Ole Otya, How's it going?
Wasuze otya. I woke up this morning to the usual caravan of yellow jerrycans hoisted on the heads of the Ddegeya children trudging up the hill past my window.
I tend to wake up earlier than the rest of the team and decided to start a personal blog about the MIT-EWB project in Ddegeya, Uganda in addition to Becca and my official EWB blog at http://ewbmit.blogspot.com My blog will be more about personal reflections and thoughts than about details on the water tests, surveying, etc.. that we are doing. This first blog will probably be pretty long since we've already been in Uganda for a few days. The trip is planned as the MIT Engineers Without Borders assessment trip for the Engeye health clinic and the Ddegeya community.Maybe the idea of blogging this is kind of strange. But for me, this trip is the beginning of what I've always wanted to do. It's the start of what I see as a long journey, not just in relation to EWB but in relation to development as a whole. Maybe one day I'll look back at this and laugh at how naive I was about poverty. Who knows...
The trip began on Friday, Aug 14 when the travel team met up in Amsterdam. The travel team consists of Rebecca Heywood, our two mentors-Pauravi Shah and my dad, and myself. We all converged on Amsterdam from a variety of locations and met up at the airport. I had spent the previous week marveling at Paris's architecture and art, eating crepes on bustling sidewalk cafes, and riding red double-deckers in London.
Sitting in the airport waiting area, it became obvious that our plane had NGO workers, Peace Corp volunteers, a women from the UK moving there to teach after visiting Uganda 5 times, etc.. I was coming to terms with the idea that this would be a long boring 7.5 hour flight as I was stuck in the middle seat of the 4-seater row in the middle of the plane. However, it turned out to be the most interesting flight I've ever taken (note: taken, not flown ;) Seated next to me was Kristine, a public health worker for the CDC. Kristine was traveling to finish the last stage of a GlobalAIDS project in Uganda. I really felt like a noob in the world of development talking to Kristine. She has worked in 5 African countries and is planning on moving somewhere to take on a long term project. Her husband plans to do microbusiness as well. I was surprised to find that the CDC did so much development work-guess I still have a lot to learn. We talked about different development projects and I learned a lot about the CDC's efforts to build capacity in health clinics. The most interesting part were the harrowing stories of the obstacles she has encountered in her work. One of her projects got caught in the middle of the bloody Kenyan elections a few years back. Her team received a military escort everywhere, complete with helicopters and armored trucks. Nevertheless, one of their caravans was hijacked. All of their equipment and papers were taken and all the people in one car were killed. A solemn reminder of the dangers they faced and of their dedication. When I asked her about exchaning money she began warning me about all the fraud that takes place, a hard learned lesson from Nambibia. There two of her friends went into a bank to use the atm. The bank's only other occupants were the security guards. Upon inserting their credit card into the atm, a group of 20 men entered and descended upon them offering to help. The girls told the men to back up but the security guards told them not to harrass "their boys." The girls had to fight their way back to the taxi where Kristine was anxiously waiting.
The flight passed by quickly with the aid of endless movies and TV. When we landed, Becca and I stood up, looked at each other, and broke into ear-to-ear grins. We were finally in Uganda. After all the hurdles and headache we went through, it felt incredible to finally be here. Our first minor hiccup was that the taxi the hostel had sent was too small so we waited for another one. The Backpacker's hostel just outside of Kampala was pretty nice. I relished my last hot shower for a few weeks there. The number of foreigners there surprised me. I was also surpised to run into Tom and Monica at Backpackers. They are fellows from Union College, working at Engeye for 9 months. It was helpful to have someone to show you around from the beginning.
"Please conserve water use at the Backpackers. Uganda cannot generate enough electricity to meet demand. We have one day of electricity and one day without. So we cannot pump enough water. If we waste water, we are left with none."
During our 3.5 hour taxi ride the next morning to Ddegeya, I noticed the place really reminded me of India-the layout, the bustling markets, and the landscape. As soon as we arrived, the peacefulness of Ddegeya and the green rolling hills mesmerized me. A group of hyper curious kids immediately greeted us. The living quarters at Engeye are really comfortable. Quite frankly, using a latrine is way cleaner than any toilet in France's most expensive palaces.
The past two days have been incredibly busy. We're getting siginificantly better at doing lab work in the field. I definitely enjoy field lab work better than bench lab work. Maybe it's the feeling of being outdoors and getting your boots muddy (EMS boots are very versatile. Becca thinks they look more like combat boots), the kids jumping around and poking at things, or the ability to immediately see the problem at hand.
