass and immediately expressed approval of the FAL project, shared in some detail the impact of the literacy learning on their spousal relationship, which for him was one of the major achievements of FAL. To enhance my standing and dispel any fears from the community, I interviewed the associates in public/open spaces like the chapel or in the open courtyards of the participants’ homes.
The Catholic mass I attended at Kelim Primary School turned out to be such a blessing when the priest (a family friend) introduced me to the congregation as a special visitor. He pointed out that I (that is, my family) was close to the church. With this endorsement, the community embraced me. I was held back after the mass greeting especially women, a few of whom took the liberty to express the plight of the famine in their midst. I immediately heard references to me as “sister.” The participants seemed to glow with pride as they escorted me to dine with the priest and his entourage of catechists. (I tried in vain to turn down this offer not only because of the famine, but also because of the abruptness of the invitation.) Then as I went about my research in the subsequent days, I was often amazed at the warmth and kind of familiar look from the community members only to remember the community mass had sealed it for me!
I always felt welcomed into the participant’s circles, including their homes, market environs,
VSLA meetings, and the like. 96
At one of the VSLAs, the participants were visibly impressed when on the first occasion
(we were passing by) I sat on the lesu31 that the vice chairperson hesitantly extended to me. Then on the second visit, the lady offered the lesu without hesitation. I joked that I would own (take away with me) the lesu since the same lesu was offered again. We all laughed as I sat down on the lesu next to the vice chairperson. She (a non-FAL member) seemed at ease with me, so when the chair from the school was brought, I turned down the offer and asked if the other visitor (my driver) could sit on it. The vice chairperson gave a detailed explanation of how they conduct the meetings and why. She also highlighted the reasons for the VSLA. Later, one VSLA member, a focal participant in the study said to me, “You should shift here (from my current address) and live here with us. You fit here.” Thus, in keeping with feminist scholars’ calls to keep women’s experience center-stage, I sought through my interactions with the participants to create an enabling environment that narrowed social differences, while employing participatory methods to elicit their responses (Merriam et al., 2010).
Limitations of the Study
Often in research, a comparison with a group with different characteristics, in this case, non-FAL participants, makes for a more robust study, an aspect that is lacking in this study.
Nevertheless, my study offers insights on the enduring literacy learning and the environmental factors influencing these practices.
The Ugandan IRB instructed that I drop the video recording as this would “strongly compromise efforts to gather quality data and enforce participant's confidentiality” (Local IRB,
“Clarification and amendments,” 02/10/2017). I may therefore have missed some quality data as a result.
31 A cloth that women here often carry; it may be used for different purposes (e.g., wrap around the head, wrap around one’s waist, carry a baby on the back, spread it out and sit on it, etc.). 97
The famine may have compromised the data because participants were generally stressed, and perhaps the research stretched them even further. On the other hand, the research activities may have presented a temporary emotional and physical respite from the stark reality of hunger, considering that they went back with some money for a bit of food on the days I engaged them.
Throughout the research, I was conscious of and strove to counter social desirability bias.
From the outset, I clarified to the participants that I would appreciate if they kept their views as factual as possible as we had tried to do during the FAL program, when there were attempts to distort information about changes in participants’ lives. I also pointed out that in the spirit of honesty, each one had to be exemplary, and because other participants were aware of the reality that one may try to distort, this could be embarrassing. I also made the objective of the research clear. My goal was simply to find out what they did with the literacy learning, so I emphasized that there was no need for exaggeration or deliberate misrepresentation of facts because there was no reward or penalty tied to the research.
Either because of my consciousness about social desirability bias or perhaps in spite of it, an experience in the first of the four focus groups turned humbling by the end of the study. There was animated discussion; participants were eager to share their experience. A woman of small stature, I quickly noted, was vocal and spoke fast, loudly and firmly, she appeared assertive and perhaps even quite overbearing. When somehow, she and another participant began to speak at the same time, she did not concede to the other participant, something I had seen the other participants do. I requested that they respond in turns, to create more order as I figured the randomness might preclude shy participants from raising their views in the seemingly competitive atmosphere. 98
It was Ilebere’s turn, and she broke into a lengthy explanation of personal and family transformation that she attributed to participating in the FAL classes. I felt suspicious of her claims that “she had stopped physically fighting her husband,” also because the room was suddenly quiet as everyone looked at her in surprise. Looking straight in her eyes, I asked her plainly, “Is this true?” and as she was saying, “It is true,” many other voices join hers, “Yes, it is true,” “it is very true;” “it was like that,” “It is the truth.” In spite of the support by the other participants, Ilebere seemed to coil back a little; she looked at the floor, and then looked up at me. Our eyes met, and she repeated, “It is true,” and explained that the family was peaceful and worked jointly to improve their conditions.
I had mixed feelings; embarrassment that participants, including Ilebere, knew that I doubted her statement, but happy that I checked the statement against other participants’ views, and I inwardly hoped that participants would be conscious about making exaggerated claims. At issue here was personal dignity. It was uncommon, however true, to have personal details shared in this manner, moreover with “strangers” like my assistant and me. Therefore, I immediately suspected distortion of information, and the reason that other participants looked on in astonishment. This was more like a testimony of the converted; they made public declarations of transformations in their lives, and the more revealing the transformations claimed, the more admiration one seemed to win from brethren, since it reflected a resolute persona. I noted in my fieldnotes, “This was too bold, spilling the beans like this! Has the community changed this much?” (Fieldnotes, 03/11/2017). Over the following month, Ilebere’s assertion about transformation was confirmed (1) in chatting with the religious leaders, when her husband (one of the catechists at the mass) pointed out the value of FAL program in uniting families including his own; (2) in the interview with Ilebere; (3) in the interview with Ilebere’s husband; and (4) my 99 observation of the family dynamics on two occasions I spent on follow-ups in their home. This is not to suggest that there were no occasions of distorted information. On the contrary, they occurred—especially during the focus groups. Several times, I probed to find out how a particular change had occurred to the participants through the FAL and then they would yield saying, “Anyway, it happens in the village,” and implicitly not in their individual lives.
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CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS: LITERACY PRACTICES
This chapter explores how former literacy participants used the learning from the FAL program in the domains of reading, writing, numeracy, and speaking English, and why. It also examines the outcomes and challenges of applying the literacy learning. I argue in this chapter that the participants’ literacy practices were largely shaped by their survival and sustenance needs. Accordingly, the literacy practices related to the domains of agriculture, livestock rearing, income generation, schooling of children, and spiritual needs, while the impetus for applying the literacy practices in these spheres was household and self-improvement. However, guided by the
NLS lens, the findings show that variations in the kind and level of literacy practices related to literacy abilities, specific areas of interest, and the opportunity to apply the learning.
The findings suggest that participants applied the literacy practices in areas that benefitted them materially, psychologically, and spiritually. Documentation of agreements pertaining to access, control, or ownership of resources held individuals accountable and regulated relationships, financial numeracy aided in avoiding being cheated, and better understanding of basic medical records enabled improved health management practices. On the other hand, supporting children’s education encouraged the children in their education while reading religious books facilitated spiritual growth and similar to Bartlett’s (2010) and Prins’s
(2010) findings, signing their names enhanced their self-esteem.
To shed more light on the enduring literacy and livelihood practices among 27 participants32, I compare data from the FAL program evaluation in 2005 with the data from this study in 2017 for each literacy practice, analyzing the reasons for and challenges in applying the
32 The 27 participants were present at the general debriefing and closing meeting. 101 practice, as well as the related outcomes. The chapter illuminates the environmental factors that influence both the uses of and consequences of applying literacy practices, which may inform adult literacy programming.
Reading
Following Kalman’s (2005) typology of literacy practices, I cluster the reading and writing practices of the participants as: personal reading and writing (e.g., of prayer books, sign boards, posters at the center, writing on T-shirts and vehicles, signing names at meetings, VSLA passbooks, receipts and letters both personal and official), shared reading and writing (e.g., of local agreements, newspapers, the Bible, nomination forms), schooling (e.g., helping children with homework), keeping family records (e.g., children’s immunization cards, baptism cards, children’s profiles, voters cards, national IDs, and accessing written text orally (e.g., in church, during community trainings). Below, Table 4 shows the different documents that the participants read and stored, each of which is explained in the following sections.
Table 4
Documents read and/or stored by participants Personal reading Shared reading School-related Family records Sign boards & Land agreements Exercise books Children’s posters Money and property Textbooks immunization cards Print on T-shirts & agreements School report cards Medical records vehicles Marriage agreements School letters Baptism cards Attendance sheet Prayer books, Bible, and School circulars National voters cards Passbooks & receipts Bible-sharing notes Receipts National identity Personal letters Notes on trainings cards Official letters Local government council Blood donor card Prayer books nomination forms Records of debtors Newspapers Medicine packets Labels on pesticides, de-wormers
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Personal Reading
In 2017, 16 of the 27 participants read sign boards, writings on T-shirts and vehicles and posters. This was an increase from 11 participants in 2005. The FAL literacy lessons involved reading and writing letters, words and sentences. Using the syllabic approach, participants learned to read and join syllables to form words and sentences. Over the 12 years, five of the participants developed their reading abilities, while 11 participants did not have the literacy abilities to read these writings. Seven had learned to read some simple words during the FAL classes but had now forgotten, and four just never learned to read. Participants read sign boards, writings on T-shirts and vehicles, and posters because they got information they considered important. The four aspects above—reading sign boards, print on T-shirts and vehicles and posters—are each discussed below.
Reading signboards. Participants read signboards with place names and directions both within the local community and when they travelled outside the village to the city and different towns in Uganda. The ability to read and interpret sign boards of places, on buses, in public places such as washrooms for men and for women was helpful in knowing one’s bearing and finding direction. As a participant in a focus group pointed out, “One did not have to stop and ask all the time, so you reached your destination faster.” The ability to read signboards was invaluable to two participants during a study tour to neighboring Kenya in 2010, because they had a sense of direction and confidence in a strange land: “You are not easily deceived about your surrounding because you can read signboards and notices and tell where you are.” Reading signboards was important for security since this ability gave people confidence and protection from being exploited. One could easily travel on the wrong bus because “guides” tended to dupe passengers since guides were paid according to the number of passengers they brought into the 103 bus. Honesty was therefore compromised in the interest of financial gain, heightening the significance of literacy skills in managing one’s life.
Reading print on vehicles. Many government, NGO, and private vehicles traversed the highway through the research site. Participants claimed that they identified the origin of the vehicles by key words that they read on them such as Soroti District Local Government–Water
Department, Soroti Catholic Diocese Integrated Development Program (SOCADIDO)–Poverty
Eradication Program, Teso Initiative for Peace (TIP)–Education Program. The ability to read some words on the vehicles gave the participants a clue of what the passengers in the vehicle might be involved in. They might link this knowledge with news on radio or from relatives and friends regarding a development activity in a specific site.
Reading print on T-shirts. Similarly, participants read and interpreted writing or images on T-shirts. The most commonly cited T-shirt writings were of NGO community programs such as ACTIONAID, Ainapakina nges apol (Peace for Progress), and SOCADIDO–Protect Our
Environment. Others were religious messages as observed in Epedori Yesu (Jesus Is Able).
School uniforms bore writings such as Olila High School, Toroma Secondary School. The recently concluded parliamentary and presidential political campaigns left their mark in the mainly yellow and a few blue T-shirts in the community. Portraits of different candidates with their political party and the slogans cited by participants included Akerianut kede apol,
(Development and Progress), and Ener Kede Aswam (Speak and Act). Reading and understanding the content of these writings sensitized the participants on different actors, programs or the purported goals and heightened their awareness of prevailing issues.
Reading posters. Furthermore, participants read and interpreted posters including health and education posters, campaign posters, and agricultural posters. This enabled them to 104 comprehend educative messages that encouraged them in their livelihood practices or challenged them to take action. For instance, a health poster that hangs on the wall of Asipo’s house challenged people to use pit latrines to avoid the immense shame, among other things, that could result from open fecal disposal. For even when people used the bush to deposit fecal matter, they tried to ensure that they did so in private. The poster is titled: “Astounding news SHAME!
Embarrassment grips a bride’s father” (See Figure 3). It proceeds with a story where chaos erupted at a traditional marriage ceremony after word quickly goes around about a bride’s father in a very disgraceful situation. In the picture, the bride’s father is seen defecating in the bush, while, unbeknownst to him, children looked on. People blame each other for the situation. Asipo used the poster to educate her visitors on proper fecal disposal.
Figure 3. Open fecal disposal
The poster shows a common practice among non-latrine users: defecating in the bush.
This practice was only disrupted by the advent of pit latrines in rural communities. It involved 105 walking out into the wilderness and finding a spot that was out of sight. It was important that one was not seen by others, to ensure privacy. After defecating, the fecal matter remained on the surface and was washed away by rain or decomposed as termites built nests out of it. However, the fecal matter often contaminated water sources and left a bad odor in the environment. It often carried worms, hence the prevalence of worm infestation in areas with poor pit latrine coverage.
Besides, if one stepped on it, fecal matter caused a foot disease. Literacy influenced adherence to messages for improved health, such as this one. Asipo discussed with her visitors the pros and cons of using a pit latrine.
However, low literacy abilities prevented 11 participants from reading sign boards of place names, writings on T-shirts and vehicles, as well as words on posters. Low literacy abilities occurred apparently in participants with no or barely any formal education. Those who gained reading, writing and numeracy abilities had at least a second-grade schooling. In addition, lack of practice outside the literacy class made it difficult to gain literacy abilities. Social factors mediated participants’ progress. For instance, a participant who gave birth to twins (her eighth and ninth children) a fortnight after our focus group explained her inability to read even after completing the FAL classes:
I cannot read Ateso, but I can write my name. I think that I cannot learn…also I could not practice at home. Whenever I got back home, my husband said, “Bring me food! You have just been sitting there [at the literacy class] while I am hungry here.”
This participant was overwhelmed with domestic responsibilities, given the number and ages of her children, besides having to attend to her husband. She therefore could not make time to practice literacy. Similarly, Ilebere could not find time to practice:
Also little time to practice what you know for instance writing and reading words because most of the time you are on the farm, come back to cook, look for vegetables for sauce, like that. There’s no time. Rise early to fetch water [from a borehole next to the home], everything! When children come back at 1:00p.m., lunch must be ready. That is also a 106
big challenge. You cannot spend time writing and reading when you have to find food to cook (laughs).
Some participants of childbearing age had a challenge in finding time to practice literacy during and after exiting the FAL class. They shared their odyssey: “A recurring trend of non-practice kept one behind in class.” In subsequent classes, “attempts to recall and catch up with the previous lesson, as well as learn the day’s content could be overwhelming.” Concomitantly,
“mastery of the literacy learning became difficult and with time, learning to read and write became more of an illusion.”
In agreement with the participants’ experiences, Abadzi’s (2003) findings indicated that prior exposure to formal schooling and practice during the literacy course, both in class and after literacy classes, as well as “environmental opportunities to practice literacy, and innate ability”
(p. 5), influence forgetting and therefore progress in literacy acquisition. So literacy acquisition may be relatively more difficult for young housewives or people with tight schedules.
Reading passbooks. Passbooks reflected individual’s savings and credit (See Figure 4 and 5). On the afternoon that I visited Amojong’s Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) that afternoon, the treasurer stamped the passbooks in relation to the amount of money saved at a given time. I described the scene in my fieldnotes:
The group of women sat on the grass under the shade of a big mango tree beside the Catholic chapel where I had conducted two focus group discussions about two months ago. There was no grass then, the ground was bare. It was brown, dry and dusty; thirsty for rain. Now the grass had revived, covering the ground like a carpet. There were nineteen women. Each member sat on her lesu33in a circle, leaving a green patch of grass in the middle. Here they placed their paper bags, some empty, some carrying stuff in them. Everyone was conspicuous and attention was especially to the group leaders who sat next to each other: the secretary, chairperson and treasurer. The secretary called out a number which corresponded to a member who responded, “Present,” and handed her
33 A multipurpose personal piece of cloth carried by women in the research site. Women spread the cloth and sat on it, as there were typically no seats like chairs or benches in public places / gatherings. The cloth was also used to strap children on the back, or worn as a wrapper. In emergencies, women used this cloth to help a birthing mother or bind a cut, etc. 107
passbook to the treasurer with the money tucked inside. This was what the member brought to save that day. The book passed through several hands in the circle to get to the treasurer. The treasurer counted the money she received with the member’s passbook, declared the amount to the group and then stamped the passbook accordingly. The chairperson kept looking from the secretary’s to the treasurer’s activity. Each member receives back her passbook immediately after it is stamped. Everybody watched what was happening. The treasurer made a mistake; she stamped thrice instead of twice for the 2000/= [about 50 US cents]a member deposited. The chairperson noticed this and quickly placing her hand on the treasurer’s arm called out: “Halt!” Smiling, she announced that there was an error and explains it. Immediately there were murmurs and some discussion from the members. “They will put it right…,” “She will have to give more money now…,” “If she doesn’t have it, she will borrow…”The chairperson asked the treasurer and the member to sort it out before they could proceed with business. The treasurer requested this member for money, or to borrow 1000/= [about 25 US cents] if she did not have it. The member borrowed the money from another group member and passes it to the treasurer. The chairperson thanked the member for her cooperation and said, “Now the books will balance.” Other members nod in the affirmative; I hear a soft, “Yes,” from a few members. There is silence again except for the secretary’s prompt and a members’ response.
Figure 4. Records of savings in a passbook 108
Each stamp notation represented one thousand Uganda shillings. Each participant checked her book when handed back to her to ensure that it reflected the amount that she had deposited. Although participants belonged to different groups, the practice of stamp notating was universal in the VSLAs. Twenty participants cross-checked their books at their VSLA activity to ensure that the accounts were correct, and they attributed their literacy to the numeracy lessons in the FAL classes. This was consequential because the participant’s level of savings and credit determined both their annual dividends and eligibility for credit. VSLAs therefore afforded better credit to the poor participants, hence participants’ keenness on the VSLA activities.
Figure 5. Passbooks of different VSLAs
Brandt’s (2001) emphasis on the influence of distant forces on local literacy practices is applicable to the donor-sponsored VSLAs. The VSLA built on a savings and credit culture
(dubbed “merry-go-round”) that participants had managed during the FAL classes. The VSLA 109 improved financial management by introducing structures and systems such as the passbooks and increased financial transparency. Nonetheless, the members still maintained a convenience emergency account that catered to their immediate needs, and required neither passbooks nor interest. The participants’ connection to wider and distant forces was also found in the act of reading letters from and writing official letters to development agencies and in the act of reading medicine packets.
Receipts. In 2005, 10 participants read receipts, compared to 16 in 2017. Literacy abilities improved for the six additional participants who read receipts. Receipts were evidence of payment. The most common receipts were for payment of school fees. However, Salume had receipts for moneys deposited to Tujijenge Finance Trust, the groups’ partners in the savings and credit endeavor. Asipo also had receipts for purchase of a bicycle and a grinding mill. She indicated that the receipts showed ownership of the respective items and in some cases could be used to claim a refund (see Figure 6 and 7). The receipts gave confidence over possession of the items, and in case of loss, the items could be tracked using the manufacture details including the serial number specified in the receipt. Thus, receipts enabled participants to seek legal redress if the need arose. 110
Figure 6. Receipts for different payments
Figure 7. Receipts of different payments 111
Other receipts were for building materials like cement and plots of land. Receipts were for reference and served to demonstrate transparency in expenditure. This was particularly important when moneys spent were jointly earned from the family farm and other business undertakings. Bringing back receipts thus confirmed that moneys were rightly spent and enhanced harmonious relations especially between spouses, as individuals perceived that they worked towards a common goal. In this case, spending money on what was not agreeable to the spouse was a potential source of misunderstanding.
Some organizations registered members in the community, claiming that they offered savings and credit services but had since disappeared. The receipts were kept as evidence of moneys paid with hopes that the money would be recovered one day from the organization. Fake organizations that attempted to take advantage of poor and unsuspecting community members were not uncommon (see Figure 8). Outsiders showed up to “sensitize the community” on an upcoming community intervention, particularly where the community members stood to gain some form of support such as agricultural implements, agricultural seeds, sponsorship for education, or support for savings and credit activities. The requirement was usually to register at a fee and sometimes the “fee” was payment for a form of some kind. After registering a number of people, the individuals folded up their books and promised to return to begin the activity, which did not happen. Recovery of the money meant that one was refunded their due, and thereby they avoided being cheated. Just as importantly, the money could be spent on some other pressing household demands, thus relieving the burden. Participants referred to the literacy classes, recalling that they gained mastery in numeracy because the facilitator used real literacy materials like money notes to teach them figures. 112
Figure 8. Receipts for money paid to fake organizations
Records of debtors. Only two participants out of 27 in 2017, down from five in 2005, kept a record of debtors. Participants who were mainly involved in selling beer kept records of debtors. Sikola explained, “Because you sell [liquor] repeatedly, you can forget. But when you write down, you may decide to open the book of debtors and follow up.” Others became reluctant to keep the records because they felt their memories served just as well, while Dadas, a beer seller, indicated that she did not bother to follow up on debts because it was a strenuous and often futile endeavor: “You have to go very early in the morning and they may not even give your money. I rather go to work on my farm [than following up debts].” However, in some cases, debtors paid up, as Sikola indicated, “Sometimes they ask you to go pick up the money from them.” The efficacy of writing a list of debtors was questionable. 113
The few participants who sold beer and kept a record of debtors wrote down the patrons’ names so that they could more easily follow up the debt, since the written record helped avert denials of indebtedness. Further, in case of death, others such as family or colleagues could follow up to claim the debt. Keeping a record of debtors was important for some participants because it could facilitate the recovery of some moneys. However, few participants kept a record of debtors. The majority took note in their heads and made the follow-ups accordingly. They claimed it worked just as well. This means the participants banked on trust (rather than documentation such as patrons signing or writing debtors’ names) to reclaim their money.
However, written records did not guarantee payment of the debt. They merely served as a reminder of the debtor. As noted in the beer trade, not all the debts were paid, posing a big challenge to beer-selling business.
Personal and official letters. Although 14 of the 27 participants in 2017 and 10 in 2005 could read personal letters, none had read a personal letter over the past year. Similarly, 10 in
2017 and five in 2005 could write personal letters. The use of the cell phone had apparently diminished the significance of the personal letter. However, official documents, mainly letters, circulated in the village. During the study, eight participants in 2017—compared to six in 2005— read official documents (see Figure 9 and 10). There were slight increases in the number of participants reading and writing personal and official letters. 114
Figure 9. Constitution for Women’s group
Figure 10. Official letter 115
Malisa, a Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) member, received letters from Adodoi primary school; they were handwritten in Ateso, often with a few technical English words included. Malisa could still make out the gist of the message, usually an invitation to the PTA meeting, to which she responded. Participating in the PTA meeting was important to her, as she strongly desired to promote the cause for education in the primary school. She was appointed to the committee because of her diligence in supporting children’s education. Other official letters were from NGOs or local government to community group leaders. These letters informed the participants of upcoming programs to which they responded, for example, by attending planning or evaluation meetings or by monitoring and reporting on group activity. Asipo was LC 3
Women Councilor and received the official letters as shown in Figures 11 and 12. Participants like Malisa and Asipo had the beginnings of a formal education, which they developed further in the FAL class.
Reading medicine packets. Administering medicine correctly was critical, as it could be decisive in life or death. Hence the keenness for this aspect of literacy learning. However, nursing was also considered more of a maternal role since “we (mothers) are the ones who take care of the sick in the home [as opposed to the males].” During the study, all 27 participants, compared to 26 in 2005, claimed that they read the dosage on medicine packets and administered medicine correctly, having mastered numbers and the interpretation of medicine doses.
Administering medicine doses correctly helped to avoid the burden of finding someone to interpret the dosage and/or administer the medicine. Perhaps even more importantly, it helped avoid complications arising from over- or under-dosage of medicine. Ability to read and interpret medicine doses correctly meant that one avoided helplessness, as it was difficult to recall exactly what the nurse or drug seller said when dispensing the medicine. Moreover, they often relayed 116 the information so fast that it became difficult to grasp, and there might be more than one medicine packet. The common abuse of patients at government health units could also hinder communication (Morgan, Tetui, Kananura, Ekirapa-Kiracho, & George, 2017), as a participant recounted a moment at the health center:
I bought a new book [exercise book] and handed it to the nurse. The nurse took all our books with her. After a while, the nurse returned with a pile of books and began calling out the names on the books and giving people back their books. Then she asked, “Whose book is this?” I recognized my book and answered, “It is mine!” She immediately threw the book at me, and shouted, “Go and write your name on your book!” I was very embarrassed.
A participant shared one of the ways that the subsequent dilemma in administering medicine was resolved: “When there is no one to help, I just get [the quantity] what I think will be enough.” I had noted during the focus group introductions that the participant mentioned that she had no formal schooling. However, an interview with another woman with an equivalent of a
Grade 6 education revealed a similar trajectory when administering medicine:
Connie: I learnt how to administer medicine correctly in the FAL class. Researcher: But you went up to P6 [6thgrade]? [I assumed that with a Grade 6 education one should be able to read and understand medicine doses.] Connie: Yes, but I could not do this [administer medicine correctly]. Researcher: Give correct medicine doses? Connie: I could not do this before. Whenever I gave my children medicine, I overdosed them.
This account points at two things. One, the formal curriculum was divorced from daily life experiences. Six years of formal schooling did not necessarily translate into proficiency with non-academic tasks, a situation exacerbated by a span of nearly four decades out of school.
Second, it may also reflect the specificity of the FAL program with regard to content and goals, in this case, administering medicine dozes. The curriculum was shaped by continuous literacy learning needs assessments. Therefore, the topics addressed in class may have largely been of priority to the FAL participants. 117
Shared Reading
Documents created from shared reading and writing varied in the details of the processes entailed in crafting the documents. Participants traced their varied reading and writing abilities to the FAL class. One such document was the contract. Contractual dealings were rife among the participants, mostly involving land as a guarantee for a loan of money or a loan of a cow/bull.
The money or livestock borrowed served to bail out an individual in dire need. For instance, a loan of a cow/bull might be used to offset demands of dowry by the in-laws or huge medical or burial bills.
Written agreements. Written agreements indicated commitment, served as reference, and aided in taking legal action if necessary. Written agreements held the stakeholders accountable for the terms spelled out in the agreement. Land, money, and property—as well as marriage agreements—involved about six to 12 people. An individual, usually a literate male, was appointed secretary from the group of stakeholders who assembled for the settlement. The secretary’s role was to write the agreement as guided by key and knowledgeable people in the group. Unlike Kalman’s (1999) Mexican scribes, the “secretary” in this case was a stakeholder, for example brought in as a witness. The agreement usually stated the address, date, subject, and the terms, spelling out the key stakeholders involved, the amount of money or livestock involved, the payment regimen and the witnesses. Upon consensus on the clarity of the document, the two parties endorsed it, first the key individuals followed by the witnesses. At the bottom of the page were the signatures corresponding to the two camps present. Endorsement was by signing one’s name or thumb-printing using ink from ball-pens. Witnesses were usually close family and friends considered dependable. There might be a token of appreciation from each of the key stakeholders to their respective witnesses. 118
Land agreements. In 2005, eight participants read agreements of land such as purchase of land, temporal exchange of land for money, and agreements of property or money, for instance, fines for damages of crops by livestock and agreements to refund money. In 2017, only seven participants could read these documents as one participant had lost the ability due to lack of practice.
Agreements over land (see Figures 11, 12) gave user rights to the individual who lent the money, cow, or goat. Land was crucial for survival as in the subsistence economy of Amuge sub- county and was usually the only substantial asset for a household. As pieces of land changed hands, it was important that this had a solid basis beyond a verbal agreement. Access to, control over, and ownership of land lent stability to food production processes that sustained households.
Thus, agreements regulated relationships for “order was created in the act of writing” (Salomon
& Niño-Murcia, 2011, p. 155). Agreements bound individuals, and in cases of default, the documents were the basis of subsequent action.
