Hello on our last full day in Uganda! Shavi, Marisa, and Emmanuel are in Ddegeya while Angela and Tess are in Kampala.
In Kampala, we have not managed to get the crates out of customs, but our customs agent continues to be hopeful and estimates they will be released on Tuesday. We have some more fees to pay, but things are still going fairly smoothly on that side. Tess has spent her time baking several batches of chocolate chip cookies, which are a welcome taste of home and a thank you present to Angela's family for being so generous while we've been here. Tess also went to a traditional Ugandan dance show with Alan, which was very fun. She got lots of good video. We wish we could be in Ddegeya to help wrap up, but we're making the best of the situation we have!
Back in Ddegeya, we hit a speed bump with our manual for the panels and electrical system, as it was unable to be printed in Masaka. We are going to email an electronic version of the manual to John, with the hope that he will be able to print it out later in a different format. Emmanuel and Shavi did a final look-over of the wiring system and everything looks good. They also went over the system carefully with both John and Elliot so they understand how it will work in the future. They also worked with John and Elliot to make a model of the solar panel mounts, so that John and Elliot can construct the mounts when they arrive.
The tank is being built quickly, and should be done by the end of Monday. When the tank is done, John is going to send us lots of pictures- very exciting! Marisa was sick yesterday but feels much better today. Hopefully she won't feel sick on the flight- that would be unpleasant. Tonight they are enjoying Ugandan soda and eating sweet bananas to celebrate their last night in Uganda. Everything is wrapping up well, and Shavi, Marisa, and Emmanuel are all coming to Kampala tomorrow to meet Tess and Angela. Then Shavi, Marisa, and Tess will go to the airport, and off to the US we go! See you all soon!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
August 26- Kampala and Ddegeya
So the crates aren't ready today, and I'm not sure they'll be ready before we leave. But they might get through- it depends on if the Uganda National Board of Standards (UNBS) needs to check the solar panels or not. Usually they do, but because these are donated by BP, it is possible (and according to our customs agent, probable) that the crates can be let through without inspection. When the crates do go through, either Tess or John needs to be there to pick them up from customs. So, since it is so unclear, Tess is waiting in Kampala for more news and hopefully for the panels, while Shavi goes back to Ddegeya to continue actually being useful. Tonight Tess will stay with Angela's parents and Angela will come to Kampala to join her tomorrow. We are preparing for the possibility that Tess will not go back to Ddegeya, which makes Tess a little sad, but if the crates don't come, might be necessary.
Last night, Tess and Shavi had a good time staying at Red Chili's, a hostel in Kampala. We played every card game we could think of, and had burgers and french fries (Shavi had a fish burger, I had beef). This morning we decided on our plan forward, found out that Shavi can go to Amsterdam without a visa (yay! He wants to go explore on our 5 hour layover), and found a rolex stand (a rolex is chapatti and egg and some veggies), so it was a good morning.
Back in Ddegeya, construction of the tank is still underway and making progress. All the material for gutters has been bought, and now needs to be attached to the house. The manual for the solar panel system is just about complete, and now needs to be printed out for John and Elliot and others at the clinic. Things are wrapping up as we try to make sure everything is done and explained before we leave on Sunday.
Let's hope for the best for our crates, and for the rest of our project as we wrap it all up!
Last night, Tess and Shavi had a good time staying at Red Chili's, a hostel in Kampala. We played every card game we could think of, and had burgers and french fries (Shavi had a fish burger, I had beef). This morning we decided on our plan forward, found out that Shavi can go to Amsterdam without a visa (yay! He wants to go explore on our 5 hour layover), and found a rolex stand (a rolex is chapatti and egg and some veggies), so it was a good morning.
Back in Ddegeya, construction of the tank is still underway and making progress. All the material for gutters has been bought, and now needs to be attached to the house. The manual for the solar panel system is just about complete, and now needs to be printed out for John and Elliot and others at the clinic. Things are wrapping up as we try to make sure everything is done and explained before we leave on Sunday.
Let's hope for the best for our crates, and for the rest of our project as we wrap it all up!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
August 25- Kampala and Ddegeya
Hello from Kampala! Angela, Emmanuel, and Marisa are currently in Ddegeya while Shavi and Tess are in Kampala. Some exciting things have happened since I last wrote.
