We are proud to announce that we have several new projects posted with our generous partners at ChooseANeed.org - check them out!
Vehicle A new vehicle will be an amazing opportunity for Uganda Village Project to increase safety for our staff on the ground, who currently fear for their lives when they take hair-raising rides on Ugandan public transportation. Anyone who has braved a mataatu ride will know how important this is. We plan to increase staffing in Uganda significantly this year, and a vehicle will be a huge bonus to help with project monitoring and success.
Bicycles for Village Health Our newly restructured projects will also require transportation on a smaller scale. On the village level, we will be using bicycles to get from place to place on the small dirt paths that connect the rural places in which we work.
Goats for Widows Follow up Care Although we had the benefit of a grant from UC - Berkeley to fund the startup costs of our Goats for Widows project, ChooseANeed is helping us to ensure the care of the goats in the group until they have completed the program's cycle and their kids have been gifted to new widow families.
Goats: Our Goats For Widows project veterinarian, Basil, went and did the training with the MURUDA goats. I propose to bring him on as Goat Project Coordinator. I think the number one thing that the Goats For Widows project needs is routine follow up. Basil will check up on both of our goat groups once a month. I think at the end of one year the widows will have a better idea of nutrition for the goats and they will also be to the point at which they can begin selling goats to pay for such things like nails, grass, and medications which we have been paying for so far. The cost would be 720,000USh per year, or about $425.00.
Wells: The pump is purchased and working!! The community was really excited about this; seeing how incredibly wet this wet season has been, it was getting very difficult to dig for them. Patrick and I are going to meet with new community within the week, I will let you all know how that goes. As for the water report I am still fighting with the DWO to get my hands on it. Last week I spent a total of 5 hours at that office just waiting. I now have Patrick also on the case.
Fistula: I met with Dr. Glyn last week. Unfortunately they had over 90 patients, and only time to do 30 repairs. Many of our women have been sent home and told to return to Kitovu for a 3 week repair camp starting Jan 11th or to return to Kamuli March 16th. Since they have been getting so many patients lately, they proposed that we not do much mobilizing for the March and Jan camps but just focus on the women we have who need repair. But then in summer 2009, they said that perhaps seeing that we have many volunteers that for that camp they will only repair UVP women. I thought this was great.
They have also asked us to help with pre-operation questions with the women. Dr. Glyn was telling me they waste a lot of time getting this info while at the hospital. Since we spend time with many of the women we bring, either on transport on the way or at the health centers during the screening, it will be easy for us to get this information. The helpful follow up that they would like is information regarding if the women are leaking, if so have they followed the post-op instructions?
Desks: I am giving WAACHA 700,000ush to go and buy wood to start building the desks for the secondary school funded by ChooseANeed. The final price is 45,000ush per desk. So we are able to make 36 desks.
JIDDECO: 1. One goat's leg was broken in Bugole. Apparently it was trying to jump out of the shed. I was told that it is being taken care of and the broken leg is being set. 2. I'm still waiting to hear from Musai John on the last widow in Kiwanyi. They were supposed to get another widow organized. I will follow-up this week. 3. Some people from Jinja came into the office the other day wanting to buy goats from JIDDECO…thought that was a nice side note. Unfortunately none of our widows could benefit from the sale, but at least we know JIDDECO is marketing the goats.
MURUDA 1. We delivered the goats. Basil will be working for this farmers' association. He told me it is a bit of an experiment but he has hopes it will sustain itself. 2. I will go back and move around with Banuli to see the women during one of my visits to the Kidozi well.
Orphan Scholarships: Richard said they will visit each school once more and then the last time as they collect the reports. He gave me all of the receipts he has with three missing.
We will get the accountabilities for the monitoring once the term is over.
Shallow Wells: 1. Idinda is now finished and it looks great! The opening ceremony is on Tuesday. The report is attached along with the new proposals.
2. We took Balidawa to Kidozi on Friday. I visited today when we delivered the materials and they have already gone pretty deep. They started digging up sand a little bit further down into the swamp, but hit water after 2 feet, so they moved further up hill. This is a sign that the water table isn't too deep. Herbert estimates another 10 feet and they will hit water.
Digging the Kidozi well
I also evaluated another potential site for a new shallow well, Butakanira: i. The distances aren't outrageously long compared to other villages, however they said that their village area is small, but has many people. ii. They have 2 boreholes, but the lines are always really long, causing some people to retrieve contaminated water. There are no other clean water sources in the community. There is a dirty river though… iii. The longest people walk to the existing borehole ranges from 1 to 1.5 kms. iv. Roughly 230 households to the village v. Just as with Kidozi and Idinda, I had men telling me that they are ready to dig anytime and are just waiting for us. vi. Butakanira was last in Namalemba sub-county for sanitation in JIDDECO villages. So this new well should help them keep clean… They knew this and when I mentioned it, I think it added to their fervor to do something about it. I think I might of hit a soft spot with that one. vii. I hope to go there with Herbert tomorrow to identify a site so they can begin to mobilize the materials.
