Stories from the Field: "There's no place like home..." -- Second post by returning intern, Alicia Majeau

By Alicia Majeau


There’s no place like home… even when that home means battling rats, disagreeing with your neighbors over the toilet, and fending off giant hornets as they nightly try to join you under your mosquito net. After three weeks in Kidaago, our house is definitely feeling like a home. Although there have certainly been some less-than- ideal happenings, such is village life, and facing the challenges that arise is part of what helps this experience change your perspective. And for every rat getting into the food in the pantry, there’s been a wonderful family dinner; for every insult muttered by a disgruntled teacher, a wonderful conversation. We have seen some difficult things, another child in the village passing away last week and the body being laid out for all to see, but we have also seen some beautiful things, village children inviting us to join in their impromptu song and dance session at our house. The people of Kidaago B have also been hospitable to an extreme. This previous week alone, we received three large bags of ground nuts, several mangos, beans, eggs, and ears of maize.


Being so well received overall has made our work in the village a pleasant experience. This past week saw the beginning of our baseline surveys about household sanitation and mosquito net use. Asking to inspect someone’s toilet and enter their house to see a net hanging where they sleep allows for some potential awkwardness, and when people are unwilling, it makes one all the more uncomfortable. We have been very fortunate in Kidaago B, and as yet have met very little resistance. Our first sensitization was also well attended and our HIV and syphilis testing day, which occurred this past Thursday, was a huge success, with 230 villagers coming out to get tested. It is hard to believe that our time in Kidaago B is almost halfway through, but I prefer looking at as still having a little more than half of our time left. Looking forward, my team has a lot of great work still to come, and I am just as excited about our work now as I was at the onset of our program.


This is the second blog post by Alicia Majeau. Read her first post here. Alicia is an incoming graduate student in Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She interned with UVP in 2011 and returned this summer to serve as a team leader. 

Stories from the Field: Understanding Village Needs

By Michelle Parks

Uganda is truly a beautiful country. Our house is surrounded by crops of maize and Irish potatoes, mango trees, jackfruit trees, and other green vegetation. Because we live in a house on the Kidaago Primary School compound, there are always welcoming children around, excited to see the “muzungus.” The villagers have been very kind and hospitable to us as well. Although they usually giggle, they appreciate our attempted Lusoga greetings.

This is my second week in Kidaago B. I am slowly learning more Lusoga and adapting to living in the village. I am getting used to wearing my long skirts out in the field, hand washing my clothes, taking bucket showers, using the latrine :-P, and learning to tolerate lots of bugs! Big bugs! But as Jake says… “Beautiful bugs!”

On Wednesday a group of children came to the house in the evening. They offered us maize and began to perform and sing while we watched on the front porch. The singing attracted other village children, and some began drumming on empty jerry cans. One of the girls (she was probably 8 or 9) was an amazing dancer! I need lessons. Alicia and Julius even joined in on the dancing for a little bit.

On Tuesday, we had our second community meeting with Zone 2 of Kidaago B. I was able to successfully introduce myself to the audience in Lusoga! Many of the village needs brought up in the Zone 2 meeting were similar to the issues that were brought up at the Zone 1 meeting. Several villagers addressed that there is only one source of water in Zone 2, so villagers who live on the far side of the village must travel several kilometers to fill their jerry cans each day. As a result, children retrieving water for their families often miss part of school because their journey to the borehole is so far. People also expressed concern about the prevalence of HIV/ STI’s in the village. Others raised questions about UVP’s Eye Care and Family Planning programs. After the meeting was over, a woman approached us and gave us the contact information for a fistula case. It was obvious after a short meeting with this group of villagers that there is a need for all of UVP’s programs here.

Later in the week, the team mobilized for the upcoming HIV sensitization. At several households, we met villagers that complained a member of the household was sick. When we advised the family that the sick individual should go to the health center, they had complaints about the health center and were reluctant to go and get treatment. “There are no available drugs,” “I wont be attended to,” and “the health center is far” were common complaints. At one home, a man had been feeling sick for six years and had never visited a health center!

We had a good turnout for our HIV/STI sensitization on Friday. The villagers were pleased that there was an upcoming HIV/syphilis testing day; they reported that there were many people in the village who had never been tested for HIV. They also requested a female condom demonstration, most people in the audience had most likely not used one before.