The construction of a 10,000 L tank started on Monday and is now well underway. The foundation is done and the walls of the actual tank have now been started- last I saw they were 5 layers of bricks up. It looks beautiful so far- its cylindrical- and I'm very excited to see it when we're back in Ddegeya. We have been helping mostly by doing the physical labor- mixing cement with shovels- but yesterday Tess got to help put mortar between the bricks of the tank which was extremely exciting. We are also in the process of attaching gutters to the house, but it's kind of a process because it requires 161 feet of gutters. It hadn't really rained since I got here, but it has been raining the past two days, so apparently the rainy season is starting. With the rainy season starting up, we really can't get this tank and the gutters up fast enough!
The community has been really helpful- donating money and bricks and food for the workers. We have had to buy some bricks to move the process along faster, but the community is going to pay us back for those bricks. We hope that the community really gets to feel ownership for this tank and keeps it in good shape while we're gone.
Also, we got a TIN for Engeye!! Good job John! Tess and Shavi are currently in Kampala to pay taxes on the non-solar panel crate, and hopefully to bring the crates back. Our customs agent thinks they'll be ready to go tomorrow, but we'll see if that's true. I really hope so. It would be great to get the crates there before we leave, even if it's just 2 or 3 days before we leave.
We all can't believe we're leaving so soon- 4 days!- but we're also very excited to see our friends back at MIT. And also for hot showers, American food, rooms without bats, and internet! And also getting to eat entire chocolate bars by ourselves, instead of splitting one Snickers or Cadbury bar 7 ways every night -that one might mostly apply to Tess =).
To all our friends back at home- see you soon! And to everyone else who is reading this- thanks for your support through this trip! Hopefully we will get the crates through before we leave so that we can adequately teach the clinic staff to put up the panels. And hopefully the tank will be almost done when we hop on our planes home.
I'll try and post again to keep you updated on the crates, but if not, see you in Boston!
The construction of a 10,000 L tank started on Monday and is now well underway. The foundation is done and the walls of the actual tank have now been started- last I saw they were 5 layers of bricks up. It looks beautiful so far- its cylindrical- and I'm very excited to see it when we're back in Ddegeya. We have been helping mostly by doing the physical labor- mixing cement with shovels- but yesterday Tess got to help put mortar between the bricks of the tank which was extremely exciting. We are also in the process of attaching gutters to the house, but it's kind of a process because it requires 161 feet of gutters. It hadn't really rained since I got here, but it has been raining the past two days, so apparently the rainy season is starting. With the rainy season starting up, we really can't get this tank and the gutters up fast enough!
The community has been really helpful- donating money and bricks and food for the workers. We have had to buy some bricks to move the process along faster, but the community is going to pay us back for those bricks. We hope that the community really gets to feel ownership for this tank and keeps it in good shape while we're gone.
Also, we got a TIN for Engeye!! Good job John! Tess and Shavi are currently in Kampala to pay taxes on the non-solar panel crate, and hopefully to bring the crates back. Our customs agent thinks they'll be ready to go tomorrow, but we'll see if that's true. I really hope so. It would be great to get the crates there before we leave, even if it's just 2 or 3 days before we leave.
We all can't believe we're leaving so soon- 4 days!- but we're also very excited to see our friends back at MIT. And also for hot showers, American food, rooms without bats, and internet! And also getting to eat entire chocolate bars by ourselves, instead of splitting one Snickers or Cadbury bar 7 ways every night -that one might mostly apply to Tess =).
To all our friends back at home- see you soon! And to everyone else who is reading this- thanks for your support through this trip! Hopefully we will get the crates through before we leave so that we can adequately teach the clinic staff to put up the panels. And hopefully the tank will be almost done when we hop on our planes home.
I'll try and post again to keep you updated on the crates, but if not, see you in Boston!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
August 22- Ddegeya
Hello everyone! Angela, Marisa and Tess are in Masaka looking for supplies and taking out money, while Shavi and Emmanuel are visiting the welder to try and fix the drill bit, which broke last week. This afternoon we will dig more. Fun, fun!
A lot has happened since I last wrote. We have decided to construct a brick 10,000 L rain water collection tank next to a house that has a lot of roof area to gutter. We are hoping that this rain water collection can help support at least 5 households during the rainy season, cutting down on the need to go to the borehole, and providing the families with cleaner water for drinking during that time. Of course, we only have one week left until we leave, so we are busy getting materials together for that. The Water Management Board has been incredibly helpful, and the whole community has been donating bricks and time to the project. The tank will take approximately 3 weeks to construct, including making the foundation and the physical tank. We are hoping that because a lot of the community will help in the construction, they will learn how to make brick tanks, and will be able to make their own smaller versions themselves. There are a lot of brick makers in town, so it is not very hard to find supplies. Hopefully we'll get the last materials today and will be able to start construction tomorrow!