Sikola, a focal participant, demonstrated the importance of an agreement. Sikola was a middle-aged, almost skinny, tall woman who appeared to be reserved, until you engaged her directly in a discussion. She separated from her husband and lived quite independently on her parents’ land. She lent a cow to a neighbor who was hard-pressed by his in-laws to settle dowry for his son. The agreement, which Sikola could read, stipulated that in the meantime, Sikola would cultivate crops on a piece of the borrower’s land until he repaid the cow. Sikola held on to the agreement because “it will help me argue my case if he [the borrower] makes different claims. I will present the agreement and say, ‘Look at the agreement, see what it says here…and did you not sign here?’” Sikola’s submission above suggests that defaulting on written agreements was not to be dismissed. 119
Figure 11. Agreement for purchase of land Figure 12. Agreement for payment of a financial debt
The prominence of written agreements and their role in regulating dealings and therefore relationships in the village was further demonstrated in a conflict that arose between two fishermen who had a “gentleman’s agreement” over the use of and control over a fishing boat, as my fieldnotes indicate:
A middle-aged man of smallish build docked the boat, tied up his catch into four bundles and climbed off the boat onto the shore. A youthful man who earlier hung out at the landing site with three other youth chatting had remained back when the pair left. He lay lazily on the grass further ashore, playing music on a small radio. On seeing the fisherman move out of the landing site, the youth got up and intercepted him. The youth was a tall, well-built and assertive man. He demanded a sum of money, and held the fisherman at bay. Five other fishermen and three children at the dock witnessed the bitter exchange where the lender claimed that the fisherman repeatedly used the boat without his permission when he [the youth] was the owner. The fisherman had borrowed $12 from the youth, [also a fisherman], and offered the lender his boat till he paid back the money. However, the borrower continued using the boat for fishing. The lender claimed that this had caused him losses since he was not able to go fishing for two consecutive 120
days. “Maybe because I am younger, so he thinks he can do what he pleases! I will not accept this, he [the fisherman] has to pay me money. If I had gone fishing today, I would have earned $6, so I demand twice this figure for the two days lost!” The youth was continually irked by the fisherman’s attempted dismissals, if not justifications: “But only yesterday…,” “O.K., today also…,” “But I have to survive….” The onlookers quietly watched the duo berate each other, and took no sides. When eventually the youth requested that they intervene in helping him get his money, one of the observers asked, “Was there an agreement?” To this the youth shook his head and answered, “No.” To the one, the counsel from the onlookers was, “You should honor your promise, keep off the boat” and to the other, “Forgive him.” The borrower still argued that he had to fend for his family.
It was difficult to take any serious action against the offender in the case above because of the absence of a written agreement between the lender and borrower of the money. The question raised, “Was there a written agreement?” seemed to be the crux of the matter in chatting a way forward. There is a kind of impasse at this point, which appears to be in the fisherman’s favor as he insists that “he had to fend for his family,” meaning that he still needs to use the boat. The arbitration was rather difficult, for it was neither possible to demand a fine in lieu of the losses that the youth incurred, nor to more forcefully demand that the fisherman to compensate the youth for his losses, and more importantly to stick to his “promise.”
Nonetheless, Salume’s view confirms the possibility that individuals may not always honor written agreements, and it highlights the vulnerability of women in land dealings. Salume, a stout, assertive woman, recently elected Woman representative to the LC 111at the sub-county, frequently sold beer to raise income to supply her household needs. After negotiating with a man in the community who wished to borrow $30 from her, she ensured that her husband’s name was written in the agreement as the source, that is, the individual lending the money to this man.
Even though the money was clearly hers, she was careful not to indicate her name because the borrower was a “stubborn man who could easily change [dishonor the terms agreed upon].” So, she felt more secure when her husband appeared to be the lender, as the borrower would more likely respect the agreement. Written agreements then helped streamline contractual dealings but 121 there was no guarantee that they would be honored. It was noteworthy that only in exceptional cases like Sikola’s, a female-headed household, were agreements written in women’s names, as will be explained below.
The participants’ roles in the documentation of agreements included passive roles
(storing the document), active roles (bearing witness), and key roles (secretary). However, only when no one else could serve as secretary was Asipo, a middle-aged, cheerful, and confident woman appointed as scribe. Various factors influence the role that women play in written agreements including literacy ability, age (older women more easily entered the key decision- making arena), individual interest, and social/economic status. Below I explore different scenarios derived from focus groups that depict gendered issues surrounding documentation of agreements.
Scenarios surrounding documentation of agreements. At one focus group, a young woman explained that she kept the children’s birth certificates, whereas her husband kept the records of contracts concerning hiring out of land, as well as records of clan and court issues.
She did not read the records her husband kept, because she thought that they did not concern her since he took care of these issues. Nevertheless, her reading ability was low; she could barely join syllables to read simple words. It is questionable whether it was her will or her limited literacy ability that influenced this gendered circumstance.
In a different scenario, Sikola, of a female-headed household, called for and attended a meeting to resolve a dispute involving the damage to her crops by someone’s goats. Someone else was chosen to take notes: “Since I am a single parent, I was handed the document and told to keep it.” The document stated a grace period for the fine, to cover the cost of damage to Sikola’s crops. Therefore, she held on to the document through this period. 122
Among many African communities, including the Iteso, a woman gains status through bearing children. Sikola had seven sons and a daughter. Nevertheless, in this patriarchal society,
Sikola had proven her worth by ably managing her domestic affairs. She fended for her household of nine, including educating all her children singly through the hard work of farming and selling beer. She accumulated wealth, some of which was consistently spent on the educational requirements of her children, and lately through the famine, on food supplies. Her son expressed his appreciation of his mother’s efforts:
She fends for us [the children] by growing crops, rearing livestock and selling waragi [a local potent drink].Without her maybe I would not have gone this far in education. And not only me, but my siblings as well. After she joined the FAL class, she understood the value of education and no longer kept us babysitting and fishing.
Sikola’s husband rejected her and their children seven years before:
His complaint is that I give birth to only boys, thereby increasing his burden [anticipated dowry demands]. So he said, “Go away from my home!” Indeed, he would not give any support from the beginning, be it school fees, clothing, et cetera. I struggle and try to manage on my own. It is the groups [women groups and VSLA groups] and business that support me…yes, I am struggling, and it is a very heavy burden. I just have to bear it like that. There is nothing to be done.
Yet he did recognize her capabilities and her strength. However, as she narrated her ordeal and the move she contemplated to refund her husband’s dowry, she quickly retorted:
But he will not even accept that [the dowry] because he knows that I will give him the children and he cannot manage to look after them. He knows that I am able to take care of my children. So he will not, he will never accept this [the dowry refund].
Thus, Sikola had earned respect in remarkably shouldering her burden singly, and thus, in spite of her marital situation, she could call for a meeting to evaluate the damage done on her farm and proceed to fine the owner of the goats. She clings to the written agreement, in case defaulting on payment called for further action. Hence the agreement bore legal implications.
Asipo, on the other hand, was always given documents to keep by her husband. The documents ranged from agreements to rent plots of farmland, or hire gardens, to agreements of 123 fines when animals destroy crops, to marriage agreements. The agreements were written in
Asipo’s presence by an appointed secretary. However, “when there is no one else, I do write.”
Asked why she writes only when the others are not there, she explained:
If the others [more literate] are not there and it is only the rest of you [less literate], and perhaps the owner of the animal that destroyed my crop is present but cannot write, they [owner of the goats] will say, “You write, I will sign with my thumb. I will not refuse to sign.”
Therefore, Asipo is an active participant in crafting of the agreement, unlike the participant in the first scenario.
The numerous cases of fines in the community, for livestock ravaging farms, may reflect the inadequacy of land not only for cultivation of crops, but also for grazing animals. In the scenario above involving writing an agreement of a fine to be paid for damage to crops by animals, Asipo plays a key role owing to her status. Asipo is a middle-aged woman who enjoys a stable marriage as she intimated during the interview, “I have never run back34 to my parents’ home since we got married 22 years ago.” Her household was not doing badly economically, either. But perhaps most critical here was that Asipo could deploy her literacy abilities in an otherwise male domain—writing agreements. She occupied a superior status in the scenario described above in contrast to the owner of the goats who, with helplessness, urges her on, “You write, I will sign with my thumb. I will not refuse to sign.” It would appear then that a certain type of woman could access this space. Such women were accomplished in some generally recognized way(s) and approved of by the society. Her social credentials aside, it was Asipo’s literacy abilities that distinguished her in the script province.
34 A common strategy to get some respite in a difficult marriage relationship is for a woman to go back to her parents’ home for an unspecified period of time, days, weeks, months and sometimes even years. Following this she may return to her husband at will, there might be a hearing including the husband (and his team) to determine the next steps, or she may never return to her husband depending on the gravity of the issue. 124
Marriage agreements. Traditional marriage agreements were the culmination of a negotiation between the two families. Six of the 27 participants in 2005 and nine participants in
2017 read marriage agreements. The documentation took place at a ceremony often hosted by the bride’s family and marked by a feast. The host family called in many of the clan members and friends to witness the ceremony. In the research site, the prospective in-laws’ entourage could go up to 30, just like the hosts’ company could, depending on the family’s ability to rally resources, mainly food and drink for a feast.
It was not uncommon that the anticipated party was jeopardized if the two camps
(prospective in-laws and host family) failed to reach an agreement over dowry. During a focus group, the participants told of how “angry words could be exchanged and the mood completely altered from a dignified reception.” This was how significant dowry was. “Educated girls
(whichever level of formal education this might imply) usually attracted more dowry than the uneducated,” a participant added. Dowry included cattle, goats, and money. On average, the dowry at Amuge sub-county was about four or five cattle with five or six goats and at least $60.
The agreement indicated the dowry, the amount offset, what was owed, and the witnesses to the marriage (See Figure 13 and 14). It was common that “dowry was paid in installments, which rendered documentation vital to ensure consistency with subsequent payments.” Asipo indicated about marriage agreements: “They are written by others [men involved in the dowry negotiations], but the woman [mother] is given to keep these record because it is believed that she’ll secure them.”
Written marriage agreements were increasingly gaining popularity as they were used to pressure in-laws to complete pending payments. Pending payments could be more or less urgent depending, among other things, on the relationship between the young couple. Sometimes, 125 callous, greedy, or needy parents ignored an abusive relationship and pushed for payment. On the other hand, more responsible families ignored, albeit temporarily, the pending payment, desiring a more stable relationship for the couple. However, neither approach guaranteed anything. The heavy-handed approach to dowry payment was exploitative, potentially impoverishing, while it reduced the woman to property, and subsequently exacerbated the abuse of women.35
Figure 13. Agreement of payment of dowry
35A more humane approach that women activists argue for is to perceive dowry as a gift in its own right. In such a case, the prospective in-laws had the prerogative to determine what to offer. 126
Figure 14. Witnesses sign the marriage agreement
Reading the Bible and prayer books. Religious books were of two kinds: prayer books (a compilation of different prayers) and the Bible. Reading from prayer books enabled participants to practice their faith, which was predominantly Catholic, with some Protestants and Pentecostal churches like the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG). The number of participants reading prayer books in 2005 and in 2017 remained at 11. Participants claimed that they either learned or polished their reading abilities in the FAL classes. Reading and reflecting on the Bible was, in some cases, complemented with prayers from the prayer books. Reading the Bible in the evenings with the rest of the family was a cherished ritual involving shared reading. Asipo explained, “My husband reads some parts that I cannot read or he reads all the text,” while sometimes “the children read from the Bible and I explain the text.” Reading the Bible enabled one to learn what ought to be and thus change behavior. Seven participants in 2005 and eight in
2017 read the Bible. After the FAL classes closed, one participant gained the literacy abilities required to read the Bible (See Figure 15). 127
Participants stated that the objective of reading the Bible was “to understand the Christian precepts and operationalize them to achieve transformation and thus, to become more aligned with the Christian teaching.” Reading the Bible “enables you to endure hardship as you read and understand that Jesus Christ also experienced such hardship. So, you were encouraged to endure and not to fear,” a participant elucidated. “Reading about different people who persevered encourages you to trust in Jesus Christ,” another expounded. Furthermore, “in times of sickness or oppression when you read the Bible and pray, you may be delivered from the problem,” a participant disclosed. Participants claimed that they drew strength from reading the Bible, interpreting the Word and praying together or alone. Spending time reflecting on the Word of
God and praying together was regarded “as practicing good upbringing of children, as the seed of faith was sown and nurtured in a family.” Literacy then enabled one to become a particular kind of person, a virtuous person and develop traits such as love, forgiveness, tolerance, perseverance, and hope, which were valued in their community. Ilebere underscored the benefit of reading the
Bible:
The word of God builds one up, gives direction and counsel, and gives protection too. It keeps you from going to do bad things. The Bible safeguards you. Even with very disturbing situations, you go there; open the Word and you find all these things were taken care of from time immemorial. You then get courage. You do not take rash actions but instead put it [situation] in prayer. Even when say somebody steals your property and you feel so angered, you want to do them harm, may be even kill them. But when you go back to read the Bible, you calm down and begin praying for them to be delivered from the sin of theft. Even if they impregnated your daughter or insulted you so bad or did anything so bad.
128
Figure 15. Pages from the Psalms in the Ateso Bible
Family evening prayer. Moments that the family got together were cherished because
“unlike the rest of the day’s bustle, the evening was more relaxed,” a participant stated. In this union was “a sense of togetherness and purpose,” another interjected. Following the family prayer, the family “took stock of the day’s developments including the children’s needs,” added a participant, explaining that the household head then communicated the next days’ work plan, which was contingent upon the season.36 However, the religious ritual was sometimes disrupted by heavy workloads as Apulegeria clarified, “When fatigued or working long into the evening, joint family prayer could not take place.” A further challenge faced was that “poor eyesight affected the practice of reading religious books,” especially “when the print was small.” As such, participants “relied on other family members to read the biblical texts.” The absence of husbands
36 The two rain seasons largely determined the farming and renovation [of huts, kraals] activities in the rural setting. 129 in some cases was regretted, because “it created a gap in the joint prayer, family unity and nurturing of children.”
Praying together in the evening before dispersing to retire was a ritual that involved reading the Bible, prayer, and reuniting as a family. Although the participants had different proficiency levels in reading the Bible, they accessed the Word of God through mediators (Dyers
& Slemming, 2014; Openjuru & Lyster, 2007)—their children or husbands.37 Within the familial atmosphere, the Christian precepts gained meaning since the virtues of love, unity, forgiveness, tolerance, perseverance, and hope are relational and thus may not be practiced in solitude.
Routinely sharing family prayers and embracing the Word of God was perceived as initiating and nurturing good character in children. This may also be read as insulating one against the temptations of the world as one learned to “endure hardship” and “not fear” but instead pray to achieve “transformation” according to the teaching of the faith. Of importance, too, was the “stock-taking” by the household head, which served to bond the family further, as the family sought to address the needs of the members, and thus supported each other in their endeavors. These moments also demonstrated and modeled responsible leadership for the upcoming generation.
The evening familial gathering was a practice passed down generations but morphing into different forms. In chronicling the changes that occurred in the village, the village elder stated:
There was etem, a bonfire lit in the evening, and the family sat around it to warm themselves. This was the time that stories, riddles, poems, and sayings of the wise were told, and elders spoke words of wisdom to the younger generation. It was here that plans were shared.
For security reasons, the scarcity of wood fuel and quasi-modern lifestyle—for example the advent of education and a decline in consumption of ajon, a popular local alcoholic drink that
37 The male participant did not indicate reading the Bible as a literacy practice. 130 normally graced the evening—the practice of sitting at etem is defunct. Albeit in a different form, the familial socializing aspect of etem, which offers opportunity for bonding, is promoted in the evening family prayer.
Prayer meetings. During the prayer meetings by different Christian denominations including the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG), the Church of Uganda, or Protestants, and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR), participants took notes, especially of the biblical references for the day so that they could follow up with personal reading and reflection, to further glean the meaning and thus enhance their spiritual growth.
Depending on their proficiency in writing, other participants, mediators, helped with spellings or even wrote the biblical quotations so that the owner of the notebook only read what was recorded. About 80% of the participants had challenges reading text due to poor eyesight, and many gave up writing but struggled to read boldly written text. One occasion of such musings during a focus group went thus:
Participant 1: My eyes…I don’t know what the problem is, whether it is a disease.... I cannot push thread through the eye of needle or read small letters. They appear too many, too crowded on the page.
Participant 2: Me too, the big print I can read but the small letters I cannot.
This exchange indicates how physical problems such as poor eyesight impeded reading and writing.
Reading the Bible to the congregation during evangelical missions sometimes drew criticism. Ilebere, who had a limited reading proficiency, fell victim to this tendency. When a reader made a mistake, others laughed at and insulted them saying: “Look at these stupid ones!
[They were known to be non-literate before.] Claiming to be able to read, then you skip something! It shouldn’t have been like that, it should have been like this!” 131
The newly literate through the FAL were apparently assessed rather unkindly. They had to prove themselves out of the label of “non-literate,” hence the assertion “these stupid ones” when one made a mistake while reading to the congregation. In the judgment of the critics, the
FAL participants did not qualify for literate status. The listeners are quick to judge, “claiming to be able to read then you skip something!” because in their assessment, when you know how to read, you do not skip words. Therefore, they correct the reader indicating how the phrase or sentence with the skipped word(s) should read. Notwithstanding the poor eyesight, Ilebere explained her predicament further:
It is like a tree that begins to bend when young. When you try to straighten it, it cannot stretch. That’s what I realize because you try to learn to read when you are older and then you falter or skip parts and they laugh at you.
Ilebere painfully recounts the struggles of learning to read in adulthood and likens it to bending a tree in old age. Her justification for her poor reading is reminiscent of the old adage, “You cannot bend a tree in old age,” a cultural idiom in Teso. She refers to her attempts at reading to a congregation some time back and the embarrassment it drew, similar to Prins (2010, 2011) and
Bartlett (2010) who link speech shame to illiteracy. During the interview at her home, Ilebere said she could read sign boards, check children’s schoolwork and write her name, but not read the Bible. Such humiliation as described above can demoralize and distance one from further attempts at reading.
Akwii’s literacy and evangelization practices. Some participants became famous within and in the surrounding villages because of the capacity to read and interpret the Bible. “[Akwii] is widely known for her reading and teaching the word. The community knows that FAL transformed this older woman. She could not do this before. She couldn’t even write a single letter,” Salume, a focal participant, pointed out. Similar submissions regarding Akwii’s literacy abilities were highlighted in all the four focus groups. Indeed, when I met Akwii at her home, she 132 led me to a prayer-room in her home and elaborated on her activities. Her charism of reading, teaching, and interpreting the Bible, coupled with a knack for counselling (especially fellow widows), got her elected as LC 3 Chairperson for widows for Kide sub-county.
Akwii went to Grade 1 and later attended catechism classes.(At the time, these classes were considered a form of school.) At age 15, she was married off in an arranged marriage to her husband, with whom she had four children. She smiled as she narrated her story: “I was lucky to be given to a young man because some of my elder sisters were given to old men.” The couple lived peacefully and prospered with food and livestock till the tragic death from poisoning of their youngest child. She claimed that in frustration, her husband enlisted in the Uganda People’s
Defense Forces (UPDF) and later met his own death in 1987 during a battle with the Lakwena
Holy Spirit Army, a precursor of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
Since then, she suffered setbacks but also amazing breakthroughs in her life. “I took to drinking after my husband’s death as I felt it gave me sleep and reduced my worries. Then
Amojong invited me to spend time at the FAL classes.” She became treasurer of the FAL class and slowly learned to read. “I began doing business, selling sorghum that I would bring from
Soroti. God blessed me because I would not cheat people with a wrong measure; I maintained the measure that I used for buying the sorghum.” She later engaged in different income- generating activities including managing a restaurant and selling potent liquor. After she decided to stop taking alcohol, she never sold liquor again, but changed to dealing in millet produce.
Akwii claimed that perhaps her prayers and initial efforts towards claiming her deceased husband’s benefits were answered when one Sunday, miraculously, a man showed up at the chapel with her late husband’s death gratuity (benefits). She recounted:
I was able to fill the required forms that were sent to Kampala. Fortunately, an official handling payments due to widows was from this district and I think that God put it in his 133
heart to pick forms for Okunguro district widows, sign on their behalf (as he considered that it would be very difficult for them to get to Kampala).
She was so thankful to God, “because not many widows received their husband’s death gratuity then.” She bought a plot of land and constructed a big iron-roofed house at the center where she lived and “is often visited by her three children and twenty grandchildren.” However, “people are so envious. I just have to persevere. There are accusations against me that I am devil worshipper and this is how I got money to construct the house.” On different occasions, she was
“threatened,” and she “found witchcraft buried in her compound.” But she has always prayed and broke the evil powers and then buried the items. She also prays for her persecutors saying,
Lord, open their eyes. Just as you opened Paul’s eyes and he saw what was right and believed in you. In the same way, open these people’s eyes so that they may know you. They think that their witchcraft helps them achieve their desires, but death occurs only when God allows it.
Akwii shared about her challenges at length and how God had been so faithful in always intervening in different situations of her life. In her estimation, “sometimes, some things don’t change, but that is how it can also be.” Yet it was the condition of the widows that struck Akwii as she expounded:
This is my situation. But the condition of widows is pathetic. This is why I am laboring to explain it to you. In fact, sometimes when I am completely hard-up, I do not visit them. If it were possible, I would show them to you and you would say, “I thought the older woman was lying but this is so true!”
It was the destitution of the widows that sometimes kept Akwii put when she had nothing to offer them. However, the needs of the older widows stretched beyond the material to psychological, emotional, and spiritual. She lamented at the dynamics of the famine:
I have listened on radio to the famine situation in Teso. But I wonder because the very needy are left out as the leaders choose who to give the relief food. Because the ones with hands [strong and able] can move around to look for something to eat, but these widows who just sit there [cannot even move]! 134
Akwii stated that she “visited widows and destitute older persons, shared food supplies, washed the sick or weak, comforted the bereaved and above all preached the word of God.”
Besides the monthly prayer meetings with widows in her chapel, Akwii “preached at the basic
Christian communities in Kide zone.”38She did all this so ably, and with a passion that Akwii was the referent for success in adult literacy among her fellow FAL participants and in Amuge sub-county, the jurisdiction of her work. After the community mass at Kelim Primary school, I had a brief interaction with the eight catechists (and the parish priest) who led the different chapels in Kide zone, and they were quick to name Akwii as “a wonder of the FAL program,” saying, “She reads and teaches the Word,” and “She gained exceptional capabilities in evangelization.”
Singing in the church choir. Three former FAL members were choristers, two in Kelim chapel and one in Aminit chapel. The FAL classes offered the trio the opportunity to polish their literacy skills, since they had the beginnings of an education prior to the FAL classes. Choristers sang from hymn books during the celebration of mass. Some members of the congregation also sang from hymn books during the community mass; however, because most hymns were familiar, those without hymn books comfortably sang along especially the choruses.
Participating as a choir member, however, was acknowledged as providing an opportunity to deepen one’s faith if one sang meaningfully or reflectively the words that they read in the hymn book in the course of the service.
Completing nomination forms. Salume, a Local Council 3 leader at the sub-county kept her nomination forms to her current leadership position. Although she could not read the forms because they were written in (English), she had the privilege of the electoral official reading and
38 Zones were divisions of the Catholic church, the parallel of a civic sub-county. 135 translating the content to her and her supporters before they (she with the electoral official’s help) completed the form on the nomination day. Through mediation, Salume understood what was stipulated in the nomination form and acted accordingly, as was required to gain entry to candidacy for Woman representative to the Local Council 111 (LC3, or the women councilor position), and in her case victory, since she was unanimously nominated. This document symbolized a passage to a prestigious status that she occupied (See Figures 16-18).
Figure 16. Nomination form to candidacy for local council elections 136
Figure 17. Nomination form: Oath statement 137
Figure 18. Introductory letter for deceased’s benefits
Reading the local newspaper. In 2005, the local newspaper did not exist in the village, but in 2017, eight participants read the newspaper. There were few copies of the newspaper,
Etop, that different individuals accessed in the village. Dadas, a participant with a P7 education who often sold beer at the bar, claimed that she frequently read Etop aloud to the patrons at the bar. Through reading the newspaper, the participants were informed about events in different parts of the country and the world. This was necessary in case of “an upcoming war, [because] you will be aware.” Besides, you “relay with confidence issues you have read about.” Sikola read
Etop to find out the content. “Like yesterday when I went to the center I found boys who had
Etop so I borrowed it. The paper had the news about MP [Member of Parliament] Amodoi’s death. I did not reach the funeral, but I am aware about the death.”
The pages on agriculture usually featured successful farmers who were an inspiration to some participants as the two excerpts below illustrate: 138
I like reading the section on agriculture in Etop. This motivated me to plant many oranges, but the termite attacked them and now only three survived. I read to learn what may help me improve my living conditions. (focus group participant)
From Etop, I learnt more about how to grow tomatoes, cabbage and eggplants. After bedding them in the nursery, you transplant them, weed, then spray three times and harvest. All this information is in the local newspaper. You find a farmer has shared his/her experience and there is also a picture of the farmer himself. So you try to follow what you read. (focus group participant)
Cultural factors such as the agricultural content of the newspaper influenced the readiness to learn and practice literacy skills. As demonstrated above, the application of literacy abilities was selective and geared toward what was perceived as beneficial and impacting on the production processes for survival. However, just as in school children’s education, consistency through constant practice in adults was vital to acquiring and sustaining literacy abilities.
Reading labels on pesticides and de-wormers. Eight participants in 2017 and none in
2005 read the labels on pesticides and de-wormers to determine the drug name and expiration date. In 2005, only one participant used pesticide to spray crops, and therefore the spraying and deworming of livestock was limited compared to the current levels. Arguably, in 2005, there was limited—if any—exposure to pesticides and de-wormers among the participants. However, livestock pests and disease incidence at the research site were high, requiring the application of pesticides and de-worming drugs. Ensuring the viability of the drug was important to avoid a double loss from the application of an expired pesticide and the money spent to procure it.
Participants made the effort, money permitting, to treat their livestock because livestock were an investment, a form of saving or a bank. Therefore it was important to protect or safeguard this wealth. As the cattle, goats, sheep, and poultry grew and increased in number, so did participants’ wealth. Livestock were easily disposed for income to obtain money for addressing 139 various demands. Participants related FAL lessons involving reading labels on various drugs to the acquisition of their literacy abilities.
School-Related Literacy Practices
Formal education was ardently promoted by 11of the 27 participants in 2017 compared to
24 in 2005. Participants claimed that the FAL program greatly influenced their attitude toward education. But there were government efforts to promote the Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy as well. Participants attached more importance to and supported children’s education in various ways. At a focus group discussion, Connie explained how “the learning has changed us, but especially me.” She continued:
I grew up really painfully bearing the mat [woven out of papyrus reeds and uncomfortable to lie on] till I got married. But when we came to participate in the FAL classes, we were enlightened. Well, particularly on my side, I do not wish my children to sleep on the local mat. They have mattresses to sleep on, they also have beddings – bed sheets, blankets and mosquito nets. And then if you are sending a child to school, they should have a school uniform so that they feel relaxed. When a child has no uniform, they are so miserable, self-conscious and apparently ashamed of themselves in class. They may not understand what the teacher is teaching because they are different from the other children.
Connie’s account above points to the conditions that nurture children and that may influence their academic performance. If a child slept comfortably on a mattress, this appeared healthier than “painfully bearing the mat,” hence, with the other bedding provided a good rest that prepared the child better for the next day. On the other hand, uniforms were a requirement at all primary and secondary schools as well as some tertiary institutions in Uganda. Uniforms were worn for identity as different schools had different colors and designs. Wearing uniforms served to blur, in some way, social economic differentials, thereby avoiding “differentness” and enhanced self-esteem in students, which encouraged learning. 140
Other participants in the focus group supplemented how they promoted children’s education, as illustrated by the following focus group excerpts:
“They should wear the uniform and have exercise books…,” “pens and pencils…,” “shoes...because of the heat….” “Before they go to school, you should bathe them.…” “Besides, because we are on the main road, a child could easily be knocked down by a vehicle. Now the uniform will help to identify the child as a pupil of the school and teachers may therefore attend to them quickly.…” “Also the child should have a badge that indicates the school they go to. Somebody may come following the main road and take your child—you recall the opukoi39crisis—but if the child has a badge… These are the things we were taught, to take care of the children, that there should be changes at all levels; you have to organize your child and your family well.”
The participants explicate the different school requirements to support progress in the child’s schooling. Notably, these are basic, yet the participant’s perception of the significance of shoes as a buffer to the heat, as opposed to saying “shoes required in order to look good,” spells out the pragmatic considerations taken in equipping the children for school. During the public outcry in the face of opukoi activities, babies, children, youth, and adults fell victim to the preying treasure-seekers who struck suddenly. In isolated cases, the mutilated bodies of the victims were discovered abandoned in the wilderness. In the participant’s narrative above, if this unfortunately happened, perhaps it was hoped that the school uniform and badge could be used to identify the child or its remains.
In the participants’ perception, formal education paved a way to a prosperous future.
Apulegeria often intervened in school-related deviance in an attempt to encourage girls to further pursue formal education so that they might have a better life. She recounted having to convince a female high school student to continue on her way to school after the student had detoured to hang out in the market:
Then this child [the student] listened and went to pick her books—moreover she had hidden them in that very [makeshift] shelter where we trade and began relaxing in the
39 Opukoi translated means ‘the ones with sacks’ and was popularized with the countrywide rise in people kidnapped ostensibly for human sacrifice. 141
market as it is a market day today. So she picked up her books and set off on the main road. When she had gone some distance, the young man [also a trader in the market] followed and peeped into the main road. He came back and told me, “Ah, your person has gone, your person has actually gone.” I said to him, “It is good for girls to study and get an education. When a girl is educated the whole community is educated. This is because a girl-child will think of her people. Not like a boy-child. Yah, so she went to school. When I meet them playing along the road, I tell them-the girls-please, do not play with boys. If he impregnates you, that is the end of you, while he continues with his studies. Then you remain there carrying the baby who will be defecating on you! I tell them, “You children when you see your breasts sticking out, you begin to think of marriage! Children, it is wrong! It is so bad for us who did not get a chance to go to school. We see you sent to school by your parents, and I am so happy to see you attending school. I said girl-children—I showed him a home close to the center which was built by three girls, girls! I told him, you see that huge iron-roofed house? It was built by girls—yes, that big home. Are there any boys in that home? It is the girls, only girls in that home who live and work in Kampala who built that home. If they were not educated, that older woman [the girls’ mother] would be wandering around with children who are helpless… See how that huge house sits there?
