Ensuring Safe Access to Water

Patrick Bakulambe 68, is a resident of Kazigo A village, one of UVP’s newly launched Healthy Villages. Bakulambe took some time out of his garden to take us around the village showing us the places where his family gets water for domestic use.

Kazigo A is one of the many villages in Iganga district that falls below 60 % access to safe water. Though they have 3 government bore holes and one shallow well sunk by the Red Cross, the plush green vastness of the village keeps the east side secluded from amenities. They walk for over a kilometer to fetch water at the shallow well and two kilometres to the closest borehole. When it’s too tiring to carry the heavy jerrycans, the villagers from the east side of Kazigo A are forced to get water from open wells that surround their homes.

A well in the east part of the village will allow 80 households, that is a population of about 500-600 people to have access to safe water. UVP is currently working in Kazigo A to increase their sanitation levels, with increased sanitation levels (i.e. increased latrine coverage, tippy taps, plate stands and trash pits), infectious diseases can be prevented. In the future, we hope to provide the north side of the village with a UVP shallow well ensuring they have safe access to water.

Final Thoughts on the Summer - Kazigo A

By Derek Bunch

The final week in Kazigo A brought about a mixture of tears and smiles. The last week was dedicated to celebrating with all of the village members who had generously helped our team this summer.  This appreciation was extended to our Village Health Team (VHT), The Kazigo A drama team, and our wonderful cook, Harriet. For each event we cooked the entire meal and surprised our guests with such things as guacamole and mango salsa, which was a first for many. Our dinners with the drama team and Harriet ended with the sound of drums, and some local traditional dance. The drama team was very helpful in teaching Lindsey, Sara and I to “move our hips.” This basically consisted of them grabbing us by the waist and twisting our hips for us while the onlookers cheered on our efforts. The most meaningful aspect of all of these dinners came from the immense amounts of love and appreciation that the villagers showed us. This final week was an encouraging indicator of the positive influence our team had made in the village and on the village residents.  Tears were not only shed by us but by the villagers as well. Our Village Health Team dinner was particularly emotional. Muzungu our very long-winded VHT member told a story comparing our relationship to a wedding ring given to a lover and how that ring will always belong to the owner and if that person asks for it back then you must give it back even though you still love the person. He explained that even though they love us and want us to stay, that they must let us leave, or in turn “give our ring back”. 

Our team had a very successful summer in Kazigo A. By the end of the summer we had held sensitization events on malaria, family planning, safe water, sanitation and hygiene, and eye care. In addition to these activities we hosted an HIV/STD drama and testing day and coordinated a borehole cleanup day among the community. Our team sold 210 insecticide treated bed nets, sold 40 tablets of Waterguard, and distributed four boxes of condoms. Our sanitation push was a success in constructing 47 tippy taps, 9 plate stands, and 10 latrine covers. We also helped to improve 5 tippy taps, 3 trash pits, and 3 plate stands. However, our most important accomplishment this summer were the strong relationships we built with the community and the positive name we made for the Uganda Village Project.

I speak on behalf of the entire Kazigo A team when I express my appreciation for the people, the residents, our friends in Kazigo A. The lessons we bring home with us will be with us for the rest of our lives. The friendships and relationships we built and the experiences are unforgettable and will provide a framework for any of our future endeavors. I want to say thanks to the entire Uganda Village Project in-country staff for all of their help this summer. We hope that our work this summer will enable them to continue the positive progress in Kazigo A. Lastly, I want to say thanks to the entire Kazigo A intern team. I had the pleasure to have worked with some of the most amazing individuals I have met in my life. This experience was unique, in that not only did we work together everyday for ten weeks but we also lived together in a house the size of many people's living room. Our team came together to accomplish a huge number of tasks this summer and we had fun in the process. With Sara’s acrobatics for the kids, Lindsey constantly trying to explain that her name was not Sharon, Naomi’s amazing cooking, and Felix’s computer, we never had a dull moment in our village. So thank you again team for an amazing summer, and thank you Uganda Village Project for enabling us to have this experience. Keep up the good work.

Stories from the Field: Turtles in the Borehole Pool

By Derek Bunch


The main focus this week was our sanitation push. It was pretty successful, we travelled to many different houses. One thing we were pleased to see is that many people, since our baseline surveys, have attempted to create what they didn’t previously have. We found new trashpits, plate stands, and tippy taps all over the place! We were very impressed.

On Thursday, we had our family planning sensitization. Maureen and Rashad both showed up and we split up the men and the women. At first, no one showed up at all, but after a couple hours, people started trickling in and we eventually had a good number of people show up (about 85 in total). For the women, there was this old woman who was very, very interested in the female condom demonstration, and we all thought that that was really funny. For the men, our VHT asked a question, where he made an analogy to fighting. He was talking about how some men like to fight on and on for hours and he asked if the condoms were strong enough to last that long! Everyone was laughing at that question.

On Friday, we started our bore hole clean up in the town center. As we started draining the huge, smelly, mucky pool of water, we saw some movement in the sludge. Turns out, it was a baby turtle! We asked the kids to run and bring us a container and we put the turtle inside. We ended up finding 17 turtles in the bore hole pool! We kept them overnight and then returned them to the swamp the next day. I believe this was UVP’s first turtle rescue mission!

Derek is interning in Kazigo A village this summer. 

Stories from the Field: Final Weeks in Kazigo A

By Naomi Muyanga

Sara and I finished the baseline surveys on Monday. Then Tuesday was the eye care and WASH sensitizations and it so happened that the VHTs did not mobilize and we had to walk around the village home to home mobilizing (I even rolled a piece of paper to act like a microphone and moved around at the last minute), but irrespective of our efforts, not more than 50 people turned up for the sensitization which was so irritating, but we had to bear it.