In other news, the TIN that we finally managed to get apparently is useless. We got a TIN for John (the manager of the clinic) thinking that his TIN would be good enough. We chose to do this because it is much easier to get a TIN for an individual than it is for an organization, and we had some miscommunications with our customs agent. But once we got the TIN, we found out that we can't use it, and that we have to have a TIN for the organization as a whole. John has been working amazingly hard to get us these TINs, and has spent a lot of time in Kampala working with the Uganda Revenue Authority for us. We have applied for a TIN for Engeye, but it will probably take some time to get through all the bureaucracy here. Basically, we are not going to get either crate while we are here. We were hoping to get the crate that does not have the solar panels because it has the mounts, which are the hardest part to install. Now, as a substitute, we are going to create a kind of miniature version of the solar panel mounts so that John and Elliot (the manager and a fellowship student who is here for 9 months) can use the model as a reference when they put the mounts up. So we are also working hard on getting that model of the mounting system together.
We pretty much finished wiring yesterday, which is awesome. We were very excited. Maybe one more hour of that left in total. Very cool! We are also hoping to do more digging in the next week, but that has taken a smaller priority than the tank and the model mounts at this point.
In other news, Tess got a pretty bad stomach bug and was unable to work for about 2 days, but is now feeling very good. Hooray for medication! Angela has also been sick with a flu, but seems to be getting over it, although she still has a cough. The medical mission left this past weekend, so it is really quiet at the clinic now. It's odd at meal times- very empty and quiet. Besides that everything is good. We're all getting excited to go back, although we're also anxious to get all our work done first. I'll try and keep you posted. Only seven more work days left including today!
A lot has happened since I last wrote. We have decided to construct a brick 10,000 L rain water collection tank next to a house that has a lot of roof area to gutter. We are hoping that this rain water collection can help support at least 5 households during the rainy season, cutting down on the need to go to the borehole, and providing the families with cleaner water for drinking during that time. Of course, we only have one week left until we leave, so we are busy getting materials together for that. The Water Management Board has been incredibly helpful, and the whole community has been donating bricks and time to the project. The tank will take approximately 3 weeks to construct, including making the foundation and the physical tank. We are hoping that because a lot of the community will help in the construction, they will learn how to make brick tanks, and will be able to make their own smaller versions themselves. There are a lot of brick makers in town, so it is not very hard to find supplies. Hopefully we'll get the last materials today and will be able to start construction tomorrow!
In other news, the TIN that we finally managed to get apparently is useless. We got a TIN for John (the manager of the clinic) thinking that his TIN would be good enough. We chose to do this because it is much easier to get a TIN for an individual than it is for an organization, and we had some miscommunications with our customs agent. But once we got the TIN, we found out that we can't use it, and that we have to have a TIN for the organization as a whole. John has been working amazingly hard to get us these TINs, and has spent a lot of time in Kampala working with the Uganda Revenue Authority for us. We have applied for a TIN for Engeye, but it will probably take some time to get through all the bureaucracy here. Basically, we are not going to get either crate while we are here. We were hoping to get the crate that does not have the solar panels because it has the mounts, which are the hardest part to install. Now, as a substitute, we are going to create a kind of miniature version of the solar panel mounts so that John and Elliot (the manager and a fellowship student who is here for 9 months) can use the model as a reference when they put the mounts up. So we are also working hard on getting that model of the mounting system together.
We pretty much finished wiring yesterday, which is awesome. We were very excited. Maybe one more hour of that left in total. Very cool! We are also hoping to do more digging in the next week, but that has taken a smaller priority than the tank and the model mounts at this point.
