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Monday, December 27, 2010

By Annslie Bigbee

Arriving in the village has not been the easiest experience for me. After a harrowing 54 hour journey from Solana Beach, California to Kampala, Uganda and only a day and two short sleepless nights in Kampala to adjust, I arrived in Nkondo on Monday December 27th with no fanfare to a team who had already had a week to bond with each other. Shortly after I arrived, not having washed my hair for almost five days, we were whisked off to my first experience at a community meeting.

My main contribution to the team was to conduct a nutrition, sanitation, and basic health teacher training program, to help set up a library/computer room, and to do a cultural exchange program for primary students in the US and Uganda. Our host had selected Immeri Primary School. In a remote village in Uganda, Immeri Primary has 560 students, 8 teachers, and 6 functioning classrooms. Two large beautiful mango trees serve as extra classrooms in much the same way temporary trailers in America take the overflow of students.

In Kampala, I was disappointed to learn that the teachers and students here were on Christmas break which, in Uganda, extends into the end of January. But as the saying goes, "when in Africa, expect the unexpected." And being ever optimistic I was determined to find a way to reach the students and teachers. Ugandan luck was on my side, the headmaster of Immeri Primary was at the community meeting that first afternoon, and he and I were on the same page. After being advised that I would probably not be able to meet the teachers due to the holiday, he promised that he could gather all eight teachers together on Wednesday the 29th. This was excellent news! I was so excited and over-exhausted, I did not sleep at all Monday night.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Tuesday morning, Chuck, Philippe, and I headed out to a local piggery nearby. The farmer was so nice and his pigs were very healthy. He had a gilt and a pregnant sow. The sow reminded me of my pig Violet, who I had twenty years ago in the Peace Corps. When we asked when the sow was due, he said, "before February comes" which means in January. I love the way the villagers say things. We were able to make a few suggestions right away to help the farmer. We suggested that he give the pigs more water especially the sow as she will need plenty of water when her milk comes. We also suggested that he stands guard when her time is near to prevent newborn deaths from crushing. And lastly we spoke to him about adding protein to his livestock's diets to help them grow bigger. We recommended a few good protein sources available in the region.

He showed us the inside of his hut, but would not show us the inside of his children's hut as he feared they had not arranged it properly. I laughed to think how American children have messy rooms too. When it was time to leave, he told us he would "push us off" which means he would "walk us out."

In the afternoon Chuck and I had an empowering animal husbandry meeting. We tried to emphasize that the people's best resource was themselves. Philippe's input was missed as he had to stay home to deal with a power issue.

I also had a chance to meet with the local carpenter regarding the building of two new bookshelves for the library we are creating. They said it will only take them four days to build which, I'm keeping my fingers crossed, means less than eight days. It was a great start. That afternoon the paint arrived to paint the clinic and the new library.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

My room-mate Shelly and I have both struggled through the nights with sore throats and sheer exhaustion, so after an early morning torrential rain, we got off to a slow steady start today Wednesday December 29th. I woke up excited to get busy teaching the educators.

Before noon, the Kampala North Rotary education, community development and health committee members arrived. It was great to greet them. We had such a stimulating conversation and exchange of ideas. A representative from the University was along and he discussed the dehydration of fruit with us. It was all very interesting.

Two educators from Kampala, Jayne and Tina, came with Philippe, Patrick, and me to meet with the teachers. All of the teachers spoke English so I was able to speak to them without an interpreter. After a short introduction from Patrick, we presented the teachers each with a binder of reference materials for them to use as tools to help facilitate their roles more easily. They learned how to open and close a three ring binder, which was exciting. We went through a basic nutrition program designed to help students identify protein, carbohydrate, and fat and to teach them how to select a balanced meal. Then we went over basic sanitation solutions like covering latrines and washing hands and malaria prevention techniques like wearing protective clothing and sleeping under mosquito nets.

At the end we presented them with teacher packets full of amazing school materials for each of them, calculators, rulers, pencils and sharpeners, crayons and etc. that were supplied by the rotary funds and amazingly generous friends. Thanks to them all. The teachers were overwhelmed, so was I. I actually cried. Hopefully, Philippe did catch that on video. Jayne and Tina closed with compelling speeches calling the teachers to action.

Chuck and the others arrived with samples of dried mango from home and the community meeting was started. Each villager was given a sample of the sweet dried mango and Patrick asked them to identify what it was. Two villagers thought it was banana. The meeting was very interesting. Because mangos grow so prodigiously in this region, many fall to the ground and rot, dehydrating them would be a good way to bring money to the region. I think Chuck and Dr. Julius Wambete from the University did a great job of describing the process of food dehydration and planting the seed for an exciting future project. Also Dr. Wambete told us he would be able to donate 50 kilos of amaranthus seed to start a growing project here -- what a great source of protein that will be.

Finally feel that I am getting settled. Shelly and I looked up at the beautiful African sky and found Orion and then I knew that things would be looking up. -- that and the fact that we both anticipate a great night of sleep tonight.

And in honor of Joanna and Amanda, who are trying to get Philippe to teach them French -- à bientôt.