Hello again!
As many of you know, I have finally returned back to the states. I mentioned in my last blog, (posted on July 4th) that I was including a few photos, but unfortunately they didn't attach. Here are a few photos and some captions from my time in Uganda. I will also be adding some videos and more photos next week. I hope you enjoy.
Wow! It is hard to believe that over a month has passed since I left the US. What a whirlwind this month, especially these past two weeks, have been...
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (6/22-6/24) were spent working on various projects at HIA (finishing the sanitation project - the composting toilets/diverting plates and the sanitation/hygiene education, digging and planting the student garden at HIA, cleaning the rainwater harvesting system gutters on the school, completing the construction of the biosand filter and working on gardens at various child-headed households in the community). When I wasn't working on projects at HIA I went with Moreen to surrounding communities to conduct more community health assessments.
Early Thursday morning (6/25) some of us traveled to Bugonzi to finish the construction of the biosand filter, and with Moreen as our translator, we also explained the instructions for the filter's use and maintenance. Upon my return from Bugonzi Thursday morning I departed from HIA and traveled to Kampala. Sadly, Thursday was the end of my field experience and my last day at HIA. With a heavy heart I said goodbye to the many friends I have made along the way - the EWB team members, the URF volunteers and mostly the students at HIA. Although my portion of the project (the community health assessments and sanitation/hygiene education) is complete, other aspects of the project are still underway and will be for another week. On Saturday (6/20) five new engineers arrived to pick up where the first group left off (six other individuals left HIA when I did, and three from the first group stayed onboard with the new arrivals). The second group will be finishing the instillation of the groundwater pump and solar panels, and will be analyzing water samples to ensure that the water at HIA is safe for consumption. Once all is complete I will be sure to elaborate on the project and its entirety.
While it was difficult to leave HIA, I already anticipate a return next summer to continue working on the existing projects and to begin new project phases. This year's project and that of June 2008 have significantly enhanced the lives of the students and those individuals that utilize the resources at HIA, but many needs still exist. The information collected from the community health assessments confirms that more needs to be done in the surrounding communities in terms of providing safe and reliable water sources and in providing methods for water treatment. Over the course of the upcoming school year I plan on working with EWB to address these needs and hopefully alleviate some of the burdens that many of the individuals surveyed face. Many from this year's EWB-UMN team (those that haven't graduated) have the same desire so I believe this hope is a tangible reality.
Following my departure from HIA I traveled with Kat, Adam, Katheryn (three engineering students) to Jinja for some whitewater rafting on the Nile River (might I also add some bungee jumping over the Nile), and on Sunday I jetted off to Tanzania to meet up with my aunt, uncle and cousins for a week long Safari in Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This Monday (7/6) I will begin a seven day trek up Kilimanjaro with my aunt and fellow blogger Katarina Grande and for the remainder of my time abroad (until July 29th) I will be traveling around Western Europe. Needless to say, my internet availability will be limited for the next three weeks. I unfortunately am unable to attach the photos that I took from my time at HIA (I forgot the necessary cable to do so), but I will leave you with a few pictures that others have taken from the project. When I return to the United States at the end of July I will be sure to add some more pictures and blog about the completion of the project. Thank you for reading and have a wonderful 4th of July Holiday!
Friday (6-12) I went with Scott and Tyler to visit Tekera Resource Center. Tekera is a community development project outside of Masaka that was founded by a couple from Canada, Bruce and Brigitte Daley. While we were there Bruce gave us a tour of the school (there are approximately 280 students that attend the school at Tekera) and showed us the fields and fields of crops that they grow and sell to local vendors. He explained the gravity fed irrigation system that Tekera uses to water their crops and highlighted the many benefits of sustainable agriculture (such as crop rotation, inter-cropping and micro irrigation) in regions where water is scarce. Following Bruce's tour, Brigitte took us to the Level 2 Medical Clinic that she started at Tekera. Brigitte first traveled to Uganda in the late 1970's and spent a couple years working as a registered nurse. She was forced to leave during the time that Idi Amin came into power and always longed to return. Thirty years later, after she and Bruce retired from their respective careers, they moved to Uganda and started the NGO Tekera.They have done amazing work and I encourage you to check out their website: http://www.ugandavillage.org/. On Saturday I traveled with Moreen to another Women's Empowerment Group meeting in Kajalubanda (a rural village 4 miles from HIA). The topic of discussion for the day was breast cancer. While I discussed the cancer process, the risk factors, screening methods, and ways to treat and reduce one's risk of breast cancer Moreen translated. Following the discussion on breast cancer, I was able to conduct a community health assessment of Kajalubanda.
