What's on in Fundraising Month

What do squashed bugs, rockclimbers, nurses and medical technicians have in common?

They’re all doing their bit to raise money for UVP during April 2011 - UVP Fundraising Month.

Each April, as our summer interns are busy fundraising for their trip to Uganda, we encourage alumni and supporters of Uganda Village Project to raise money for our programs and ensure we can make as great a difference as possible over the summer.

This month, UVP Board Members, Trustees and supporters have really stepped up to the plate, organizing a wide range of creative fundraisers to support UVP’s programs.

• Throughout April, Brooklyn Boulders, together with the SUNY Downstate Global Health Club (and UVP Alumnus Cameron Gibson), is helping rockclimbing enthusiasts make a difference. Each Monday during April, climbers can ‘Climb for a Cause’ and Brooklyn Boulders will donate 30% of the proceeds to UVP. Check out the details at: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195459853826056.
• Trustee Archana Jayakumar is asking her friends to ‘squish the bug’ to raise money to pay for high quality subsidized mosquito nets to prevent malaria in our Healthy Villages Donors who contribute to a mosquito net will earn the right to write their name on an image of a squashed mosquito.
• UVP Director Alison Hayward is sharing her skills to raise money for UVP. Alison will be running an ACLS course for nurses and medical technicians to teach them how to deal with patients in cardiac arrest. Profits from the course will go to UVP – assisted by a discount rate on equipment and space from the medical centre. So course participants will not only learn to save lives in the US, but will also help to save lives in Iganga.
• Trustee Abhijeet Namjoshi is not only holding a fundraising dinner, but also setting up a stall in a shopping mall where shoppers can learn about UVP and make a donation to help our programs this summer.

Feeling inspired? Visit our Fundraising and Media Center for more ideas: www.ugandavillageproject.org/get-involved/fundraising-and-media-center/

Digging it Forward

Sanitation may not be sexy to the rest of the world, but it is essential in keeping a community healthy. When UVP does a sanitation push in a community (mobilizing the community to dig trash pits and latrines, build plate stands to dry dishes, and make hand washing devices called tippy-taps) a community is equipped to improve its sanitation household by household.

Our “all hands on deck” approach to sanitation pushes can result in an interesting assortment of people digging and hammering in one of our 10 Healthy Villages. Beyond community members and staff, district officials, and even volunteers from other communities. In March, a Peace Corps Volunteer lent his energy to one of our pushes.

More than a welcome set of hands, Nick also took what he learned from UVP and has begun applying it in his own village. He shared a bit of experience with his family and friends:

Work has been going well; my Pit Latrine project has really taken off by itself. I started digging one pit latrine, (I learned from the Uganda Village Project in Iganga) then Julia came to my site and three pit latrines were built by people I have never met. Then I came back a week later and 20-30 people have built Pit Latrines. I was really proud of the villagers about taking over the project and really wanting to create change in their community. I am doing well with other projects. The school I teach at wants me to teach about sanitation and life skills every Wednesday. I really like the kids I teach, they have actually followed me home (which is about 30 yards from the school) and asked for more homework, something I don’t think that ever occurred to me to ask my teachers when I was their age. –Nick Duncan

Weekly Reports from Iganga: March, Week 4

From the Safe Water Coordinator, Patrick Tulibagenyi

Safe Water

·         Patrick has done an AMAZING job juggling five wells (four for Rotary and the last ChooseANeed well). Despite difficulties with one village he has managed to complete one well and has three others in various stages of completion!

·         Ibulanku B (one of the four Rotary wells) broke ground this week, Titus carried out the pre assessment, and the slab was cast. The community was so active and at the same time work was going on at Ibulanku A (another of the Rotary wells)

·          Attempted to hold a community meeting at Butyabule in Buyanga Sub County, but it was postponed to 30^th of March to try to attain better turnout. We went to Butyabule village to have the meeting but still the turn up was poor and from our observation after taking a walk around and asking some community members a few questions we realized that the community was not so demanding and not interested. Titus also went and had a meeting with the sub county officials concerning the shallow well project in their area and asked them to participate in the process.

