Family Planning Success Stories

By Maureen Nakalinzi

The following are four success stories about UVP's family planning services. 

For Our Children

Forty-eight year old Nabirye Alizikyi lives in Nakamini village in Iganga District. She is a mother to 10 children and she recently decided with her husband’s support to have a tubal ligation procedure done. When asked for the reasons why she had this procedure, she said, “I am disabled so I am afraid I won’t be able to look after my children very well if I continue having more children and my husband doesn’t make enough money. We also want our children to get an education hence we will concentrate on the children we have now." She was grateful for the support given by Uganda Village Project towards this accomplishment.

The Breadwinner

"I am called Naibira Zabina and I am 30 years old. I live in Nabukone Village in Iganga District.  Although I am married, I am the breadwinner of my home because my husband has three wives and he doesn’t earn enough to provide for all our basic needs. I have also always had difficulties with all my pregnancies hence the doctor counseled me and my husband to not have children any more. At first my husband did not support my choice of method, however after we were counseled by a UVP family planning services provider about the benefits of family planning, my husband gave me permission to go and have a tubal ligation procedure done. I feel happy because I will be able to plan for my family efficiently as I will not be worried of getting pregnant again." 

Spacing Our Children Out

"I am called Nakanda Jenny and I live in Nawansega village in Iganga District. I am a mother to five children. My husband and I are both farmers and we both understand that much as we want to have more children, we need to be able to plan for them and properly care for them. After we were counseled by a UVP family planning service provider, we both agreed to use the Norplant and we are both happy that we will be able to space our children very well and also meet their needs without the risk of unintended pregnancies."

Making an Informed Decision Together

Nabirye Loy is 30 years old and lives in Nakamini Village in Iganga District. Although she had planned to have six children, she now has nine children, a factor she attributes to not being able to access correct knowledge about family planning. As a result, she became afraid of using any method. But recently, thanks to the presence of UVP in her village, she was taught about family planning methods and later together with her husband; they made an informed decision to have a tubal ligation procedure done. 

Maureen Nakalinzi works as UVP's Health Villages Program Coordinator on the ground in the Iganga District.

Stories from the Field: A Most Awe-Inspiring Week

By Alicia Majeau


Although I have already written two blogs about the happenings in Kidaago B, I asked my team if I could usurp the right to reflect upon life in the village once again.  This was, in no way, due to any particular affinity for writing on my part, but simply because this past week is the one I feel has been the most awe-inspiring for me, and likely the most impactful for our community.  The week of July 9 was the sanitation week for Kidaago B.  During this period of time, we shared the results of our sanitation baseline survey with the community, trained the Village Health Team members in building basic sanitation structures, and went compound-to-compound, trying to improve individual households’ sanitation.  Over the course of the three days of the actual sanitation push, my team (working in cooperation with our awesome housemates from Kidaago A) built a total of 38 tippy-taps (hand-washing devices), built or improved 27 trash pits, built or improved 15 plate stands, built 12 latrine covers, created drainage for two washrooms, and helped begin or improve 10 latrines.  While many of these terms may seem arbitrary and their impact vague to those who are unfamiliar with sanitation in a village setting, they are all hugely important, yet fairly simple, devices or steps that can be taken to protect water sources, reduce disease, and generally improve health.

My awe at this week does not, however, come from these numbers that reflect sanitation improvement, or even from the incredible tenacity of my teammates and housemates, facing long hours in the field laboring under a hot sun.  Instead, my awe is inspired by the eagerness of the villagers to improve their community’s health.  To begin with, Kidaago B has some incredible Village Health Team members.  One man in particular, always eager to serve his community, spent all three days of the sanitation push working with us to assist his neighbors.  Even after we had finished working hours at the end of the day on Friday, this VHT, Awali, requested that we leave him materials to continue the work for a couple more hours independently.

