Meeting under the Mango Tree

Every village has a meeting tree - usually a Mango tree.

I've spent a lot of this week sat under the meeting tree as I've been 'in the field' visiting the various partners, projects and beneficiaries of the sustainable livelihood funding. We've been right into the heart of rural northern Uganda working in Pader and Apac districts. It's been a fascinating week and I've learnt so much.

As the car pulls up you find the village group waiting for you. The women start calling, singing, dancing and waving small branches. They are all dressed in their best clothes and it's a beautiful colourful sight. You make a quick check with the local staff of the correct way to say 'hello, how are you?' in the various local languages. Then climb down from the car and join in the dancing, mixing in with the group, shaking hands and greeting everyone. It feels very awkward when they treat you like a celebrity bowing down or even going onto their knees to greet you. There are usually 30 to 40 people so this ritual takes some time.

Then we all move to the meeting tree where chairs and mats have been set out. As guests we are usually given the best seats, some really comfortable bamboo armchairs. Then the men settle onto benches or stools and the women sit with the babies and toddlers on rush mats. There are more greetings and the welcoming speeches and an opening prayer. Then everyone introduces themselves with the local staff from our partner organisation translating between English and the local language so everyone can understand.

The formal introductions are followed by a question and answer session where we ask about what they have been doing and how the interventions from the partner organisation have helped the group members, both individually and as a group. Then there is an opportunity for the group members to ask any questions, but sadly this was always a list of further inputs politely requested. This left us in the awkward position of having to explain that the purpose of the project is a 'hand up not a hand out' and they should save some of the extra income earned from increased harvests and sales to buy the extra things the groups needs to improve the harvests still more.

Then we all went on a tour of the village area looking at the crops planted with seeds provided, maize, tomatoes, cabbages, aubergines, cassava and beans. We've also seen simple irrigation systems ranging from a treadle pump to a diesel operated pump, which produced an impressive volume of water. Then oxen and ox ploughs, a village granary, tree seedlings near the water sheltered under the trees, coffee bushes and bee hives.

Then back to the meeting tree for thank you's and a closing prayer before more calling and singing as we drive away to the next group.

All of these groups are being helped within the village area to provide sustainable crops for food for their families with a surplus to take to market to give some income. Over the week we've also visited a storage facility being run by a local marketing association formed by up to 20+ groups of 30 members each who gather together their surplus, store it in cool dry conditions until the market price rises and then sell in bulk to buyers getting a better price than any one person or group could achieve on their own. A small percentage of their income is ploughed back into the storage facility to maintain and improve it.

We also had a day with one of the partner organisations working in the area of land rights. We had the privilege to attend a mediation session led by one of their staff between an uncle and niece both claiming the same piece of land. The meeting took place under the village meeting tree and involved the whole community including the clan leaders and various relatives who all had a piece of the history to contribute. Two hours later, with compromise on both sides, an agreement was reached to split the land in half. The whole meeting went onto the disputed land there and then and a half share was measured simply using a long stick turned over and over. Cuttings from an accepted variety of quick growing boundary tree appeared and were planted along the agreed boundary line before we all went back to the meeting tree for mutual thanks and appreciation of the parties and a closing prayer.

All in all a lovely week where I really got to see the difference the work being done is making to the lives of some of the poorest people. Most of the interventions focus on the most vulnerable groups in the area, female headed households, people living with HIV or AIDS and households most affected by the recent conflict.