·         We went for another meeting at Lubira village which was very good, the water and sanitation committee was also elected and the community was ready to get started the following day.

·         On the 31^st of March 2011, the ground was broken at Lubira village.

·         We then went and met with the LC 1 of Buyanga C village in Buyanga Sub County and in the same meeting we scheduled a big community meeting for the 5^th of April. Buyanga C village was selected by the LC3 chairperson of the Sub County after failing to have a successful meeting with Butyabule village.

·         Friday we had the Buwolomera well commissioning with a small turnout.

·         Patrick continues to monitor Lubira and Ibulanku A well construction process. One well is almost done and in the next week we will have done a great deal with the digging process.

·         Ine inputted some data of the shallow well database data but there is still a lot missing, especially with the older wells. Patrick will pull out his old paper files next week for her to go through and try to fill in some of the gaps. He is also working with the GPS because the initial readings for the well were incorrect.

·         Nawaningi Sub county offices are ever closed every time Patrick visits.

From our Program Manager, Linnea Ashley:

Fistula

·         Loy followed-up on our last patient and found she was wet.

·         She found four new patients.

·         We discussed the need to slow down on finding new patients given that we only have a few spaces for the June camp. Next week we will map out the next few weeks of work for her and her budget (some changes may need to be made regarding her work schedule).

·         Followed up with Dr. Constantine about some of the challenges with the fistula program (including payment of patients, follow-up procedures, and consistency of names and other intake information). I provided him with some ideas for improvement that can be incorporated on UVP’s side, including providing a interpreter for the first three days of the camp, providing name tags for UVPs fistula patients, and standardizing who gets money and how. I wait to hear back from him on the initial ideas. We hope to be able to incorporate them by the June camp.

 Orphan Support

·         Patrick went to Busalamu Secondary School to pay UNEB (Uganda National Examination Board) fee for the orphans/vulnerable children benefiting from the program. He also bought a text book for Patrick O. of Iganga Parents Secondary School.

·         Charles, Dumba, Martha, Zauja/Suzan, and Deborah would like to attend technical schools and have brought in the required information. They have been instructed to bring their guardians on Monday to sign a contract that stipulates exactly what we will pay (tuition up to 400,000) and the requirements of the family regarding cost, and grounds for dismissal from the program. We will redo our finance estimates to amend scholarship program figures as they will be higher than anticipated this quarter as a result.

·         Josephine brought her UNEB results and would like to prepare for university. She will work with Maureen to apply to the appropriate schools. Currently money is not in the budget for her to take computer classes but I will look more closely to see if it can be arranged.

·         Moses Nangobi received his UNEB results and apparently did well. He believes he can get into Gulu University. I explained (again) that we could not promise university fees but that we would inquire about a sponsor for him. In the meantime he will fill out the appropriate paperwork to apply in case the money is found.

From our Healthy Villages Program Coordinator, Alanta Colley:
Village Health Teams (VHTs)

This week Ine and Vicki worked on the ID cards for the VHT; collating the information needed for each card. They met with the Walukuba VHT on Monday, as the last village to take their photos. Following requests from Nabitovu and Nabukone VHT about sensitising the village, Ine prepared posters and information to support the VHT in conducting the education outreach on Family Planning. They are currently in Nabitovu with the VHT conducting the education.  Ine also accompanied me on Mosquito net follow up in Namungalwe. 

Internship Program 

Developments in the intern program:

·         I assigned the Ugandan interns to their respective teams.

·         I edited the Team Leader Manual for dissemination to the international internst.

·         I wrote 3 of the Healthy Village Profiles, which Linnea is currently editing, and which will go on the website as well as to the interns.

·         I worked with Maureen to print and photocopy the about manuals, the waiver and emergency contact form for the Ugandan interns to fill at their meeting this weekend.

·         I edited the Orientation Schedule.

Malaria

This week I conducted Mosquito Net follow up in Namungalwe with Ine. Unfortunately we only completed four houses before we were chased out of Namungalwe by a thunderstorm. We will go back to complete more follow up soon.