4. I was hoping to do 5 wells before Christmas. Depending on how long building and/or collecting materials goes, I thought it would not be possible also considering what I have heard about the month of December in Uganda. But, Herbert told me that in the village, December is very busy as everyone is looking for money to buy meat, presents, etc. He thinks we will even be able to build in December, so we'll see. 5. Water test planning for the wells. Herbert is telling me that the reagents are a lot more expensive and when bought, can test up to 50 wells. He said the District has the testing kits, which we could use. The reagents also have to be used in a certain time frame or they will go bad. Herbert was talking about testing the previous wells during the rainy season to monitor the effects of the influx of water. He mentioned that when the district carries out its tests, he would let us know. This might be a chance to avoid paying for reagents we won't use and wasting money. 6. Parts. Herbert told me that the next time the District can even consider helping us with parts will be in December, contrary to October, which is what he said when Ben was here. Henry made the suggestion of getting their commitment in writing so they have more incentive to include it in their fiscal plans. This is something I can talk to Herbert more about. Herbert also tells me that the parts are only set to get more expensive. He told me that new boreholes are moving towards PVC, so the metallic parts will eventually become fewer in stock, especially the pipes and cylinder, becoming more expensive.
I have given WAACHA a 50% deposit on the 18 desks. They were purchasing wood yesterday in town. According to Hannah, some desks will already be nearly complete (apparently they have over ten students working on them).
Goats:
JIDDECO: 1. The Memorandum of Understanding was finally signed!! 2. We delivered the 12 goats to the CRPs on Saturday. I went back the next day with Basil so that he could demonstrate the proper application of the medications the widows can do themselves. I also read the MOU to the groups and Basil translated for both villages to ensure they didn't get two different versions. 3. The widows who were ready all signed with a fingerprint…even the ones who signed in on the attendance sheet with their full name. Maybe fingerprints have more weight in the villages?
Medicines The goats were given antibiotics during the delivery to prevent illnesses due to the stress of being moved.
I purchased the first round of routine meds for each village
- Acarcide spray - Deworm tabs - Antibiotics - Spray Pump - Trypanosomiasis (Tsetse Flies): Purchased 2 Samorin sachets - Syringes: In each village, because of the way some of the meds are packaged and/or solutions shared, they decided to choose a widow to hold the meds, syringes, etc. Then the others will go to her to retrieve meds to treat their goats. I didn't want to leave them with the CRPs to avoid having them be pressured by other community members to use the meds on other animals. I made it clear that the meds are strictly for the widows' goats.
Bugole: So I showed up in Bugole to find an oddly comprehensive representation of the community. Many men were present, some members of the local council or various committees. I found all of the widows present. The orphan family was not present. They went to look for the caretaker, but said she went for water.
Only 3 widows were 100% done with their sanitation requirements. All of the widows present, regardless if they were getting their goat that day, participated in Basil's demonstrations. I will send pictures to supplement the videos as soon as I can. Then, we read the MOU, which took a lot longer than expected. When it came time to discuss how the widows would like to distribute the goats (secret ballot, random selection), the men present had a frustratingly large amount of input. Some of these guys were really getting into the debate as if they were going to receive a goat. The widows mostly kept quiet. They decided that the goat that gave birth would be reserved for the orphan family, despite their absence. Then they decided to number the remaining goats and have the three ready widows select a number randomly.
I insisted that Kapere hold the other goats until the widows are ready. As they finish, I will return to sign the MOUs and then release the goats. I think the widows who weren't ready will hurry now that they see the others with goats. I called him today and he said all but one widow is finished. This meeting took about 2.5 hours. I naively thought it would take one once everything started.
Kiwanyi:
5 of the 6 widows were ready. The one who wasn't ready, just needed a tip-tap, but I put my foot down and insisted that Musai John hold the goat.
The meeting consisted of the entire widow recipient group, Musai John, Basil, and me…that was it. No politicians. The widows were noticeably more participatory and welcoming. Basil even noted that he felt these widows were picking the information much faster, possibly because of no distractions, i.e. big men. Basil is very skeptical towards local politicians as it used to interfere with the effectiveness of his Heifer work before Heifer fixed the problem by requiring surveys to be done and forms to be filled instead of relying on local politicians to identify needy families. The politicians would often choose their own families even though they are not in the most need.
The widows also chose to number the goats and select randomly to avoid any conflict. I mentioned both options to both villages and, specifically for Kiwanyi, referred back to Bugole and how they identified a recipient in particular need and set aside a more valuable goat for them. No one in Kiwanyi seemed to protest the random selection and all of the widows were visibly overjoyed to finally receive their goats. Many finger waves and "ay yeh yeh yeh yeh yeee's!" Where as the Bugole widows were more passive and insisted on throwing out loads of "neyaanzizas," although I got a few from Kiwanyi, I got the vibe that the Kiwanyi widows truly felt like they EARNED their goats a lot more than those of Bugole. I thanked both groups in the same way, emphasizing that we are not just handing out goats, but they worked very hard to earn the goats. When I went on that first house-to-house inspection, they were far behind Bugole with one widow not having a single complete requirement. I was told that the widows came together to help her complete everything, an impressive team effort.