Apulegeria seemingly turns adversity into adventure when she encounters what she considers as “danger” signals in young girls and ruptures into a crusade of sorts on girl-child education. Indicators of deviance to Apulegeria included “hanging out in the busy auction market” and “playing with boys on the road.” She exploits these moments to raise awareness about the importance of and impediments to successful education. Thus she refers to youthful sexuality (“when you see your breasts sticking out, you begin to think about marriage”) to deter the not-helpful attitude (early marriage) in young girls that may potentially get them into trouble and so this attitude is “wrong.” Furthermore, she highlights the dangers of rash action with the opposite sex in light of their puberty period: “If he impregnates you, that’s the end of you.” This rather grim picture of doom for the girl is juxtaposed with the progress of the boy since “he continues with his studies,” signaling a change in consciousness since early marriage was culturally acceptable.
In unplanned parenthood, the girl would “remain there carrying the baby who will be defecating on her,” reflecting the not uncommon helplessness, the struggles, and the impasse that 142 unmarried teenage mothers face when they lack psychological, emotional, physical, and financial support at the birth of a child. Unable to procure the essential baby-care items, young mothers manage in difficult circumstances, for instance, often improvising old little pieces of cloth for diapers!
On the contrary, Apulegeria presents education almost as a panacea for life’s challenges, saying, “If they were not educated, that older woman [the girls’ mother] would be roaming around with children who are helpless.” The older woman’s (the mother of the successful girls) situation might be likened to her own where they both lack schooling, except that she continues to live in hardship or deprivation, while “education” mediated in the older woman’s circumstance. The sufficiency that comes with education is symbolized in her statement: “See how that huge house sits there?” Three girls and not a boy, as she stressed, constructed the “big home” that shelters their mother. Emphasis on the girls’ effort challenges a slowly changing cultural view that it was useless to educate girls as they were likely to dropout due to pregnancy, and since they are bound for marriage anyway, so there was no need to “waste” resources on them. Underlying the repeated description of the expansive structures that make the home is a sense of admiration for the accomplishment that brings pride to the family.
Finally, the older woman lives not “wandering around” with “helpless” children, but by implication, she is settled in adequacy and comfort. In Apulegeria’s view, then, when girls pursue education successfully, they produce desirable outcomes in their families, which include self-sufficiency, peacefulness, and self-esteem. This is the rationale for promoting girl-child education. Recall that she indicated that boys do not remember their families, implying that the girls have a propensity to share their acquired wealth with their families. However, other participants expressed similar views upholding the need to promote the education of children. 143
Yet there was an apparent contradiction in the participants’ beliefs about the power of education as an access route to wealth, and subsequently its power to transform lives, and the reality of unemployed educated youth in the village. First, poverty curtailed many students’ progress in education, but the high unemployment rate countrywide indicated the limits of advancement in life through formal education (Tikly & Barrett, 2011).
School notebooks. With the belief that without formal education one’s life was relegated to hardship, participants frequently took off time to monitor their children’s or grandchildren’s performance by checking their school work in the exercise books or looking through the books, when they could not comprehend the content in the exercise books. Literacy then afforded, in a symbolic gesture (Sweeney, 2010), an avenue to support children’s school work.
Fourteen participants in 2005, compared to 22 in 2017, helped children with homework.
With their varied literacy abilities acquired through the literacy lessons, they checked the children’s books, especially for the lower grades (Grades 1-3), enabling the participants to identify weak areas and address them. Checking the children’s exercise books also revealed whether the child attended school or not, since the parents could read the dates. As one participant clarified: “Today many children stop to play cards [gambling] and [do] not continue to school.” Thus, participants claimed that the constant support and monitoring kept the children focused and prevented the children from being derailed.
According to the local community leaders40, some children and youth developed unbecoming behavior and went to the trading center at night where they drank, especially potent liquor, smoked, and watched videos in dark shelters. These individuals, they claimed, were
40 I interviewed the LC1 Chairman of Kelim village, LC1 Chairman of Aminit village, the Village Elder from Kelim who was also the LC2 Chairman of the Elderly and the catechist who all emphasized theft as a challenge in the village. 144 responsible for the rampant theft in the community: “They are the worst age group around, when they do not have money, they resort to stealing people’s goats, chicken, turkeys, and breaking into shops.” A participant explained that by keeping children focused on their education, through constant monitoring and support, “They will not end up becoming thieves—stealing people’s cassava.” Figures 19 and 20 show some of the children’s school books that the participants look through.
Figure 19. Exercise book-math of lower grade 145
Figure 20. School text book
However, in spite of the high value attached to formal education with a view to attaining formal jobs, participants were aware that jobs were difficult to find, even with an education. The village elder pointed out the challenge:
In Kelim, many children have now gone up to Grade 8, joined nursing, teaching institutions. This was not the case before. It was only we the pioneers who went up to high school and upon graduation, we were absorbed into gainful employment. But today, job opportunities are not easily got. We have children who have graduated from training with us at home, jobless!
Yet messages promoting the formal education of children persistently flowed from radio stations, at school meetings like SMC/PTA meetings, and at official district functions. These messages were reinforced by apparently successful individuals who occasionally visited the villages for social functions. Songs by local artists seemed to justify such success as reflected in the few individuals while simultaneously challenging others to invest in education. One particularly popular song on FM radios had the lyrics:
Families with educated children have knowledge, and many opportunities, Sacrifice! Accept to wear one cloth to keep your child in school, Accept to walk on barefoot to keep your child in school, Accept to be poor to keep your child in school. 146
Refrain: Oh children, study diligently, And put Teso on the map
Participants’ appreciation of the role of formal education is forged amidst stark realities they face, precisely various insecurities such as the job market, the increasing cost of living, climate change, and decreased productivity on the farms. Yet again, in spite of or because of these challenges, the participants seem to actively promote the education of their children perhaps in the hope that it would become the more stable and enduring investment. It was noteworthy that
Teso region registered the highest Gross Enrollment Ratio of 139%, surpassing the national figure of 117% (Aine, 2017).
Reading school reports. While 14 of the 27participants read school reports in 2017, 12 did in 2005. Participants read children’s report cards showing the summative assessments per semester. Parents of Grade 7 children also read letters written in Ateso inviting them to meetings at the school. Pupils brought home both school circulars and school receipts written in English.
The former gave a status report of the previous term and indicated the required school dues for the following term, while the latter provided evidence of payment of the school fees. Only six participants in 2017 could read the school circulars written in English. In 2005, 10 participants read school receipts compared to 16 participants in 2017. The increment of six participants may reflect the importance attached to formal education of their children.
Participants took different measures including correcting wrong answers, seeking help from the older siblings, or meeting with the respective teacher to discuss the (apparent) identified challenge that the child faced. Participants claimed that the interventions encouraged children in their studies because they learned from the corrections and were challenged by the concerns raised by the participants regarding their performance in the daily and termly assessments.
Another benefit cited was that children’s needs were identified and addressed in a timely 147 manner. The receipts were also kept for reference. With her Grade 5 education, Asipo tried to monitor her children’s schoolwork:
Researcher: So you look through their books? Asipo: Yes, but I cannot understand others. Sometimes I just say, “Oh, you have a good handwriting, you write so well (laughs). This encourages them. And when not neatly done, I say, “Why is your book so untidy? Or why is this work not marked? Maybe they say, ‘The teacher was not around’ and if they failed a sum, I ask, “Why did you fail there?” And because two of them are in the same class I ask, “Why is so and so beating [outmatching] you? Why do you fail here?” (laughs). Then they explain why they perform like that.
Participants thus rendered moral support to the children by affirming them, critiquing their work, and showing genuine interest in the children’s educational progress. However, participants further supported their children’s education by symbolic means. This occurred when the participants were not able to critique the content, but superficially browsed over the pages, checking for unmarked work, neatness, and raising questions about the questions not passed.
Helping children with school work was largely left to mothers who were usually overworked and thus sometimes not able to attend to the children’s school work. According to the female participants, some fathers returned home late and were not particularly keen to find out even whether the child went to school or not. Yet to the mothers, confirming that the child went to school was important because “the child may get bad company and you end up losing the money you paid towards their education, for example if she [a daughter] got pregnant.” Indeed these fears may be real, as I noted the high number of child-mothers41 at the community mass. In some cases, inability to read prevented participants from effectively supporting the education of children.
41 The word for teenage mothers in Uganda based on the girl-child education policy. 148
Family Records
Medical records. Medical records usually contained personal details of the family members and were mainly kept by the participants. They included medical records such as children’s immunization cards, mother’s prenatal medical notes, general treatment notes for medical conditions suffered and blood donor’s card. It was important to read both the name and the date on the immunization card so that the child was immunized on schedule, just as reading the name and date on antenatal notes was important in attending prenatal services at the health center. In 2005, 14 participants read names on books for treatment notes, as well as names and dates on immunization cards and antenatal books compared to 24 in 2017, indicating that10 participants in 2017 improved their literacy skills and applied them in these areas. Meanwhile, all
27 participants in 2017 claimed that they administered correct medicine doses, as opposed to 23 in 2005. Commonly, parents may be quite keen on the initial immunizations but follow-up becomes sluggish.42
Learning to administer medicine doses correctly was a key concern during the FAL program because of the high morbidity and mortality rates in poor communities. Through simulation exercises in the FAL class, using old medicine packets and curved out pills (from dried cassava or potatoes), the participants claimed that they mastered how to interpret medicine doses.
42 According to Browne and Glaeser (2010), the Uganda government policy on vitamin A supplementation (VAS) should be provided to all women by eight weeks postpartum and biannually to all children six months to six years old. “Since 2004, the government and its development partners have implemented a biannual Child Days Plus Strategy (CDPS) to accelerate delivery of an integrated package of key interventions to reduce child mortality and morbidity.” The goal is to increase VAS coverage from 60 percent to 80 percent (MOH, 2010). Health workers provide routine and catch-up immunization, VAS for all children under five, deworming for children one to 14 years, immunization of women of reproductive age against tetanus and education on healthy family practices such as breastfeeding, hygiene, and malaria prevention. “Notably, coverage for both BCG and DTP1 is high, around 90 percent. But coverage of other immunizations, including DTP3, is much lower, less than 70 percent” (Browne & Glaeser, 2010, p. 49). 149
Treatment notes were exercise books bought by patients and brought to the health center.
The exercise books contained a medical record of the individual including the diagnosis, lab report and prescription, and so were required. Families often kept a number of exercise books with the family member’s names written on them. When a family member fell sick, their specific book was picked and brought along with the patient to the health center for medical attention.
The ability to identify a book from the heap was paramount in acting independently and correctly. Ilebere shared her experience:
In the past when I needed to go to the health center for treatment, I had to move around my neighborhood to find somebody to show me my book as I could not read my name on the book. But since I learned to read, I am so happy because I identify my or my children’s book and take them to the health center. And even when I am told to go back on a given date, I know when to go back.
The need to navigate successfully, but also easily, the practices pertaining medical attention was important in obtaining timely assistance. Literacy enabled participants to act independently in these situations. For example, Bartlett's (2012)research refuted assumptions that participants learn a specific set of skills or disposition in literacy classes. On the contrary, the study claimed that participants may adopt the discourses and dispositions that they are able to practice, apprentice in, or rehearse.
Baptism cards. Baptism cards indicated the progress a child had made with the sacraments of the Catholic Church and so were required at all stages of receiving five sacraments. Further, baptism cards could substitute as birth certificates that were used to verify a student’s age when completing education forms at the transition stages, Grades 7 and 12. In
2005, 15 participants read baptism cards, compared to 16 in 2017. One participant got her children baptized after 2005. Baptism cards were issued at the conclusion of the baptism preparation and ceremony. Practicing Catholics kept a record of their progress in their 150 sacramental life. If not baptized as an infant (about age five and below), then Catholic individuals had to wait till they were of age (about 10) to attend preparatory sessions
(instructions) over the span of a year.
The mass I attended at Kelim primary school was a ceremony to mark incremental accomplishments toward baptism. Sikola, whose two children were candidates on that day, described the requirements for the baptism of her children. This involved the children attending instructions once a week for one year at the chapel, and then parents participated at the rituals toward the final baptism ceremony. It was a four-staged ceremony with financial obligations at each stage: “Two children are taking baptism classes and I have paid for each of them, $3 for stage 1 at Ariet, and $1 for stages 2, 3 and 4 at Orimai, Kelim and Ariet so that they receive their baptism at Easter.
It was important that parents found godparents or sponsors for the children; the godparents usually received a gift in appreciation for the role they played. Sikola explained what was required for godparents:
When someone helps you to witness and support your child in baptism, you offer something. In the past when we had food, you would host them to a meal after the ceremony in church. But now that is not possible. So, I will give each of them 50 cents for each child after each stage. I will have to find 50 cents for each of them and say, “The situation is so bad. Please take this 50 cents for a cup of tea.” Yes, because you cannot have a person help you through the process then you just leave them like that [with no gift].
The four rituals culminating in the baptism ceremony at Easter took place at different venues in
Kide church zone that covered Apopng civic parish. Apart from the weekly classes that candidates for baptism attended at the respective village chapels, they trekked to the different venues accompanied by their biological and godparents for the four rituals. This was an arduous task that made the baptism card a priceless document: “We parents are all encouraged to go for 151 penance.” The requirement to go for penance and participate in the mass was an opportunity to model practices encouraged by the Catholic church and to spiritually prepare along with the children for the important baptism ceremony. Therefore, sociocultural influences determined who had and read baptism cards, as well as the likelihood of meeting children’s educational requirements (baptism card) at the transition stages.
Children’s profiles. Some participants kept their children’s profiles indicating when they were born and where, as well as key events like baptism, confirmation, and marriage. This served as a reminder of these important occasions and was a family reference.
Voter’s card. The participants kept voters cards and national identity card for reference.
Voter cards were vital in obtaining national identity cards in the first-ever national identity card program in 2014. National identity cards were required in accessing services for example in the bank, police station, job interviews. One participant kept a blood donor’s card, which gave the family access to blood transfusion health services whenever it had been necessary. However, she indicated that, although it was wrong, her family had shared the card with a neighbor in an emergency, and this had enabled the patient to receive blood transfusion that saved a life.
Writing
Signing Names
Generally, the participants read more than they wrote. Even in seemingly opportune moments for writing, for example keeping financial records as prescribed in the FAL program, they expressed reluctance. At community meetings such as the regular VSLA meetings and other trainings by development partners, the participants signed their names on the attendance sheet.
They signed their names to fulfill the required protocol and to obtain necessary services and/or entitlements such as accessing agricultural inputs like seeds and allowances for attending a 152 meeting. At each focus group, I passed around a sheet of paper and requested each participant to write their name. They did this easily because “each of us signs her name in the attendance register at meetings,” they had proudly said.
Participants signed their names at the regular VSLAs and other meetings with a sense of pride originating from their symbolic status and independence: “None amongst us thumb prints when we are to sign our names say at meetings, and we feel proud about that!” The act of signing itself created a sense of satisfaction, accomplishment, and confidence in the participants. In each focus group there was a recurring, “I am so happy that I can write my name! I am also educated now because I can write my name!” Signing their names marked the participants as “educated” in contrast to the sense of shame that was associated with illiteracy (Bartlett, 2010; Prins, 2010,
2011).
Writing Notes during Trainings
Participants wrote notes during trainings, especially the group leaders who used the notes to later disseminate the information they received to their community development groups. Other participants participated in training sessions and did not write notes. Sharing the training content with the groups meant that the training content cascaded to lower levels and more people were sensitized. In addition, the training notes were a resource to improve a participant’s own activities. For instance, to Amojong, “animal husbandry notes are very helpful for treating the animals. I check for the drug and the right dose.” In this case, then, literacy was useful in the application of a livelihood practice, livestock management (see Figure 21).
Dadas reviewed training notes with her husband, claiming that this process was not only educative but was also a form of accountability for the time that she was away from home. Here,
Dadas used her literacy abilities to develop transparency, using the training notes as evidence of 153 attending the training. Similarly, Asipo and her husband together reviewed notes from trainings to assist them in managing their farming activities. Although Asipo’s husband emphasized the benefit of literacy, he was quick to indicate that he would not wish his wife to surpass him with regard to their literacy abilities. His submission echoed the insecurity apparent in especially male spouses if their wife’s literacy capacity exceeded their own. Arguably, therefore, these kinds of reassurances strengthened spousal bonds.
However, the participants attempted to write notes if the training was in Ateso, but had difficulty if the training was in English and if the translation was quick and poor. Literacy helped boost livelihood practices such as treatment of livestock and enhanced family relationships when spouses felt reassured that their partners were docile.
Figure 21. Marita's training notes on farming 154
Using Mobile Phones
During the FAL classes, the use of the mobile phone was limited and did not exist in
Amuge sub-county. However, participants later applied their literacy learning to understand mobile phone operations. Ten participants in 2017 dialed phone numbers, seven transacted finances, and two typed text messages on a mobile phone. Using the mobile phone to call and/or send text messages facilitated instant access to distant relations and further enabled transfers of money that helped meet household needs. Participants claimed that managing mobile money transactions enabled them to avoid being cheated as they read and interpreted correctly the details of the transaction including names, amount of money, and the date. These national transactions reflect the changing economic conditions and survival strategies where sons and daughters from the village have migrated to distant locales. The use of the phone to send money to support their relatives illustrates how economic forces structure what people do with literacy
(Brandt, 2001). Non-use of the mobile phone device was linked to limited literacy abilities, absence of a mobile phone and reluctance to use a phone.
Numeracy
Financial Records
Two participants recorded sums of money received. These were one-off recordings of the dividends of their produce. Akwii, for instance, sold some bags of millet in 2012 and wrote down the total sales. Similarly, Eperu wrote down the amount of money he earned from the sale of his cotton crop the previous year. They took interest in recording these figures so as to compare with the subsequent income but more importantly, keeping financial records “helps in planning as you can see profit and loss and decide whether to stop or continue [the enterprise].” 155
Calculation and Counting Money
Participants greatly appreciated the development of various numeracy abilities. Counting money appeared to be the hallmark bottom-line for numeracy abilities as signing names was for literacy abilities. In 2005, 25 participants and 27 in 2017 claimed that they could count money correctly. When I asked about the benefits of learning numeracy, the focus group participants replied almost in unison, “Counting money!”
Researcher: Surely you counted money before, you sold your produce… Participants: (In chorus) We were often cheated! We were cheated! Sometimes you counted more or less money than the actual…We could not distinguish money notes…Addition of large sums was difficult because of the number of zeros…It was difficult to add!
Participants went on and on, each telling about specific experiences where they were cheated. In my field notes, I described the moment:
A very spirited discussion characterized by a lot of excitement, talking in chorus or overlap, raised voices, emphasis in expression and communication in the choice of words, sounds made, they laughed so hard at themselves, at each other as they pointed out scenarios in the financial transactions where they were cheated while they engaged in their income-generating activities.
There were countable moments during the focus groups that paralleled the level of enthusiasm captured above, notably, discussions of visits to the health center, feminine hygiene, and spousal relationships. The price paid for taking home less money was great, sometimes resulting in domestic violence involving insults from or being hit by their husbands. It earned an older participant (several years back) a beating! The humiliation diffused one’s self-esteem and caused frustration and helplessness.
However, for Asipo, who worked closely with her husband, his re-counting the money was to confirm the amount and not necessarily to check it because she could not count. She had no difficulty with counting money: 156
Even if it is a lot of money, I can still count, but I need my husband’s help to sell oranges because businessmen come with trucks. We sell six bags since they do not ripen at the same time. So my husband counts the money so he also knows the amount NOT because I cannot count.
With her Grade 5 schooling, Asipo ably counted sums of money. She and her husband sold varying quantities amounting to six 300-pound bags that season. However, traders collected the oranges from the farm, and she had a challenge in quickly counting larger sums of money for the large orders they took. Moreover, counting the money also required checking the legal tender for bad notes. So, her husband’s help in counting the money eased the pressure because they could share the task. He then re-counted the money to confirm the amount they received.
Participants managed their businesses quite satisfactorily as they counted money and computed related transactions accurately. Sikola appreciated the skills she developed in the FAL class:
I sold liquor but when it came to counting money… [shakes her head and looks sad]. I always took large quantities [of beer to the bar at the center] but brought back little money. I lost many bottles [the money’s equivalent] because they were so many and when asked, I was not able to mention clearly the amount owing. But through FAL, because I was mature, I mastered calculation very well.
Sikola had a Grade 4 education but dropped out of school because of recurrent poor academic performance. “My father got tired and said, ‘It’s not worth it. You just come back home.’” Although she did business for years, she claimed that she was always cheated and so brought back less money. Before payment for their drinks, patrons asked for the bill that was delivered verbally and sometimes paid less, especially if the seller was not sure about the amount. Patrons at the bar took advantage of the seller’s inability to compute accurately. Her claim is that participating in the FAL as an adult was a different experience from her childhood education. Because she was mature in the FAL, she gained a proficiency in computing which she applied in her business. 157
The outcome of inability to count accurately could go either way—that is the seller lost or the seller gained. Whether this was out of sheer inability to count on the seller’s part or not,
Apulegeria holds that women sellers also took advantage of patrons who could not count money correctly. She stated that her older brother, who like her had no education and was unable to count correctly, never got back his change at the bar. He always left money at the bar, assuming that he had correctly paid up, and thus was a popular patron for the beer sellers.
I was fascinated by the participant’s approach to mathematical problems related to sums of money. I created scenarios related to each of the focal participant’s trade and asked them to work out the expected amount from selling given quantities of items at specified prices.
Calculations typically involved mental work (none of the participants used pen and paper during their transactions), with a sophistication in mentally splitting sums into groups of thousands and hundreds, while committing to memory quantities of items. Then with repeated additions in clusters, they gave me the sums of money quite accurately. I thought that participants may have erred slightly in a few cases because of the abstraction from reality as opposed to their normal dealings and also because of the tension of the moment. Kitu, particularly, gained a proficiency in numeracy. She read weighing scales and ably calculated monetary equivalents involved in transactions. The acquired numeracy abilities, participants claimed, enabled them to avoid being cheated especially when trading in the market. Literacy enabled the participants to obtain the correct sums of money from their trade. In the past, financial transactions were based on trust of the traders who were thought to be numerically proficient. But honesty had eroded with the passage of time and with the hardships orchestrated by war, natural disasters, and the economy, thus the need to be competent in counting and calculating sums of money. There was general testimony to improved management of business as a result of applying better numeracy skills. 158
Kitu’s Numeracy Abilities
The participant’s own perception of his or her progress with the literacy learning was surprising to me. For instance, Kitu, a successful business woman, had never been to school and could write her name and do calculations. To understand the participants’ own assessment of the outcome of the literacy learning in their individual lives, I asked them to indicate on the graphic
“Our Literacy Journey” where they might have reached at this point in their lives. Kitu confidently marched to the destination (which implied the fulfillment of her expectations). She explained why she had marked that point:
I can now do business that I could not before. No one can cheat me today because I know how to calculate and count money. I am so confident and I manage my business. This business made my home stand [successful]. I could not do this before I joined the FAL class.
The assertiveness in Kitu might be explained by her initial situation. As the interview with her son, other participants’ accounts, and Kitu’s own story reveal, she had a very difficult past. Kitu was widowed, left with three children, no inheritance, and no experience fending for the family43. In the next couple of years, she lost both her new husband and her eldest son. She had two more children by this time as well as her daughter-in-law and three grandchildren to take care of. This threw her off balance and after about four years with her relatives, she returned to live with the insurmountable challenge.
It was then that she joined the FAL class, broken and hopeless. In the class, she was encouraged to take up agricultural activities and begin a micro-enterprise alongside selling ajon.
She also received psychosocial support from the class. With determination, she pursued the numeracy learning to help her manage better her income-generating activities. Then she began
43 Culturally, the Bakenye relegated the women to carrying out chores in the home while men provided financially and otherwise for the family. 159 trading in produce, selling it in Soroti and returning from the town with stock for a little shop that her daughter-in-law managed. Kitu’s son shared:
Now my mother manages her affairs unlike before. My mother had relied entirely on my late father as he did all the agriculture.44 Before the drought, she did business in mainly sorghum, green grams [mung beans], cowpeas and millet. She reared poultry from which she bought goats, later bought cattle and then bought land and paid dowry for me and my brother. Her business stalled because of the drought. Knowledge from the FAL classes encouraged and enabled her to do this.
In a space of 10 years, Kitu claimed that she had transformed her life and her household.
According to the FAL participants in the different focus groups, Kitu was the reference for success in business in the village.
Speaking English
Six of the 27 participants reported that they spoke and read English. This capacity enabled them to communicate with visitors within the village as well as people they met when they travelled. Coverage of English in the FAL was limited; hence, the participants desire to
“learn to speak English and not just to name things.” Speaking English signaled that the participants were educated and accorded them a status differential. The FAL learning coupled with the capacity to speak English ushered these participants into several leadership positions in the village committees. FAL offered Amojong with a Grade 8 education relevant and practical life skills:
[Prior to attending FAL] I had worked on the LC 1 committee as mobilizer only. I was not a leader in many community groups as I am today. Before FAL, the community did not see that I was knowledgeable and had these abilities. But after I got the knowledge and skills from FAL, they said, “It is proper that this older lady occupies those positions because she is ‘educated.’”
44 It was characteristic of the Bakenye ethnic group that the husband was the sole financial provider while the wife’s duties were restricted to household chores. 160
She was: Local Council (LC) 1 Treasurer, LC 2 Environment officer, Psycho-social service provider with SOCADIDO, Chairperson Lutheran World Federation (LWF) group, Chairperson
Farmer School, Chairperson Adodoi Women Savings and Credit group, and Chairperson Action
Aid community group. Asked what FAL meant to her even after an average formal education,
Amojong explained,
Formal education enabled me to read and write, but FAL enlightened me on how to manage my family: It guided me on what to do. Because we were taught agriculture, livestock management, which was so good. I wish that people could be taught this learning [topics], it could help fight the challenges that we have.
The findings of this study are consistent with the FAL program evaluation in 2005:
Over 50% of the 1,095 Literacy and Adult Basic Education (LABE)orFAL learners can count, read and write and their level of independence in following medical prescriptions, finding directions and participation in meetings is good. 70 % of the learners for example submitted articles to the LABE Newsletter in 2004. (SOCADIDO, 2005a, p. 10)
An independent agency carried out the SOCADIDO Integrated Development Project (SIDEP) for Household Poverty Eradication (HOPE) evaluation. During the FAL program, the quarterly
LABE newsletter circulated among the FAL classes wherein the participants shared news and information. Articles written by learners varied in the level of complexity from personal introduction letters to news articles to discussion of topical issues.
Chapter Summary
A New Literacy Studies (NLS) framework provides a more nuanced understanding of the affordances and limitations of literacy among adult learners. Adult learner’s livelihoods, schooling considerations for their children, and spiritual needs influence the application of literacy practices. I have shown that the ability to immediately relate and apply the literacy learning to the literacy demands of their social environment gave value to their abilities. As such, literacy abilities were applied to specific literacies that were perceived to be beneficial in 161 enhancing: livelihood practices including income generation, crop growing, animal rearing, and tree planting; school children’s education including checking children’s exercise books; and spiritual needs such as reading the Bible and other prayer books. Deploying literacy abilities also enabled them to avoid being swindled or deceived in daily financial transactions and in the agreements that they documented.
I argue that interest in particular domains—reading, writing or numeracy—was related to the learning needs deemed necessary for survival and sustenance. Similarly, opportunities to apply the literacy abilities were shaped by participants’ livelihood practices. While a few participants had rather limited literacy abilities that enabled them to sign their names and give medicine correctly, most participants applied their capacities to a range of literacy activities, which they found helpful. Such literacy events included reading and/or writing posters, receipts, signing names, agreements, expiration dates on medicines/pesticides, school children’s notebooks, spiritual literature, and so on. Poor eyesight and the lack of time to learn and practice literacy beyond the FAL class limited the literacy abilities of some participants. In addition, participants who had dropped out of school around Grade 2 and above appeared to apply literacy capabilities in their livelihoods more than those who had barely any formal education. In the next chapter, I will discuss the participants’ livelihood practices that largely shaped the literacy practices analyzed.
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CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS: LIVELIHOOD PRACTICES
This study proposes that adult literacy and education may not have substantial economic, social and political effects on participants’ lives (UNESCO, 2015; see also UNESCO 2002,
2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014). Rather, aligning with Kalman (2005), I argue that adult education may offer “new cultural options including access to new knowledge and know-how, the expansion of existing knowledge and the development of tolerance, understanding, and co-existence” (p. 127). Therefore, adult literacy programs tailored to participants’ learning needs can enhance their livelihoods by building on existing local knowledge to introduce useful knowledge and practices. Similarly, social norms that emphasize respect, unity, diligence and cooperation may be reinforced concurrently to provide the bedrock on which the livelihood practices and related outcomes are set. The study also shows that community development initiatives across the livelihoods spectrum—including agriculture, health, environment conservation, and education among others—may be necessary to operationalize the literacy learning and bring about desired changes in this subsistence farming community.
