SIX MONTHS DISHMA INC SUPPORT TO UGANDA BUDDHIST CENTER

Introduction:
Buddhism in Uganda is quite new. Several tourists of Buddhist faith and practice had for long missed out on a center that promotes Buddhism. This center is called the Uganda Buddhist Center (UBC). UBC was first located in Kawempe –a Kampala Suburb, but because of the tremendous noise there, the founder was compelled to relocate to outskirts of Entebbe town –off Entebbe road (Garuga Stage). The Entebbe spot is calming and peaceful place.

It is bordered closely by Lake Victoria, the home to the vice president of Uganda, an Army training wing, and very closely by a surviving small natural forest. It was founded by Bhante Buddharrakhitta –a Buddhist name he attained upon initiation and ordainment as monk. He is a Ugandan by birth (originally named Steven Kabogoza) and American by naturalization.

The center was opened in 2007 as a registered non-government organization (registration number: 6259). It is endowed with a gardening space, three sources of water (borehole, water harvester, flowing water [tap], and the big lake), ceremonial and training ground, meditation hall, and sustained solar power. Visitors to the center are mainly tourists and expatriates. There very few Ugandans who go there. Those who go there are those either wishing to satisfy curiosity or are friends and family members to the area monk.

UBC cardinal aims are to propagate Buddhism in Africa and Uganda in particular cause peace, wellness and happiness –free from disheartening immoral behaviors and unethical conducts. The core undertakings at the center include; child education and education aid to unprivileged children, livelihood development, volunteer development programs, insight meditation, ethics and peace training, partnership development and inter-faith arrangements.

In pursuit of success in its undertakings UBC focuses on the following principles: calmness, flexibility, uprightness, confidence, courage, mindfulness, partnership, patience, kindness, learning, proper livelihood, unity in diversity, and peace and harmony.

Strategic Framework:
These are interconnected areas of management sought between the months of May and December, 2010. And these included: legal support, social support, technical support, training and increasing knowledge, building partnerships, facilitate access to information, organization structure design, and office organization.

Legal Support:
It was important to have UBC certificate of registration renewed as required the non-government organization (NGO) regulations in Uganda.

Social Support:
Being a new concept and/or philosophy among Ugandans, Buddhism was received with suspicion and society was not accommodating.

Technical Support:
For over two and half years Buddhism was run electronically by the area monk, and back at the center there as dire need for personnel to oversee local operations and increase local understanding of the new concept.

Training and increasing Knowledge:
It was conceived that it would be through training that capacity for management of a new concept or product would be made easy and effective and as for other management demands that arise at UBC.

Building Partnerships:
No man is an island: in this challenging world every one needs the right effort to succeed, and through partnerships success is easily reached. “We succeed with others and through others.”

Access to Information:
Apparently so many tourists flock Uganda; some of them are Buddhist practitioners. Other categories of stakeholders to reach out are expatriates, and relevant government institutions like in educations ministry, gender and welfare ministry, health ministry, ethics and integrity ministry, and other faiths and religious based organizations.

Organization Structure Design and Development:
It is very important to know people an organization is providing development services or about to serve, identify areas of engagement with community and development of a shared vision for stakeholders, and ensure impact as a basis of building and strengthening trust.

Office Organization:
It was perceived that organizing an office with its vision, mission and values on its wall, document filing and update, file location labeling, and outreach and local program chart there too would ease follow-up and implementation of organization plans.

Implementation Plan:
Implementation plan aimed at highlighting different actions needed to successfully transform strategic framework into reality.

The plan was as conceived as shown bellows: renewal of registration certificate; develop technical infrastructure for UBC, attend training and conferences organized by organizations with sisterly objectives, carry out baseline survey in nearby communities, share Buddhist philosophy at international and local meetings or symposiums, drop information guides at tourist centers and at main post offices and post Buddhist information to online sites for viewing and learning purposes, write articles and papers using Buddhist cases and experiences, identify partners for development, coordinate office programs, develop office tags and label library according to topics, extensive reading and research in Buddhist philosophy, stakeholder coordination, develop work plan and pin it on the office wall, correspondence management, and regular inspection of center premises.

MONTHLY FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR UBC ACTIVITIES
Months Expenditure (Ushs)
June 18, 500
July 51, 500
August 40, 000
September 57, 000
October 4, 000
November 7, 000
December 00,000

Achievements Registered:
Used different means to relay information about Buddhism in Uganda like blogging, dispatching brochures through post office, and wellness program exhibitions could help achieve accessibility of information.

Entirely all tasks set out for implementation were a success as indicated here under: registration certificate was renewed to enable it functional legally, community-based programs were developed to make the organization functional and meaningful to the people, area administer attended vipassana training to equips himself with Buddhism and was part of three different international meetings where Buddhist philosophy was shared (psychological trauma meeting in Nairobi, pediatric conference, and spiritual healing workshop in Butabika).