I have ordered 150 nets from Balton Company, which Titus will collect next week. Unfortunately this will only amount to 15 nets per village. I would love if we could continue to push the ChooseANeed nets campaign.

The Field Officers will begin to work with the Village Health Teams to run sensitisations on malaria in the coming weeks, with the hope of selling nets and emphasising that malaria exists year round. 

Hygiene and Sanitation 

Namungulwe Sanitation Push

The Namungalwe Sanitation Push was concluded on Monday, however the Village Health Team is very keen to continue the push without UVP involvement.

Sanitation Follow Up

Today (Friday) Titus, Maureen and I met to have a discussion about how to conduct sanitation follow up. We decided to pilot a sanitation follow up in Nabitovu. I am currently designing the follow up form. We decided the follow up program should begin with an initial consultation with the VHT, to get feedback on how sanitation has(or hasn’t) progressed since the sanitation push, and outline that the Follow Up will focus on encouraging villagers to make sanitation improvements, but not implementing the measures for them, as this will only increase the culture of dependency and lack of ownership. We intend to check tippy taps and instruct people to fill them, bring soap, and undertake repairs while we are there. We will carry some basic tools to assist this, but not all the materials like a sanitation campaign.

Family Planning

Family Planning outreaches took place this week in Bunio, Namungalwe and Bulumwaki and Butongole. The recent arrival of the rain has limited the numbers turning up to Family planning events as people are hurredly planting. Bulumwaki’s turn out dropped dramatically to 4, as it had been hampered by a clash with an event being run by NAADs (The National Agricultural Advisory Service), so we will run a repeat event on Monday. Family planning continues next week.

Eye Care

The complete list of children who have been screened for glasses by Gregory of Namungalwe has now been submitted to Sight Savers, so we are waiting to see what their program will be for delivering the glasses to the children.

Maureen will be checking with Dr Onyango Esther (the local opthalmologist working with Sight Savers) on Monday about upcoming dates for eye camps. 

HIV/STIs

HIV/STI outreach in Bugabula.

This week I called Sula from St Mary’s to book his organisation’s services for April 12^th for Bugabula B. We are focussing on completing these outreaches so that the intern follow up teams will not have to travel to the Luuka district as often during their time here. Titus is in charge next week of mobilising the Bulumwaki Drama Group and the Bugabula VHT to be prepared for the event. 

Being A Woman is Risky Business in Rural Uganda

by Ine Collins

Myth, stigma, and taboo shroud family planning efforts in many villages. At Buwaiswa, one of Uganda Village Project's targeted Healthy Villages communities, the shroud was particularly opaque. As a field officer, I was assisting with family planning workshops, bringing nurses and contraceptives to women in remote villages that otherwise would have limited access to such services. Women gathered around outside the empty room where we sat with nurses, wanting the information and contraception, but scared of who might see them, especially their husbands. We’ve found that most husbands are against contraception, yet in most cases it is not acceptable for the wife to refuse sex. So, we position ourselves near wells so that women can pretend to fetch water, or make whatever excuse they need to make to leave the house. Others simply sneak out when the sun goes down. This issue is one of the major challenges that Uganda Village Project faces in its family planning program, and we are currently working on an awareness-raising program for men using respected village leaders to speak out on how family planning has helped them.

A tall, handsome young woman with high cheekbones, big eyes, even inky skin, and a cropped afro came into the room. Her youngest child, less than a year old, was wrapped to her back with a kitengi cloth. She was my age, with four children. Despite the women outside gossiping about whoever was trying to get birth control, the woman was one of four others in four hours who ventured in to see us. After weighing her options, she opted for Depo Provera, like most women, because of its inconspicuous nature. The nurse handed her a pregnancy test. Positive. She didn’t miss a beat, smiled gracefully, and left. I was floored by the composure with which she took the news. The average woman my age who has even experienced a false alarm for an unplanned pregnancy sees her life flashing before her eyes.