Next week we will begin doing our baseline surveys in the village and have the St. Marys HIV/syphilis testing day. Each day in Kidaago B, I learn more about the culture, interact with new smiling children, and take part in activities that will eventually benefit the community.  I am excited for my upcoming adventures in Kidaago B. 

Michelle Parks is a Master's student studying Tropical Medicine at Tulane University. She is from Spokane, Washington.

Stories from the Field: "A Bittersweet Start" by Jake Friedman, Kidaago B

By Jake Friedman

There is no better housemate bonding activity than cleaning the house you're about to live in for the next two months. It was our first day in Kidaago B and after many hours spent dusting, killing bugs, and burning dried banana leaves in our latrine to relieve the stench, we were able to enjoy dinner as a family. This new family consists of two team leads (Alicia and Eddy) and two other co-interns (Michelle and Allen). My name is Jake and I have left my family in the suburbs of DC to start a public health journey in rural Uganda.

We were told during our Uganda Village Project orientation that moving into the village would involve being embraced by the villagers as if we were one of their own. In this great hospitable gesture, we would also have to adhere to cultural norms of Eastern Uganda. Wearing decent clothes, learning Lusoga (the local language), familiarizing ourselves with how to greet one another, and getting used to bucket showers and latrines are just a few of the changes we would have to make. We were also told what to do during a funeral, and unfortunately this was a dilemma we faced on day two of our internship. It was suggested to us that we attend the funeral and bring a small gift to show our condolence, because if it was one of us who had died the other villagers would attend the funeral also with gifts.

Even though it’s been a bitter sweet start, we have established house rules and started planning our HIV/ STI sensitization for next week. We have incorporated the new cultural norms into our family and we are ready for the next two months.  

Jake is a senior from Maryland studying psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. 

Lemonade for a Cause: Four-year-old donates lemonade sales to UVP

By Anthony Bui

On a warm summer day last year in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Graham, age 4, and his cousin Megan, age 9, set up shop on the curb in front of Graham’s house to sell lemonade.

But while most kids beam at the thought of the money they’ll get after selling lemonade and what they can buy with it, Graham was excited for a different reason.

It all started when Graham and his mom, Molly, were looking through “LIFE 100 Photographs that Changed the World.” Graham’s curiosity heightened on page 75.

“It was sad to see,” his mom said, “he was so curious about those boys and the child’s hands. I explained to him that those kids were hungry and that they needed money to help their tummies get full.”

A few days later Graham decided to have a lemonade stand. He and his mom talked and decided they would raise some money to send to those children. They went online and found the Uganda Village Project, and Graham decided that it was the right place to send it.

After a few hours of calling out to cars and making signs, Graham and his cousin brought in $35, selling lemonade at 25 cents a cup, along with rice crispy treats and cupcakes. 

Some days after the lemonade stand, Graham said to his mom, out of the blue, “mom, are those kids hungry anymore?”

“I said yes,” his mom tells us, “he was excited to hear back from UVP; it let him know that the money really went somewhere. I try to remind him when he has food left on his place, or when he really wants something that he does not need, or when he leaves the water running too long, to think of those kids. We are so lucky.”

A year later, Graham and his mom took the same book out. He saw the pictures of those same boys and said, “they don’t look like that anymore, right mom, because we sent them money?” Graham is thinking about holding another lemonade stand soon.

Uganda Village Project would like to thank Graham, his mother, and Megan for their generous support. Every little bit helps! 

Set up your own lemonade stand and consider donating to Uganda Village Project by visiting http://www.ugandavillageproject.org/get-involved/donate

Stories from the Field: Understanding Community Work in Kazigo B

By Emily Maheux

This week in Kazigo B, we felt very productive.  We started our baseline surveys, which consisted of introducing ourselves and our program and then checking the facilities.  We assessed the kitchens, latrines, wash rooms, tippy taps, trash pits, and plate stands of each household.  We found that most homes had excellent kitchens but unclean latrines and wash rooms.  We saw only a couple of tippy taps after visiting over 70 households but more had trash pits and plate stands.  We also asked questions about the needs of the community and consistently found that malaria was the most prevalent health concern.  Later in the day, after visiting the households, we were thrilled to find that three different families were building plate stands!  For those who might be confused, a plate stand is a two-shelved stand, made with sticks, which provides a space off the ground for dishes to dry and avoid bacteria.  A tippy tap is a small contraption with a jerry can that allows people to wash their hands without touching the jerry can itself. 