Immigration:
1. Okay…after all of this, they are deporting me. 2. Actually, after spending an entire afternoon at the office (the in-charge of NGOs didn't show up until 1), frantically running back and forth between the photocopier they conveniently have for people to use, at a fee of course, and buying airtime on the street to call SPW for their NGO specific information, I managed to submit my files. The NGO lady told me last time I was there that I needed a photocopy of my police clearance letter from home. So, I got one from SPW, but when I showed up on Monday, she asked for the ORIGINAL for her own accountability in case I forged it! She had me go up to immigration to ask for it because SPW said that they should have it on file from my previous immigration stuff that they worked out. SPW never got us work permits, but instead a special pass and then later an extension. When I went to the immigration window, I was told that no files are ever opened on special passes (do they throw everything out after granting special passes??? No idea!). So, on my fifth walk back to the NGO lady, I told her the news. Then, without a fuss or anything as little as a grunt of disapproval or disbelief, she did a complete 180 to finish off the 360 and consented to accepting the photocopy! 3. So, I was able to submit everything after she made a note on the folder that said my NGO papers are in order. The lady behind the window, the very one who initially sent me to the NGO office, really seemed unhappy to finally accept the folder…as if she thought I would die waiting for the NGO lady's approval. I have to go back in 7 working days to check on the special pass and then from there wait to hear on the work permit….that is my understanding of it anyways.
I went to WAACHA and spoke with Faruk. The carpentry instructor did not honor the appointment, but Faruk assured me he would take of everything. I gave him pictures of the different styles of desks and asked him to give me an estimate for transporting the desks once complete. I'm waiting to hear from them on the quote.
(Desks at Goodheart Secondary School, a UVP Scholarship partner school)
Goats for Widows Project
# JIDDECO:
1. I have sent the revised Memorandum Of Understanding to THE COORDINATOR (I love how everyone refers to him with his title instead of Mr. Bateeze or something. I feel like we're speaking about a character in the Matrix) 2. Once he okays the new MOU, we can organize for the goat delivery. I'm pretty sure all of the widows are ready, but will confirm before we set a day.
# MURUDA
1. Last weekend I moved with Banuli to the four widows' homes. Only one goat shed is complete. Each widow apparently raised 10,000/= to have a man with experience build the sheds. He was away during our visits, but Banuli told me that they would be finished in one week. I saw him yesterday to do a shallow well introduction and he told me that the sheds still need work. He was actually helping them build the sheds and had his finger hit by a hammer. He's got the swollen finger to prove it. 2. I met with Samuel over the Memorandum of Understanding. He reconfirmed that MURUDA can and will meet the commitments stated. He had no qualms with the MOU, so we signed. I also gave him a copy of the goat husbandry training agenda that Margaret came up with for JIDDECO.
Immigration:
1. I can't wait for time when I don't have to talk about this any longer. I showed up at immigration to find the lady in charge of NGOs out for burial. This time I got her phone number, so I will call before I leave to save time and money. I did find out that there is a restaurant in side of immigration. As I was waiting for her, before anyone thought to tell me that she wasn't around, I thought I would have to go into town, eat, and come back. I think this eatery is the best thing the immigration office has going for it. It is the only thing there that saves time and money.
Orphan Scholarships:
1. I met Richard on the 21st. He told me everything will be okay and that they would start paying fees that very day. 2. I got two receipts. One for the monitoring stipend and one for the school fees. I also bought a small blank receipt book for their use when official receipts are not available, i.e. for transport associated with monitoring. # As far as the other missing students go, Richard says nothing can be done unless they report to ACCOD. For the ones they knew the whereabouts of, they have visited several times without luck. I told him again that this term we are looking for 100% retention, so no more missing students and no new students, and also stressed 100% accountability. Richard agreed. He also assured me that no money will be given directly to students or parents. # Since I was going to WAACHA to discuss the CAN desks, I told Richard I would handle those school fees. # At WAACHA, since Noah wasn't around, but I told Faruk to pass on the message of trying to retain students. I told him that if a student disappears before completing his/her course, that slot will not be filled. As students complete their courses, UVP will may or may not consider adding students given the short course durations of 2 years. Faruk supports the policy and agreed to pass on the message. I also requested that, at the end of the third term, they compile an updated list of students and their status in their course and which ones have completed successfully. # WAACHA tuition is 43,000, so Faruk agreed to work with Hannah the Peace Corps volunteer to see what the balance of 4,000 per student can best be used for.
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