Background
The Dilemma of the Drought
The Teso region is covered in the Eastern Central Lowland Cassava, Sorghum and
Groundnut livelihood zone where crop agricultural production is the main activity through which households access food and earn cash (Browne & Glaeser, 2010). In Amuge sub-county, as in the rest of the Teso region, lack of livelihood diversification and dependence on agriculture alone are keeping incomes low and have been identified as plausible explanation of the prevalence of 163 food insecurity (Mutengu, 2011). This is not helped by the unfavorable climatic conditions that considerably affect agriculture. For instance, during the research, a Famine Early Warning Signs
(FEWS) report indicated that “in Uganda, the northern regions (Teso and Karamoja) experienced significant delayed onset of 10-30 days in late-April/early-May and significant early season rainfall deficits, and cumulative rainfall over the past several weeks has been below average”
(USAID, 2017b, p. 2).
True, the drought persisted for the 30 or so days, causing despair in the village. In farming, adequacy of rainfall in terms of the amount and period is crucial, and for farmers, this has implications for proper timing of the rain. The crops planted in the fields dried up, a total loss of labor, seed, and time invested. The LC1 of Aminit village described the grim situation:
We are fair, [there is] nothing much, it’s just like that. Just the way the sun is unabating – that is how the drought is. It “deceived” people to plant groundnuts [peanuts]—it is completely destroyed. People have lamented over the loss of their groundnuts. Either it germinated well then got diseased, or the germination was very poor in the garden as is the case with cassava. It is no use [pause]. People have to begin all over again. And yet how do people even do this...? Because it took so much money to get that done….Ah! (As if in disgust), it is hard [pause]. Yes, it will rain, but it will be an arduous task to cultivate anything.
This was the second year that the weather failed farmers immensely, where there was insufficient rainfall. The rainfall was not sustained over a period to support proper growth of crops; hence, it
“deceived” people by not occurring as expected. Enormous losses resulted because farmers normally reserve seed for one planting season, and when this fails, it is disastrous. Prospects of beginning all over again are bleak, noted in the statement “and yet how do people even do this?”
Farmers are left in a dilemma as resources have run out. However, farmers keep trying,
“begin[ning] all over again,” because the costs of not producing one’s own food are too high.
Depending on the market is not an option. For the rural poor communities, it is not feasible to 164 sustain a household, even for one agricultural season, on food purchased from the market. This is because it is from agricultural produce that most rural households derive their meager income.
The looming global challenge with climate was so real in Amuge sub-county. Coupled with pests and diseases, these factors greatly jeopardized participants’ ability to fend for themselves through crop and animal husbandry, as well as tree planting. On the social level, obscure conflicts and theft further hampered efforts aimed at self-reliance.
Synergy of Community Development Initiatives
In this subsistence farming community, the participants pointed out how their agronomic practices, environment conservation, hygiene, sanitation, and income-generation practices had changed over time. However, this was a result of a synergy of both training messages and material support from various development actors. I argue that to apply the knowledge imparted in FAL, participants needed access to various resources. The availability of material inputs for agriculture such as seed, oxen, and ox-ploughs provided opportunities to apply the livelihood practices. Such resources may not have been afforded by some participants or may have come with a greater opportunity cost.
From 2000-2005, for instance, SOCADIDO implemented a broad multi-sector development program. The development education component included community sensitization on various topics including agriculture, environment protection, hygiene and sanitation, micro- enterprise development, Persons Living with Aids (PLWAs), Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), children, the elderly, etc. These messages may have reinforced the FAL class lessons.
To address the economic disintegration in the post-war recovery era, SOCADIDO distributed cows and goats as well as groundnuts seed to support household food production to community development groups including the FAL class/group. Further, animal traction with 165 donkeys and ox-ploughs was introduced in 2004. Similarly, inputs from other development actors facilitated the application of the FAL learning among the participants. Although not all the participants were primary beneficiaries, they may have been secondary beneficiaries by accessing seed, oxen for ploughing their fields, or knowledge and skills from the primary beneficiaries.
Different organizations supported largely agricultural production in various ways.
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) distributed bulls and groundnuts in 2009; the National
Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) Phase I availed groundnut seeds and citrus seedlings in 2016; and in the following year, NAADS II distributed groundnut seeds and citrus seedlings again. Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO) was involved with environmental conservation from 2016-2017 and planted a woodlot in the community. They also spearheaded the demarcation of the wetland as a disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy. Action Aid
International (AA) equipped the primary school with desks from 2011 to 2013.
More recently, from February 2017, PILGRIM Uganda, in collaboration with the government, implemented the pilot national malaria eradication program in the sub-county. This involved individuals taking an anti-malarial medication every six months, spraying households, and sleeping under mosquito-treated nets. In a poverty-stricken community, such inputs as above matter because they anchor other survival efforts. For example, the advent of bullocks and donkeys was an opportunity to reduce the hard labor on the farm by hiring the draft power. Poor people normally work ploughing other people’s farms with the animals to get a turn to plough their farms too. For the exchange of labor, for instance, taking a turn to herd the cattle, one may earn a chance to use the draft power in harvesting to transport large-crop harvests home. 166
On the other hand, after a season of a crop, the primary beneficiary may sell a portion of it, which other community members might pay for with cash or in exchange for their labor.
Ultimately, therefore, the inputs serve the wider community and are not restricted to the households of the primary beneficiaries. People are mindful that a neighbor’s insecurity today may turn out to be their own insecurity tomorrow. This message is echoed in the lyrics of a popular local song, Poverty is like a coin for it changes hands. Therefore, people are willing to share by way of selling otherwise limited resources, or even giving free of charge to relatives, friends, and the needy.
Moreover, with the advent of the FM radio stations in Teso around this time, the communities were keen on listening to radio broadcasts, which included community sensitization on development topics such as agriculture, hygiene and sanitation, environmental conservation, savings and credit management, and so on. Further still, a local newspaper including community development content came into circulation. Therefore, directly or indirectly, there is a chance that these development messages influenced the participants. However, I argue that participants who garnered more resources to support their livelihood practices reaped relatively more than those with limited resources.
Support of Family Members
Livelihood practices were enhanced by the active support of family members. Family members including husbands (the only male former FAL participant was unmarried) and children were involved at varying levels in the different livelihood activities. In male-headed households, the husbands played a key role in agricultural activities as they strove to fulfill their paternal obligations of fending for the family. Ilebere’s husband, for instance, did the ploughing with oxen, planted, weeded, sprayed, and harvested the crops. He rode long distances to procure 167 orange seedlings from Gweri sub-county, almost 10 miles away. He also carried the produce on a bicycle to sell at the center. After the interview with him during the early afternoon, he went back to the farm to plant cassava.
The female heads-of-household juggled roles and relied on their sons for especially menial tasks like ploughing farms, herding cattle, and running errands to Mayi trading center, among others. Some focal participants played a lead role in transforming their households economically and socially with the guidance from the FAL program. Ilebere’s situation was a related case of perpetual family discord and deprivation that turned into a harmonious and self- sufficient home as later shown. Apparently, the economic, social, and spiritual gains were beneficial to the household, as they were perceived to relieve the financial burden, build unity, and instill Christian values in the families.
Snapshot of the 2005 Evaluation
Livelihood practices. This study sought to find out if and how literacy learning from the
FAL program was sustained over time. The study examined the livelihood practices 12 years after the FAL classes ended, against a backdrop of the gains recorded in 2005. An end-of-term evaluation of the SOCADIDO project in 2005 noted the following in regard to the FAL program:
“According to the SOCADIDO internal Group Assessment Report (June 2005), action point monitoring was instituted in the 25 classes using Action Point Monitoring Committees, and on the basis of their assessment a number of achievements had been made” (SOCADIDO, 2005a, p. 10). The reported practices and respective scores are shown in Table 5.
The text proceeds to describe other results related to the FAL program and the means to attaining them:
8,034 fruit trees and 13,941 other trees were planted by learners, Literacy Classes competitions were held for 20 classes in 2002, 5 literacy exhibitions/competitions were 168
carried out in 2003. In order to reinforce action points monitoring, the communities instituted 25 Action Monitoring Committees. A Monitoring and Evaluation tool kit was designed and was being used by the committees to track adoption and promotion of appropriate livelihood practices. Four exchange visits were held in 2004 for the LABE (i.e., FAL) learners. (p. 9)
Table 5
FAL program participants involved in different livelihood practices (2005) Facility % Cleaning compound 91 Kitchen 84 Bathing shelter 79 Mosquito nets 71 Drying racks 70 Kitchen gardens 62 Beds 58 Pit latrine 55 Fuel conserving stove (lorena) 26 Hand washing facility 23 Note: out of 1068 participants
The SOCADIDO 2005 Evaluation report highlighted some indicators of adoption among the 20 FAL classes with a total of 1,068 participants. In the post-war recovery era, the communities were re-settling in their homes from where most of the population was displaced by the war. With barely any resources—financial, material, or knowledge—people struggled with inadequacies in terms of (1) food security and thus the agricultural component of the FAL program to address food shortages; (2) household structures and hence the home improvement activities including construction of pit latrines with covers and handwashing facility, bathing shelter, plate rack, kitchen, and adequate housing; and (3) environmental degradation, mainly in the form of tree cutting that threatened climatic changes, and hence the tree planting, proper farming, and fuel conservation practices.
The table above shows the participants’ attempts to address health issues through improved hygiene and sanitation, improved nutrition, and preventive measures against malaria. 169
The use of the fuel-saving stove was an effort at environment conservation, just like the tree planting. However, of importance to the study were the strategies employed for example, instituting the action point monitoring committees comprising five FAL participants with a local leader from the LC 1 council and a catechist. The composition of the literacy action point committee changed every year. Based on a set of indicators, the committee was responsible for monitoring monthly the progress in FAL learning, and reporting to the class. Participants discussed the status report and sought ways to improve, individually and jointly. I argue that the procedural activity entailed in collecting the information, recording, and relaying it to the class offered participants the opportunity to develop otherwise latent capabilities such as leadership, planning, communication, counselling, and respectful behavior, among others.
Literacy exhibition and competition. Similarly, during the FAL program, literacy competitions between the FAL classes held at the district headquarters (10 miles away), the literacy education exhibitions (held in Kelim primary school), and the graduation ceremony held at the parish church (about three miles away) provided opportunities beyond the class interaction to develop their abilities further. For instance, the events characterized by reading, writing, and number work, tailored to different literacy levels, were performed before a large audience. Other performances by participants, like songs, traditional dances, drama, role-plays, cultural riddles, poems, and proverbs, graced the occasion.
The goal was to showcase literacy education in a bid to raise awareness about adult literacy and thus rally support for it, since some husbands resisted their wives’ participation, and the wider community too often laughed at the participants when they came to literacy classes.
The events also aimed to encourage peer learning among the participants and to challenge participants in their literacy learning. During the 2017 research, however, there were animated 170 memories of the literacy events, with participants pointing out how participation in the events made them less shy and more confident of themselves and fostered teamwork. They also learned to work more closely as a team in preparing for the events. Thus, they developed more cooperation and unity through the FAL classes. As Asipo stated, “We love each other so much, we are now like sisters.”
Yet beyond the FAL class, unresolved conflicts led to ugly situations. Toward the end of the research, I learned that the first meeting with the former FAL participants was wrought with tension. Shortly before our arrival, a participant had been assaulted by a family member, also present at the meeting. “We only did not show you that we were unhappy with what had happened,” the victim intimated to me, “otherwise members were so angry at such unbecoming behavior and wanted her sent back to her maiden home.”45 Perhaps there was relative improvement in behavior among the participants; otherwise, the account above challenges the proclaimed love and good manners among the FAL participants.
The critical need to meet the daily demands including food, medical care, and school fees drove the livelihood practices. For one participant, involvement in agriculture, for instance, stemmed from the fact that “I know the benefit of doing these things [agricultural practices]. You can sell [agricultural products] and get money that will help you. You also get more food for the household. This addresses household needs.”
This participant’s words capture the motivation for engaging in agriculture. Agricultural activities served both subsistence and income generation purposes. According to the participants, the FAL learning further influenced their appreciation of and capabilities in agriculture. As in many rural areas in Uganda, agriculture is a major livelihood activity and the only one for some.
45 In effect, this could mark the end of the marriage, unless the aggrieved party (including the husband) revisited their decision. 171
It is the way to survive, especially if one had limited capability or opportunity to do something else. Thus, through the natural hazards—floods, repeated droughts, pests, and diseases in the research site—people lived in optimism and dreamed of becoming food secure.
Food security. Food security exists where everybody at any time has both physical and economic access to adequate, healthy, nutritious, and preferred food for their dietary needs to enhance a productive and healthy life (FAO, 2006). However, three distinct but inter-related elements necessary for attaining food security include: (1) food availability, which refers to taking sufficient quantities of safe and nutritious food from household production, other domestic output, commercial imports, or food assistance; (2) food access, including having adequate resources to obtain appropriate and preferred foods for a nutritious diet, which depends on available income, distribution of income in the household and food prices; and (3) food utilization/consumption, considering the proper biological use of food, requiring a diet with sufficient energy and essential nutrients, potable water, and adequate sanitation, as well as knowledge of food storage, processing, basic nutrition and child care, and illness management.
This study took place March 2017 through July 2017, at the peak of famine, when household food stocks were exhausted. The last reserve participants turned to was livestock.
Households relied on a few livestock that were sold at an accelerated rate, for income to procure very basic food supplies. The market prices spiked by about 300% for some staples in a period of eight months. Dry cassava chips, for instance, shot from $2 a basin46 to $7at the trading center.
The desperate situation is captured in the Local Council 1 Chairman’s communication:
And now the price of the little food left is so high. A basin of cassava is now [March] 25,000/=. In August it was 7,000/= in Toroma. So if you have a large family, you are in big trouble. And yet even if you wanted to sell say, a goat, you would have to sell it cheaply. You cannot expect 70,000/=. The offer would be 20,000/= for a big goat that you thought might enable you to buy three or four basins of cassava. No, it would not
46 A measure used in selling foodstuffs. 172
work that way. Now because you are in a desperate situation, you just throw [dispose of very cheaply] your goat like that. Just give it away!
The staple carbohydrate in the research site, atap, was a form of bread made from dry cassava chips and sorghum ground together into flour. A basin of cassava for a large family did not last, so “you are in big trouble.” One then appreciates the challenge to fend for the family in the face of very poor prices for livestock, because the market forces dictate, therefore, “it would not work that way.” Livestock, the only assets left in households, had lost their value significantly while food prices inflated considerably. Devoid of any sense in the workings of these forces, you do not get the assumed value, but you “just throw your goat like that ….give it away.” This situation reflects the suffer-manage strategy wherein poor people’s welfare is severely compromised.
During this period, most households survived on one meal a day, eaten in the evening. A few households could afford to make millet porridge for the children earlier in the day, while the rest scavenged for mangoes.47 Economizing the meager resources, atap, eaten with beans, omena or fresh fish48 was served in very small portions. The famine significantly affected the rhythm of life in the village, including attendance at the primary school where desertion of children from school was the norm. Participation at VSLA meetings was poor because for some, there was nothing to save, as the LC 1 Chairman for Aminit village indicated: “At the moment, there are only a few people who come [to save] because of the famine. The situation is bad. People are badly hit and desperate.”
I walked into the auction market one early afternoon and met a woman heading out. We exchanged greetings, and I inquired about the market. Her reply was, “The market is deserted.
We who sell clothes just sit there with no customers as people come and buy cassava and
47 The timely mango season was greatly appreciated, as people remarked, “Without these mangoes, we would all starve to death!” 48 The price of fresh fish had dropped markedly following the low purchasing power of the villagers. 173 sorghum and leave immediately. We do nothing here.” Similarly, the head teacher of Kelim primary school expressed the predicament that the famine had caused lamenting the impossibility of any realistic learning in the school as students and teachers alike experienced the biting hunger.
Theft became a coping mechanism, even theft of food cooking on fire! A month into the research, the few rains enabled the growth of vegetables, which provided great relief as a food source. Two months later, I witnessed a bountiful sorghum harvest, beginning a reversal from the acute food insecurity. Some households substituted the absence of peanuts (groundnuts) in sauce with milk. Connie’s son had just milked a sick-looking cow that had been treated for liver disease four months earlier. Although the calf was overage and thus could have been weaned, the dire need for the cow’s milk kept his household milking the cow. Holding about a half-liter of milk in a plastic jug he explained, “The milk has been very, very helpful during the famine in the absence of peanuts. We share this milk with my stepmother’s household. We all share this milk.
The aim is to color the food with a bit of milk.” The milk made the sauce more attractive and palatable. During the famine, milk was greatly treasured.
Milk came in handy to augment the dietary needs when added into sauce in the absence of peanuts. Peanuts were a treasure every woman desired to have through the seasons. Besides making the cooking easier, for it was prepared in different ways and added into virtually any sauce, it made for a nutritious, tasty, colorful dish. A well-fed family expressed their appreciation of the meal. Hence, the Teso saying, “A serious woman will always have peanuts in her kitchen,” points at the need to maintain a level of nutrition and good cooking in the home. Typically, households reserved some food stocks to last some months. During this time, they enjoyed
“good” meals with peanuts until the food reserves ran out. Even at such a difficult time, the 174 young man’s household was content to share the limited milk resource with his stepmother’s household. If the milk could just “color the sauce,” hence give a fairer appearance to the dish regardless of the taste, this was all they cared for. Such sacrifices matter in communities with meager resources because they help knit crucial social safety nets (Fiedrich et al., 2003).
Unsurprisingly, records of farm produce over the years were non-existent. Literacy challenges apart, peasant farmers in Teso do not take stock of farm produce by recording. With the traumatic experience of the famine, the absence of records posed a challenge in tracing the information solely through participant’s accounts. I felt this was a double blow to starve and have to talk about past times of plenty or available food stocks, when I offered no relief. I therefore attempted to tread cautiously to establish the past outcomes of engaging in livelihood practices such as agriculture, livestock rearing, and tree planting that suffered extremely because of the drought.
I will next analyze the participants’ livelihood practices that they claim stemmed from the literacy learning in the FAL program. The content covered in the literacy classes fostered the practices discussed in the next sections under the themes of agriculture, hygiene and sanitation, children’s education, village savings and loans associations (VSLAs), family life, and
Christianity.
Agriculture
Crop Growing
Land ownership. Land ownership in the research site followed two patterns, customary and free hold. Customary land tenure was a traditional system of individual and communal land ownership, while freehold was individual ownership that led to increased fragmentation of land portions due to inheritance. In the research site, as in many rural parts of the world, men owned 175 and controlled the land. Women accessed and used the land with their husband’s approval
(Rocheleau et al., 1996).These kinds of land ownership practices were significant, for they determined the household production levels and, therefore, household food security. With increased land fragmentation, there is less production for families to survive on. Women’s position was not only dependent on their spouses, but also insecure.
Women’s already delicate position with regard to control over or ownership of land is on a balance in the proposed Land Amendment Bill in Uganda of 8th June 2017 (see Uganda Legal
Information Institute, 2017). If approved under Article 26 (2) of the Constitution of the Uganda, the bill empowers the government to deposit with the court compensation awarded by the government for any property declared for compulsory acquisition. Although tabled on the grounds that land disputes cause delays in implementation of government projects such as roads, the opponents read sinister intentions behind the endeavor. Interpreted as an attempt to grab people’s land using the law, an opposer candidly argued, “People are going to lose their land to big shots in government who will misuse the article and take peoples’ land without compensating them. This is unacceptable” (Ssali, 2017). Implicitly, if adopted as law, for the poor people and even worse for the women, it amounts to giving with one hand and taking away with both hands.
Crop pattern. The general crop pattern in the village included crops such as millet, sorghum, maize, cowpeas, cassava, potatoes, groundnuts, and simsim. Unlike in the past, the distinction between food and cash crops was blurred as increasingly “more food crops such as maize, beans and millet are being marketed and promoted as exports under liberalization,” resulting in “reduced food reserves and food insecurity particularly among poor households in regions where these are staple foodstuffs” (Makhoha, 2001, p. 27). Crops were grown for both subsistence needs and for cash. This had implications on the availability of household food 176 stocks in two ways; first, there was less land available for growing staple foods—without which was a high risk of food insufficiency—and second, the temptation to raise income often resulted in household food shortages and hunger.
In a focal participant’s assessment, ensuring continuous supply of cassava from one’s farm is key in averting food shortage. To Amojong, a 67-year old woman, cassava was “very important, very valuable in the home.” Amojong emphasized the centrality of the staple, the major source of carbohydrate eaten at almost every meal. When well planned, a household could have an all-year-round supply for the food needs since the tubers can be stored long in the ground and when dried. Yet cassava cultivation became less popular because it occupied the farm for several seasons, when a farmer could have benefitted from other crops. The opportunity cost was high, therefore, considering that the market price did not warrant the duration of the crop on the farm. However, there were recurrent episodes of limited availability of cassava in the market, causing food insufficiency, and therefore drawing exorbitant prices. While transecting the village, I noted there was little cassava grown, a situation that prompted Amojong’s remark,
“If people could grow a lot of cassava, that would help a lot.”
Plots of crops grown ranged from a half acre to one acre, and on average, households cultivated 2-6 acres per year. The food produced served both household and income needs and seldom lasted to the next season. Households purchased food to supplement their own production. The FAL class taught topics on farming that the participants claimed that they adopted land clearing, ploughing, using improved seed, row planting, weeding, spraying, manuring, and harvesting. Post-harvest practices included drying, sorting, threshing, bagging, and storing. Timeliness of the activities was emphasized as key to success in crop farming. At the research site, it was normative that a responsible woman must be self-sufficient with regard 177 to food stocks, and all the 27 FAL participants engaged in agriculture. I will now explore the participant’s agronomic practices.
Agronomic Practices
Land clearing. Land cleared for agriculture was defined into portions for specific crops deemed suitable for the land. All 27 participants in 2005 and 2017 cleared the land before ploughing, indicating that they maintained this practice. Land clearing involved menial labor to remove unwanted vegetation, usually short shrubs, and levelling anthills on the farm. The difference in the clearing process after the FAL classes was that participants left the vegetation to decompose on the farmland, thereby increasing plant nutrients, as opposed to the prior practice of burning the vegetation. Land clearing facilitated other agricultural processes such as ploughing, weeding, pruning, spraying, harvesting, and transportation. At the focus groups participants pointed out the reasons for clearing land: “It is easy to walk through the farm as you plough,” “the cleared vegetation becomes manure,” “it becomes easier to weed, spray, prune, harvest and transport the crop.”
To rid the farm of anthills often required applying a pesticide to kill the termites, otherwise simply digging to spread out the mound meant the ant-hill would revive. Termites were a menace to crops in the field and to property in the household. However, the use of pesticides was costly and could turn out to be ineffective. Thus, farmers struggled with the perpetual challenge of eliminating termites.
Plowing. Plowing was a labor-intensive task and ideally done using animal traction. All
27 participants claimed that they plowed their gardens before planting, except in a few cases when forced to plant particularly cassava, in unplowed farms as will be explained below.
Plowing softened and aerated the soils to ease the germination of seeds and the growth of the 178 plants. In Kelim village, farmers used both oxen and donkeys harnessed to an ox-plow for draft power. Typically a set of four animals (could combine oxen and donkeys) were yoked together for a day’s plowing of about half an acre of land. However, few households could raise the required four animals, so it was common that households teamed up to constitute a complete set of animals for draft power. Priority in plowing the fields was given to the owners of the animals over those who sought to hire the draft power. With good timing of the rains, the early farmers usually benefitted more.
For the very impoverished, however, their situation was compounded by inability to hire draft power; therefore, they used menial labor to plow the fields. Certainly, the acreage opened up was smaller and slower to accomplish, which in turn meant that the harvest was limited. In the research site, inability to access draft power compelled some participants to plant some crops on unplowed land and then weed upon germination, to economize on labor. The rationale was that you weed the farm as you plow it. However, the performance of crops planted under such conditions was compromised. Amojong, for instance, planted cassava among sorghum stalks and prepared to weed when it attained a certain size.
Differentiated ownership of crops. Considerations of the labor demands for specific crops were made in the choices of crops to grow. In the research site, there was a tendency to avoid cultivating millet and simsim because of the high labor demand. Further, the cultivated fields comprised (1) the shared farms for domestic needs while some could be sold, (2) the husband’s fields for raising income from the produce, and (3) the wife’s field for crops that were usually consumed in the household, even if she sold some to meet other domestic requirements.
Ilebere showed me a sorghum field that was her husband’s, the general sorghum farm, and her sorghum farm, saying, “That is my husband’s sorghum crop, but I also have mine.” Similarly, 179
Malisa indicated that her husband had a cowpea farm on a separate piece of their land closer to the swamp. I took a walk along the lakeshore and noticed how fertile the land was compared to her other farms upland.
The differentiated ownership of crops on the farm had implications for the participants’ workloads, which in some cases left them with no time to engage in other income-generating activities. While prodding her neighbor during a focus group discussion, a participant stated,
“You should raise the challenges that you face in your business because some of us do not do that. We have no time.” I noted that the participant was a young mother, and I probed further:
“You have no time so you cannot do business?” She explained, “I keep busy all day. You go to the garden, come back to begin the domestic chores, everything is waiting for you! There are the children…the day is gone.” Time therefore mediated participants’ involvement in income- generating activities.
Gendered workloads. The work pattern that followed was that the household worked on the general fields with little if any hired labor to clear the fast-growing weeds or the extensive fields. The household worked on the husband’s farms supported by hired labor. The woman usually worked her fields with the children, as hired labor was not affordable. The prioritization of work more or less followed that order. There are implications for the work pattern described above. It shows that the women face labor constraints because they work on the family’s and husband’s farms, before they work on their farms with less support since they are less able to hire labor. The reasons for this is that by the time attention turns to her farm, the limited resources are exhausted, or she sacrifices to do the work so as to save the little resources for another pressing need. Work on her farm was, therefore, done more slowly and was thereby subject to lower yields from late planting, weeding, and harvesting. 180
Moreover, the harvest from the woman’s farm supplemented the general food stocks first, before she could sell anything. After selling her produce, the money was shared with the husband. Further, some women hardly had time to engage in other income-generating activities because of the combined laborious farm work and domestic chores, and thus the perpetual poverty. Kitu, Connie, and Apulegeria were relatively free because they relinquished household chores to their daughters-in-law and thus could afford to be away for long hours. Besides, because the two were widows, while the latter was a much older woman, there were no hindrances from spouses to engaging in their kind of trade.
Planting.
Improved seed. The FAL program encouraged farmers to plant improved49seed as opposed to the local seed, with claims that the viability, resistance to pests and diseases, and ultimately the yield far surpassed the local seed. Improved seed was difficult to procure during the April-August 2017 agricultural season because the previous harvest had badly failed not only in Kelim village, but also in Teso region due to drought. At harvest, farmers traditionally sorted good seed and stored it for use in the next crop season (Momsen, 2007). This way, seed was used over the years and handed down across generations. During the planting season in Amuge sub- county, farmers bought limited amounts of seed from the market at exorbitant prices.
Controversy over the viability of improved seed loomed, with claims and counter claims regarding the germination rate, resistance to disease and drought, and the yield. Some participants argued that initially upon release, improved varieties of seed were highly viable, but the viability eroded with time. There were varied experiences, with some claiming that they
49 Improved seed resulting from agricultural research was believed to develop quickly, produce high yields, and be disease and drought resistant. It is also known that farmers also use genetically modified seeds. 181 reverted to planting the local variety of peanuts and cassava because these varieties were generally hardier (La Via Campesina, 2015b).
Procuring planting material from other sources had proved frustrating. Development actors including NAADS, SOCADIDO, and TPO delivered seedlings late. For instance, the government NAADS II program, dubbed Operation Wealth Creation, aims to steer households out of poverty to wealth. Participants received seed/seedlings late so the crop dried up. This was a disastrous national effort in light of the colossal resources invested. NAADS was found wanting in regard to broader implementation aspects. The program was criticized for late delivery of seedlings that automatically were wasted, distribution of non-priority inputs, inequality, distribution of seed/seedlings that require fertilizers to poor people, dumping of seedling/seeds at district headquarters while farmers were far away in villages, and putting seedlings/seeds at places where there is no storage capacity (Rwakakamba & Lukwago, 2014;
Okoboi, Kuteesa, & Barungi, 2013). NAADS was the only direct government support to farmers who apparently benefitted little from the program. The difficulty in procuring seed limited the acreage and types of crops planted by farmers. As Connie lamented, “This season I have planted only millet, which the disease has damaged. I have to re-plough.”
