Our story
Nicolette Manglos-Weber
On my first visit to Uganda in the Summer of 2014, I was struck by two things. First, I noticed how many Ugandans spoke skeptically of the government and major NGOs. They did not look to such agents to help them solve their everyday problems, such as getting food and water, sending their kids to school, finding paid work, accessing health care, or building homes and gardens. Coming from the U.S., I though such entities would be the primary agents of social welfare, but I found most Ugandans did not see them that way.
Second, I noticed how local leaders and organizations were stepping in to address such problems. These leaders focused on care for diverse kinds of collective needs, such as youth homelessness, teenage pregnancy, environmental decay, endemic sickness, domestic abuse, joblessness, and underfunded public schools. They were creating new sites of care provision: shelters, farms, schools, and clinics, filled with the rituals and relationships of giving and receiving care.
Although I wasn’t yet sure what I wanted to say about these leaders, I knew that I wanted to amplify their stories. I also sensed what they were doing was both religiously and politically significant.
Along with Josephine Nabakooza, who I met on that visit, we started to collect stories from leaders working across different sectors, focusing on what they shared and what made each of them distinct, and how they interacted with larger systems of faith and politics in Uganda and beyond.
Caring as a radical act
The result was a simple but profound conclusion: caring is a radical act in today’s world. Modern economic development has upset systems of care in Uganda and elsewhere, in its singular devotion to growing capital, exploiting resources, and employing one-size-fits-all solutions. In response, creating new sites of care is work that counters the logics of development and exploitation. It is also very often a spiritual work, one that upholds the sacred space of human vulnerability and interdependence. It is a work that can bring diverse sacred traditions together in a shared project of elevating and honoring care.
Perhaps no event shows the need for this work better than the COVID-19 pandemic. As our research team conducted this project, we watched Uganda shut down its borders and economy, to protect itself from the mass death occurring in the U.S. and Europe. We watched national governments with unimaginable resources falter in the face of the plague. We saw how, despite decades of rapid economic growth, Uganda’s families and communities went without the most basic provisions when businesses and schools closed. And we saw how the ruling party and long-term president took advantage of the situation to repress its opposition and abuse citizens.
These events remind us we are interconnected and we are vulnerable. We cannot turn away from those basic realities, or neglect the sacred work of care, without widespread suffering and death. In that regard, the work of care is not just the imperative of a few Ugandan leaders featured on this website. It is all of our work, and it has never been more pressing.