Another highlight was our community meeting.  The final attendance sheet read 125 names, including our team, which we felt to be a huge success for such a small village.  Our biggest challenge of the week was a scheduled sensitization at Kazigo Junior School, the private school in Kazigo B.  We planned three activities that explained the nature of germs.  First, showing how when ash gets on one’s hands and then you shake hands with others, it spreads, just as germs do.  Second, when salt is added to water, it becomes invisible, just as germs in water can be, but they are still present and capable of getting people sick.  Third, when oil is on hands, washing with water does not always clean it from your hands.  Similarly, germs often times need soap to be removed.  We planned and practiced for this sensitization but arrived at the school to find most of the kids gone and the choir practice starting.  Instead of teaching about sanitation, we enjoyed an exciting performance from the choir and will be very ready for the rescheduled sensitization next week.  Overall, I think we are starting to understand the nature of our community work and how we can best serve Kazigo B.   

Emily, Simon-Peter, Daniel, Corrie, Gloria, and Lauren are interns working in Kazigo B this summer.

Stories from the Field: Week 2 in Namunkesu Village

By Stephanie Ullrich

Hello everyone! My name is Stephanie and I am a student at the University of California, Berkeley studying Peace and Conflict Studies, Media Studies, and Global Poverty and Practice (GPP) as my minor. I am here as an intern in the Namunkesu village for my practice experience for my GPP minor.

My first few weeks in Uganda have flown by and so I wanted to take the time to reflect on this time so far.  After so many months of planning and prepping to come here, it is hard to believe that it is happening right now. And even before last semester, the time I have spent over the past 5 years dreaming about visiting Uganda could fill many, many days. As Peace and Conflict major, I dedicated many papers and research hours to the conflict in northern Uganda and this country’s development history. So to finally be in a country that has captivated my attention and imagination for so long feels like one of the greatest privileges of all.

I know the work here in our village will challenge me in unexpected ways, as it already certainly has these first couple week. I look forward to these challenges and even welcome them with open arms. I think throwing myself way out of my comfort zone like this is one of the best ways to grow. And at a basic level, I want to give something back to this community that is hosting us that will be sustainable and will improve their lives, if only ever so slightly. We are not the first volunteers to attempt a project like this, nor will we be the last. Poverty alleviation and public health education in rural areas is not a simple task, but I am prepared to engage in this work and at a minimum, be able to think critically about it.

I feel grateful for the people who encouraged me in the past to come here and try something new, and for the solid teammates I have here for support. When I got sick last week, my team was quick to care for me with some rehydration salts, Pepto, and check-ins on me. The sickness past quickly and by the end of the day I was back in business.  I think it says a lot that I am very excited when I wake up in the morning (with the exception of my sick morning) to work with my team and with this kind of work.

This week we walked the 20 minutes to the women’s group that meets on Friday mornings to do our first sensitization on the topic of Malaria. In this education session we pre-planned 5 statements to say regarding Malaria signs and symptoms, prevention, and net purchasing. The statements were either true or false and we had women raise their hands if they agreed with the statement. My statement was “Malaria nets can only be purchased from the market”, which was false because they can also be purchased from us/UVP when we are gone, as well as from their Village Health Team member net distributer once we get the VHT system in place in this village.

After the agree/disagree statements, we brought them through the 5 preventative methods that we had drawn on a rice bag: using an insecticide-treated Malaria net, clearing stagnant water from their household yards, using smoke to clear mosquitos, putting a little bit of oil where they know that water gathers regularly (like the village borehole), and using a mosquito repellent or wearing long sleeves in the evening. After this we sold the nets that UVP had supplied to us to people who were interested. And apparently news spread very fast in this village because throughout the day we ended up selling 19 nets in total today. It’s gratifying to know that this is a tangible success for our team, and that people in this village will now be increasing their chances of Malaria prevention because of our work.

Webale inho Uganda for welcoming me as a guest here during this wonderful summer!


Kiviri, Andre, Nabulime, Hally, Stephanie, and Theresa are all Healthy Village interns in Namunkesu village this summer.

Mojitos Against Mosquitoes 2012 - Come join us in Seattle, July 26th!