Row planting. The FAL program emphasized the benefits of row planting, which participants reported to have experienced over the years in their agricultural activities. This technique ensured proper spacing and avoided the common wastage of seed with the traditional method of broadcasting seed. Proper spacing also facilitated easier weeding, spraying, and harvesting. All 27 participants, in 2005 and 2017, planted specific crops like groundnuts, cassava, and potatoes in rows. Row planting with proper spacing was done for groundnuts, maize, cassava, and seed with testimony of increased yield. Using a rope, the length of the 182 garden was marked with sticks for the right spacing, and then the holes for the seed were dug accordingly. When there was no rope, participants modelled the prescribed spacing with a stick and used this to space the holes. Row planting was a labor-intensive process. Nonetheless, intercropping was commonly practiced in the research site. For instance, farmers planted groundnuts and maize, potatoes and green grams, sorghum and cowpeas. Intercropping helped to maximize benefits from agriculture, for example, to control some pests and diseases, enrich soil, regulate moisture loss, and reduce soil erosion.
Weeding. Weeding the crops involved removing unwanted plants that competed with the crops for nutrients, water, and sunlight. Thus, it fostered the growth of healthy plants. Twenty- seven participants in 2005 and 26 participants in 2017 reported that they did timely weeding. The challenge was the need to weed a number of farms simultaneously with limited capacity.
Financial limitations influenced the efficacy of weeding, which often necessitated employing hired labor. Moreover, weeding was gendered with men reluctant to participate in weeding especially the labor-intensive crops such as millet and sorghum. “My husband ploughs and heaps potatoes, and I weed with the children. He weeds cassava and groundnuts. He does not like to weed millet and sorghum,” Salume stated. Thus, women shouldered more of the weeding in some cases. Accordingly, farmers prioritized tasks and some crops were not attended to, compromising the yield. However, the drought also compelled some farmers to abandon weeding some crops that were already damaged. Salume explained, “We are weeding sorghum but right now it seems we may not be able to continue because the ground is dry and the plants are so miserable—there is no hope [of the plants recovering].
Spraying. Spraying of crops with pesticides over time became more of a norm among the participants. In 2017, 19 participants compared to one in 2005 sprayed crops, showing 18 183 participants adopted the practice. The incidence of pests and diseases was so high that spraying crops was almost indispensable in the agricultural enterprise. Spraying helped control pests and diseases in plants. In 2005, only one participant compared to 19 in 2017 sprayed their crops. As a participant commented, “In the past, you grew crops and always had a good yield. It is so different now.” Another participant indicated that, “I grew crops but with little knowledge. For instance, I had no idea about spraying.”
Attempts to apply local techniques such as using ash to control pests and diseases had lately turned futile. However, even spraying with chemicals did not always guarantee the health of plants as the pests and diseases seemed resistant. Inadequate knowledge on spraying was implicated in damaging crops. Therefore, the combination of the drought, pests, and diseases had severely affected the yield in the last two years. There was severe famine in the community, visible on the participants’ emaciated bodies and the repeated concerns they expressed.
Manuring. Traditionally, the most common manner of revamping soil fertility was to leave the land fallow. As increasing population puts more pressure on the land, fallow cultivation is waning. This is especially the case in Amuge sub-county where the participants had limited land for agriculture. Households increasingly had to hire land or seek offers of land for cultivation for a season or two from friends and relatives. The application of manure to improve soil fertility took two forms. The more common involved collecting decomposable material such as husks from cleaning produce, vegetation, kitchen waste, as well as animal and fowl waste in a rubbish pit and depositing it onto nearby farms. The other method involved collecting the waste into a rubbish pit; when it filled up, usually a fruit tree was planted on the site while another rubbish pit was dug. In 2005, 18 participants compared to 15 participants in 2017 manured their farms, reflecting a decrease by three participants. Manuring farms was considered too labor- 184 intensive. Composting manure as learned in the FAL was little understood and appreciated, considered cumbersome, and not adopted as a practice.
Harvesting. Timely harvesting ensured a healthy crop and avoided waste. In 2005, as in
2017, all 27 participants claimed that they harvested their crops timely. The emphasis in the FAL class was on timely harvesting. A healthy crop was attractive by its well-rounded, weighty seeds, as opposed to being shriveled and light. Delays in harvesting could result in losses due to either spoilage of the crop as in potatoes, groundnuts, cassava, and maize, or detaching of the grain from the pod as in millet, sorghum, beans, and peas. Losses sometimes occurred during peak seasons of activity when farmers were overwhelmed by the workload. In such times, hiring of labor was common. I captured in my fieldnotes a focal participant’s harvesting activity:
Salume sat in her garden on a large, once white polythene bag, plucking groundnut pods from the plant and throwing them into a red plastic basin. She had made a simple make- shift shade by hooking together the ends of three sticks dug into the soft soil and throwing over them two empty bags similar to the one she sat on. There was no tree on her farm for shade. She would later fill these bags with her harvest to transport home. The drought had affected the crop, and although the pods on the plants were many, the ground nut seeds were between average and small size. The crop had not done well. Earlier that morning, four hired men dug out the groundnuts. This was about one-third of the farm. She then worked with two people she had hired, plucking the pods and relied on her four school-going children for extra help, but they could join her only after school. She had to pluck all the pods because the groundnuts would be stolen if left in the farm. She hoped to work intensively for three days with the hired labor and get about five clean bags of groundnuts from this farm. Later at about 7:00p.m., as I made my way out of the village, I met Salume and her children walking home after the day’s work carrying the harvest on their heads. (Fieldnotes, 07/26/2017)
This excerpt underscores the drudgery characteristic of peasant farming. Salume worked hard for long hours to ensure that she collected all her crop, safeguarding it from theft in the farm and the risk of losses from delayed harvest. However, she incurred high labor costs to ease her work burden by hiring four men to dig out the groundnut plants from which she later plucked the pods. 185
As was customary in Amuge sub-county and Teso generally, Salume relied on her four children’s labor to help in plucking the groundnut pods.
Agricultural production was a costly and high-risk enterprise. It was costly because of the financial and labor demands, and high risk because of the recurrent natural hazards and limited market. Regardless of the yield, the inescapable financial costs borne by the participants included weeding and harvesting, dictated by the urgent heavy workload. Labor charges increased steadily with time and were generally high considering the returns. Other investments such as ploughing with one’s oxen, using household labor to plant, weed, spray, and harvest were not costed by the participants. Yet when all these requirements were costed against the farm produce, losses were registered. However, in the participant’s assessment, investing their labor into agricultural activities was more affordable than procuring the produce by purchase since they had no regular income.
Drying. In 2005 and 2017, all 27 participants dried their crops properly. Proper drying of the harvested crop facilitated preservation of the produce, while poorly dried produce spoiled faster. Drying of the harvested crop was done in the homestead, on the ground, and in a space surrounded by huts and or houses. The drying yard was relatively raised and firm ground to facilitate rain run-off and enable drying and threshing of produce. The drying yard was usually smeared with cow dung to dry specific crops like millet, sorghum, and simsim as it ensured cleanliness of the produce. From an un-smeared drying yard, one inevitably collected lots of sand and even rocks/stones with the produce. Proper drying of the produce was important as participants attempted to wait several months for better crop prices.
Storage. Storage could influence food availability if post-harvest losses were checked by use of proper storage facilities. A study estimated post-harvest losses at 10 percent of the total 186 production (Baro, 2009). Storage of produce in polyethylene bags had replaced storage in granaries over the past two years. The FAL program encouraged improved storage in rat-proof granaries and storage of produce in bags that were raised off the ground. FAL also encouraged the use of local preservatives during storage for longer viability. In 2005, 21 participants stored food in granaries, while none in 2017 attempted to do so. Produce was more secure inside the house, as opposed to the granary outside where it was easily stolen. Theft of food was rampant.
Polyethylene bags used for storage of produce were waterproof and, when packed on a raised surface, prevented molding and therefore spoilage of produce. Another advantage was that the produce was kept away from rodents, goats, pigs, children, and even adults when it was stored away. Households applying good storage and food preservation methods could have adequate food from their own production over longer periods. Sikola employed traditional food preservation methods, use of local herbs, to preserve her produce: “When I throw neem tree leaves into a bag of dried sliced potatoes, I find them fresh and clean and free from pests as when
I packed them.”
In a focus group, participants mulled over the utility of a traditional granary, which some of them had. Although defunct, granaries beautified the home and gave a false but good image as people say, “That man lives in abundance.” It thus earned one praise, “That is so-and-so’s home!” Another jumped in, “When a visitor comes to that home he thinks, ‘I am going to be hosted very well.’” Yet another quipped, “And if in-laws come, they feel there is plenty of food here and their daughter is well taken care of.” Such impressionistic goals can be misleading about food (in)security, as the cardinal function of the granary is lost. The (empty) granary is appropriated to represent what Fiedrich et al. (2003) described as clever attempts to fool people 187 in order to achieve some ulterior motive. These examples show how livelihood practices have symbolic dimensions such as managing revered in-laws’ and neighbors’ impressions.
Kitchen gardens. Traditionally, women seasonally intercropped vegetables on the larger farms with other crops. The establishment of kitchen gardens was meant to ease the procurement of vegetables and targeted both dietary and income needs. Consumption of adequate vegetables in the diet provided nutritive benefits for a healthy body. In 2005, 21 participants as opposed to
10 in 2017 had kitchen gardens, indicating that more than half of the participants had ceased this practice during the season of the research activity. This was likely due to the prolonged drought.
Vegetables of different kinds, both local and “new” were planted on mounds of soil by the homestead. The new arrivals included spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, and carrots.
Since the gardens were in the backyard, watering the vegetables was easier, facilitating a near- continuous supply of vegetables for improved nutrition and the timely harvest of seed. It was also easier to harvest the vegetables since the garden was close by, and this facilitated timely cooking. Finally, vegetables from kitchen gardens came in handy in emergencies.
However, kitchen gardens were sometimes difficult to dig or prepare and were susceptible to destruction by goats, sheep, and pigs that ate up the vegetables. Poultry were noted for eating tomatoes and damaging the flowers. People also picked the vegetables, especially tomatoes, when the owner was away since the garden was conspicuous. Participant’s challenges included, “Animals such as goats, pigs, chicken, cattle eat the vegetables,” “neighbors steal,”
“watering during the dry season is difficult, maybe it would be easier with a watering can,” and
“The effort to dig and establish the garden can be cumbersome.”
However, refusing to give someone vegetables could foster enmity as the aggrieved party gossiped about you. A participant pointed out, “If you don’t give they will talk about you, it can 188 create conflict.” Children, too, might play in the garden and damage the vegetables. Sometimes it was difficult to water the vegetables during the dry season because one needed a watering can.
Further, during long droughts, it became untenable to maintain kitchen gardens as the plants dried up in the scorching heat.
I inquired about how Ilebere, who earned $35 from selling tomatoes in one season, got involved in vegetable growing for the market. She said:
I really was not bothered about growing tomatoes. But during the FAL classes Isiagi John50 of SOCADIDO visited us on a monitoring trip. He began educating us. At that time we had only one grass-thatched hut and a kitchen.51 He said one way to get out of poverty, instead of wasting time with millet [a traditional staple] is to plant tomatoes. He challenged us to go plant a few tomatoes plants to gauge the benefit compared to millet. He said if the soil does not look fertile, but you have sheep in your home, collect the sheep’s droppings and pour them at the base of the tomato plant. The tomatoes fruited so well and when I compared, I found that tomatoes were better to plant than millet. So I identified that (pointing to the plot of land) fertile piece of land and thought, “Ah! Tomatoes are scarce in the dry season (Nov-March).” So I planted in October and harvested in the dry season. Tomatoes were so scarce, the demand was so high that people bought the tomatoes from my house. I always had money. This helped me avoid looking for work [hired for farm labor] which you sometimes provide on credit.
In her analysis, tomato growing was better than millet growing because tomatoes matured sooner and were not as labor intensive. “Millet requires weeding twice, then also harvesting and threshing before you can sell the produce.” On the contrary, “after planting tomatoes on the seedbed and spraying and pruning, it matures well, then you take it to sell.” Ilebere identified cassava and green grams as other viable crops to grow: “There are times when cassava goes to
$7 or $8 a basin.” Market fluctuations with barely any value addition processes limited benefits from certain crops. Tomato and cassava growing enabled Ilebere’s household to raise the wall of their iron-roofed house. Growing non-traditional vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, cabbage,
50 Pseudonym. Under the SOCADIDO integrated program, the officer was called on occasionally to provide technical support in agriculture. 51 The kind and number of structures in a home reflected a household’s well-being. 189 eggplant, and collard greens supplemented dietary needs but also helped diversify income sources. Next, I discuss animal husbandry practices among participants.
Animal Husbandry
Animal husbandry, a traditional practice in the research site, included rearing cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys, pigs, and poultry including local chickens, turkeys, and ducks. The FAL class taught livestock management practices including housing, grazing, and watering, as well as the management of pests and diseases. Only one participant raised an improved breed of layers.
Because of the limited land, restriction of domestic animals and birds was vital lest they ravage neighboring farms inducing heavy fines. Livestock and poultry served a dual purpose; they supplemented food needs and, because the ruminants especially multiplied faster and were more easily disposed of, they were a convenient source of income. A participant stated, “I did not know that animals are sprayed to reduce on ticks. After I joined the FAL class then I understood that to have healthy animals, you must spray the ticks.”
Grazing practices. The management of particularly the large animals such as cattle and donkeys was a male preserve. Even female-headed households relegated this responsibility to their mature sons. Free-range grazing involved the complete detachment of cattle from the village as they were reared at the lakeshore. The intermediate category of management involved releasing the cattle to graze at the lakeshore during the day and tethering them in the kraals at night. This contrasted with tethering cattle by the homestead during the day from where they were led to the kraal at night. To stem abuse, a recent government program on wetland management delineated the limits for wetland use. It specified zones for grazing cattle and growing crops, making grazing cattle in the outer periphery of the lakeshore possible, since it was previously a coveted rice-growing zone. 190
The differences in the grazing methods had implications for the practice of spraying.
Cattle reared at the lakeshore were never sprayed because they were assumed to be tick-free.
These cattle moved along the shore with a bird species that fed on ticks. As such, the cattle did not have ticks and did not need spraying. On the other hand, the cattle that went back to homesteads always had ticks because the parasitic birds were scared away by people, and thus were prevented from perching on the cattle to pick off ticks. Spraying and watering cattle was therefore inevitable for the cattle in home kraals.
Pests and disease control. Depending on the individual’s income, cattle were sprayed sometimes as frequently as weekly because of the high incidence of pests and treated monthly with de-wormers and other drugs to combat diseases. In 2005, 25 compared to 26 participants in
2017 sprayed their livestock. Connie emphasized during the interview:
Disease is rampant in livestock so you must treat them as frequently as you treat people! If not you lose because the livestock die. There is nothing that doesn’t require treatment today. We seek help from largely unqualified vet workers.
Emergencies were addressed accordingly. Veterinary services, including diagnosis and treatment, were offered by unqualified service providers within the community. In some cases, individuals did self-prescriptions, purchased and stocked the drugs, and hired the vet services to inject the animal, or the veterinarian charged a fee for the treatment. This applied to cattle, goats, pigs and sheep. Salume explained her treatment practices:
I spray the pigs monthly for lice and inject them. The veterinarian usually takes Ug Shs 3000 (US$1) every month for two injections per goat and for spraying the goats for ticks. I treat the pigs at Ug shs 1500 (US 50 cents) for each injection, then I buy the drug for Ug Shs 500 (US 20 cents) and I spray by myself.
Goats, sheep, donkeys, and pigs were tethered around the homestead to graze and also to ensure close monitoring. The animals were watered and ideally kept under a shade constructed 191 for them. In the Amuge sub-county, the application of the literacy learning is adjusted to their reality as demonstrated in Ilebere’s animal husbandry practice:
I learnt about constructing shelters for them, watering them. Say a pregnant cow needs water continuously so we have water stationed next to it. It is like a human being. We do not give it water once a day or tether it under the heat for long periods of time. No! Change it after sometime and take it to the shade. The animal grows big and healthy and is sold for a good amount of money. Ilebere did not construct a shade for her cattle but had an old hut for her sheep and goats. When the cattle returned in the evening from grazing at the lakeshore, they were kept in a kraal. The kraal was an enclosure built from poles, sticks, and sometimes thorns, to secure the cattle from predators and thieves. Kraals were usually built next to the homestead for security reasons.
Donkeys. Donkeys were resistant to disease and not treated. Perhaps this consideration prompted Amojong’s remark, “Donkeys are very good to have. They do a lot of work and bring in money.” In Adodoi village, donkeys were hired to ferry water at large parties and to ferry building materials like sand, water, timber, and poles. As a courtesy, the donkey owners sometimes offered to supply water free of charge at funerals. The donkey population was on the increase in the village since SOCADIDO introduced an animal traction project using donkeys, rather than the traditional oxen that were more familiar in Teso. Thus, through their draft power, individuals raised some income. One of the main suppliers of both donkey transportation services and young donkeys for sale was a former FAL participant’s household.
Poultry rearing. Rearing chicken and, less popularly, ducks was a traditional livelihood practice in Teso. Chicken were the seed investment in households, for children and parents alike, that multiplied to be exchanged for goats, which in turn multiplied to be exchanged for cattle.
Chicken were common gifts from friends and relatives that solidified social bonds. Not unusually one was given a blessing, “Go and rear this chick(en) that you may get a cow from it!” A chick handed to a child could begin an extensive project through which the child learned to manage 192 livestock. However, adults often bought a chick(en) from meager savings with the goal of multiplying it.
As with the livestock described above, the management of chickens was a challenge because of increased susceptibility to coccidiosis, a disease that frequently wiped away multitudes of chickens. Two of the focal participants had two turkeys each, suggesting that they were less common than the chickens that every household strove to rear. In each of the focal participant’s households, chickens numbered anywhere between four and 20, not long after the scourge hit the area.
Theft. A growing challenge with rearing livestock was theft. Cattle at the lakeshore were increasingly stolen at night and loaded into trucks, with locals implicated in this scheme. As such, some people, including Sikola, had brought their cattle back to the homestead. The sophistication in the theft of goats was more stunning. Thieves untied goats that were tethered on the poles outside the huts/houses in a homestead and made away with them quietly. The goat’s mouths were tied, they were dressed in jackets and caps, then three or four goats sat between the rider and a man at the extreme end and ridden away on motorbikes. The camouflage was discovered much later after several goats were stolen. When the authorities had suspected that motorbikes ferried the goats from the village, and asked people close to the road because of this, they responded, “I did not see any goats, there were only some people on that motorbike.”
Malisa lost 12 of her 14 turkeys in June. At such a critical moment, these losses were amplified by the famine when 14 turkeys could have raised food and other essential supplies for her household. I will discuss participants’ environment conservation practices next. 193
Environment Conservation
Environment conservation practices attempted included the use of the fuel-conserving stoves and tree planting. Apart from the quickly shrinking fringes of the lake, Amuge sub-county generally had little tree cover. Most farms that I went to were completely open fields, much unlike the traditional farms of the 1980s, I thought. The tree cover was depleted with no attempt to plant more trees.
Tree planting. Tree planting was a recent development according to Amojong:
We did not know then about tree planting. We had no idea about planting trees. But during the FAL we learnt and began planting many trees. Previously when a mango tree grew up, we thought, “Well this is a tree.” We did not know where timber was got. Yet trees are planted for this.
For all the advantages the participants spelled out, “trees provided timber, fruits, shade, medicine, money and the trees acted as wind-breaks,” there was apparently little successful effort in tree planting among the participants. In 2005, 17 participants and 27 in 2017 attempted to plant trees. There were not many fruit and timber trees in the focal participant’s homes. Sourcing tree seedlings was difficult as the nearest tree nursery was at Amuge sub-county, some six kilometers away. This was not helped by the seasonal production of a limited range of tree seedlings at the site. Even when people bought and planted tree seedlings, they were stolen. In one focus group, the challenge that theft posed could not be emphasized more as participants repeated after each other, “Theft, theft, theft, theft, there is too much theft, too much theft.”
However, the double effect of termites and drought was also disastrous for tree planting efforts.
Nevertheless, I visited two participants’ orchards with about 60 and 250 orange trees each. Asipo’s household had an orchard with about 250 orange trees enabled by a collaboration with the government National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) program. NAADS mobilized and trained farmer groups in the community. Asipo and her husband registered and 194 received a number of trainings and orange seedlings, which they planted in 2010 and diligently nurtured. Indeed the farm was properly weeded and clean. Nevertheless, the drought affected about 15 orange trees and completely dried them up! It was a painful realization to see a seemingly strong branch break easily when Asipo’s husband pulled it back to prove that there was no hope for the trees to recuperate. Businessmen collected the oranges from the farm in trucks. The family had earned Ug Shs 2.5 million (US$850) in 2015 and Ug Shs 600,000/=
(US$200) in 2016. This money was spent on educating their children, meeting household needs, and some was reinvested to sustain the orchard.
Planted in 2007, Ilebere’s household harvested and sold the 68 poles of the pondo and elira local species to builders in the community. “We sold each pole for Ug Shs 3,000(US$1),
Ug Shs 3,500 (US$1.25) and Ug Shs 4,500 (US$1.50), and got Ug Shs 80,000 (US$25) while the rest is debt. But there are still more poles for sale and the sprouting ones too.” After harvesting the parent tree, as many as four buds sprouted in place of the one cut down. Therefore, there was still up to four times the number of the parent trees harvested that the farmer could benefit from after the first harvest. Ilebere’s household also had some fruit trees from which the household benefitted. “That guava tree fruited so much one year, I had to prop up the branches because the fruits were so many. I got Ug Shs 70,000 (US$23) from selling its fruits! That was when I saw the value of planting fruits.”
The family had not given up after several failed attempts to plant tree seedlings, which dried up with the heat; they planned to expand the orchard with orange trees that her husband would buy from Ateus, the neighboring sub-county, the following week. Ilebere planted jackfruit trees because she saw people earning so much money from selling jackfruits in the market.
“Even in old age you can crawl to the market with the fruits. You can harvest the fruits and take 195 to the market and get some income of your own. (Laughs heartily). That is why I like to plant trees.”
Ilebere considered planting fruit trees a form of insurance for a later age when one is no longer as productive. This limits access to means of livelihood because one may not be able to farm in the fields or do energetic chores for a living. However, once the trees are growing, the attention required to them is minimal compared to, for example, the cultivation of crops. With hardly any other options, fruit growing thus has an appeal for long-sighted farmers, notwithstanding the life span of the trees. The non-edible trees in her home are just as useful to her for livestock management and for her own leisure. She said:
I have planted non-edible trees around my home. These provide shade for my chicken, goats and pigs. During the dry season I tether my goats, sheep and calves on these trees which keeps them looking healthy as they are not scorched by the sun. I also milk my cattle under these shades and let them rest there after milking is over I also rest under these trees.
The fuel-conserving stove. Using the fuel-conserving stove (lorena) was embraced as an environmental conservation strategy in 2005 with 14 participants using it. In 2017, nine participants used the lorena. The stove conserved heat and therefore was economical with firewood and cooked faster with multiple stoves. It was relatively smoke-free, causing less irritation to the eyes, and the kitchen kept clean as ash did not spread on the floor. In addition, because it had a smooth finish, it also preserved pans when cooking unlike the traditional hearth with three big stones that damaged pans over time from abrasion.
In some cases, the stoves had fallen apart due to a combination of “age and water seeping through the kitchen into the stove,” “sheer laziness or reluctance” with the “feeling that
FAL is over so why bother!” Another focus group participant added, “Perhaps they do not feel the pressure so much because they collect firewood from the bush”—that is, free of charge. But 196 the stove also easily overheated and burned food. In other cases, a new kitchen had been constructed but was not equipped with a fuel-conserving stove because the participant did not have the skill to construct the stove. It later turned out that only two individuals among the former FAL class could construct the fuel-conserving stove, but more importantly, they charged a fee for this service. I will explore participants’ income generating practices below.
Income Generation
Income was traditionally derived from the sale of farm produce, which included millet, sorghum, beans, peas, cassava, potatoes, groundnuts, sesame, and vegetables, besides firewood.
Although at the time of this research there was virtually no food to sell, participants recounted how they disposed of their produce for income. The participants brought their produce consisting of dry grain, pulses, or dried tubers to the market in small quantities ranging from four to 35 pounds. This often depended on the available food stocks and the need to be addressed.
Consideration was given to the household food needs as well.
The FAL class encouraged participants to diversify their income sources. In 2005, 21 participants managed income-generating activities, while all 27 did so in 2017. Groundnut paste
(peanut butter), smoked fish, cooked maize (corn), pastries, and handicraft items were value- added products the participants sold. Other non-farm items include omena (tiny dried fish).
However, some participants were dealers in farm produce and fish that they bought from the village and sold at other local markets. This was done to raise money to meet household needs. It was also an “attempt to be self-reliant and avoid running around for help.”
By engaging in income-generating activities, participants made profits that enabled them at different times to meet family demands as they pointed out, “From selling ajon I pay school fees, medical bills, buy salt, sugar, soap,” “I get money for clothing, hiring labor and buying 197 sauce,” and “I buy livestock.” Engaging in business further enabled the payment of VSLA dues:
“I pay my savings in the VSLA.” This fostered a degree of self-reliance, which shaped supportive relationships as well as built trust, and it was possible to borrow from people when one lacked. As a participant indicated, “I make friends and get helpful ideas, I can also borrow money from friends because they see that I can pay back.” Thus one became credit worthy.
Although the participants claimed that engaging in business enabled them to make good profits, they did not consider cost of inputs such as labor, equipment, and time used. Nevertheless, because of the susceptibility given the numerous needs, reinvesting the profits and the capital was perceived as securing it.
Challenges in income generation derived from nonpayment of debts and the arduous work entailed, especially in the beer business. Moreover, the heat in the dry season often spoiled the beer brew resulting in losses. Then in some cases, customers gave “bad” (counterfeit) notes for large denominations of money, thereby causing losses. A regular grocery dealer pointed out that she occasionally had to give away bits of her stock to relatives who apparently had no food to prepare for a meal. Coupled with this, “people take items on credit and do not pay back,” which reduced her capital. Family circumstances such as “death or long illness eats up capital.”
Business skills turned out to be invaluable during the famine. I asked if, and how, the literacy learning might help to cope with the famine. Apulegeria’s response was:
We have alternative ways of sourcing income while the others [non-FAL] are stuck. In fact, you see the difference clearly, as the FAL participants go to the center, while the non-FAL individuals head to the lake. We go to do business while they go to fish.
Apulegeria’s emphasis on a livelihood from business at the center draws attention to the relative viability of the FAL participants’ business enterprises particularly during this period. They made more money, she claimed, under less duress. Fishing was a dangerous undertaking as many people drowned in the lake; moreover, there was no guarantee of a catch. Fishing then, in their 198 view, was a desperate attempt to cling onto life in the dire circumstances. After participating in the FAL classes, one thought otherwise about fishing. The center-lake phenomenon was challenged by two men involved in the FAL program who were active fishermen. These were the former FAL facilitator and a participant. How then does one reconcile this apparent polarization?
This was reconciled, perhaps, in terms of the risk, one’s ability to swim or use the lake vegetation to achieve balance when the boat threatened to capsize reduced the risk of drowning.
As Amojong relayed, “When the winds are so strong and rocking the boat, fishermen cling onto an umbrella-like plant that floats on the lake to stabilize the boat.” Then the rewards might be improved with skill. The former facilitator, for instance, together with the “aggrieved” fisherman referenced above (as an illustration of the importance of documentation) made some amount of money from fishing. The former had a catch worth at least $1 on the day I went to the landing site, while the latter claimed he might have made $3 in a day and hence demanded a sum of $6 from the “intrusive” fisherman.
Outcomes of engaging in business, as with other livelihoods, were seldom divorced from influence from other livelihood undertakings. Business offset costs but also provided capital that was injected into livestock rearing and agriculture such that the results are part of an integrated effort in self-sufficiency. Connie traced her efforts in managing small-scale business:
Connie: I thought to myself, ‘How are my children going to study?’ I must concentrate on business, otherwise I will not manage. My husband died when our first of three children was five years old. I began educating my children from proceeds from selling ajon [a local and popular alcoholic drink] and waragi [a local potent drink]. As my children got to P6-P7, I changed my business, bought a bicycle and began buying omena [small fish] from Arapai52, which I sold at home, at the center and in Toroma and Ocorimongin.53 From the profits, I began to buy goats and when they
52 A big weekly auction market in the region drawing people from neighboring districts. 53 Also big auction markets in Katakwi district, but further away from Kapujan sub-county on Saturdays and Fridays. 199
multiplied, I bought a cow54 in preparation for the secondary school education of my children. Then I began dealing in smoked fish, which I take to the Port55 and to Toroma markets. So when my children got to secondary school, I sold the cattle to pay their school fees. One child sat S4, the other is in S3 and of the two older boys, one stopped in S2 saying, “Mother, the situation is so hard. I will stay back from school to help on the farm.” I have married him a wife. The other boy stopped in P7 and I have married him also a wife. The younger four children are in primary school. So this is how I managed to fend for my children. Researcher: Where did you get the knowledge to do this (business)? Connie: I got it in the FAL class Researcher: Were you taught how to do business in the FAL class? Connie: Yes, we were taught that this was the way to reduce poverty.
Connie’s account shows how self-confidence, education, and a strong will could enable the pursuit of one’s dreams. Connie was widowed early in her life, a fifth wife who had enjoyed the lavish attention and provision from her deceased husband, at the expense of her co-wives.