At Nabitovu, there was no room for us. We held the workshop under a tree, as we commonly must do when working in these remote areas. The village was more receptive to family planning, so everyone was enjoying their neighbors’ company, giggling at the condom demonstration. As things began to wind down, an 18 year old mustered up the courage to walk over. Most of the women who come to us are in their 20s/30s, and married with multiple children.

She had an older boyfriend in town. She had no idea whether they used condoms or not. “I never look,” she explained.

I was horrified for her. My first experience trying to get birth control in America is etched in the stone of my memory.The doctor stared expectantly over his spectacles, ready to record the personal details of my sex life. Sitting in a cold room smelling of rubbing alcohol, I squirmed in my examination gown, mortified. I managed one-word answers. I’d sooner suffer in silence than relive that experience while a group of my mother’s friends and neighbors sat nearby, watching, listening, and judging.

A woman at another village in her early thirties with nine children came to us seeking birth control. Pregnancy test = positive. Her face betrayed her devastation. She grew desperate. “I can’t have another child. I have to stop this pregnancy. Please help me stop it.“ Abortion is illegal in Uganda. Post-abortion care is widely, and legally publicized through clinics, yet clandestine abortion contributes to approximately one-third of Uganda’s maternal mortality. I wondered - with her limited options, what would this woman do?

Looking at that woman, I thought of my grandmother who gave birth to nine children in Nigeria. Though she is a devout Catholic who once studied to be a nun, I wondered if she had ever wanted contraceptives or if she actually intended to spend over 5 years of her life pregnant.

The week before I arrived, a woman in labor arrived at a hospital where she ended up waiting for hours, only to be referred to a different hospital. Before reaching the next hospital, she was hemorrhaging, as someone encouraged her to push while riding the boda boda, a motorcycle taxi. At the hospital, the fetal heartbeat was gone. Nevertheless, she had to deliver the baby. After seeing her dead child, she fainted and died shortly thereafter. And to think she was one of the few women who could actually afford to pay for the 2,000 shillings (~1 dollar) taxi to the hospital so that she didn’t have to deliver at home on a bare floor.

I often joke half-seriously that being a woman is the worst decision I’ve ever made. Not only is there the ubiquitous cultural and institutional discrimination, but also sex, the source of life, is disproportionately risky for women, and childbirth carries a very real risk of death, with a lifetime risk of maternal mortality of 1 in 25. What’s more is that nothing I’ve said is really specific to Uganda. The stories would largely be the same, if not worse, if I were in rural Brazil, Nigeria, the Philippines, India, Afghanistan. Until access to healthcare improves across the world, it will remain dangerous to be a woman in these places.

Sujal Parikh Memorial Symposium on Health & Social Justice: Mar 26th

Dear Friends, Family, Colleagues and Admirers of our friend, Sujal Parikh,

We are pleased to announce the inaugural Sujal Parikh Memorial Symposium on Health and Social Justice. Sujal, a University of Michigan medical student, passed away in October 2010 after a road accident in Uganda where he was conducting AIDS research as an NIH-Fogarty Clinical Research Scholar.  Sujal was an inspiring global health and social justice advocate and had held leadership positions in AMSA, UAEM, PHR, Uganda Village Project, and U-M Center for Global Health.  Read more about him here (http://www.annarbor.com/news/u-m-medical-student-dies-while-doing-aids-research-in-uganda/) and here (http://sujalsymposium.org/about/). 

The goal of this event is to honor the life of Sujal Parikh and to carry on his vision by bringing together a community to advance health and social justice. This year’s theme is: The Social (Justice) Network.  See the below call for proposals for further details on presentations and content.

March 26th, 2011

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

You can register at: http://sujalsymposium.org/get-involved/participant-registration/  

The deadline for registration, which is free, is March 12, 2011.

For interested presenters:

We are currently soliciting presenters to discuss innovative ideas pertaining to one of the following themes that were important to Sujal: 

1) Curricula as an agent of social change: Education shapes future leaders’ views, values, and goals. In this way, curriculum can be a powerful tool for driving social change. Do you have an example of an innovative and effective curriculum related to health or social justice?