Kept records of all activities of UBC for future reference and had different sets of information labeled and kept separately –including the activity of labeling library books and locating them in different positions of the shelf according to topic and theme.

Organized meetings and workshops in Makerere University on Buddhism read and undertook research on Buddhism, and got in touch with UBC stakeholders to discuss new initiatives as creation of income generating projects.

Registered UBC with the Uganda Nile Basin Discourse Forum to benefit from the advantages of networking like resources sharing and pursue a common principle f peace in the Nile basin region.

Developed staff work guidelines and guiding charts for current and future members, support staff and volunteers to the organization. The documents provided codes of conduct and reference to pending activities –awaiting action.

Baseline survey was conducted among communities living around UBC. It centered on the livelihood situation of families and the effects on children. Part of the information was considered for analysis and interpretation –and later presented at the 4th pediatric conference in Kampala, Uganda.

At three different stages staff during the six months, staff managed correspondences through and/or coming in through post office while for mailing concerns were managed daily to keep abreast with monks and stakeholders’ opinions towards the center. And in the three post office visits feedback was relayed to the monk and records taken to the center –and whilst there premises were inspected to find out whether people responsible for cleanliness did they work well and whether there was any timely interventions to be made.

Opportunities:
With mental health sector investing so much in spiritual approaches to healing, Buddhism will play a significant role in it alongside other religions and/or faiths. This interactivity will help to satisfy the holistic needs of man.

Buddhism is compatible to natural science which makes it a source of attraction by the elite while for the poor attain the benefits of happiness and peace it comes with –regardless of the social status.

Buddhism is not divisive and easily accommodates the good intentions of other faiths and promotes the principle of interfaith approaches to peace; it is being taught in institutions of higher learning which will in turn make UBC an important referral center for researchers.

UBC has sufficient land to help it grow its own food and rear animals, or even start a fully-fledged children’s school. This can bring economic justice and freedom to it as well as contribute effective to community development.

Volunteer from within and abroad wishing to spend their valuable time at the center are welcome at no cost.

Challenges:
UBC lacked own funds to run programs: what would be its own independent fund was actually monk’s that did not go to UBC account. For the entire six months UBC solar facility was dysfunction and there were not funds to repair it until the monk flied in. It is rather the monk’s presence that assured center of productivity.

There was serious lack of skilled man power. UBC was still only dependent on volunteer effort to progress. After three months of volunteering it would be left orphaned with no immediate replacement.

There were no sufficient security guarantees around the organization premises –as it was not fenced. Even with the presence of the guard, the area remained unsafe. One awakening event was the the day the guard lost his own bicycle to thieves.

UBC uses external stationery services as it lacks its own facility to process and manage documents. It has to send a messenger 5 kilometers away to receive the services of a stationery shop.

The surrounding communities were not involves in any UBC programs –even those that would benefit people did not actually exist –as there were no funds to run them. It must be noted that for the community to be involved in a certain organisation work, there must be a mutual benefit.

UBC support staff lack basics of Buddhist teachings as some of the behaviors did not reflect Buddhist teachings. There was evidence that community and the center support staff were parallel.

There was much closed-ness and mistrust of the surrounding population who even with great labor demand by the center was not trusted with responsibilities there –instead the organization policy entrusts foreign volunteers as ‘most dependable’.

UBC lacked viable income generating projects to fully support its budget. It was dependent on small token from visitors –some of which was either unaccounted for or not documented. UBC still had an element of one-man’s business and is run more like a family organization as it does not have active local membership within the proximity, and much of the work (both spiritual and organization) are run by the monk –who can not really be at every front to effectively solve a problems (spiritual and life).

Conclusion:
In just six months of greater sacrifice –without operation budget, UBC got known among mental health practitioners and some tourists of Buddhist faith –who came in to see the temple. The work done was mainly legalization of UBC as an organization in Uganda, partnership development, carrying out research and publications, advisory, monitoring and evaluation, stakeholder coordination, and community relations. However, UBC has a long way to go in order to achieve its dreams of being an impact organization.

Recommendations:
There is need for a three month Buddhist training for support staff and have them sensitized on the values of UBC as a non-government organization. This will help save the organization form negative community gossip and failing it in its functions as a non-government organization available to serve all people currently associated to it or wishing to do so.

Given the lack of skilled staff, UBC cannot depend anymore on three-month volunteer support, but recruitment of own staff. To begin with would be three staff members as volunteer support continues throughout the year. UBC has sufficient infrastructure to turn into a big body –able to support itself and bring in credible staff.

Sincerely, the monk can not be at very many fronts at the same time, otherwise he will forget some useful engagements pursued on behalf of the organization when he spends considerable amount of time daily above or disengaged from the issues of the physical and social worlds. There is need to transform UBC into a community organization rather than private premises as it seems to be, so that people come in freely to learn and use its library resources as well as be given priority to opportunities that arise there.

Jacob Waiswa
Member, UBC
And Former UBC General Secretary