With the demise of her husband, Connie was at a complete loss as there was no inheritance for her. Relegated to deep poverty, she barely sustained herself and her children through hard labor in people’s farms. The lack of inputs like oxen and an ox-plough meant that she and her children could cultivate only very limited portions and could not produce sufficient food for themselves.
At this point, the group chairperson invited her to join the FAL class as she might get guidance in her situation. According to Connie, encouragement from the FAL participants as well as the learning from the class gave hope and determination to begin her life anew.
With foresight, Connie planned for the bigger expenses with secondary school education and changed her strategy of generating income. She read the market and adjusted accordingly to take advantage of better opportunities, from beer brewing to omena and then to smoked fish. But her ingenuity led her to invest in livestock as well. In the meantime, with her son’s help, they
54The practice is that numerous goats are sold off, then the money is used to purchase a cow or bull. 55 In 2012, the government constructed a port for a ferry which commutes between Katakwi and Kumi districts. There is a weekly auction market on Thursdays. 200 concentrated on cultivation for the market and sold rice, green grams, maize, and cowpeas.
Connie’s household owns two plots of land at the center, which they hope to begin developing soon. Besides, they have six cattle, three goats, four sheep, seven chickens, and two ducks. Her daughters-in-law, too, enhance her social status in the community.
Apulegeria’s son, whose family lived in her household, was a strong pillar in her livelihood activities. He helped his older mother with all the menial work. She was endeared to his family and demonstrated this by a keenness to supply especially the children’s needs.
Apulegeria’s son shared how his mother’s efforts enabled him to attain a tertiary education:
We always have money in the home. My mother successfully operates a stall in the market daily where she sells omena, tomatoes, vegetables, groundnut paste. The income is used to purchase essential commodities like salt, soap, Vaseline, and pay medical bills, etc. My mother funded my education up to a tertiary institution single-handedly because my father was a concubine elsewhere, and recently returned after several years. With her annual interest from two VSLAs, she re-invested in livestock, and bought a sheep and a cow with her last interest on her capital. Currently we are planning to construct another house and my mother plans to help pay my dowry.
Apulegeria, like Connie and Sikola, fended for their households through several activities. Investing in livestock and continuous agriculture raised resources that supported the household. Through joint efforts, the households managed their livelihood activities.
Apulegeria’s son, for instance, did most of the farm work producing the tomatoes and vegetables that she sold and rode to Arapai market regularly to replenish his mother’s stocks of omena. The women worked closely with their children to ensure that the household needs were met. Next, I discuss hygiene and sanitation practices among the participants.
Hygiene and Sanitation
Various hygiene and sanitation practices were evident in the participants’ homes. To improve their sanitation, participants constructed facilities such as a kitchen, plate rack, bathing shelter, pit latrine with latrine cover and hand-washing facility, and rubbish pit. I argue that the 201
FAL program was influential in getting participants to construct these structures in their homes.
Kitchens enabled one to cook easily even on a windy day, unlike was the case if one cooked outside (usually against the wall of a hut). Kitchens were also used for dining on rainy days as it would be difficult to sit in the open courtyard. They could also be used for storage of foodstuffs such as cassava-sorghum flour. However, due to the labor demands, it was particularly difficult for older widows to construct kitchens.
Plate Racks
Participants, with their children’s help, easily constructed plate racks, but the use of the plate racks was limited to the hours when family were at home otherwise the utensils could be stolen. In 2005, 23 participants compared to 19 in 2017 had plate racks. The number declined by four participants. Plate racks were raised shelves made from assembling sticks and set under direct sunshine and usually closer to the kitchen to facilitate easier usage. The FAL class encouraged the participants to construct and use plate racks to improve hygiene practices in washing and drying kitchen utensils. Plate racks were useful “because they helped to keep plates clean as chicken, pigs, goats, and wind cannot reach the rack where you placed them.” In this way “plate racks helped avoid disease.” They also “facilitated planned kitchen work as the utensils were washed prior to cooking.” One felt proud using a plate rack because if someone came by asking for drinking water,
I confidently pick a clean cup from the plate rack and serve them drinking water. They will not be suspicious of unhygienic utensils because they saw me pick a clean cup from the rack. The visitor thus eats/drinks your food happily while you too feel relaxed. (Focus group participant)
The ability to have clean utensils displayed on a plate rack, from which the host picks a clean cup to serve a visitor is juxtaposed to the generally wanting level of hygiene in the village where some people may be “suspicious of unhygienic utensils” and probably the possibility of 202 infection. Poor hygiene marked one as dirty and caused embarrassment to the host. On the contrary, hygienic people “confidently” use their clean utensils, which earned them admiration and pride. Poor hygiene might cause people to avoid eating from one’s home. Apulegeria emphasized the numerous futile attempts she made to get her sister-in-law to clean her household environment:
So I learnt to be hygienic such that I do not eat anyhow these days. I do not eat even in my step-brother’s home. I consider their plates dirty. Before FAL, I ate comfortably knowing I was sharing food at my brother’s home. He says, “Oh, my sister, there is some food.” But I say, “Oh, my brother, I am rushing, I can’t stay longer.”
Although there was a risk of being thought conceited because they no longer ate at the house of a relative or friend, people weighed the costs before politely turning down offers of food.
However, not all participants used plate racks because, they explained, utensils on the rack were stolen, termites and livestock destroyed the plate racks, and it was tempting to take out dry wood from the rack to use for fast cooking while planning to construct another one. Besides, when one is tired and asks a child to help pick utensils from the rack, they are not able to, thereby discouraging the use of the plate rack.
Hand-washing Facility
Hand-washing facilities, as demonstrated in the FAL classes, were constructed using a long, strong stick onto which a small jerrycan56 (about three-liter capacity) was hung. A small hole was drilled into the upper part of the jerrycan and a long string strapped. To wash hands, one tipped the jerrycan (hence the name “tippy-tap”) by stepping on the string. One therefore avoided touching the jerrycan, ensuring proper hygiene. Beside the tippy-tap was usually a piece of soap or ash for washing hands. The hand-washing facility enabled one to wash hands
56 A plastic bottle made from strong material with a handle on the side. It varies with capacity ranging from one- half liter to about three liters. 203 immediately after using the pit latrine, thereby getting rid of fecal matter, which was important in preventing disease or the spread of diseases and which facilitated healthy hygiene practices.
Challenges in using hand-washing facilities included lack of knowledge of how to construct a tippy-tap, theft of jerrycans to use to carry bait when fishing, and termites destroying the stick on which the jerrycan is placed. Thus, in some households, participants stood a basin of water outside the latrine for washing hands, unfortunately compromising hygiene. The number of participants with hand-washing facilities in 2005 was 14 compared to 11 in 2017, indicating a decline in the use of the facility. The findings align with findings from a national survey indicating a national average hand-washing coverage of 7.3% (UBOS, 2012). “Hygiene practices such as… hand-washing and safe disposal of infants’ feaces remain low. The simple act of washing hands with soap can cut diarrhoea risk by almost half and respiratory infections by a third (Browne & Glaeser, 2010, p. 43).
Bathing Shelters
In the FAL program, the use of bathing shelters was encouraged as a good hygiene practice, Bathing shelters were constructed from local materials, reeds, bricks or live shrubs growing closely together to form an enclosure that shade an individual inside from being visible.
In 2005, 26 participants used bathing shelters as compared to 25 in 2017 showing a slight decrease in the number of participants using bathing shelters. Bathing shelters were advantageous in that they facilitated bathing at any time of the day, unlike having to bathe under the cover of darkness or in the night. Moreover one bathed freely without having to be conscious that somebody might be peering: “You actually wash all parts of your body thoroughly,” and it also “ensured privacy from children who may learn some things if we (elders) expose our bodies, 204 but also of ‘inner clothes’ that you may not wish others to see,” participants explained during a focus group discussion.
Prior to this, people bathed either behind a bush at the well or in the dark at home. It was usually rushed as there was always a risk of someone coming by so the bathing was not as thorough. In their curiosity, children would usually peep at what was happening and thus were exposed to what they should not (yet) see because they “may learn some things.” Inner clothes were underwear including, for women, feminine towels. In the research site, women used pieces of cloth as pads. These were washed and re-used, hence the need to “hide” such materials that certainly were of interest to innocent minds.
The floor of the bathing shelter was constructed using randomly packed large rocks, with a drain to let the water out. The rock floor prevented dirty water from splashing and thus one actually got clean. The drainage also reduced the spread of disease. Further, in using the bathing shelter as a urinal, the environment around the home was kept clean, so the participants picked clean vegetables from the kitchen gardens. The practice before had been that people urinated anywhere around the home, especially in the night.
However, termites that destroyed the sticks used for construction posed a challenge in using the bathing shelter. Besides, the model of a “live” ejungula57 enclosure could turn out problematic if pigs dug into the ground at the base of the plant, thereby destroying the shelter by creating gaps between the plants that formed the enclosure. So, the plants would have good leaf cover at the top, but with gaps at the bottom which would expose somebody bathing. On the other hand, the plants may shed off leaves and expose the bathing shelter making it unusable, “I
57 An evergreen plant commonly used as a wall for a bathing shelter. 205 saw that the shrubs I had for an enclosure lost their leaves during the dry season leaving somebody exposed in the shelter. So I constructed one with bricks.”
Pit Latrines
The use of pit latrines facilitated sanitation in a number of ways. It was a convenient to defecate at any time “even when it is raining, in the dark, without fear of say snakes, wild animals, and so on” and it ensured privacy: “You did not have to first look around to ensure that there was nobody around who may see you before you squat to ease yourself.” It also reduced diseases and a bad smell in the home from open fecal disposal and, therefore, “We eat vegetables that are grown near home because they are free of fecal matter.” Crops in the garden like cassava that provided good cover from being seen were also clean as people used latrines. It was honorable to show a visitor a latrine and not the bush when they needed to help themselves.
Anything unwanted could be dropped into the pit latrine (e.g., children’s feces). It reduced the spread of diseases (e.g., diarrhea, cholera, and aipulia or enyamgere58 with the associated itchy, and then sore, feet). Ilebere who constructed her first latrine after the FAL lessons explained why she appreciated a latrine:
It was so difficult to begin looking for a place to defecate. It was worse in the rainy season. I am so vulnerable (to aipulia) that when I step on feces I get ill. [At that time]I cannot walk, I just crawl. I cannot do farm activities because it becomes a big sore/wound. That is why I greatly appreciate the pit latrine. It saves me from those burdens.
Challenges with using a pit latrine were as follows: pit latrines—especially in low lying areas—usually collapsed with too much rain or flooding. In parts of Okunguro district, the predominantly sandy soils made it very difficult to construct pit latrines with reasonable depth or stability” (USAID, 2009, p. 26). If not properly cleaned it attracted too many flies, which came
58 These diseases are specifically related to contact of feet with fecal matter. 206 from the pit latrine to the home. In some instances, participants were not be able to dig the pit due to old age, illness, and lacking the strength since they were women. Termites destroyed the wood—improvised slabs used to seal off the pit—posing danger of dropping into the pit.
Households used poor construction materials for the latrines (such as poor slab using logs, weak wire, short-term walls and roof) when they could not procure proper construction materials. Logs rot and the wire sags with time, but cement and iron sheets are not destroyed by termites. People are susceptible to accidents when poor quality construction materials are used; for instance, a former literacy participants’ leg went into a pit latrine!
Cleaning the Home
Participants also practiced regular sweeping of the house or hut and smeared the floors with cow dung to reduce on loose dirt and as a preventative measure against bugs such as fleas.
However, one needed menial labor for construction of the kitchen, latrine, and bathing shelter, which was a challenge to older and widowed participants with very limited income to hire labor.
Pit latrines commonly collapsed especially with heavy rains and/or flooding due to the loamy soils at the lower end of the village, closer to the lake. Households repeatedly tried to dig pit latrines, which was costly, but latrines also became dangerous to use. Neither were pit latrine covers nor hand-washing facilities common among the former FAL participants, as the jerrycans for the water were stolen for use in fishing.
The pre-FAL hygiene scenario prompted repeated reminders by the facilitator to the participants to bathe and change into cleaner clothing after farm work. “We were very filthy. For instance, I could have come here very filthy, really dirty, with flies all over me. I used the pans over and over again without washing off the previous days’ sauce.” Other participants 207 interjected: “Yes, without washing… This is very true…now there is no diarrhea anymore [in their households].”
The insurgency of 2003 further crippled the Teso economy that had improved over a decade, following the disastrous Teso war of the late 1980s to early 1990s. Households experienced deep poverty, which made adherence to recommended feminine hygiene practices nearly impossible. Attitude; availability of resources including water, soap, clothing, toothpaste, and feminine towels; and facilities such as bathing shelters, pit latrines, and adequate housing influenced feminine hygiene. Nevertheless, the participants’ comments above maintain the trope of illiteracy being associated with uncleanliness, lack of civilization, disease, and backwardness, and literacy’s association with cleanliness, civilization, and development.
Participants attended to personal hygiene including bathing more frequently (twice a day), and regularly washing clothes of family members, putting bedding under the hot sunshine, brushing teeth, trimming nails, and scrubbing feet. As a result, they claimed that “bathing twice a day helped prevent candida and lice, so there was less disease and better health,” “brushing teeth made teeth cleaner, with a cleaner breath, and there was less emaekeke, a tooth infection,”
“shaving of private parts greatly reduced offensive body odor” and there is no more egweigwei, a skin disease. “When you comb your hair, you appeared cleaner and people liked to associate with you,” “One had a clean and presentable appearance after changing from farm work clothing to more decent attire.” Proper hygiene extended acceptance beyond the individual to their home.
“They like your company, when you are keen on hygiene people love your home.” Feminine hygiene improved: “Today women are cleaner even during their monthly period. In the past women kept on the same cloth pad till they even developed bruises! Not again.” 208
Dreadful as they were, some experiences with feminine hygiene at the health center apparently had their impact on participants and propelled hygiene consciousness, the hygiene project. To avoid embarrassment, participants sought to be mindful about the possible outcomes of non-compliance to hygiene messages, because “at the health center they will not be happy to see what you are presenting to them” as the following account demonstrates. “If you do not shave your private part, they will pull off the hair. The medical staff are harsh, “Where is your husband…? Send him here immediately…They will ask other women to come and see what you look like saying, ‘Look at this filth!’ It is very embarrassing indeed.” Such harshness by the medical personnel could discourage patients’ use of health facilities (Morgan et al., 2017).
Yet it remains questionable how committed participants were to the personal hygiene project in their households. During a follow-up visit to a participant’s home, I came by participants’ three grandchildren who just fit in the description that focus group participants gave during an interlude. They were sick-looking, with bulging bellies, light, unhealthy hair, and rough, dry, scaly skin. The youngest, said to be convalescing, was about two years old and could barely walk. The trio lacked attention, suggesting a contradiction with the participants’ claims of improved hygiene.
Attention was paid to the drinking water pot, too. In 2005, 22 participants raised and covered their water pots and 26 in 2017, marking an increase of four participants. Most participants raised the water pot by placing it on a stand or molding dirt firmly onto a spot on which the pot was placed. Raising the water pot above the flat surface on the ground reduced the growth of mold and algae, a cause of diarrhea and abdominal complications. Keeping a separate cup for drawing water from the water pot while using other cups to drink the water from enhanced preventive health measures “by preventing contamination and the spread of hepatitis 209 and tuberculosis,” a participant explained. With water pots washed every three or so days, the mold was avoided. However, due to carelessness, the same cup might be used by everyone in the household to scoop water and to drink it. Also, as participants explained one may not wash the water pot as frequently because “sometimes you get reluctant” and also “you feel lazy and you don’t wash.” The hygiene and sanitation practices were aimed at reducing occurrence of disease such as diarrhea, eliminating bad odor around the home, limiting accidents around the bush, ensuring privacy, enhancing self-esteem, and lastly beautifying the home. “I did not know anything, but today we live a fair life, for example, we do not suffer from diarrhea,” a participant shared. A proper bathing shelter drained dirty water easily and ensured privacy.
Without a bathing shelter you have no peace. People see you bathing naked and gossip: You know so and so? I saw his wife, she is so skinny. It is the clothes that cover her… I saw her bathing. (Where was she bathing from?) In her home …it is the clothes that are deceptive otherwise she is so thin! (Participant in a focus group)
The above excerpt points at the importance of privacy as curtailing otherwise avoidable embarrassment and the desire to conform to general perceptions of a well-nourished woman. As opposed to the western perception of feminine beauty, the perception in Teso is that of a full body, which reflects good health and proper care by the husband. To be picked out as falling short could be a source of ridicule for both the woman and her husband.
To the participants, it was important to be seen as clean and different from the non-FAL participants. During the focus groups and interviews, the participants criticized the non-FAL individuals in the community, where they presented themselves as the antithesis of the FAL participants in regard to better and improved ways of living, including hygiene and sanitation.
Moreover, besides the immediate benefits such as improved health to the individual participants and the household in general, social acceptance was valued among the participants and marked one out as being hospitable. Hence, the reference to more visitors in their homes than before. 210
Perhaps it was out of fear of being labeled conceited, helplessness (lack of facilities and utensils), or sheer negligence that the water pot at the community mass had one cup on it, from which all scooped and drank the water. I was taken aback because it was barely a month since the WHO declared the Teso region safe after a hepatitis outbreak that claimed many lives, including three former participants! Unless they stage-managed the process, in their homes I saw several cups beside the water pot, as a good hygiene practice to eliminate sharing of cups.
Perhaps this shows how practices are influenced by the social environment.
Ranking personal hygiene aspects on the matrix on the ground elicited giggles and laughter among the participants. Perhaps the discussion had gotten into cultural taboos in discussing openly hygiene practices in the management of private body parts.
During the focus group, a 60-year-old participant gave a long account of the changes in her hygiene and sanitation practices that were shaped by the awareness from the FAL class and her investment in business.
Participant: You see me, I was so filthy. My feet were infested with jiggers. I could not maintain hygiene at all! But while participating in FAL, I decided to begin selling ajon and waragi [a potent local drink] and later invested in selling groceries. I now have a little shop where I stock soap, sugar, cooking oil, onions. I find selling ajon laborious, so I am doing less of that these days. That is what I learnt, that has helped me to become strong. I was so weak, I couldn’t do anything. Researcher: Did you learn this from the FAL classes? Participant: Yes, this is where I learnt about this from and I was also encouraged to act, up till now. Researcher: How did the encouragement come about? Participant: From the FAL facilitator who told us that we had to seriously engage in business because it would give you the strength and ability to manage your life. When I started the shop I became cleaner because I could afford soap to bathe properly, scrub my feet. It was so bad, my feet were really badly infested. Researcher: How exactly did you get the knowledge to change? 211
Participant: Through the FAL facilitator. He kept emphasizing, “You should be like this, like this… if you do this, you will see a change.” Researcher: So some things were missing? Like soap? Participant: Yes, there were shortages. When I could afford soap, I felt a big change coming to me. Today I manage my life, in case of shortages, I pick money from the profits ad buy the missing items. In the past before the emergence of wholesalers, I used to ride to Soroti to buy soap and salt. But now these are services are closer. Traders bring items to Toroma. So I buy from Toroma and come and retail trade at the center. That is the value of this learning.
In the above excerpt, the participant attempted to explicate the changes in her hygiene and income generation. She considered her “filthy” condition in relation to the ideal that the facilitator proposed, “You should be like this…like this.” The route to the “required” condition was also presented as part of the learning: “If you do like this, you will see a change.” She decided to translate the learning into practice, resulting in a change in her hygiene that was enabled by her increased income. Thus, she could afford vital commodities like soap, which in her view made the difference: “When I started the shop I became cleaner because I could afford soap to bathe properly, scrub my feet. It was so bad, my feet were really badly infested [with jiggers].” The excerpt demonstrates the strong messages conveyed by facilitators and how these are taken up by participants. I will discuss care of the family in the next section.
Care of the Family
Care of the family, according to the participants, entailed firstly, joint planning of activities in the home. Joint planning was particularly in agricultural activities, construction of new structures in the home, the education and marriage of the children and other events, among others. Then with activities and chores clearly outlined, the participants attempted to ensure that they took good care of children (and other family members). 212
Cooking
A major part of caring for the family was cooking. Participants claimed that they learned
“how to cook tasty food.” “We did not know how to fry sauce. We just poured cooking oil into the sauce and had it.” Another interjects, “Then the awuto [cooking oil] would cause stomach pain. We are grateful to FAL for it opened our eyes. There are so many changes.” As a result, the participants claimed, “the family enjoyed the tasty food and were happy.” And the children would say, “The food is very nice!”
Connie recalled a study tour in 2005 when a FAL class from Matilong district visited their class and there was a food exhibition:
The visitors came with several modern dishes like pilau [meat and rice fried together], and other fried dishes of vegetables, meats and pulses. We [the Kelim FAL class] also presented our traditional dishes. There was emagira with akinyet na akituk [cowpeas sauce with ghee], ibilenga, nu esuditai [catfish in groundnut stew] imaruk [wild mushrooms],atap, and so forth… there was so much! We learnt how to cook different dishes.
However, unhygienic practices, such as using dirty utensils including unwashed pans and not following the right steps in preparation of food, did not produce good food. For instance “You should put greens under the sun for a bit, before cooking them” and “if you don’t wash vegetables well you might serve sauce with sand in it.” Further, rushed or hurried cooking and sometimes not covering food while cooking did not give good results, and inadequate fuel wood sometimes forced people to use grass, which did not cook food well.
Family Unity
To the participants, “a major challenge in caring for the family was disunity between the couple which rendered any joint planning near impossible.” They claimed that this occurred more in families where the husbands drank irresponsibly. Consequently, the required support in 213 managing and caring for the family was not forthcoming. On the contrary, united families accomplished more.
An interview with Ilebere’s husband revealed the leadership role she had taken in the household since participating in FAL. Because she learned how to make a marriage work, Ilebere claims the hostilities with her spouse ended and they eventually lived peacefully:
I did not know how to live in a marriage. Sometimes my husband returned and communicated something non-offensive, but I responded rudely and immediately we got into a physical fight. It was so chaotic; the children would take off in different directions.
On learning about an incident of domestic violence or child abuse in the community, the
FAL facilitator planned his lessons accordingly. During the lessons, the class discussed problems of domestic violence or child abuse in families. Model behavior was discussed, and emphasis put on what the participants ought to do. “FAL taught us how to live peacefully, in harmony, united and avoiding violence. I learned to keep calm.” Having considered the cost of hosting a local court that turned up to settle a marriage dispute, Ilebere decided it was all a waste of resources.
The household had to spend money on food to prepare a meal for the members of the local court, which meant further impoverishment. The couple became peaceable and now grows crops for home consumption and for the market, for clothing, and for medical treatment.
Now we are gradually developing. For the first time I own a cow bought from proceeds for rearing a goat that multiplied.59 I get money from selling the milk. I did not go to school, but I learnt from FAL. You get something small, manage it well and it grows and expands. I now advise my children on how to live in a community. Now my husband is a good man, he loves me and he wedded me. Now we serve God.
That Ilebere points out her cow as the outcome of solidifying their marriage is important. In
Teso, women generally owned smaller-sized livestock like goats, sheep, and pigs. To acquire a cow from her own sweat, “you manage it well and it grows and expands,” was therefore worth
59 Bore offspring that begot more offspring. 214 mention; it is commendable. It differentiates her from other women and even men who may not own a cow or bull. Moreover, against a background of a chaotic home, this development spells out to the community the transformation in the household. If they “now...serve God,” the fruits must show it in their lives first by living in harmony, a help and support to each other as they build their home.
However, cumulative asset building was a traditional practice people were initiated into when young as they reared chicken, then goats, while males moved to the next level (cows or bulls). Perhaps, as she confessed, there was some reluctance to engage in this cumulative asset building, or the domestic demands outmatched the resources. Nevertheless, she purchased and owned a cow, something not so common in the community in view of the many demands on the limited resources.
Changes in the Household
When I briefly met the catechists and priest after the community mass, we casually chatted about the changes that the FAL program made in people’s lives. A catechist, who later turned out to be Ilebere’s husband, pointed out that the FAL program had stabilized marriages.
He clarified this during the interview I had with him and corresponded with his wife’s account.
Of his wife, he shared, “In the past she wasn’t bothered about counselling people here in the home and even in church over development and having good manners.” On the contrary, after participating in FAL classes, “Her behavior has changed. She is enlightened and has constructive ideas. She counsels people.”
From his account, the family managed to plan for a house to improve their living standards. They also planned the agricultural activities to finance the construction of the house. I recall that his wife mentioned that they previously had only one grass-thatched hut and a kitchen. 215
Parents and children then slept in the same open house, raising questions of “decency” before the children.
Husband: Before she attended FAL classes, we did not have such plans. Researcher: But you were there. Maybe you could have initiated such plans. Husband: Yes, I was there but I wasn’t thinking in that direction, rather it was she who brought up the brilliant idea saying, “My husband, what shall we do? Do we wish to remain in this situation? Should we try to develop other plans?” Then she proposed the idea of constructing a house, which I gladly embraced.
As in other cases earlier mentioned, the influence of the FAL classes, the call for action to change one’s circumstances, echoes in the participant’s rather urgent concern, “What shall we do? Do we wish to remain in this situation?” The reality in which the family lives was challenged by the continuous urge in the FAL classes to change living conditions for the better.
The proposal to her husband to consider their living conditions was made respectfully, reflecting a change from Ilebere’s earlier self-described “rude” character. Her husband admits their helplessness when even he could not envision a different life: “I wasn’t thinking in that direction.” Only after she proposed that they construct a house did he think of doing this.
Ilebere’s influence was extensive in their transformation, as her husband recounted that they did not have a pit latrine, but again his wife’s appeal triumphed. “It is shameful for us to go to the bush [to defecate]. Supposing visitors come and find that we haven’t constructed a pit latrine …let’s try to construct even a local one.” Again, he bought the idea and claimed that since then, they have never gone back to use the bush. Even when the pit latrine collapsed [due to the clay soils], they “quickly construct[ed] another one.”
I re-visited the idea of the construction of the house and asked how this was operationalized. Ilebere’s husband explained that they grew millet, groundnuts, sorghum, and cassava that funded the construction activities, feeding the family, and school fees. The family 216 continued focusing on agricultural production. As the district data indicate, 83.2% derive livelihood from farming. “Today we are able to pay our children’s school fees. Before it was so hard. We had no clear plan to raise money for school fees and medical treatment.” In poor rural communities, the major—and sometimes only—source of income is agriculture. Agricultural produce was split for home consumption and for the market. Farmers were exploited when they sold their produce because middlemen made large profit margins, while the producers toiled and earned so little. Peasants were helpless in the country’s liberal economy where market forces dictate the trend. Efforts to form marketing associations to have more bargaining power were significantly challenged by the reason for their formation: poverty. Desperate peasants with no other source of income struggle with the requirement to hold back supplies when potential buyers did not offer good prices. They often needed “some” money at whatever cost. Better-off farmers could afford a standoff.
Nevertheless, whatever Ilebere’s family collected from disposing of the produce helped them offset various domestic costs. Ilebere’s husband pointed to the changed attitude that influenced the actions. “After my wife attended FAL classes, she understood that children should be taken for medical attention when sick…We both understand the benefit of education and ensured that we paid school fees for our children.”
Behavioral Change
For various reasons—including lack of awareness, poor services, lack of money to pay for the services, distance to the health center, and relying on other options—some people did not attempt to get medical attention. Arguably, this partly explains the high morbidity and mortality rates and, subsequently, the low life expectancy in developing countries, and Amuge sub-county in particular. However, the turning point for Ilebere’s family was her awareness of the benefit of 217 medical health services. Health concerns were gendered, as “she understood that children should be taken for medical attention when sick,” implicitly it mattered (more) to her, and it was her responsibility. The medical domain could be juxtaposed with the education domain where “we,” meaning both parents, understood the value of education and both ensured that school fees were paid to further the education of their children.
Some participants confessed that they stopped drinking alcohol in order to gain psycho- social and ultimately financial stability and be more responsible for the children and family. A son of one of the focal participants recognized the transformation in his mother after she stopped drinking alcohol and praised her accomplishments:
Mother is not rough on us anymore, but advises us on agriculture, and to desist from taking alcohol, saying it compromises one’s judgment and one cannot take care of the family. She refers to my father who died leaving nothing, nothing behind for us… But my mother fought hard on her own to raise us up and through her business acquired cattle, land and paid dowry for me and my brother.
The above excerpt paints a poignant picture resulting from a habit that can prove detrimental.
Apparently, with alcoholism there was no joint planning in the family, and irresponsibility culminated in a difficult and embarrassing situation that the ‘mother’ always quoted, “leaving us with nothing.” I will address spiritual growth next.
Spiritual Growth
Two factors enhanced the zeal to grow in faith. One was that the Catholic institution that sponsored the FAL program, as one of its values, promoted the practice of prayer at group meetings, and the catechist from the chapel who was invited to give teachings on family life from the church perspective emphasized the importance of not only prayer but endeavoring to develop a personal relationship with God. The other was the wave of Christian revival in the 218 form of both the Pentecostal churches and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal or CCR60 (Thorsen,
2015) that echoed the need to read the Word of God for daily spiritual nourishment. As part of the daily routine, some participants prayed with their families and children, which often included reading and reflecting on texts from the Bible and then praying together. This was done in order to grow in their faith.