The three days also resulted in story after story of people putting in more effort to improve sanitation than I ever expected.  In order to convey a sense of ownership, we charge 500 shillings (a subsidized price) for materials in order to build a tippy-tap.  One man, in particular, claimed he did not have the money necessary for such a hand-washing device.  Upon witnessing us build his neighbor one and teach both the adults and children the proper method of hand washing, he eagerly asked us if we could build him one as well, suddenly finding a way to afford it.  My team also found family after family who had chopped wood prior to our arrival for use in building a tippy-tap or plate stand.  Word spread like wildfire throughout the village that we were moving around doing this push, and the response was overwhelming.  The appreciation of the villagers, when I, myself, was appreciating them and their efforts so much, made every bead of sweat and muscle ache entirely worth it.  It is difficult to say whether this effort will continue once my team has left, but I truly believe that with the help and guidance of the VHT that I cannot say enough good things about, Kidaago B will soon be a village to be rivaled in sanitation levels.

Alicia Majeau is an incoming graduate student in the 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. 

Stories from the Field: Eating in Uganda

By Hannah Hennessy


One of the best parts about traveling to a foreign country is getting to try all of the local food.  Before I embarked on my trip to Uganda, I wasn't quite sure what to expect of African food. It's not a type of cuisine that I had previously tasted, but I made a commitment to try everything, just as my mom taught me.

So far, I have loved the food in Uganda. All of the different kinds of rice and beans and vegetables covered in amazing sauces and full of strong flavors. Overall, there have been only a few foods that aren't too popular. In Nakamini, we have basically outlawed posho (cornmeal and water, basically a less flavorful polenta) and matoke (the Ugandan equivalent of mashed potatoes made with flavorless bananas). However, everything else is free game.

Some of our team favorites are fish stew and okra, chapati with guacamole, pizza on chapati crust, French toast, sukumiwiki, and basically anything with g-nut paste and honey.

Our best meal, however, coincided with our team Fourth of July celebration. Preparation began with the slaughtering of two mzungu (or GMO white) chickens in our backyard (slaughtered by myself and Modest). The meal continued with the boiling of fresh maize and sukumiwiki cooked with Jane's special sauce. Finally, Berna made us authentic Ugandan fried chicken. Basically, it was the best meal ever!!!

All of my culinary worries are long gone because (almost) all of my experiences have been amazing.

For the remainder of the summer, I plan on continuing to explore my food options and improve cooking my favorite Ugandan dishes (so far my small repertoire consists of chapati, fresh passion fruit juice, and charcoal stove pizzas).

Hannah is an intern working in Nakamini Village this summer. 

Stories from the Field: A flushing toilet, a shower, or a washing machine?

If you could only have one, which would it be? A flushing toilet, a shower, or a washing machine.


Gloria: “The toilet to avoid having to walk at night with possible snakes, ants, or dogs on the way to the latrine.”


Corrie: “I would take the shower because it makes me feel good on the inside and clean on the outside.”


Lauren: “The shower because I like hot water sprinkling on me from above.  However, I don’t mind being outside in an open shower as long as there aren’t any kids spying on me from the trees.”


Emily: “The toilet, because once at night I witnessed our neighbor kill a poisonous snake.  I like having a flushing toilet in the house.”


Simon-Peter: “The toilet because it stays clean.”


Daniel: “The toilet because I don’t mind the other two.”

And if you had to give up only one for a lifetime, which would it be?

Gloria: “The shower, because I think the basin showers can be refreshing sometimes.”

Corrie: “I would give up the toilet because I dislike washing my own clothes and appreciate my showers.”

Lauren: “I would give up the toilet because I like the convenience of washing machines and would keep the shower.”

Emily: “The shower because I still feel clean after my basin showers.”

Simon-Peter: “The washing machine because I like washing my clothes.”

Daniel: “The washing machine because I can wash my own clothes!  I would feel lazy if I didn’t.”