Monday (6-15) I stayed around HIA to help the engineers dig a trench and survey the HIA property. The trench (which is 2 ft deep, 1.5 feet wide and 600 ft long) will be used to lay the piping from the borewell to the water storage tank. The soil composition is mostly clay and is extremely dry and compacted, so the digging of this trench is not an easy task! Thankfully, the students at HIA have been assisting us with this portion of the project. The topographic information collected from the survey will be used by Architects for Humanity for the development and expansion of HIA in the future (plans can be seen on the HIA website).
On Tuesday I went with Fred, Moreen and Tyler to a special needs school to distribute mosquito nets. In the afternoon, Diego and I spoke to the students about composting and sanitation. Part of the EWB project involves the installation of two composting toilets using diverting plates. Diverting plates are used to separate the feces (dry matter) from the urine. It is essential that both be separated and that only dry matter (ash, leaves and/or woodchips) be added to the feces. This enables the microbes to effectively and safely biodegrade the feces into compost. The compost that is generated from the composting toilets will eventually be applied to the school garden. Along with the students, we will begin the construction and planting of the garden this week. The garden will be used in conjunction with the Biology and Agriculture curriculum taught at HIA, and will be tended by the older students.
Both Wednesday and Thursday were spent doing community outreach and community health assessments. The mornings were spent constructing and/or planting gardens at child-headed households, and the afternoons were spent collecting information from the surrounding communities and conducting community health assessments.
The information gathered from the assessments so far have been striking. Many of the individuals surveyed have to travel long distances (1 to 2 miles on average) to the nearest water source, which is often a swamp or a pond. In the event that the nearest swamp is dried up (which often happens during the dry season) the distance is much further, and may require an entire days trek. Those that can afford to take a taxi to collect water do so, but many cannot afford the luxury and are forced to wake in the early hours of the morning, returning home in the mid to late afternoon. Water collection can occupy a significant portion of one's day and can prevent many children from attending school. Most, if not all of the individuals surveyed, collect their daily supply of water for drinking, cooking and washing with 20 L jerry cans. On average, each household uses 2-3 jerry cans a day. When full, a 20 L jerry weighs 45 lbs. The furthest I've carried a single 20 L jerry can was 100 meters and that was exhausting!
One of the communities surveyed, Bugonzi, is 3 miles away from HIA and the nearest water source is a brown, murky swamp. The turbid water collected from swamps and ponds are ridden with bacteria and other potential health hazards, so it wasn't surprising to learn that there are high incidences of diarrhea in most of the communities surveyed. Children younger than 5 years of age are those that experience frequent episodes of diarrhea. Diarrhea kills over 1 million children every year through dehydration and malnutrition. Children are more likely than adults to die from diarrhea because they become dehydrated more quickly, and 1 in every 200 children who contract diarrhea will die from it.
Bugonzi is only one of many communities surveyed that is in dire need of a reliable and clean water source. To help the Bugonzi community obtain clean water, some of the engineers are designing and constructing a biosand filter. The biosand filter will be used to purify the murky swamp water that the community is forced to drink and hopefully lower the incidences of diarrhea. Here is a link that you can check out on water and sanitation technologies and the specific biosand filter that we plan on using in Bugonzi (click on technology on the main page, then click on household water treatment - filtration) http://www.cawst.org/index.php
And that shall conclude my blog for the day. Sorry for the length. Until next time...
For those of you who are not aware, I am a second year student in the School of Public Heath at UMN. I am pursuing a MPH in Environmental Health with a concentration in global health. On June 1st (tomorrow!) I will be leaving for Uganda to conduct my Masters Field Experience. I will be working along with Tyler Weber (a fellow blogger and public health student) and the Engineers Without Borders (EWB-UMN) team on a water supply, sanitation and health project. Our time in Uganda will be spent in the rural community Mulobere at Hope Integrated Academy (HIA). HIA is a vocational college, high school and community resource center that is supported by Uganda Rural Fund (URF), an international and grassroots community based organization.
The partnership between EWB-UMN, HIA and URF began back in 2007. Following an initial project assessment in August 2007, six EWB-UMN students and two professionals returned in June 2008 to construct rainwater harvesting and dry composting sanitation systems at HIA. During our stay in Uganda this June, the engineers will be implementing a groundwater supply system and large-scale sanitation system to serve the increasing influx of students attending HIA. As the engineers work on the water supply portion of the project (the installation of a borehole with a submersible pump run by photovoltaic solar panels), Tyler and I will be conducting a community health assessment, distributing insecticide treated mosquito nets, and holding educational seminars on health, hygiene, sanitation and malaria. The assessment will be used to: (1) evaluate the effectiveness of the water and sanitation systems on the health of those that use them and (2) gather information on local water sources, water treatment methods, and hygiene and sanitation. The data collected will be used to measure the impact of the EWB projects and gain a better understanding of the needs of the community for future project phases.
More information on HIA, URF and specific details about the EWB-UMN Water Supply, Sanitation and Health projects can be found on the links listed below.
By Amber Koskey
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