But others had taken on a more aggressive approach, reaching out beyond their homesteads to evangelize the community. The ability to read the Bible coupled with the confidence to preach to an audience facilitated this mission. The participants were often hosted as guest speakers in groups organized around the Catholic Charismatic Renewal where they shared the Word of God. They also took advantage of gatherings like funerals not only to condole with the bereaved family (this is mandatory all over the Teso region61) but also to preach the Word of God. Other places they preached included schools, councilor’s workshops, and at the market.
Not all went smoothly with the evangelizing mission as the inspired crew met opposition.
“When you teach the word of God, there are those who oppose you, disregard what you read saying that it is nothing [not important]. They do not mind about it, as if it is nothing, as if you wrote it yourself.” Audiences’ dispositions to the evangelization varied, with some embracing the message while others disregarded it. In Ilebere’s estimation, the Word of God ought to be revered and heeded. Thus, the negative attitude note was disheartening because “they do not
60Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) is a spiritual movement within the Catholic Church that emphasizes the availability of the power and the many gifts of the Holy Spirit in the life of every believer, and the need for a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ in order to live life to the fullest. 61 There are informal structures “Akiyo” group (“Mourning” group) in every village that see to the funeral arrangements of a member of their community. Every household must register with and pay the jointly established fees and in-kind contributions such as water, firewood, and labor for cooking on the day of the burial, digging the grave, and most importantly, attend the funeral. This is because culturally, the sendoff involves a feast that usually varies in magnitude depending especially on available resources of the bereaved family. 219 mind about it, as if it is nothing,” but in learners’ view, “to ignore the Word of God was disgraceful.”
However, the harvest was sometimes good, as Akwii indicated in reference to a youth who conducted the choir at the communal mass. “Many youth have changed. The choir master who you saw on the day of the priest’s visit [the communal mass] was a rogue, even perming his hair with eggs.” The youth, Akwii claimed, permed his hair with eggs, which in the research site symbolized delinquency. Thus, the evangelizing endeavor apparently stymied unruly behavior by reclaiming youth in the villages. The choirmaster had a calm and respectful demeanor on the two occasions that I met him. At the final meeting, he played the traditional music instrument, akogo, to accompany the singers (FAL participants) in their performance. He seemed to fit in the group as he freely interacted with the mothers who seemed fond of him.
The youth were a source of concern in Kelim village because they hung out late in video halls at the center, drank and smoked, fought, and stole property to fund their activities. The village elder and LC Chairman 2 for the Elderly described the youth in an interview:
This is the worst age group around. They are the last to leave the center, actually as the rest leave at about 9:00pm, you meet them going to the center! They return late and consequently are late for school the next morning. As parents, you do not know what time the child leaves for the video halls. Counselling children was commonly spelled out as a role that parents played. They attempted to prevent their children from getting derailed by bad company and into unhealthy habits. However, by default the children could move in and out of home especially at night without their parent’s notice since they slept in different huts or houses. Parents thus faced a challenge in monitoring their children, and hence there was concern expressed about deviant behavior in children. In addition, there were attempts to monitor them through their school work and mold them during 220 the evening family prayers. Participants attempted to protect their children by strategically applying messages from the literacy classes.
However, adherence to Christian beliefs and practices could be challenging in given circumstances. Twice, Kitu’s experiences reveal the co-optation of alternative solutions at trying moments. First, Kitu’s hut was torched, and she and seven children barely survived the fire, which burned all her belongings! In her despair, she performed a ritual in the swamp that involved, among other things, calling a curse upon the person responsible for the act since all efforts to get them to own up and compensate for the crime had failed. Upon learning about the impending doom to the clan,62 the culprit63 was quickly identified, admonished, and ordered to make good the damage done. Then Kitu was begged to reverse the curse she had pronounced. I had earlier empathized with Kitu in the interview with her over the arson, and she’d claimed that she knew neither who was responsible nor the motive.
A couple of months into the research, after the rains returned, I sought Kitu at her home unannounced to visit her farm. Kitu was not well, but I couldn’t understand the shyness (or was it guilt?) in her when she came to greet us.64I sympathized with her condition, then noticed traces of drying blood on arms, and naively inquired what had happened. She giggled and said, “I have been ill, I have been really sick!” Only after a few minutes did it occur to me that she had cuts from a local medicine man! I struggled to hide my reaction, because at the focus group Kitu had been so vocal about God’s repeated intervention in her life. Such experiences depict the fluidity
62 The ritual was believed to have very disastrous consequences not only for the culprit, but for the whole clan and for generations. 63The culprit was said to be an older, weaker man who used a walking stick to support himself, and he claimed to have done it in anger since Ktu had turned down his advances to her. 64 I was in the company of Amojong and the driver. 221 of spirituality and melding of traditional and Christian practices. I will explore the village savings and loans associations below.
Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs)
To find out whether and how being in a group had influenced any of their development- oriented undertakings, I asked whether there was any activity that they carried out in a group.
The unanimous response was “aimono” or formally the Village Savings and Loan Associations
(VSLAs). During the debriefing meeting (which was the last general meeting we had), 23 of the
27 former FAL participants who were in attendance reported that they belonged to a VSLA. Four participants did not belong to a VSLA. Over the years, participants had understood the value of being and working together in a group. Coupled with this they were open to learning, “Whenever there are community trainings or meetings, it is us [former FAL participants] who attend, and we are the ones chosen as leaders.” In fact, two of the focal participants were chairpersons of
VSLAs while one other participant was a treasurer.
Participants claimed that VSLAs encouraged them to develop the financial discipline of saving money and withdrawing it only when one really needed to use it. This money was readily accessible in case of an emergency. They also did not have to incur transport costs to bank and/or withdraw the money as the transactions were carried out right in their vicinity. There was a human face to the loan recovery as extended grace periods could be given in cases where a member was clearly hard-pressed. During such times, the member paid only the interest on the loan and not the principal amount. The converse was true of the conventional banking institutions.
Participants borrowed money from the VSLAs for various purposes that involved off- setting household costs and reinvesting in their businesses. Domestic needs included school 222 requirements like books, topping up tuition fees for children, and purchasing essential commodities such as salt and soap. These moneys could be taken from the emergency fund.
Participants needed to revamp their small-scale enterprises when the profit and capital were spent. Such seemingly “undisciplined” expenditures occurred in emergency circumstances such as illness or death of a family member. Since large sums of money were required for capital for their businesses, participants borrowed money.
Nevertheless, most participants’ inability to compute the interest accruing over time was a source of discomfort. One said, “When auditing the savings, it is difficult to follow and to know the interest accruing for each individual” and further intimated that even if the VSLA leaders chose to cheat them, they (the members) would never get to know. With the participants’ aptitude, nothing was to be taken for granted. The audit and subsequent calculation of interest accruing for each member was not understood beyond the proportional aspect. The participants question how the details were handled, “it is difficult to follow and to know the interest accruing for each individual.” That the audit was not clear to them caused suspicion because as they were left in the dark, they would never get to know. To be cheated in an apparently noble undertaking as the VSLA meant losing their own hard-earned money, which was not acceptable. I now turn to practices learned but not adopted.
Practices Learned but not Adopted
Before asking participants how they were applying the learning from FAL, I had first asked what they learned in the classes. Of all the learning reported, the participants did not sing and dance, have riddles and poetry as in the FAL class, because the class no longer existed as the
FAL class unit. However, as one participant who belongs to different groups indicated, “I teach 223 other members in different community development groups the song that we sang in the FAL classes because the songs were very meaningful, we sing them.”
Further, participants did not adopt the technology of the raised drying rack. As opposed to the traditional drying method (on the ground in the courtyard), the raised drying rack was a cage-like structure of closely knitted sticks raised off the ground by poles. It was suitable for drying the corn (maize) harvest, but not grain and pulses such as millet, sorghum, groundnuts, green peas, and beans, because they would fall through the gaps on the floor. The inappropriateness of the technology resounded in, “You cannot construct a raised drying rack large enough to dry a big harvest! This meant it was too expensive, both laborious and costly.
Furthermore, the concept of the revolving fund practiced in some VSLAs was a separate fund, an addition to the main savings and credit fund. As noted earlier, participants also did not compost manure. In the next section, I discuss participants’ perceptions about literate people.
Participants’ Perceptions about Educated People
This section examines participants’ perceptions about literate people. To elicit the information required, I asked the participants what they thought about literate people. Overall, the responses tended to follow a modernist trajectory akin to progressivism. Emerging during colonialism, the two metaphors have been associated with rationality, empiricism, efficiency, and change, while the converse held for tradition (Cooper, 1996). Education was meant to develop progressive ideals in the nations, thus distinguishing the modern from the backward.
Therefore, having attended a form of Western education, the participants claimed that they were educated and espoused beliefs about literacy education, which shaped their actions. I concur with
Barton and Hamilton (2000) that literacy has a history, and I argue that the participants’ perceptions of education and their literacy and livelihood practices were influenced by the 224 colonial legacy that is promoted in development discourse. Apparently, instrumental and symbolic values of literacy learning were integral, and they reinforced each other. Participants attempted to delineate what literate (read: educated) people do, and in some cases contrasted this with what, in their perception, non-literate people did or were like. In the participant’s estimation, literacy was synonymous with education.
First introduced in Uganda by missionaries and later managed by the government of the newly independent nation, the goal of education was to “inculcate the modern and rational outlook that colonized peoples needed (it was believed) to become responsible citizens of self- governing nations” (Fiedrich et al., 2003, p. 69). A modern and rational outlook comprised a cartel of hygiene and moral standards that in Uganda became the epitome of being educated.
However, education segregated the natives, with the few who accessed it acquiring a coveted status through the accumulation of wealth and power, which was reflected in their social positions and lifestyle. Education then symbolized a passage from a backward to a privileged and modern life. I will analyze participants’ perceptions of educated people under the categories: orderliness and livelihoods, knowledgeable and development-oriented, articulate and open to learning, hygienic and responsible, perseverance and hope and lastly sociable.
Orderliness and Livelihoods
In the participants’ perceptions, an educated or literate person “planned in their household” and thus had a sense of order and a futuristic orientation that enabled them to “more easily cope with sudden changes.” A participant argued, “In this famine, educated people were successful, for instance, in business; and FAL participants found a way of surviving through business.” The participant drew a contrast between former FAL participants who traded in the market, and the non-literates who were “stuck to fishing,” meaning that the literate had more 225 options to fend for a living in the difficult times. Participants tried to present themselves as modernized, in this case, engaging in “sophisticated” activities in the market as opposed to conducting the traditional fishing activities now regarded as base. This was not helped by the stereotype of the Bakenye in the village who derived their livelihood from fishing and were notorious for eluding education. Dadas, for instance, dismissed the involvement of the community in fishing by stating, “It is the Bakenye who fish.” The delineation and juxtaposition of the two modes of livelihood might also suggest the participants’ attempts to portray themselves as civilized.
Knowledgeable and Development-Oriented
Participants described educated people as “informed,” “wise,” “knowledgeable,” and people who “fended for their families.” To Amojong, “educated people “could promote development” and “could help the community.” I asked if uneducated people did not help others and her response was:
Aah! They do not know how to help, they cannot see ahead. The individual [uneducated] is just there. Like now, there are NGOs to help people, but those down there [uneducated] cannot say, “Let me take my knowledge to help other people.” But the educated have knowledge to help others so that they improve and develop.
In the above quote, Amojong echoes the determinism in considering literacy as a technology with known outcomes (Goody & Watt, 1963; Ong, 1982). She assumes that individuals who acquire “literacy” embark on disseminating the “knowledge” that they acquire “to help others,” regardless of the circumstances. Moreover, she implies that there is a social hierarchy in society, with the uneducated occupying lower ranks “down there” while the educated are supposedly “up somewhere.” In so doing, Amojong points at the inferiority associated with being uneducated and the parallel status acquired in the superior position of the educated. In the common perception, therefore, “the ability to read would develop the reflective mentality, the logical 226 powers and the capacity for abstraction,” (Fiedrich & Jellema, 2003, p. 66) without which, in
Amojong’s words, “the individual is just there.” They are unable to help others improve their situations and are themselves helpless. Such sweeping generalizations discount wisdom and ingenuity in individuals, given that not all successful people are educated.
Further, the link between formal education and the job market is articulated by Malisa who explained: “To get a job, for example, as a cook in a school, or to sweep the school compound, or as a janitor or house-maid, the requirement is a Grade 12 education.” Education was a means to meet the strategic gender need to advance socially (Moser, 2014). So
“unschooled children were imprisoned,” Malisa concludes, because their opportunity was locked up and unexploited. Again, the assumption was that schooling rewards the participants with employment. In considering some of the lowest paying jobs “a cook in a school,” “sweep[ing] the school compound, or as a janitor or house-maid,” Malisa emphasizes the centrality of academic credentials in formal employment in the increasingly competitive world. In her perception, when people do not go to school, therefore, they are summarily excluded from the formal job market, thereby denying one the possibility of a regular income and implicitly, a better life. This mode of appreciation of formal education, therefore, may drive the enthusiasm among the participants to promote school children’s education. Yet the possibility of success with formal education was mediated by poverty, behavior, and academic performance, among others.
Articulate
To participants, educated people “didn’t talk anyhow” but “gave only points,” indicating that educated people gave substantial responses or “appropriate responses to questions asked at meetings.” The narrative above highlights the importance of apt responses in communication, 227 which arguably derive from an informed and confident person. Bartlett (2008) and Prins (2010) had similar findings where literacy was considered to foster academic, social, and communicative skills. I noted during the meetings that there was a difference in the participants’ participation prior to 2005, and in 2017. They appeared more confident of themselves, but also gave relatively more apt responses during the discussion. I noted that they took time to interpret the questions before answering. During the FAL classes, the participants were rather shy, often verbose, and frequently answered questions off the mark. Perhaps it was the ritual of discussions at group meetings that accorded an opportunity to learn how to communicate at meetings and elsewhere.
Open to Learning
Educated people were also considered to be “recipient to development messages,” indicated by their proclivity to “attend meetings,” where they “expressed constructive ideas.”
Following the learning from the interactions, they “put into practice what they learned” and “did productive activities,” as seen in the “construction and use of latrines,” “bathing shelters, and so forth.” Malisa revealed how she learned and acted to improve her situation, “I saw what educated people did and I did it.” For Malisa, educated people modeled what others should learn and adopt, implicitly because of their superior knowledge. However, this might be an overstatement since not everything that others did might have been of interest to her. Besides, contextual factors influence the application of practices that she might have wished to adopt. It is notable, though, that Malisa’s statement did not specify particular domains of the learning that she adopted, which may suggest the openness of the scope of aspects that could be of interest for continuing education to adult learners seeking to improve themselves. In light of this, I argue that 228 the comprehensive curriculum of the FAL program tended to develop an all-round person, providing a kind of springboard from which participants could further develop their learning.
Hygienic
Participants indicated that educated people “took good care of themselves,” “were hygienic” and “well-dressed,” and also “cleaned their homestead” and “cooked well.” The tendency to associate literacy with modernity placed items as listed above on a continuum to denote the level of development. Values placed on the development continuum were defined from a Western perspective and considered “progressive,” a standard to which humanity should aspire. In the absence of contextualized values, however, operationalizing misplaced or foreign values may place a strain on individuals in specific settings.
Communities should determine their values based on what works best for them. With
“good cooking,” for instance, the increasing preference for fried food and less traditional dishes was of increasing nutritional concern countrywide. It was generally known that traditional dishes were richer, healthier, and in some cases cheaper, hence the promotion of more traditional diets by nutrition programs on local FM radios. Similarly, the notion of being “well-dressed” should be anchored in a specific cultural context. The attempt in developing countries to imitate the
Western middle-class women’s style of dressing, I argue, may have serious financial and moral implications.
Perseverance and Hope
“Educated people persevered in difficult times,” the participants stated. Since these were characteristics found among them, Kitu pointed out that “as widows we learnt to persevere as we were taught in the FAL.” By persevering through the difficult times in the FAL program, the widows (Connie, Kitu, Amojong, and Akwii) claimed that they were able to reorient and fend for 229 themselves in dignified ways. The interview with Akwii supported the view that she (Akwii) provided continuous tailored counsel to widows:
We have to persevere and let God guide us. You have to be the chairperson [man] as well as vice chairperson [woman] because there is none to help. Always pray in all situations for example when land is grabbed from you, pray! Do not keep running to the local authorities with land cases. Taking legal action in pursuing land cases is not helpful. (The result of the counsel) Many have taken heed to my advice. Many do come to pray even if they were not believers. Some widows are stable now, others received their husband’s gratuity and have built houses now. (Akwii now thankfully says to them) You see if you were still drinking alcohol, would you have built a house? And another member was a concubine to some rascal, but God rescued her from this life.
The literacy learning outcomes such as giving widows hope and encouraging them to endure the hardship was valued among the participants. Changes linked to the participant’s endurance rather than possibly giving up on life or seeking money in immoral ways were wrapped in Christian values, and reflected the “enlightened” persona (Fiedrich et al., 2003).
Responsible
Educated people had “good manners,” “respected themselves,” were “responsible,” and
“lived in harmony with the community,” participants pointed out. Following the progressivist trope, a young mother described her experience
I was a drunkard, and abandoned the children in the morning as I went off to drink, and returned at dusk; I was so irresponsible. During the FAL class, however, repeated messages about alcohol consumption and the related problems helped me to reconsider my drinking, and I decided to stop drinking, became a Christian and changed. From then, I attend prayer meetings.
The dissonance between the participants’ [above] practices and what the FAL class represented through both the facilitator’s and the “compliant” participants’ collective urging may have spurred the decision to abandon taking alcohol. The participant sought a lasting strategy to keep consistent in good behavior and “became a Christian and changed,” thereafter “she attended 230 prayer meetings.” In this case, literacy learning was associated with morality, similar to the missionary endeavors that sought to change the natives from barbaric practices to responsible and God-fearing people.
Participants espoused beliefs about being educated (literate), which shaped their actions, practices, and speech. Following the cleanliness and propriety standards, Apulegeria, for instance, “would not eat at [her] brother’s home because they [brother’s family] were dirty,” while other participants spoke of “improvements in their hygiene and sanitation,” including
“construction of pit latrines, bathing shelters, plate racks,” and so on. Participants also mentioned
“advising people [non-FAL community members] to change,” and “counselling others,” which were all done “because [the participants] were enlightened.” Nevertheless, while improvements in hygiene and sanitation may have positively influenced the health of households, perhaps just as importantly, the existence of the structures in their homes may have served symbolic purposes as well, marking the participants as educated. I agree with Fiedrich et al. (2003), who suggested that:
Understanding the close links that still exist between Western health regimes and the Christian churches illuminates how women (and men) come to view the studying of health as a cleansing and purifying exercise, a rite of passage through which one is converted from an ignorant, uneducated person to a decent and educated person who is close to God. (p. 9)
Here, the authors posit a more nuanced view of the symbolism that underlies the adoption of health messages in adult literacy classes in Bangladesh and Uganda. If adoption of learned practices in literacy classes is a means of entry into a much-desired status, this may explain the tendency to gravitate toward these actions and practices.
Sociable
Educated people, participants claimed, created camaraderie through sociable gestures like
“welcoming visitors,” and “greeting people they met.” In addition, they “helped the needy by 231 sharing clothes, food, salt, soap, and other items.” In so doing, the participants portrayed themselves as “virtuous,” “amiable,” “respectful,” and “promoting social harmony,” as opposed to “the others” [who] “were rude.” Prins (2010) had similar findings, where being educated was synonymous with being respectful and conducting oneself well. This narrative matches the modernist discourse, where literacy created a virtuous person through the enlightenment discourse.
Ilebere’s transformation to a virtuous person might have coincidentally come through the literacy class instructions that she references. Ilebere claimed to respond to the continuous appeals and directives in the literacy classes, to be a calm person and to live in harmony in the family. Earlier attempts by local courts to shape her character, at subsequent times following the recurrent episodes of her family discord, were apparently futile. However, following Ilebere’s argument, one might infer that because the message stems from a literacy-related source, it seemed to have more impact, and thus the transformation in Ilebere, with effects on the social, economic and spiritual spheres in the family. To Ilebere’s husband, “literacy education enabled participants to appreciate certain things and put them into practice to improve their living standards.”
In using literacy to advance economically, participants derived the instrumental value of literacy. However, economic gains from small-scale businesses together with artefacts such as pit latrines, bathing shelters, plate racks, in themselves acquire a symbolic value, because in the participants’ perception, “these artefacts showed that [they] were educated.” More importantly, the artefacts enhanced participants’ prestige and status. I argue therefore that the instrumental and symbolic values were integrated aspects because they reinforced each other. In this case, the 232 boundaries between the purely instrumental value and the symbolic value of literacy were blurred.
Chapter Summary
I have shown in this chapter that from the literacy learning in the FAL class, participants applied livelihood practices geared toward improved production in agriculture, livestock management, environment conservation, as well as enhance income generation, health, and general care for the family. Livelihood activities remained the same as in the pre-FAL class era.
However, drawing on resources garnered from different quarters, the benefits from applying the livelihood practices learned in the FAL include increased food stocks and household income levels, and improved health and familial cohesion. Yet persistent challenges comprising unfavorable weather, crop and animal pests and diseases, poor market, theft, work burden, and in some cases reluctance, jeopardized the outcomes. Practices not applied, such as using the raised drying rack, were regarded as inappropriate in the setting or, as with the construction of shelters for cattle, too cumbersome.
To the participants, literacy was synonymous with education, and being educated meant the adoption of progressive values such as orderliness, cleanliness, planning, perseverance, sociability, and so on that elevated one’s status in society. Beyond the instrumental benefits of applying the literacy learning in their day-to-day lives, the desire to appear compliant to modernity drove participants to demonstrate their capabilities in apparently more sociable manners and development-oriented activities. As such, participants appropriated literacy learning for symbolic purposes as well. There was an overarching enlightenment narrative in the participants’ stories, which shaped the use of the literacy learning in their community. 233
I argue that in impoverished rural communities (1) the curriculum in functional adult literacy classes must address urgent social concerns such as food security, poor health and poverty, to be more meaningful to participants; (2) availing necessary resources is critical in operationalizing and realizing the benefits of literacy learning; and (3) facilitators may play a significant role in influencing the adoption of practices learned in FAL classes. Participants strategically embraced development messages on education, Christianity, and VSLAs, with the view to improve their lives. In the next chapter, I interpret the findings and present a conclusion. 234
CHAPTER 6
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this study was to examine how former participants of the FAL program applied the literacy learning in their lives, why, and with what outcomes. It also aimed at finding out the participants’ perceptions of literate people. In this study, I compared data from 2005 at the end of the FAL class with 2017 data to describe how former FAL participants applied literacy learning from the FAL program in their daily lives and to show what learning endured over the 12 years. From a New Literacy Studies, critical literacy, and feminist food justice perspective, and employing ethnographic methods, I showed that participants applied literacy learning in their daily literacy and livelihood practices.
I argue, in this study, that functional adult literacy programs must be rooted in participants’ social realities, precisely in their livelihoods, to be more meaningful to participants.
I further assert that although governments and international educational agencies consider numbers of participants in defining success of programs, qualitative studies such as this one help elucidate the significance of capabilities acquired by participants and may be more informative of outcomes of FAL programs. Turning the gaze on recognizing the significance of capabilities gained by individual participants highlights the value of adult literacy programs. Limited as these gains may appear, they can help improve lives of the poor. In the subsequent sections, I will summarize the findings, analyze literacy and livelihood practices, and then present the implications of the study.
Literacy practices were examined under the categories of personal reading, shared reading, school-related reading, and medical records (Kalman, 2005). I also showed that participants applied livelihood practices in the domains of agriculture, livestock rearing, tree 235 planting, income generation, health, and care of the family. Livelihood practices involved the adoption of improved management practices learned in the FAL program and aimed at increased food security and household income as well as improved health.
In the study that covered the 12-year post-FAL period, the most valued literacy learning to participants was literacy that supported livelihoods and other important practices in the domain of spiritual life. The learning was valued for its contribution to improved household socioeconomic conditions, which gave participants more control over their lives. The importance of livelihood practices and the salience of literacy practices applied in the daily lives of the participants showed that in impoverished rural communities, the FAL program was more meaningful when tied to participants’ livelihoods, and in so doing addressed pertinent concerns such as food, poverty, and health.
Participants reported that to varying degrees, literacy learning influenced their households and helped increase their access to income that was spent on domestic demands such as school fees, food, medical bills, and food production. Household income was also spent on acquisition of assets such as land and livestock and on maintaining financial accounts at VSLAs.
Other benefits were improved nutrition and health, improved relations, self-esteem, and psychological outcomes (St. Clair, 2010).However, participants adopted an overarching enlightenment narrative in analyzing their literacy and livelihood practices.
The FAL program therefore addressed participants’ practical and strategic gender needs
(Moser, 2014). The practical gender needs that were met to different degrees included reading and writing, maintenance of hygiene and sanitation, safe drinking water, improved housing, availability of nutritious food, and increased income. On the other hand, the participants’ strategic gender needs aimed not to fulfill immediate perceived needs but to transform gender 236 relations to secure a more lasting situation of gender equality. These needs included a sense of self-esteem, access to financial services, and increased participation in decision making (e.g.,
VSLA, at local government councils, school management committee, and clan meetings).
Strategic gender needs addressed also included managing relationships, the ownership of assets, and sharing domestic labor and child care by men. Concerning ownership of assets, the participants exercised this right by proving that they could own property, which meant acquiring the property themselves (for instance a cow or bull) since women did not traditionally own them.
The NLS and feminist food justice lens showed that the success of livelihood activities was contingent upon a number of factors: firstly, a supportive policy environment; secondly, the availability of resources, including agricultural inputs and labor (Sachs & Patel-Campillo, 2014), and thirdly, the capacity to translate the learning into action. Key influencing factors included requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Openjuru, 2013), and the prevailing social environment. I observed that despite recurrent challenges in food production, the scale of the participants’ activities increased, albeit with wide variations, with livestock rearing, in particular, perceived to be a more reliable investment than crop growing in the face of the persistent weather challenges. Participants also engaged in different income-generating activities, some of which had changed over time with preference for less labor-intensive businesses such as trading in the market as opposed to brewing and selling alcohol. However, storage of food in traditional granaries ceased due to famine-induced insecurity.
Nonetheless, I regard with caution the attribution of the outcomes described by the participants to the FAL program, because other intervening variables beyond the class enhanced the operationalization of the literacy learning by providing the much-needed resources. These 237 material, educational, and labor resources were obtained from other development actors, mainly
NGOs, and from within the household.
A major challenge that affected all livelihoods during the study was a recurrent drought that resulted in famine. Food stocks were exhausted and the rain for agricultural activity was not forthcoming. Except for some participants dealing in groceries, income-generating activities stalled because of poverty. Importantly, the dire situation appeared to have spurred an unprecedented level of theft in the community, involving cattle, goats, poultry, kitchen utensils, cooked food, and the maturing sorghum crop in the garden. Moral degeneration can be amplified by social circumstances. I will turn next to analyze the findings.
Global Imperialism
The influence of distant forces on the application of literacy and livelihood practices was evident in the VSLAs, schooling, health, spiritual life, and in agriculture (Brandt, 2001).
Participants applied literacy and livelihood practices selectively. They adopted most practices because they were beneficial. However, as in Fiedrich and colleagues’ (2003) study, they embraced, co-opted, contested, resisted, and rejected some practices or technologies.
Sponsors
The VSLA approach was unique in that participants co-opted new structures from the
NGO but revised it to meet their needs, anchored in a cultural system that was beneficial in meeting their immediate needs. Scrutinizing sponsors reveals how hegemonic pressures influence financial record keeping in VSLAs and also shows that numerous interests are at play in the reading and writing act at the VSLAs. “The whole process not only affects the consciousness of all actors but contributes to maintaining certain relations of domination”
(Escobar, 1995, p. 112). The establishment of a parallel savings and loan account in the different 238
VSLAs could therefore be seen as an act of defiance. Moreover, VSLAs have been criticized for creating “small capitalists” everywhere, yet not creating real wealth since the same money keeps circulating in the village (Ndovlu, 2013; Ninsin, 2014). This view is challenged by Obara’s
(2013) emphasis on Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) or VSLAs as the only access that poor people in remote areas have to financial services. Notwithstanding their limitations,
SACCOs can provide much-needed financial services to boost income generation. As in Fiedrich and colleagues’ (2003) study, participants’ appropriation of literacy for various purposes serves the interests of different development actors, including the donor, implementing organization, individual staff, and literacy facilitators and participants.
Written Agreements
Participants in this study crafted and read different kinds of agreements, including land agreements, financial and property agreements, and marriage agreements. The documents spelled out terms of different transactions that involved transfer of ownership, control, or user rights of assets and held people accountable. In so doing, the document created order and solidified social ties in the community (Salomon & Niño-Murcia, 2011). A land agreement in essence spelled a social contract, one that immediately acquired power and required compliance in “its ability to fix information or meaning across time and space for use at a later date or location” (Openjuru,
2006, p. 262).