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

Stories from the Field: WaterGuard and Behavior Change: The Mzungus and their strange American water

By Stephanie Ullrich

We have now been told multiple times that people in this community do not believe that we are drinking the same water as them from the borehole or shallow well. Apparently they have been observing our reusable water bottles and thought that we brought our own special water from the United States with us.

When this happened again today, Douglas- one of our Ugandan team members- ensured the woman that we were indeed drinking the same water as her, but also using WaterGuard to treat it. Waterguard is a water purification tablet used in 20L of water for 30 minutes to kill the bacteria in the water. After we fetch water from the borehole, we put one tablet into our Jerry can labeled “drinking water” and let it sit before its ready to drink or use for brushing our teeth. WaterGuard is sold locally at all village trading posts, and it’s the water purification technique that UVP promotes in the villages.

When the women insisted that the water treated with WaterGuard tasted and smelled funny, Douglas even went so far as to prove to her that there was no difference. He emptied the woman’s mug and took Andre’s water from his water bottle to pour it into her mug. After she tasted it she said she could not tell the difference between her old water and Andre’s treated water.

We anticipate that promoting WaterGuard is going to be one of the hardest challenges we face because it centers on sustained behavior change. Not only are we asking the village members to buy WaterGuard on a regular basis, we are asking them to treat water that they perceive as already ok to drink straight from the borehole. It is hard to prove to them that the water is not fit for drinking before treatment because they have been drinking it for years. We will struggle to prove to them this because no one can physically see the bacteria in the water. And we will struggle to prove to them that using WaterGuard could save them money in the long run because it clean water can prevent child diarrhea (aka advanced charges for medicine and treatment) and taking away productive work days because of sickness.

Stories from the Field: Hello from the Nutrition Team

By Nishant Pandya

Monday, June 18th marked the start of what I considered the Nutrition Team's first work week. Our first week had been a transitional period in order for us to get used to our new home, a new lifestyle, and to orient ourselves. The major project of the week was the information session we were going to hold at the village health clinic, and the focus group with the savings club. Both of these events were to be held on Wednesday. 

After spending Monday outlining how these events would go, Tuesday was spent practicing and rehearsing them to ensure they went smoothly. After feeling sufficiently confident during run throughs, we considered ourselves ready for the actual sessions on Wednesday.

The information session in the morning focused on child and maternal health. We talked about breastfeeding, complimentary feedings, and opened the floor to questions. Despite not understanding much of what was being said, I could tell when a message had stuck. Not being able to understand Lusoga, the verbal language, gave me the ability to focus more on body language. I could tell who was engaged, when people checked out, and if a message had hit home. Later that day, we held a focus group to introduce ourselves to the village. We talked about beliefs they held on nutrition, figured out what foods could be found, and played a game to where we would recite statements and the villagers would say if they agreed or disagreed. Once again, I barely understood what was being said by the villagers, but Caroline and Alex would always fill me in on when something important was said. I spent the time reading body language, helping out however I could, and most importantly, thinking how the Nutrition team could get better for the next session we hold.

By Matt Cognetti

Working with the UVP will make you smarter.

Hello my name is Matt Cognetti and I am one-fourth of the nutrition team, here is part of my UVP story.

Nishant and I started researching a nutrition project to implement into the Uganda Village Project since November 2011, during this time we have went through many revisions, but it has been one of the best learning experiences I’ve had at Penn State... mostly due to an increase in motivation.


While some of my classmates were struggling with the last semester push of senior year, I regarded myself as very fortunate. I could see the importance of my public health, health behavior, and epidemiology classes. I was lucky I had found a reason to care. UVP had made concepts such as ecological model, theory of planned behavior, and household sampling methods relevant to me, and crucial to the work we do everyday.

This has also been a rewarding experience because fresh from my formative undergrad years. I get to work with very smart master of public health candidates, and insanely intelligent and competent Ugandan interns. I could not have asked for a better growth experience as I go to apply for a future career as a doctor and research scientist.

