by Kathy | Jan 19, 2013 | Uncategorized
Had my first trip to Kenya this week. I took only a couple of pictures I’m afraid. It was all business. We met so many people and now I’m staring at this pile of cards feeling a little daunted by all the emails I have to send, good thing I took notes! I suppose this is also why I’m doing a blog after a ridiculous lull, to avoid my real work. Ah well, at least I can update my family and friends. Kenya is a much larger city than Kampala and has some better infrastructure going and some that is just like Kampala. The most interesting bit was that they are preparing for elections in March. Which means a lot of discussions about politics, though I think most of that happened outside of the city. The elections to many of the business people we met seemed more like a nuisance than anything. Something to get through so you can resume normal business and in that sense it felt like the states. There has been some violence in some counties and rigging and fraud accusations were everywhere. While I think the two party system leaves a lot to be desired having many parties also leads to a lot of unhappy people. In the end the only majority that will be reached is the majority of people who didn’t get what they wanted. It was very interesting to witness groups of men (and they were all men) standing on corners listening and discussing politics. Apparently this is not something that just happens during elections but all the time. But it was the first I’d seen something like it and the first my colleague (who is from Uganda) had too.
by Kathy | Dec 23, 2012 | Uncategorized
I can’t remember the last time I only used cash in my day to day life. While I always paid my balances at the end of the month I’ve relied on the ease of plastic to track everything and to not think too much about money except in retrospect. As long as I ended up spending around what I thought I would it was okay, but I think I ended up spending more than I certainly needed to spend. But here in Kampala Amex doesn’t work and even my visa didn’t run through the one time I tried it so its strictly cash for me. And its really an interesting experience. I’m trying to track it in a spreadsheet because the funny thing about cash is how it slips through your hands. But it also runs out and you can see it happening so its kind of a fun way to manage a budget. And maybe in some ways its easier. At least from a perspective of not going over, but not so much from a tracking perspective. If I don’t write it down I’ll never know what I need to adjust. It feels a bit obsessive but its also become a form of entertainment. Whats really interesting is it extends to most everything here. Prepaid phone, prepaid DSTV (which I haven’t bothered to get yet) and even the gas for the stove is prepaid (as in you buy a tank and refill when it runs out). I was cooking tonight and wondering will it get finished before I run out of gas? I have phone calls home and think, will my minutes run out mid sentence if I’m not careful? Its good and makes sense if you are tight on funds because you can’t get into debt. You just have to do without, but it is a different feeling to your day. So for now I’m going totally cash and prepaid. And maybe when I return I’ll keep it up. Though, I do like those miles…..
by Kathy | Dec 11, 2012 | Uncategorized
It seems appropriate to start an entry about pace by saying “oops, its been two weeks since I posted last.” For a woman who has a tendency to zip around to get things done its a bit difficult to adjust to a very different pace to things living here in Kampala. Transportation being one. There is traffic like most cities (except the part where rules aren’t actually followed), but luckily I don’t have to drive in it. However, that means I have to wait for someone to drive me in it and that generally means coordinating transportation with my colleagues and that means waiting. And waiting. And sometimes more waiting. And while I can be a very patient person, when it comes to waiting I’m really not. So I’m having to find my happy place with waiting. Making it time to breathe and think. Or just be. Because there is waiting every where here. I think it will probably be good for me in the long run and I wonder if when I go home I’ll act differently or if I’ll go back to zipping around. Will people find me noticeably slower paced? Somehow that doesn’t seem possible. I’m not sure I can actually go slower. I think I can just learn to wait between things.
by Kathy | Nov 27, 2012 | Uncategorized
I am in South Africa for the first time. I arrived in Johannesburg yesterday. On the ride from the airport, I’ll be honest I thought it looked a lot like San Jose, CA. Until we passed a shanty town and then I was reminded that there is so much more here than meets the eye. ThoughtWorks office in Johannesburg is in Braamfontein area. It has a great feel, the office is very vibrant so that probably colors how I’m looking at the area as a whole. We have a mix of people here from many parts of Africa and several vistors from our other offices around the globe. Intermingling globally is a big part of how ThoughtWorks works and I am definitely benefiting from that right now. I had lunch today with folks representing 7 countries (7 people plus me) and I learned more about African countries in that lunch than I had probably learned in my entire formal education. And there is so much to know. Following the political histories of each of these countries is complicated and I don’t expect I’ll be able to learn it over a lunch, but I’m very glad to have the opportunity to hear the stories. I learn best from stories so this is a perfect environment for me. While everyone is passionate about what they know and happy to share they are also not didactic and don’t judge my ignorance. I’m grateful for that too because that could stifle questions if I felt I would be judged. And I’m not alone as we are all learning from each other. That’s why I called it the best lunch ever. The food by the way was Nando’s which is tasty, but it could have been porridge and I’d probably say the same thing.
by Kathy | Nov 20, 2012 | Uncategorized
Yesterday evening I went to the Mobile Monday event here in Kampala, these events are not surprisingly similar in every city I’ve seen. The topic was different as the problems here are different and in some ways very basic. I am so used to the simplicity in the US of unlimited. Unlimited internet, unlimited SMS, unlimited phone calls or at least nearly so. I buy a plan and don’t worry about usage (in general that is, I’ve definitely gone over and paid the price but its rare). Its to the point where I can’t even tell you how much I use, I don’t keep track. But here, you pay as you go. You prepay for your minutes or kb and when you eat that up you buy some more. Its actually kind of stressful. Especially when you have to worry about how much will this call or download cost me? And, sorry mom, but I’m actually watching the clock while I’m talking to you to make sure I don’t go over the amount of minutes that I have bought on my international plan, (which I buy in 45 minute increments). No worries, skype will save me from these worries, oh wait, actually I have a limit there of kb up and down so maybe only video on occasion, and if I run out no more for me until the beginning of the next month. Not to mention bandwidth. When was the last time you didn’t view something or comment or blog because “it just eats up bandwidth” or would use up your allotment?
Just think of the market opportunities that are being missed (hello Rhapsody or Pandora). And I think if companies started to realize the money to be made in making the power ping and pipe a given this problem would start to dissolve. Someone needs to break the ground on that and I’m curiously looking around for that company (Smile is an interesting one for example with its new 4G LTE, I’m watching to see if they are going to change the market or merely find their place to make money in it).
Constraints do cause a lot of creativity and if you want to talk of how to bring the most value for the least cost, write a software application to solve a problem here in Uganda and you will quickly learn what is of value. It will have to be mobile to be pervasive and it can’t be taxing on your service or no one will use it. You’ll quickly spot waste and want to eliminate it or you won’t survive. I hope new organizations can pop up to remove some of these constraints and I hope that the mindset of value and efficiency the constraints create persist.