Are you interested in global health and development, learning more about life in Uganda, or just meeting old and new friends for a good time? Then make your way to the swanky BalMar in Ballard on the evening of July 26th from 6-11pm, and see what the buzzzzz is about. Your $15 ticket gets you happy hour food and drink prices all night long, and be sure to bring cash or credit card for our fantastic auction! We will also have a specialty cocktail available- Mozzie Mojito anyone?

Mojitos Against Mosquitoes is a fundraising event for the Uganda Village Project (UVP), an international NGO based in Seattle, WA and Iganga Town, Uganda. Since 2003, the Uganda Village Project has been working with the people of the Iganga district to promote sustainable public health and development programs. We work directly with community based organizations and the local government to utilize local knowledge and maximize community ownership.

Learn more here!

We've also recently been nominated for a CLASSY Award!

The Uganda Village Project conducts a variety programs in villages in rural Eastern Uganda, and these include orphan sponsorship, HIV/AIDS testing, malaria prevention, well and latrine construction, hygiene and sanitation improvement, eye care, and obstetric fistula repair. These programs occur year round through the tireless efforts of local and international staff and volunteers on the ground, and projects are funded solely though individual donations.

Itchy for more information on the Uganda Village Project? Check us out online at http://www.ugandavillageproject.org/ and see you on July 26th!

Here are some more DEETails about the event:
- Be sure to bring cash or credit card for our fantastic auction!
- Come for happy hour, stay for happy hour, ALL NIGHT LONG.
- All the money from entry tickets and auction proceeds will go directly to UVP's programs on the ground in Uganda.
- Last year's event was a huge success with over 75 attendees, and this year we are sure to sell out, so get your tickets soon!
- Visit http://www.mojitosagainstmosquitoes.org for more information.
- Want to see photos from last year? Check them out here!

Click for info and tickets!
Check us out our Facebook Event: http://on.fb.me/MaXJgk
Tweet us at #MAM2012

Stories from the Field: First days in Kazigo A Village

By Lindsey Anderson


The first week in Kazigo A has been an interesting one. Both good times and bad. One of the first things we noticed was the interesting arrangement between our neighbor’s kitchen and our shower. The ventilation for the kitchen looks right into the shower! That could create some awkward situations…


Our house is right next to a school, so about 30-40 kids come up to our house every evening asking for “Sala.” We later found out that almost all of them are related. But anyways, they love Sara. She does gymnastic tricks for them like cartwheels and backbend flips and they love it. They laugh and cheer and even gave her mangos to thank her for spending time with them. Yesterday, all five of us went out and played with the kids and we exchanged songs. They sang us a welcome song in English that ended
up getting stuck in our heads for the rest of the evening. One of our favorite lines was, “we sank our god, who brought you here, on this great occasion, today. Welcome!”


On one of the first days in our village, Felix made a joke saying that one day we were going to have chicken and I was going to have to be the one to slaughter the bird. I laughed and thought to myself that that would never happen. A few days later, we were having chicken for dinner and Felix gave me the knife! We all went to the side of the house, getting ready for me to slaughter the bird. Felix gave me tips, Naomi stood back, and Sara had my camera, taking a video. The video ended up being 3 minutes of me hesitating and gathering the courage, and 30 seconds of me cutting the head off of the chicken while saying, “sorry bird!!” I never thought that I would have been able to do that, but I guess I had the courage in me.

A couple of days ago we all did laundry for the first time. Naomi laid out 3 basins of water: first wash, second wash, and rinse. It was so difficult to scrub our clothes! We all had sore legs afterwards from crouching so much for each article of clothing! Naomi ended up helping us a lot. By the end, we were all picking carefully which clothes we HAD to wash, and which could be worn a few more times.


Yesterday, Sara, Derek, Felix, and I took boda bodas into Nabitende to get some dinner to bring back because we were mostly out of food. As Sara and I were waiting for Derek and Felix to arrive, we saw a little girl about 6 years old crossing the street. As she was almost to the other side, a speeding boda boda slammed into her and she was thrown to the side. The boda didn’t even stop. She was rushed to the nearest health center, we assume, but we know nothing of what happened afterwards. This was a difficult experience for both Sara and me, one I’m sure we’ll always remember.


