Thousands of miles from the comforts of home, juniors Josh Rogol and Ron Fisher spent their summer nights in a sleeping bags on a hard concrete floor. In a village just outside of Mbale, Uganda, the two worked to bring modern technology to the impoverished Abayudaya community, a group of Jewish Ugandans.
After collecting what Rogol referred to as 12 "relatively new" laptop computers from donors on campus, friends, and family members, Fisher and Rogol organized and installed a working computer lab for the local school.
But it wasn't easy. "You go into a project like this with a million preconceptions about what Africa is going to be like," Rogol said. "But when you finally arrive, you learn that the community is just like any other community - warm and welcoming, with strengths, weaknesses, and needs."
The first of those needs, Rogol and Fisher discovered, was one they said many people take for granted: electric power. "For [the Abayudaya people], electricity was a novelty - they would use it to cool their drinks and things like that, but it wasn't something that was available regularly," Fisher said. "When we got there, we found out that their transistor had blown up, so our first job was to get electricity back."
By working closely with the local leadership, which Fisher said was concentrated in a single family, the two Jumbos were able to get the lab up and running. That, however, was only the first step.
"It's important to remember that any sort of development work is fantastically difficult," Rogol said. "You may think that you are doing something that is actually helping a community, whereas in reality the externalities are so serious that one's actions actually do more harm than good."
An example of these externalities was the computer lab, which Rogol said was helpful but raised concerns that needed to be addressed. "We had to take many things into consideration," he said. "Where will this community dispose of a computer that breaks? Will they burn it and release toxic fumes? If a computer stops functioning well, who will fix it? Will this cause jealousy among neighboring communities? How will they keep it from getting stolen?"
According to Rogol, such kinds of questions must be considered carefully before beginning any development project.
For Fisher, the most challenging aspect of the project was educating the community on how to use the new technology. "They had a computer class in the school, but it was completely theoretical. They taught in front of a chalkboard," Fisher said. "When we first got the computers, we had to show their computer teacher everything, starting with where the power button was and how to turn it on."
But after some "initial setbacks," Rogol said, their efforts started to pay off.
"We taught classes to high school aged children for two, three hours per day," Rogol said. "Demand was so large that there were at times three to four kids per computer taking turns practicing basic computer operation, typing, using [Microsoft] Word and Excel."
Slowly, the two explained, they became a part of the community themselves.
"I was nervous when I was on the plane, flying down there, because I didn't really know what to expect," Fisher said. "But once we go to the village we immediately became so comfortable, like we were part of the family."
Rogol said that as the two walked through the village, kids and some adults would yell "Muzungu, how are you?"
'Muzungu' "basically means 'white person' with a warm connotation," Rogol said.
"Everyone was so friendly and willing to help," Rogol said. "People would invite us into their homes for meals or tea, wanting to show their appreciation for our contributions."
The two originally got the idea for the trip when Tufts Associate Jewish Chaplain and Lecturer Rabbi Jeffrey Summit told them about the Abayudaya community, which he had visited to produce a CD of the locals singing religious songs. With Summit's help, Rogol and Fisher set up contacts with the Abayudaya directly, rather than going through an established program.
"We learned about the community and its needs, and after speaking to the community leaders, we decided that this would be both a realistic project and beneficial to the community," Rogol said.
"While we were there, the community's dedication and passion for Judaism was inspiring," Rogol said. Coming from a conservative Jewish family, Rogol said, religion has always been important to him.
"The most difficult part of the project," Rogol added, "was getting my Jewish mother to allow me to go!"
Fisher said the experience as a whole made him take his own life into perspective.
"Once I came back I realized how much I had learned," Fisher said. "The lives of these people run without any of the things that I take for granted, but they're as content as I am, if not more."
Now, Fisher said, he thinks twice about throwing away a piece of food he's dropped on the floor or complaining about lack of air conditioning. "When I compare my living conditions to the way the Abayudaba are living, I realize how lucky I am," he said.
For Rogol, the most meaningful part of the trip was realizing that every development effort can make a difference.
"It's very easy to be overwhelmed with all of the need in the world and as a result do nothing because you feel you can't make any difference," Rogol said. "I really learned throughout the process of developing this project, going there, and then reflecting on it afterwards that any action, no matter how small you may deem it, can make a colossal impact."
