Intrepid Woman: Building the Future in Uganda

By Chrissi McCarthy, Founder of Constructing Equality (Liverpool, UK)

In the summer of 2005 I was asked to go to Uganda with an English charity to help build a school in the small village of Keyo in the North of the country, just outside of Gulu. It was an area struggling to progress itself, having been caught up in the civil war that is still affecting the country and was badly in need of new educational facilities to help educate the next generation and provide a future.

Having spent four years in the UK construction industry working as a site engineer before taking a recent promotion into site management, I was asked to set out the two buildings before the rest of the team of English volunteers arrived to help with the general labouring.

In that first week there was only me, the two fundraising coordinators, and the English appointed site manager representing the charity, the rest of the workforce were local Ugandans working on the project at that time.

Finding a New Confidence

I had expected to have to prove myself, due to the fact that I was the only woman in the group, and had been used to doing so back in the UK, in fact. I thought this would be even more true, seeing that we were in a developing country. But I couldn’t have been more wrong!

The Uganda philosophy seemed to be that the person with the most knowledge should be in charge, regardless of gender, race, or even position! It was the first time I felt that I was being judged on merit alone – and it was very liberating. It let me get on with the task in hand with a new confidence that I felt grow as the project developed.

The Ugandans responded well to my style of management. I preferred to discuss with them the ways we would carry out a project in the UK and the decide if this could be applied to some of the practices they were currently using. We found a number of examples where we could improve upon Ugandan techniques, and a number of others where environmental factors meant that British systems of working would simply fail. We therefore adapted as was beneficial to the project, consulting and using local knowledge, qualified experience, and occasionally even trial and error.

Learning New Values

The six weeks I spent building that school taught me a lot – not only about the usual things you imagine to learn from time spent in a developing country, such as appreciation for free health and education and the richness of being so welcomed into another culture.

But also being able to work in a positive environment, where we were all working towards the same goal together, helped show me the power of effective partnership working, respect, and consultation. I still visit Keyo as much as possible, and my friends, who were once my co-workers, tell me how they want me to come back and teach them more, they show me how they have used my “good plans” on other buildings and the structural improvements that this has had on them.

I strongly feel that the local Ugandan focus on what’s best for the end users, the rejection of prejudice, and the willingness to cooperate were all things I learnt a little bit more about, and that my industry could benefit from learning a little bit more about too.

Founded by ex site manager Chrissi McCarthy, Constructing Equality is the UK’s leading construction specific equality and diversity consultant and training provider. We believe that equality is important, but not to the detriment of the business. That’s why we make sure that we only advise and deliver work that’s reasonable, practical and workable.