Bukaigo: interview with a VHT

Godfrey Nadomi is a member of the Village Health Team in Buvule (in Bukaigo, we work with Buvule, too). He is a history teacher in a secondary school. He was a resident of Businduka in Ruwuka district where he also served as a VHT before he moved to Buvule where he has lived for five years. He first heard about UVP from Obbo Titus, one of the UVP staff, who was coordinating the UVP programs at that time.

This is what he says about UVP: “The community members in Buvule are so appreciative of the work Uganda Village Project is doing in the village. Before UVP came into this village, sanitation and hygiene here were really poor but now people have changed their status and uplifted their health; latrines and plate stands have been constructed. There was also indiscriminate disposal of solid waste but due to this project, people have been health educated. Therefore the status of the sanitation and hygiene in Buvule has increased from 32% to 78.2%."

“Working with UVP has positively affected [Buvule] because I am enjoying my life as I have access to safe water which was not the case five years ago before. . . I have gained more knowledge from the UVP training on different health issues and this has enabled me to health educated my fellow community members on issues like malaria which has been a problem and how to prevent it, sanitation and hygiene, water treatment, family planning. Before people used to boycott the family planning program, but UVP has taught them easier sensitization procedures, hence more community members have gained interest in controlling the pregnancies and planning for their children.

“Selling water guard to the community members is a nice idea as people now know the importance of using it. Before people used to say that using water guard makes water taste bad, but now they have been educated on the importance of this method of water treatment. After the WASH team sensitized the Buvule community members on how to correctly use water guard, they have been coming to buy the water guard you left behind with the VHTs.”