Wednesday and Thursday were sanitation pushes – hands on at VHTs homes from Kazigo A and B respectively. Both teams worked together to accomplish the last though it rained heavily on Wednesday and it seemed like we won’t work, as UVP staff also just dropped the materials and left but later in the evening, we started vigorously and managed to complete the task.

The community meeting where the survey results were released was a success, but still after an intensive mobilization on that very day. Titus and Patrick did a demo on safe water which was so fun where they put cow dung to mean faces into drinking water and asked whether any of the community members could take it!

Crazy, but true! - “What fun was in the blog this week?” I asked Derek, but he responded with “time’s new roman? Calibri?” I said, “What language are you speaking?” “The font was times new roman, that’s what I said!” He repeated only to realize it was a misperception of the word fun for font, everyone in the house giggled for over a minute.

Stories from the Field: Baseline Surveys, WASH Sensitizations, and HIV Drama Group

By Lindsey Anderson

On Monday, after the team leader meeting, Derek, Felix, and I arrived home and Naomi and I left for a few baseline surveys on the complete opposite side of the village. Our goal was to get as many as possible and then head home to help with our group dinner with Kazigo B before dark. We ran into one of our VHTs and he kept taking us to more houses… As dusk began to arrive, he said we only had 10 more houses for this side of the village, so we thought: why not? By the time we finished the last house, it was almost completely dark and we had no phone and no light, and our VHT left us…so we had to start the 25-30 minute walk back home. After about 5 minutes, it was pitch black. Naomi kept trying to scare me because she was saying there was someone following us and she kept grabbing my arm. Finally, we ran into Dan and Simon Peter from the Kazigo B village and they helped guide us the rest of the way home.


On Tuesday, we had our WASH sensitization at the secondary school in Nabitende. It was not as successful as some of our other sensitizations. High school kids in Uganda are very similar to high school kids in the United States. If they decided they already know the information (or just don’t want to listen), they aren’t going to hear anything that we tell them. But, I’m sure the information came across to a select few...


On Wednesday, we had our HIV sensitization with the God’s Messengers drama group, who arrived 5 hours late because of a diver mishap. When they finally arrived, Sara and I got into the back of the pickup truck (with about 20 other people crammed back there) and drove around the village mobilizing. It was a crazy experience!! We were shouting, dancing, and I even beat on a drum for a few minutes. It was a lot of fun. Once we got back, we all got together to entertain the audience by participating in the local dance! Every single one of us got the chance to tie a scarf around our waists and shake our hips to the beating drums. The audience had a lot of fun watching us, and we had a lot of fun dancing for them! 


Lindsey Anderson is interning and living in Kazigo A village this summer. 

Stories from the Field: Slaughtering Chickens & Meeting "Mr. Mayor"

By Sara Jenks

The past week has proven to be the most low key thus far.  Naomi and I continued to conduct baseline surveys while the others were in town on Monday.  Unfortunately only about half of the residents were home and another portion ran at the sight of us. One woman hid in her shower but her talkative grandson gave her away.  On Tuesday, just after Felix and Derek had set out to conduct surveys, the neighbor alerted us that someone from Kazigo A had passed away.  At that point, we were to stop working until the burial.  For that reason, I don't have any further work-related updates.  We canceled Wednesday's village-wide sanitation sensitization to attend the burial -- also no villagers would have shown up!  On Wednesday afternoon we attended the funeral with our UVP neighbors from Kazigo B.  Titus, a UVP staff member, gave a condolence speech on behalf of UVP.  He was also able to inform everyone of our upcoming HIV testing day next week.

I, of course, have to relay the Kazigo A chicken update.  Two weeks ago I slaughtered our dinner.  Naomi told me I performed it the quickest of the three internationals, but Lindsey said it seemed like I was the most affected by the act.  It's true, I felt uncomfortable ending a being's life with my own hands, feeling its last breath.  But we all agreed that it was the tastiest chicken we had eaten by that point.  This past Wednesday, we had two chickens for dinner, as we hosted the folks from Kazigo B for an American Independence Day feast.  We ended up grossly underestimating their cooking times and didn't eat until 10:45 pm!  Surprisingly, Naomi, a native from a village in the Busoga region, had never slaughtered a chicken!  She took care of both chickens, but announced that she doesn't intend to do it ever again.

Of all of the children who visit us everyday, we have grown closest with a fourteen year old boy named Waiswa.  His father is no longer living, so he is wise beyond his years.  He seems to know everyone and acts in a most diplomatic manner, so we have nicknamed him "Mr. Mayor".  For example, he made Derek an extensive Lusoga-to-English guide, including such phrases as "I am going to the borehole" and "Big is beautiful."  He without a doubt speaks English the best of anyone his age and is clearly sharp in other realms.  One morning he sat with us at breakfast, after school had started.  When we asked him why he wasn't at school, he looked away, ashamed.  Every day he goes to school and every day is turned away for not wearing acceptable shoes.  We have decided that since Waiswa does so much for us, and since we know his future is bright, we will do what we can to find him a pair of black shoes so he can go back to school.

The team is now heading back to Kazigo A after our midsummer break in Sipi Falls.  There is a lot to be done in the second half of the internship, and we are feeling the pressure.  Luckily we all feel rejuvenated after being inundated by negative ions at Sipi's many sites of crashing water (thanks Theresa Gauvert of Namunkasu for that interesting tidbit)!

Sara Jenks is interning with UVP this summer in Kazigo A village.