However, the increased land sales were linked to rising poverty levels both at the research site and nationally. The poor often sold land to the affluent, as a means of survival. As among the Andeans in Salomon and Niño-Murcia’s (2014) study, literacy use in agreements was strongly associated with self-defense, with protection from fraud and abuse, and also with dignity and social respect. Linking literacy to local documentation authenticated the transaction, 239 which was important in the face of the growing capitalist real-estate ventures. Power differentials in these literacy events presented in the wealthier status of the buyer of land or the lender of money or property. However, in the event of failure to meet their obligations stipulated in the agreement, the borrower was entrenched further in poverty because their recourse was to surrender their land, magnifying their vulnerability. Thus, the literacy practice was associated with increasing dispossession of land, which entrenched wealth disparities.
Agriculture
Agricultural seed sourced from agribusiness suppliers required that users read the label for directions on how to plant, marking a shift in practice from applying cultural knowledge in the preservation of local seed to modern farming that required literate abilities. The apparent contradictory experiences farmers have with “improved seed” may indicate how local knowledge
(local seed) is devalued in preference for commercially produced and modified varieties (i.e., more advanced, and scientific varieties). In modern agriculture, literacy plays a mediating role between the seed source and the peasant farmer, where international agricultural agencies influence local livelihoods (La Via Campesina, 2015b).
Christianity
Christianity was the predominant faith at the research site and in Uganda in general, and reading the Bible was a valued literacy practice. Although Christianity was nurtured by local religious leaders for more than two centuries, Western sponsors of Christianity stipulated what it meant to be Christian by invoking the Bible and the attendant modern practices. Participants aspired to these standards since this determined entry into Christian communities that marked one out as virtuous and provided a much-needed social safety net especially in times of crisis. 240
But Christian spirituality was challenged, for instance when hard-pressed by illness, participants resorted to traditional healers showing clearly that there were limits to Christian beliefs.
Formal Education
Beyond the economic benefit of education, participants saw in the school a refuge, protecting their children from the vile world outside the school milieu, hence their keenness in helping their children to persist in school. Religiosity supported this desire by attempting to instill virtue in the children. But the persistent dropout of boys from higher elementary classes challenged the value of Western schooling. With its immediate rewards, fishing was a more realistic venture than chasing the wind. Unemployed, educated youth in the village were testimony to this. In these examples, cultural knowledge pushed back against Western knowledge and values.
Health
The absence of an efficient record keeping mechanism following the breakdown in the state health system required patients to bring notebooks that contained their medical history. The general working conditions were challenging since government medical units could no longer provide basics such as stationery, not to mention the sporadic supply of medicines and medical equipment. Government health facilities were mainly used by the poor while the wealthier population sought better medical attention from private health clinics that abounded in the country. Social conditions (inefficient health systems) created the need for literacy among people, as literacy served as a protection from abuse from health workers, and positioned one as abreast with the demands of the modern world. 241
Civic Records
Civic records comprised national voter’s cards and national identity cards. These documents were a means to exercise one’s rights (voting) and to access services but were also a means of policing and social control. Thus, the documents showed compliance with government requirements.
Livelihood Practices
Cultural Knowledge Confronts Western Knowledge
With expectations that peasant farmers would actively participate in the identified agricultural zoning, the raised drying rack technology was disseminated among peasant farmers.
However, it was inappropriate technology for farmers who grew maize for subsistence.
Similarly, training on mushroom growing was given, but not adopted because it required inputs that participants could not afford, and there was no market because families harvested wild mushrooms. To make compost manure required materials inaccessible to participants and was labor intensive. Agricultural technologies often fail because socioeconomic factors, such as farmers’ ability to access and buy required inputs, are not considered (La Via Campesina, 2015b;
Rwakakamba & Lukwago, 2014). As in the above cases, the foreign knowledge is contested and resisted. These examples represent a blanket approach to development that does not take into account people’s realities (Okoboi et al., 2013).
Convening as a group afforded other opportunities to develop, but importantly, created a social safety net that persisted over the 12 years. My research highlights in the social safety net, a cultural understanding of community. The general Ugandan cultural view appreciates the whole as opposed to the one, so the culture supported such a network. The social safety net was for 242 survival and locality enhanced it. It was sustained, but it also strengthened and expanded because it incorporated non-FAL members.
The fuel-conserving stove presented a disconnect with cultural knowledge and upset normalized work routines. To use this technology required that participants acquire new knowledge to mitigate the disadvantages of the stove. The identified gap in knowledge created a sense of inadequacy and affected identity because people were not as efficient and effective as before.
Improved Lives—Appropriating Literacy
Like the local granaries, hygiene and sanitation-related artifacts (pit latrines, bathing shelters, plate racks, rubbish pits, etc.) held instrumental and symbolic importance. The former served to present participants as model citizens who comply with development messages, while the latter was used to manage impressions. The FAL class awakened leadership and entrepreneurial capabilities in the participants and raised awareness of other opportunities that participants embraced to meet their survival and sustenance needs but also to comply with modernity. Similarly, note-taking at training sessions served functional purposes, but as in
Fiedrich and colleagues’ (2003) and Greany’s (2008) studies, it was strategically co-opted to manage relationships, for docility did not signal helplessness but was a strategy to win men over.
The remainder of the chapter highlights key insights from the study and implications for research, policy, and practice in adult literacy education, particularly in the developing world.
Implications
Implications for Research
This study adds to the NLS literature on how people in developing countries use literacy in their daily lives (Ahearn, 2001; Betts, 2003; Dyers & Slemming, 2014; Greany, 2008; Kalman 243
1999, 2005; Salomon & Niño-Murcia, 2014) and the longer-term consequences of participation in adult literacy programs (Bartlett, 2007, 2008, 2010; Maddox, 2007, 2008; Prins, 2010, 2011).
Itis also one of the few studies of adult literacy in Uganda (Akello, 2017; Oketch & Carrhill,
2001; Openjuru, 2006, 2007).
NLS research has explored the nature of the relationship between literacy and livelihoods in rural communities. Although it is generally acknowledged that literacy has a role in the livelihoods of the poor, it is not clearly understood how literacy (and its attendant discourses) play out in individual and community life. Openjuru (2006) showed the role of literacy in the management of livelihood activities. My study, from a longitudinal perspective, extends these findings to suggest that people apply literacy practices that benefit them materially, psychologically, or spiritually, and they often rely on mediators for support (Dyers & Slemming,
2014).
The present study offers a broader understanding of literacy; in participants’ perception, literacy was synonymous with education. Education in the FAL program was not limited to reading and writing, but it included capabilities necessary to improve one’s life, hence the notion situated competence. Other studies depart from the conventional understanding of literacy, for instance, Betts’s study (2003) shows that people contested literacy as power. Rather, networks of social power and experience counted more than being literate. Nevertheless, they strategically adopted literacy and its related discourses to meet livelihood needs. My study extends this view and shows, first, that literacy also has important symbolic meanings, above and beyond its material utility. Second, this study shows that beyond the literacy activity per se, people derive psychological, emotional, and spiritual benefits from congregating as a group. People also interpreted livelihood artifacts as literacy scripts that reflected that they were educated. 244
In his expanded vision of functional literacy, Oxenham (2002) argued for vocational training to incorporate non-literate poor people and for supportive environments, flexible response to changing demands, complex curriculum, and capacity building. Key to the success of his expanded vision of literacy provision were decentralization of training65 and forging of partnerships. My study demonstrated that a flexible responsive curriculum can build capacities; at the same time, it appeals for a policy environment and collaborations that extend much-needed resources to poor people for the realization of social improvements in their lives.
I reiterate that where food, income, and health are lacking, literacy per se is of limited help. In addition, to be beneficial to literacy participants, adult literacy programs must be grounded in social realities of their local setting. Considering its genesis, literacy can be traced to the great thinkers for whom literacy was the highest form of literacy thought, and poets sought self-actualization through literary expression (Maslow, 1971). In this regard, literacy was an end in itself. On the contrary, impoverished participants of adult literacy programs in the developing world have to grapple with material needs, including food, income, health, housing, and clothing, among others (Thompson, 2004). Although poetry (read literacy) was more fascinating among the philosophers, I contend that literacy programs for the poor need to be designed from a “basic needs” angle to address their physiological daily needs. Literacy can be of instrumental benefit, but among poor people, it must also be a means to an end, to improved livelihoods. This study has demonstrated that when the conceptualization of functional adult literacy is rooted in the participants’ own realities, literacy learning is more meaningful to participants.
Urgent calls for innovative adult literacy programs emphasize the need to address social development rather than only literacy acquisition (Openjuru, 2013). The Jomtien Conference on
65 For a contextualized curriculum 245
Education for All (Haggis, 1991) and The Hamburg Declaration: The Agenda for the Future
(UNESCO, 1997) highlighted the need for an “expanded vision” of basic education and innovations in adult education provision, respectively. Accordingly, the linkage between literacy and livelihood should aim to “integrate education and work, create opportunities to apply the skills of literacy and numeracy, contribute to the process of poverty alleviation, link literacy and post-literacy and make learning a meaningful and worthwhile experience” (Ekundayo, 2002, p. 101).
This study has shown that a particular kind of functional adult literacy programming and implementation may enable participants to improve their living conditions. Further research is needed to ascertain whether direct measures of food security, income, health, and family relationships, for example, corroborate self-reported improvements in these domains. I aver that literacy learning can be more useful when designed with mutually inclusive economic and social goals, and I agree with Ekundayo (2002), who argued that among literacy participants, the correlation between illiteracy and poverty may not be disrupted if adult literacy programs aim at only literacy acquisition.
Further, FAL programs that address literacy and livelihoods, by default, target the poorest of the poor (static poor) who embody a composite of illiteracy, income poverty, and limited social and political involvement in communities. As such, they live on the margins of society.
Because development actors are enthused with measuring impact, the static poor—ironically the most needy—are often excluded from participating in development programs. Unlike the progressive poor who can showcase the impact of development interventions in their activities, the static poor are jeopardized by their limited capacity, including inadequate knowledge and 246 skills, limited resources, and resigned attitude or even apathy. Adult literacy programs may enhance capacities of the static poor to participate more actively in their own development.
Implications for Practice
Linking livelihood practices with literacy is premised on the notion that literacy originates in “the discursive practices and power relationships of everyday life—it is socially constructed, materially produced, morally regulated, and carries a symbolic significance which cannot be captured by its reduction to any one of these” (Rockhill, 1987, p. 165). Appreciating the cultural intricacies embedded in people’s daily social practices including the power dynamics involved, therefore, enhances the design of more culturally appropriate literacy programs. These programs should incorporate livelihoods into literacy education.
To the participants, a key aspect of being educated was the capacity to translate knowledge or learning into relevant and useful practices, to improve one’s life. Unlike Bartlett’s
(2010) findings, the participants did not mention book knowledge specifically but pointed out the ability to read and write as a marker of being educated. Like Bartlett (2010) and Prins (2006,
2008), however, social networks and social skills developed in the literacy classes helped guide the participants in their daily choices and activities. The space afforded by the literacy class enabled participants to practice how to behave in public, including appearance, interaction, and speech. The participants gained confidence, relinquishing shyness and low self-esteem from participating in the FAL class, which was instrumental in getting them into leadership positions in the community. Educators need to recognize that adults not only acquire literate capabilities through adult literacy classes, but also different ways of being in the world and relating to others.
Literacy education goes beyond the mechanics of reading and writing. It also involves presenting and seeing oneself in new ways. 247
Participants most valued the literacy and numeracy abilities that enabled them to sign their names at meetings and to avoid being cheated in financial transactions, respectively. The ability to sign their names as opposed to thumb-printing or asking for help in writing their names on attendance sheets at meetings mattered especially because, in the participants’ perception, it showed that they were educated. Participants thus derived pride and prestige from this public act and also from other opportunities when they deployed their literacy abilities. Similarly, the participants’ numeracy capabilities improved, a fact that safeguarded them from being cheated in their financial transactions. I add my voice to Maddox (2007) and Prins (2010), who maintain that functional adult literacy program providers should recognize the significance of participants’ seemingly limited accomplishments, for they matter in impoverished contexts.
From a feminist food justice lens, participants’ attribution of literacy learning outcomes in their livelihoods to the FAL program did not account for enabling conditions: community development actors who afforded agricultural inputs, water source construction, the pilot national anti-malarial campaign comprising provision of mosquito nets, spraying homes, and taking a malaria prophylactic bi-annually. Further, a favorable local government and gender policy enhanced women’s participation in local governance. Other resources were acquired through friends and relatives or even the participants’ households. Although the ability to access these resources varied among the participants, acquiring them helped to operationalize the literacy learning. I argue, therefore, that the synergistic efforts of different community development actors and individuals propelled the participants’ application of the literacy learning, resulting in various benefits. Among the poor, literacy abilities in and of themselves cannot help transform living conditions. Functional adult literacy educators therefore need to join 248 forces with development actors to ensure that participants have access to resources needed so that they can enact the knowledge gained in the program.
Participants claimed that they were influential in community members’ adoption of some of the practices such as constructing plate racks, kitchens, bathing shelters, and pit latrines.
Based on the multiplier effect, therefore, the replication of the livelihood practices in the community may have had positive outcomes for the respective households. However, although the wider community adopted some of the participants’ livelihood practices, attempts to encourage the practices were sometimes met with disparagement. Nonetheless, at individual level, participants could be encouraged to share their learning with members of their community for wider societal benefit.
Participants’ accounts bore an overarching narrative of enlightenment, for they adopted development discourses and practices mainly through FAL. Changes reported were at different levels: personal, household, and in the interactions with the community. Some transformations, such as stopping drinking, were seen as a transition from bad ways to more responsible ways of living (Prins, 2006). Other changes at the household level involved better relations with family members where the participants played a more supportive role, in counseling, being more respectful and jointly planning and implementing the family subsistence activities. Moreover, to the participants, the instrumental and symbolic importance of different literacy abilities, as well as livelihood-related artifacts in the participants’ homes, depicted a passage from darkness into light. The new understanding they developed in the FAL, along with various capabilities had seen them emerge, from a cultural perspective, as better anchors in their families. Adult literacy providers should be aware of the power they have to influence their participants. 249
Implications for Policy
The participants’ struggles with food production and marketing were linked to government policies introduced under the structural adjustment programs. These policies imposed on poor countries, including Uganda, may have entrenched rather than relieved poverty among the disadvantaged groups, including women (Gatsheni, 2013, Mkandawire, 2003; Ninsin,
2012; Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013; Sparr, 1994). Under the liberalization policy, first implemented in the Plan for Modernization of Agriculture, the Uganda government promoted the commercialization of agriculture by encouraging the adoption of higher-price crops. The assumption was that this would lead to increased income in households, enabling poor households to procure food supplies from the market. However, market-oriented agriculture has benefitted the minority, mainly middle- and large-scale farmers at the cost of subsistence farmers
(SAPRI, 2010), including the participants in this study.
Extension services critical in agriculture and livestock rearing suffered because of the privatization of the industry, with poor incentives for extension workers in rural areas that affected the quality and quantity of extension services. In short, the neglect of farmers, especially in remote regions like Amuge sub-county, has had adverse effects on agricultural productivity.
Affluent farmers benefitted from liberalization because they had access to agricultural and veterinary extension services, unlike poor subsistence farmers, especially women, who are disadvantaged in multiple ways.
First, subsistence farmers disposed of produce during the harvest season at low prices and bought it back a few months later at exorbitant prices during scarcity. Second, given their limited land, small farmers produced high-price crops at the expense of food crops, thus exacerbating food insecurity (McGow, 1995). Third, the workload on women increased since they grew food 250 crops, hired out their labor to obtain food in times of scarcity, and performed domestic chores.
Fourth, food reserves quickly depleted because increasingly more traditional food crops (millet, sorghum, peanuts) were marketed and promoted as exports under liberalization (Campbell,
2010). Since these were staple foods, the repercussions were felt more in poor households
(Sadasivam, 1997). Fifth, because the costs of living increased under liberalization, other protein reserves such as milk, eggs, and vegetables were sold off, jeopardizing household nutrition
(Lugalla, 1995). Sixth, widows suffered more because they had limited land, as a consequence of land-grabbing by relatives (Tripp, 2004). Connie, for instance, had hoped since 1997 that someday the clan would allocate her a portion of her late husband’s land. In the meantime, she cultivated her crops on her parents’ land, about a mile away.
Deliberate efforts to improve the condition of subsistence farmers, particularly women, could include government subsidies for agricultural inputs and extension services to improve productivity. Further, development actors could sensitize communities on gender concerns by targeting both men and women in trainings. Such initiatives could involve revisiting gender relations and workload regimens with a view to reducing the work burden on women. Communal agriculture and food exhibitions could offer spaces to jointly showcase family achievements in food production and preparation. Such public events could include cooking by both men and women to model joint responsibility in catering for the nutrition needs of the family.
Among the participants, the instrumental and symbolic values of literacy education were integrated and mutually reinforcing. Benefits that the participants derived from various literacy practices were seen in support to children’s education, independence, spiritual nourishment, and self-esteem. On the other hand, benefits from applying livelihood practices were realized in improved food stocks, better health, and increased incomes. Besides the instrumental value 251 realized from applied literacy and livelihood practices, the symbolic value derived from the existence of the different artifacts (pit latrines, bathing shelters, plate racks, etc.) earned participants prestige from being recognized as educated. Therefore, both in practical and metaphoric terms, the artifacts were significant to the participants. To design and implement more relevant adult literacy programs, policy makers therefore need to recognize more broadly the benefits of literacy learning.
Conclusion
Through ethnographic, longitudinal research with women in rural Uganda, this study shows that literacy learning can enhance living conditions among the poor through mutually supportive literacy and livelihood practices. It also offers another definition of literacy and reveals how participants valued literacy learning for its instrumental, economic, and symbolic uses. The study adds to the burgeoning literature on longitudinal adult literacy by providing a nuanced view of how cultural knowledge confronts Western knowledge. The study also highlights hegemonic influences in individual lives and reveals people’s agency as they appropriate literacy for purposes not envisioned by program providers. The study draws attention to the need for adult literacy educators to recognize that literacy programs for poor people must be grounded in their social realities to attain social development.
However, the study calls for more pro-poor policies and wider collaboration among development actors to support functional adult literacy programs that target marginalized groups.
Further research could explore how and why former FAL participants considered low adopters apply literacy learning in their lives, and with what outcomes. Other areas could include comparative studies of former FAL participants and non-FAL participants.
252
APPENDIX A: Guiding Questions for Focus Group Discussions
1. What do you read? What do you write? What number-work/ calculation do you do? (This
could be in your daily duties at home, at church, as you travel, in school, at community
meetings, at the hospital, at public rallies, at funerals, parties, at the market, etc).
2. How many people are involved in X literacy practice? (For each of the literacy practices
named above). Which other people are involved in X literacy practice? What role do they
play?
3. Why do you engage in X practice?
4. What are the outcomes of engaging in each literacy practice, for those who apply it? I.e. what
are the benefits and what are some of the problems related to engaging in the specific literacy
practice?
5. Why do you not engage in some literacy practices?
6. What livelihood practices do you engage in? (In the domains agriculture, health, hygiene and
sanitation, environment protection, micro-enterprise, civic education, family life education,
girl-child education, etc).
7. How many people are involved in X livelihood practice? (For each of the livelihood practices
named above). Which other people are engaged in this practice and what is their role?
8. Why do you engage in X practice?
9. What are the outcomes of engaging in each livelihood practice, for those who apply it? What
are the benefits and what are some of the problems related to engaging in the specific
livelihood practice?
10. Why do you not engage in some livelihood practices? 253
11. Which learning (if any) is applied in a collective/group form? How do you work in a
collective? Why do you work in a collective?
254
APPENDIX B: Focus Group Discussion Using the REFLECT Approach
Graphic: Our literacy journey
Research question: How do participants apply the literacy learning from the FAL program in the domains: 1) reading, writing and numeracy, and 2) livelihood practices, why, and what are the outcomes?
Focus Group Discussion
Goal: To discuss how the participants apply (or not) the literacy learning from the FAL in their lives, and why. To discuss the outcomes of applying the literacy learning in the participants’ lives.
Graphic: The Literacy journey
Venue: An open space (e.g. tree shade, classroom, hall, church)
Materials: Manilla cards, markers, sticks, chalk
Guiding questions
1. When you think about making a journey, what do you consider? Time, the purpose, the
means-money, bicycle, people to help, the weather, etc.
2. Now, this journey had a purpose: to enable us to reach some point, to attain some goals.
What were some of these goals? Participants mention some goals.
3. When you mention a goal, you are saying you wish to move from a certain state to another
state. In the same way, when we make a journey we move from one point to another. We
want to represent a journey, how do we wish to represent our journey… (A road, a river, etc.)
Participants agree on what will represent the journey. Two volunteers draw the graphic on
the ground/floor. 255
4. So, we began a journey about ten years ago. We will call it “Our Literacy journey.”
(Pointing) It began at this point and goes on up to that point.
5. Researcher encourages participants to name as many goals as they can recall. Could we draw
pictures to represent the goals mentioned? Volunteers draw pictures which are placed at the
starting point of the journey.
6. Now we attended the FAL program for literacy education ten years ago. In this session, we
want to discuss how we apply the learning from the FAL program (if at all) in our daily lives.
The literacy learning will be in two domains: 1) reading, writing and numeracy practices, and
2) livelihood practices.
7. Can we mention what we read, write and the number-work/ calculation we do? Participants
mention the literacy practices they engage in. Volunteers draw pictures on picture cards of
each of the literacy events mentioned. Facilitator guides the participants to draw a matrix on
the ground/floor. Participants describe what exactly they do (i.e., what and how they read,
write, calculate) at each literacy practice. Participants say why they engage in each of the
literacy practices identified. Then scoring of each literacy practice is done showing the
number of participants involved in the practice.
(These picture cards are later placed at the ending point of the literacy journey).
8. What challenges do you meet in engaging in specific literacy practices?
9. What is the outcome of engaging in each of the literacy practices for those applying them?
What are the benefits? and What are the problems related to engaging in the literacy
practices?
10. Looking at the matrix, are there some literacy practices that you do not apply? Why do you
not apply them? 256
11. Can you mention some of the livelihood practices that you engage in for instance in the
domains of: agriculture, health, hygiene and sanitation, environment protection, micro-
enterprise, civic education, family life education, girl-child education, etc.? Participants
mention the livelihood practices they engage in. Volunteers draw pictures on picture cards of
each of the livelihood practices mentioned. Facilitator guides the participants to draw a
matrix on the ground/floor. Participants briefly describe what exactly they do in each
livelihood practice identified. Participants explain why they engage in each of the livelihood
practices identified. Then scoring of each livelihood practice is done showing the number of
participants involved in the practice.
(These picture cards are later placed at the ending point of the literacy journey).
12. What is the outcome of engaging in each of the livelihood practices for those who apply
them? What are the benefits? What are the problems related to engaging in the livelihood
practices?
13. Looking at the matrix, are there some livelihood practices that you do not apply? Why do
you not apply them?
14. Place picture cards on the graphic-Our literacy journey; the goals at the beginning of the
journey and the literacy and livelihood practices at the end of the journey. Can we match
some attainments with our goals? What is our assessment of the literacy learning overall?
15. What do we learn from/about our Literacy journey? Lessons-there are variations in levels and
kinds of application for different reasons. Encouraging factors/discouraging factors to
individual participants e.g. encouraging adoption of practices, application of skills, etc.
16. How would we overcome some challenges to applying the literacy learning that we think is
useful? 257
17. We would like to closely understand how you apply the literacy learning in your lives. Is
anybody willing to show us exactly how you use the literacy learning in your daily life,
particularly those who have many uses for the literacy learning?
**Recruit eight volunteers (participants) for the study—by default they will be applying the literacy learning in their lives.
258
APPENDIX C: Primary Participant’s Semi-Structured Interview Questions
1. Tell me about what you read over the course of a typical week.
2. Tell me about what you write over the course of a week, fortnightly, monthly.
3. Tell me about how you use math or numbers e.g. to calculate, keep records, etc.
4. What is the purpose of reading, writing and doing the number-work mentioned (for each
literacy practice)?
5. Who else is involved as you engage in the literacy tasks mentioned and why?
6. What role do they play?
7. Who else do you think should be involved and what role should they play in supporting the
application of your capabilities?
8. Did you engage in each of the above-mentioned literacy practices before the FAL program or
not? How do you feel now when you are engaged in each of the literacy practices above?
9. What are the related advantages to you of engaging in each of these literacy practices? What
are the disadvantages to you of applying these literacy practices?
10. What challenges do you meet in engaging in these literacy practices?
11. What encourages you to apply the literacy practices? What discourages you from engaging in
some literacy practices?
12. What livelihood practices do you engage in? (In the domains agriculture, health, hygiene and
sanitation, environment protection, micro-enterprise, civic education, family life education,
girl-child education, etc.).
13. Can you please describe what exactly you do in each livelihood practice mentioned?
14. Why do you engage in X livelihood practice? 259
15. How many people are involved in each livelihood practice? (For each of the livelihood
practices named above). What role do they play?
16. What challenges do you meet in applying specific livelihood practices?
17. What are the outcomes of engaging in each of the livelihood practices mentioned? I.e., what
are the benefits to you and what are some of the problems related to engaging in the specific
livelihood practice?
18. Why do you not engage in some livelihood practices?
19. Who else do you think should be involved and what role should they play in supporting the
livelihood practices that you are involved in?
20. Did you engage in each of the above-mentioned livelihood practices before the FAL program
or not? How do you feel now when you are engaged in each of the livelihood practices
above?
21. What are the related advantages to you of engaging in each of these livelihood practices?
What are the disadvantages to you of applying these livelihood practices?
22. What encourages you to apply the livelihood practices? What discourages you from engaging
in some livelihood practices?
23. What is your view of literacy education? Why do you think of it this way?
24. What advice would you give to other participants regarding the application of the literacy
learning? [These participants are the cream of the crop and could be considered models].
25. What factors influence the application of the literacy learning? (Trying to understand if there
are any unique program features that the participants keep going back to).
260
APPENDIX D: Secondary Participants:
Spouse/friend’s Semi-Structured Interview Questions
1. What is your spouse able to read, write, and what number-work does she/he do?
2. What livelihood practices does your spouse engage in?
3. Could s/he do this before attending the FAL program? What difference do you notice in their
capabilities between then and now?
4. What is the benefit of your spouse applying the capabilities? What problems might be
associated with the application of the literacy learning by your spouse?
5. In your view, what are/should literate people be like? What is your view about literacy
education? [If positive about it] how do you think the application of the literacy learning by
your spouse could be supported?
261
APPENDIX E: Secondary Participants:
Local Community Leader’s Semi Structured Interview Questions
1. In your view, what are/should literate people be like?
2. What is your view about literacy education?
3. What is the wider perception about literacy education in your community?
4. What does a literacy project enable people to do?
5. What does a literacy project enable people to be?
6. Why do you think someone in your village may not apply literacy practices and/or livelihood
practices in their daily lives?
7. How could a literacy education project be supported in your village? And by who?
8. Would you promote (or not) a literacy education project in your village? How would you
promote (or not) a literacy project in your village?
262
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VITA for Anne Odele
EDUCATION Ph.D., Lifelong Learning and Adult Education (December, 2018). The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA Master of Arts, International Educational Development (May, 2009). Teachers College, Columbia University, New York Post-graduate Diploma, Human Resource Management (December, 2004). Uganda Management Institute, Kampala Bachelor of Arts with Education (April, 1993). Makerere University, Kampala PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Program Officer, Human Rights and Peace Building Sector (1995-2007). Soroti Catholic Diocese Integrated Development Organization (SOCADIDO), Soroti, Uganda. Co-ordinated the planning and implementation of Human Rights and Peace Building activities, including adult literacy education. Lecturer (1992-2007). Uganda College of Commerce-Soroti. Planned, taught & evaluated lessons. Teacher (1992-1994). Soroti Secondary School-Soroti. Planned, taught & evaluated lessons. Adult Literacy Facilitator (Spring 2008; Fall 2009). Sauti Yetu, NY, Facilitated adult literacy classes. RESEARCH EXPERIENCE Teachers College, Columbia University: Candidate International Educational Development Pilot-testing Market Assessment Toolkit for Vocational Training in northern Uganda, (April 2009). Designed and tested toolkit and made recommendations for improvement. Designed and administered data-collection tools, analyzed data, and wrote a report: An Assessment of Accelerated Learning Programs in Uganda: The case of the Catch up Education program, (April 2009). Evaluation of Special Needs Education in Teacher Training Colleges in Malawi, (June 2008). Soroti Catholic Diocese Integrated Development Organization, Soroti, Uganda A Survey of the Human Rights situation in Katakwi and Amuria districts (April-July 2006) Inter-Agency survey on Access to Justice in Katakwi and Amuria Districts (May-June 2007) A study on the Organizational Development of 407 Community development groups in the six districts of Soroti Catholic Diocese of Soroti (October 2005-March 2006) Adult Literacy Needs Assessment Surveys (1995-2007)