Mazlo’s hierarchy of needs

When you’re concerned with basic needs, it’s hard to think beyond that. And for the last few days in our house, we’ve been almost entirely consumed of thinking of our basic needs. With frequent water and power outages, we’re had to really worry about whether we’ll have enough water to drink and how we’re going to cook our meal—and even if we’ll even be able to see what we’re eating.

Yet, we are amongst the most fortunate ones in Kampala. Most of our students don’t have access to running water, which means that much of their day revolves around the process of ensuring their basic needs of food and water are met. (Indeed, few things are child sized here, but you can always find child sized jerry cans to carry water.)

For us, it means that, in Uganda, even when you have money, sometimes you still lack. We have the money to pay for electricity, but we don’t have electricity all the time. But for the children in our project who don’t have access to money, they are doubly disadvantaged.