Nishant and Matt are both interning with UVP this summer as part of the Nutrition team. 

Video from the Field: Malaria Skit in Namkesu Village

Interns living in Namkesu put on a play for the community on malaria prevention, integrating local methods to protect  against mosquito bites that cause malaria.

Stories from the Field: Lots of Teaching, Lots of Learning

By Emily Maheux

We had many sensitizations this week in Kazigo B with four sensitization in three days.  We learned a lot about how to work with our community and approaches to teaching young kids.  We performed skits on malaria for the community with paper mosquitos hanging from sticks (thank you Kazigo A) and the community members loved it.  One of our VHT members played the role of “VHT” in the skits and surprised us all with his superb acting ability.  He stole the hearts of the crowd when he pretended to slap the paper mosquitos away.  Any community members nearby who were not already watching the skits became curious.  All fifty of the mosquito nets that we started with were sold after the sensitization. 

We held our sanitation sensitization at Kazigo Junior School on Wednesday, which went smoothly but I noticed that students started losing interest in the demonstrations and discussion on germs.  Luckily, we had another chance to capture the attention of young children on Thursday morning at Toka Primary School, the local government school, during another sanitation sensitization.  For this sensitization, we teamed up with the Kazigo A team to teach about 700 students.  With the hopes of exciting the kids, we invited all of the students to participate in a warm-up this time.  Lauren and I had all the students stand up and follow us in one of our favorite games.  Together we would clap, dance, jump, etc. and have the kids mimic our movements and repeat our declaration of whatever we were doing: “I am jumping!”, “I am twirling!” and so on.  We started slow and then got faster and faster until at the end of it all, we slowed down again with some stretches and finished with “I am sitting quietly.”  After that, we split them into groups for each activity, where we also tried to make each demonstration more interactive.  In the afternoon, when we sensitized on HIV and STIs, we had the older kids spell the word “mango” with their hips (many thanks for the warm-up, Rashad).  This was also a huge hit and the activities that followed went well also.  We had the students play a game to test their knowledge on STIs and another to show the spread of HIV.  A third group discussed the ABC prevention strategy (A – Abstinence, B – Be faithful, C – Condom use). 

We were fortunate to have a very full and fulfilling week in Kazigo.  We certainly hope our audiences learned a lot from us and undoubtedly, we have also learned a lot from them.  I have learned from this exciting week that if we want to get our message across, we must also remember to have fun in the process.

Emily is the Administrative Team Leader of Kazigo B. Her teammates include Simon-Peter (Implementation Team Leader), Daniel, Corrie, Gloria, and Lauren.

Stories from the Field: Visiting Iganga Hospital & Impromptu Drama

By Lindsey Anderson


We are now getting into the rhythm of things in Kazigo A. The focus this week was pretty much on Baseline Surveys and sensitizations. I, however, got to visit Iganga Hospital on Monday. It was definitely a memorable experience. Lauren and Gloria (both from Kazigo B) and I got to tour a few of the wards in the hospital. The first we went to was the surgical theatre, where we witnessed 2 complete C-sections. The sanitation was definitely eye-opening. We even saw one of the doctors take off his glove to answer his phone and then put it back on. It was crazy!

On Tuesday and Wednesday we focused mostly on Baseline Surveys, so we got to travel around the village for a little while and see a lot of the houses. When Felix and I were traveling around with one of our VHTs, we came a small house with an old woman, who, apparently, loved to talk. When we asked her when malaria mosquitos bite, she answered “oooh, mosquito bites hurt so much!” and just went on and on about the bites. Our VHT finally had to get her back on track.

On Friday, we had our second Malaria sensitization at the primary school, but our drama group never showed up! So, we had to make everything up on the spot! I guess it ended up going well, because with significantly less people, we still sold all 50 nets! After the sensitization, the drama group showed up, finally, and asked if they could still do their drama…hopefully it will go more smoothly next time.