Felix, Derek, Naomi, Sara, and Lindsey are volunteers in Kazigo A village working on the Healthy Villages Program this summer.  

Anxious, Curious, and Excited

By Gloria Tran

In the days leading up to my arrival to Uganda, I received lots of encouragement and admiration from well-wishers - family, friends and strangers I met on planes alike. I accepted these meekly, as my upcoming two months of "community development" work seems rather surreal in my mind, even now. 



Going in, I want to try to have a completely open mind to the challenges and experiences ahead, which is not hard to do, because in fact, I'm not sure what to expect. For this reason, I'm also overwhelmed by a striking sense of humility. Having no real previous public health experience, it's intimidating for me to think that I'll be helping an entire village community of two thousand residents halfway around the world to select a sustainable health team, for example. It's also just inspiring that such a community would welcome the help of volunteers. But like the UVP staff members and board have advised, to be successful, don't expect to know all the answers. 



Nevertheless, I know that I'll experience incredible growth during my stay here. Until a couple of months ago, volunteering in rural Africa was only something I aspired to - I never thought I would be here actually. I know this will foster an appreciation as well as serve as a solid starting point for experience in the public health field. More than that, the thing I’m most excited about is the opportunity to interact with the people of Kazigo Village B. I get to practice both problem-solving and being in a position of an educator, which is really important in a future of medicine. 



Finally, I'm anxious, curious, and excited about living away from all the technological luxuries we take so easily for granted. It’ll be different, and will take a lot of adjusting to, but I think it'll be a valuable period of mental cleansing!

Gloria Tran is currently a UVP intern. She did her undergraduate work at CalTech and will be starting medical school at the University of California, San Diego in the fall. 

First Thoughts by Returning Intern Alicia Majeau

By Alicia Majeau

As a returning 2011 Healthy Villages intern, I am amazed at how much has changed in a year, yet how much is still the same. To begin with, my name is Alicia Majeau, and I am an incoming Master’s student in the Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Department at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, originally from Worcester, Massachusetts. After graduating with my undergraduate degree in Cell and Molecular Biology in 2011, I came to Uganda last summer, entirely unaware of what to expect. My travel experience had been limited to North America and Europe, and I had never been anywhere in the developing world. Although it was the most difficult thing I had ever done, it also turned out to be the best experience I had ever had, and being part of the support team for Bunio village was a truly life-changing experience. That being said, as fortunate as I felt to be able to return in the summer of
2012, I found that I was still faced with anxiety and trepidation in the weeks leading up
to my departure.

Returning to Uganda felt more like coming home than I ever expected it to, but coming back as the administrative team leader for Kidaago B presented a world of new hopes, expectations, and fears for the upcoming summer. I did not think the role of team leader would feel differently than that of intern, but already, I find myself feeling the weight of added responsibility. The village and living arrangements are also novel compared to my time in Bunio last year. I am both very excited about this and somewhat nervous. For starters, Kidaago is a new village that UVP has not previously worked in. I am anxious to see how this compares to my time in a support village last summer and hopeful that it will result in more interest in our programming than I found in Bunio, not a hostile reception. Our house is also shared with a UVP team working in Kidaago A, so instead of a house of six, we have a compound of ten. I’m glad to have the chance to interact closely and collaborate with even more interns on a daily basis this summer, and hope it will lead to more work but not more conflict. The group of interns that we have this year, though, seems to be a wonderful assortment of people with lots of experience in many relevant areas, and I am looking forward to working with all of them and seeing the further impact that UVP’s Healthy Villages program has.

Friday June 8th, the team leaders visited Kidaago for the first time. Meeting with the village chairman, who is also the deputy head teacher of the primary school and the Village Health Team members made me very optimistic for the work we will accomplish.

Everyone seemed enthusiastic to have us coming, and a brief discussion of some health issues that the village experiences led me to believe that UVP’s programming can definitely have a positive impact here. Currently, we are staying in a guest house in Iganga for orientation, and while I am having a ton of fun meeting new friends and preparing for our time, I am eager to move into the village and start pursuing the end goal of said positive impact. Although there will absolutely be challenges ahead, I could not be more excited about the upcoming months!

Alicia Majeau is an incoming graduate student in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Department at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She interned with UVP in 2011 and returned this summer to serve as an Administrative Team Leader in Kidaago B village.