John, the clinic manager, and Hudson, a clinic scholar, took us around at the beginning to see all the water sources. Doing our work, we've been able to really see the village in action. The kids continue to amaze me the most. I've never seen happier kids. So far I've only heard one kid cry. We're getting to know each other by name and we continue to attract crowds of curious 3-4ft tall onlookers. One 3 year old boy, Axom, tagged along with us all of Sunday. We noticed he had an infected ear that must have been hurting him because he was continuously clutching it. Yet, he never once cried or complained. John's son, Jeff, is definitely one of the cutest kids I've ever met. He likes to be our guide as we explore the village and is bursting with energy from sunrise to bedtime. He speaks very good English too. I know I've heard that in many poor communities it is the kids' job to fetch the water but I never really understood that comment until now. These kids haul their weight in water several times a day. We've tried carrying some. These cans are HEAVY. Many must walk about 1.5 miles to the nearest water source and carry the water back uphill. These young girls have some serious guns. Many of them also carry firewood that is in bundles much bigger than them. They have invented unique ways of riding bikes, that are too big for them, to carry water, but many have to push the bikes laden with jerrycans uphill. How many more pictures will I have to take before I realize that taking pictures of them carrying water is as silly as me taking a picture of you turning on your faucet? It's that everyday.
We learned that many kids really do skip school to get water, at least those that can afford school. You know how you're grandparents always say, "back in my day we walked 1.5 hours to and from school." Well, these kids are lucky if they get the opportunity to do even that.
Today, Monday, has been a really successful day. Coming into this trip, I was the most nervous about what our relationship with the community would be. Last night, we talked with John about setting up a community meeting to introduce ourselves and the project and get to know the community. Nothing like this has ever been done before so I was uncertain and nervous. John went around to houses this morning to inform people of a meeting today afternoon at 3pm in the clinic. This way of last minute scheduling is so new and unsettling to me. A meeting has never been done before so we were really unsure of how it would turn out. I was pretty nervous about how the community would receive us. Around 3 though, I noticed some people were actually starting to arrive outside the clinic. By about 3:30ish there were nearly 70 people! I couldn't believe so many people were taking us seriously and actually took time to walk here. I was picked to be the main person to speak to everyone with John translating. I haven't been this nervous in front of crowd in a while. I mean, who am I to burst into this community, tell them all to come hear me talk, and then demand to know about their lives. I was really uncertain about how I'd be received but God ensured everything would work out. They were so eager to meet us. Many had seen us working in the village earlier too. We conveyed the project process and our goals for this trip. We had spent a lot of time planning how to present the information as miscommunication is easy and we don't want to create large breakable promises. I think they understood the process. We readily learned that access to water is an enormous problem. Though they've dealt with it their whole lives many said they were getting old. They were concerned for the their kids' safety as the main road is going to be expanded and thus will become busier. There is only water on one side of the hill in the valley, leaving the others with the burden of walking 2 miles up and downhill to get water. They had many ideas of what was wrong but also ideas about what could be done. Their questions were very detailed and poignant. We found only 10 people boiled their water occasionally. They seemed to really like the idea of meetings and now want to hold weekly community meetings. We chatted with many of them afterwards and some guys taught us more Lugandan. It's a very strange experience holding a meeting via translation. I'm definitely going to learn more Lugandan. The kids watched Baby's Day Out, incidently the only movie I actually own, on John's laptop :) John has been absolutely incredible and so dedicated to the project and to the clinic. Without him and our little guide, Jeff, this project would not be possible.
Living within the community has been really helpful in terms of getting to know them. It's fun collecting rainwater to take our occasional super cold baths ;) We have a nightly ritual of gearing up with headlights, water bottles, and toothbrushes and gathering around an outdoor pit to brush our teeth. The night is so dark. I've never seen such darkness. Clear night skies are packed with stars and we can see Saturn. It's a lot of fun chatting with everyone at the clinic and talking with Tom and Monica about their experiences.
The end of the caravan of yellow jerrycans bobbling on bikes and heads passed by just before the quick sunset.
Sula Bulungi.
Mzungu, Helen
The flight passed by quickly with the aid of endless movies and TV. When we landed, Becca and I stood up, looked at each other, and broke into ear-to-ear grins. We were finally in Uganda. After all the hurdles and headache we went through, it felt incredible to finally be here. Our first minor hiccup was that the taxi the hostel had sent was too small so we waited for another one. The Backpacker's hostel just outside of Kampala was pretty nice. I relished my last hot shower for a few weeks there. The number of foreigners there surprised me. I was also surpised to run into Tom and Monica at Backpackers. They are fellows from Union College, working at Engeye for 9 months. It was helpful to have someone to show you around from the beginning.
"Please conserve water use at the Backpackers. Uganda cannot generate enough electricity to meet demand. We have one day of electricity and one day without. So we cannot pump enough water. If we waste water, we are left with none."