2) Defining health equity: A rigorous, vetted definition of this buzzword is critical for the next generation of leaders to advance meaningful change in global health.  How do we, as the millennial generation, define “health equity”? How can this definition guide practices and programs?

3) Innovations in global engagement: Global engagement is rife with controversy and ethical concerns, but these tensions can be negotiated with meaningful results. Are you pioneering a progressive global partnership? How can students and social justice advocates be sensitive to a community’s unique social context?

We hope to have a wide variety of speakers, from experts in their fields to students to community workers. Everyone is welcome to submit proposals!

-   Presentations should be no longer than 20 min. Please see http://www.ted.com/talks for the style of talks we envision.

-   The deadline for presentation proposal submission is February 18th, 2011.

-   If you are unsure you can attend the symposium, please let us know if you would be interested in submitting a remote presentation! The logistics for this are currently being arranged.

For details and the online application, please visit: http://sujalsymposium.org/get-involved/presenter-registration/

We look forward to seeing you soon and sharing ideas about advancing health and social justice on March 26th!  

- Uganda Village Project

Announcing the Sujal Parikh Social Justice Fellowship

The Sujal Parikh Social Justice Fellowship was founded to honor the memory of our friend, a tireless advocate for global health and social justice. Although his life was prematurely cut short in an accident on the Kampala roads in 2010, his memory lives on through the inspiration he provided to his friends and colleagues in the field of global health.

The chosen fellow will be expected to conduct a specific project in the area of social justice during the summer internships program at Uganda Village Project.

This fellowship will be provided to one candidate who best personifies the ideals that Sujal worked towards:

- a boundless motivation and energy for social justice education and advocacy

- commitment towards voluntary service and healthcare access for the poor

- interest in research to develop evidence based practice in global health

Qualities sought in fellows include:

- excellent written and verbal communication skills

- demonstrated talent in global health work

- research experience

- cross-cultural communications skills

- experience working in resource-limited settings

The Parikh fellow must also submit an application to the Uganda Village Project summer internship program, and will be expected to participate in the internship program along with the other interns, aside from the time necessary to complete the social justice project. Uganda Village Project will provide support to the fellow in completing the project.

The fellowship recipient will not be required to pay the program fee for participation in the internship program ($1700), as part of the fellowship, but will be responsible for the cost of travel to Uganda and any costs incurred outside internship program activities. All project costs will be covered by Uganda Village Project.

How to Apply:

- Submit regular application for Uganda Village Project summer internship program via e-mail to internships@ugandavillageproject.org

- Even if not applying for team leader position, please have a letter of recommendation submitted via e-mail to that address.

- In addition to the listed questions on the application, please include an essay detailing your choice of one of the following issues and providing details about how you would create a project to address this issue:

1. Patients in rural Uganda face many barriers to accessing healthcare, including not being able to obtain care without first paying for the care or purchasing the medical supplies needed to care for them. How can we increase accessibility to our rural health centers for indigent rural patients from our Healthy Villages communities?

2. HIV/AIDS continues to take a toll on the rural communities in our Healthy Villages program. Currently, we partner with a local NGO to increase accessibility to testing and refer HIV positive patients to healthcare services. How could we improve our HIV/AIDS focused programming to reach the most vulnerable populations, such as children and the elderly?

Applicants will not necessarily be required to implement the project they propose in the application, but essays will be graded based on the applicant’s understanding of global health and social justice principles, and the quality of the proposal. The project should be designed keeping in mind that the fellowship recipient could help launch the project during the summer, and UVP staff could continue work on it thereafter. The project should have a data gathering or research component aimed towards a practical application. To get an idea of our projects and budget, you may peruse our website for more details, or ask us if you need any further information to complete your proposal.

Fellowship recipients will be expected to remain involved with Uganda Village Project activities for one year after selection, participating in the organization’s online social networking, awareness raising, and fundraising activities until the following year’s fellow has been selected, as part of their commitment. Fellowship recipients will additionally be expected to submit research done to a major national or international conference, to share knowledge with the global health community.

Application deadline for fellowship applicants is midnight EST, February 7^th, 2011.

Apply today for UVP's Summer Internship Program!

Would you like to spend the summer making a lasting impact on community health and development in rural villages in sub-Saharan Africa? Have you always wanted to experience and learn about the culture of East Africa? If so, please consider applying to Uganda Village Project's summer program.

Uganda Village Project is now accepting applications for our 2011 Summer Internship Program.

Our Mission: Uganda Village Project is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that collaborates with diverse partners on the design of sustainable rural health and development solutions through networking, advocacy and project innovation in the Iganga District, a rural area in eastern Uganda.

Interns will spend 8 weeks living and working in a village in rural Iganga District, Uganda, gaining experience in community education and public health while organizing education programs in the villages, assisting in planning and implementing health care and development oriented programs, and working in partnership with local NGOs and community groups which focus on issues such as sanitation, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, orphan and widow support, and reproductive health.

Applications are due January 31, 2011.

Visit the UVP website to learn more about our programs: www.ugandavillageproject.org

Uganda Village Project accepts adults ages 18 and over with an interest in medicine, public health, global health or international development. Applicants with previous experience in these areas, with previous experience working in the developing world, or with a demonstrated talent for languages, will be given special consideration.

For more information, please contact internships@ugandavillageproject.org.

Matching Grant for $1000!

Hello friends and supporters!

If you would like to make a donation to support Uganda Village Project's programs for the coming year, now is a great time to do so. For a limited time, Razoo is offering a match of up to $1000 for each fundraising team from a charity.

Several of our trustees and board members have stepped up to the plate and created a team fundraiser. 5 of them must raise at least $200 each for us to get the matching funds. Excitingly for us, we have nearly reached that total, and we are moving up the Razoo Leaderboard (#15 of 57 as I write this!). Can you help us get the matching grant? We've got until the last day of December to reach $1000.

Cameron's Page: Bringing Healthcare to Iganga District
Stephanie's Page: This Holiday Season, Give the Gift of Health
Melanie's Page: Give the Gift of Health This Christmas

Thank you and hope you are enjoying the holiday season.

Celebrating Student Success!

This is the end of the third and final term for all of the schools and so students are beginning to trickle into the UVP office with their report cards and their thank you notes for their sponsors. Stella came in on Monday, shy smile on her face and requisite papers in her hand. And what was written on those papers?

She scored 24 out of a possible 25 points!

Gushing was necessary, but the good news didn’t stop at her 24 points. The headmaster of her school also recognized what a stellar student our Stella is and awarded her a tuition scholarship for the first term of her final school year next year!

Days like these I’m filled with pride that is befitting the “auntie” moniker many of our scholarship students have bestowed upon me. Days like these I am filled with pride at what our students are able to accomplish when their minds are free from worry about school fees and can concentrate, instead, on studying.

Donations do make a difference and they can change the course of lives. Thank you for helping UVP help Stella.

Summer Internships for 2011

Would you like to spend the summer making a lasting impact on community health and development in rural villages in sub-Saharan Africa? Have you always wanted to experience and learn about the culture of East Africa? If so, please consider applying to Uganda Village Project's summer program.

Uganda Village Project is now accepting applications for its 2011 Summer Internship Program.


Our Mission: Uganda Village Project is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that collaborates with diverse partners on the design of sustainable rural health and development solutions through networking, advocacy and project innovation in the Iganga District, a rural area in eastern Uganda.


Interns will spend 8 weeks living and working in a village in rural Iganga District, Uganda, gaining experience in community education and public health while organizing education programs in the villages, assisting in planning and implementing health care and development oriented programs, and working in partnership with local NGOs and community groups which focus on issues such as sanitation, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, orphan and widow support, and reproductive health.


Applications are due January 31, 2011.


Visit the UVP website to learn more about our programs: www.ugandavillageproject.org
Click here to visit our Summer Internship Center!


Applications are open to all adults ages 18 and over with an interest in medicine, public health, global health or international development. Applicants with previous experience in these areas, with previous experience working in the developing world will be given special consideration. Visit our website and apply today!


For more information, please contact internships@ugandavillageproject.org