During our 3.5 hour taxi ride the next morning to Ddegeya, I noticed the place really reminded me of India-the layout, the bustling markets, and the landscape. As soon as we arrived, the peacefulness of Ddegeya and the green rolling hills mesmerized me. A group of hyper curious kids immediately greeted us. The living quarters at Engeye are really comfortable. Quite frankly, using a latrine is way cleaner than any toilet in France's most expensive palaces.
The past two days have been incredibly busy. We're getting siginificantly better at doing lab work in the field. I definitely enjoy field lab work better than bench lab work. Maybe it's the feeling of being outdoors and getting your boots muddy (EMS boots are very versatile. Becca thinks they look more like combat boots), the kids jumping around and poking at things, or the ability to immediately see the problem at hand.
John, the clinic manager, and Hudson, a clinic scholar, took us around at the beginning to see all the water sources. Doing our work, we've been able to really see the village in action. The kids continue to amaze me the most. I've never seen happier kids. So far I've only heard one kid cry. We're getting to know each other by name and we continue to attract crowds of curious 3-4ft tall onlookers. One 3 year old boy, Axom, tagged along with us all of Sunday. We noticed he had an infected ear that must have been hurting him because he was continuously clutching it. Yet, he never once cried or complained. John's son, Jeff, is definitely one of the cutest kids I've ever met. He likes to be our guide as we explore the village and is bursting with energy from sunrise to bedtime. He speaks very good English too. I know I've heard that in many poor communities it is the kids' job to fetch the water but I never really understood that comment until now. These kids haul their weight in water several times a day. We've tried carrying some. These cans are HEAVY. Many must walk about 1.5 miles to the nearest water source and carry the water back uphill. These young girls have some serious guns. Many of them also carry firewood that is in bundles much bigger than them. They have invented unique ways of riding bikes, that are too big for them, to carry water, but many have to push the bikes laden with jerrycans uphill. How many more pictures will I have to take before I realize that taking pictures of them carrying water is as silly as me taking a picture of you turning on your faucet? It's that everyday.
We learned that many kids really do skip school to get water, at least those that can afford school. You know how you're grandparents always say, "back in my day we walked 1.5 hours to and from school." Well, these kids are lucky if they get the opportunity to do even that.
Today, Monday, has been a really successful day. Coming into this trip, I was the most nervous about what our relationship with the community would be. Last night, we talked with John about setting up a community meeting to introduce ourselves and the project and get to know the community. Nothing like this has ever been done before so I was uncertain and nervous. John went around to houses this morning to inform people of a meeting today afternoon at 3pm in the clinic. This way of last minute scheduling is so new and unsettling to me. A meeting has never been done before so we were really unsure of how it would turn out. I was pretty nervous about how the community would receive us. Around 3 though, I noticed some people were actually starting to arrive outside the clinic. By about 3:30ish there were nearly 70 people! I couldn't believe so many people were taking us seriously and actually took time to walk here. I was picked to be the main person to speak to everyone with John translating. I haven't been this nervous in front of crowd in a while. I mean, who am I to burst into this community, tell them all to come hear me talk, and then demand to know about their lives. I was really uncertain about how I'd be received but God ensured everything would work out. They were so eager to meet us. Many had seen us working in the village earlier too. We conveyed the project process and our goals for this trip. We had spent a lot of time planning how to present the information as miscommunication is easy and we don't want to create large breakable promises. I think they understood the process. We readily learned that access to water is an enormous problem. Though they've dealt with it their whole lives many said they were getting old. They were concerned for the their kids' safety as the main road is going to be expanded and thus will become busier. There is only water on one side of the hill in the valley, leaving the others with the burden of walking 2 miles up and downhill to get water. They had many ideas of what was wrong but also ideas about what could be done. Their questions were very detailed and poignant. We found only 10 people boiled their water occasionally. They seemed to really like the idea of meetings and now want to hold weekly community meetings. We chatted with many of them afterwards and some guys taught us more Lugandan. It's a very strange experience holding a meeting via translation. I'm definitely going to learn more Lugandan. The kids watched Baby's Day Out, incidently the only movie I actually own, on John's laptop :) John has been absolutely incredible and so dedicated to the project and to the clinic. Without him and our little guide, Jeff, this project would not be possible.
Living within the community has been really helpful in terms of getting to know them. It's fun collecting rainwater to take our occasional super cold baths ;) We have a nightly ritual of gearing up with headlights, water bottles, and toothbrushes and gathering around an outdoor pit to brush our teeth. The night is so dark. I've never seen such darkness. Clear night skies are packed with stars and we can see Saturn. It's a lot of fun chatting with everyone at the clinic and talking with Tom and Monica about their experiences.
The end of the caravan of yellow jerrycans bobbling on bikes and heads passed by just before the quick sunset.
Sula Bulungi.
Mzungu, Helen