In other news, Tess got a pretty bad stomach bug and was unable to work for about 2 days, but is now feeling very good. Hooray for medication! Angela has also been sick with a flu, but seems to be getting over it, although she still has a cough. The medical mission left this past weekend, so it is really quiet at the clinic now. It's odd at meal times- very empty and quiet. Besides that everything is good. We're all getting excited to go back, although we're also anxious to get all our work done first. I'll try and keep you posted. Only seven more work days left including today!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
August 17- Kampala and Ddegeya
Hello from Kampala and happy belated birthday Shavi! Most of the team is in Ddegeya, but Angela and Tess are in Kampala at the moment. Angela has been in Kampala since we came back on Thursday and has been getting her visa to go back to school. Tess only just got here today. Since I (Tess) last wrote, we celebrated Shavi's birthday with a nice dinner in Jinja on Saturday and then joined Michael and Elliot (a friend from the clinic) for dessert and cards and heard lots of fun stories about their white water rafting experience. On Sunday we headed back to Ddegeya. We arrived in Ddegeya after a long and uncomfortable day of traveling, but full of delicious chapattis and happy to find out that we were having chapatti for dinner as well. I had a yummy rolex (a chapatti with egg, avocado, cabbage, onion, and for everyone else, tomato, wrapped up in it), as well as many plain chapattis that day. I think I will need to learn to make chapatti back in the US because they are delicious.
Yesterday we did a lot of work. Marisa spent the morning finishing the biosand filter, so that it is now fully assembled and not even leaking! Woo! Shavi and Alan went to Masaka to pick up more materials and to get the metal that we bought in Kampala on Thursday turned into a drill bit so we can dig. Tess, Emmanuel, and Michael spent the morning walking around with the one of the hosts, Mrs. Mwenika, finding and measuring the houses that the Water Board suggested for rain water catchment. It ended up being a 3 hour hike on probably the hottest day so far, so by the end of it we were very excited for lunch. After lunch, Marisa, Emma, and Tess decided to go back to those same houses with a GPS to make sure we knew exactly where they were. At the same time, Shavi and Alan continued working on making the drill bit, and Michael got to do some of his work, which was good. At dinner, I happily announced to everyone that it was Shavi's birthday and we sang him a birthday song. 21! Very exciting.
This morning, Michael, Marisa, Alan, and Tess went to a broken borehole with 2 carjacks, with the hope of fixing it. This borehole had been repaired by the previous EWB group, but when putting it back together, some part of the pump had stuck, and so it still wasn't functioning. Unfortunately, even with carjacks lifting this pump up, the pump was still very much stuck and we did not see a way to unstick it. We will have to abandon that pump until we know more about it or can get a rig in to fix it (which we probably can't do since it's in the middle of nowhere surrounded by crop fields).
At the same time, Emmanuel and Shavi went back to Masaka (poor Shavi- going in again) to get one more thread put on a pipe, so that the drill bit can be attached. I also called Eunice (our customs clearing agent) and found out that we need to get a document to Entebbe, and it can't be faxed or scanned- needs to be the original document. So John gave me the paperwork, and I headed off to Kampala after lunch. Before that though the guys got a lot more wiring done and we also got about 30 free bricks from a local brickmaker so we can experiment with making a brick water tank for rainwater catchment.
The trip took a long time and there was a lot of traffic because of rain, so I didn't get a chance to drop off the document today (it ended up taking 6 hours from Engeye to Angela's house). Tomorrow morning I will drop the document with our clearing agent so she can keep working, and Angela needs to go get her passport at 2:30, so we're not sure exactly when we're heading back, or if we're heading back together. Tomorrow evening is the second Water Management Board meeting, so hopefully that goes well, and hopefully I'll be back before that. I finished my book on the drive here, so I'm not quite sure what I'll do on the 3 or 4 hour journey back, but I'm sure I'll manage.
Time is getting short! Michael and Alan leave our team on Friday, and the rest of us leave the following Sunday. Amazing how time flies!
Yesterday we did a lot of work. Marisa spent the morning finishing the biosand filter, so that it is now fully assembled and not even leaking! Woo! Shavi and Alan went to Masaka to pick up more materials and to get the metal that we bought in Kampala on Thursday turned into a drill bit so we can dig. Tess, Emmanuel, and Michael spent the morning walking around with the one of the hosts, Mrs. Mwenika, finding and measuring the houses that the Water Board suggested for rain water catchment. It ended up being a 3 hour hike on probably the hottest day so far, so by the end of it we were very excited for lunch. After lunch, Marisa, Emma, and Tess decided to go back to those same houses with a GPS to make sure we knew exactly where they were. At the same time, Shavi and Alan continued working on making the drill bit, and Michael got to do some of his work, which was good. At dinner, I happily announced to everyone that it was Shavi's birthday and we sang him a birthday song. 21! Very exciting.
This morning, Michael, Marisa, Alan, and Tess went to a broken borehole with 2 carjacks, with the hope of fixing it. This borehole had been repaired by the previous EWB group, but when putting it back together, some part of the pump had stuck, and so it still wasn't functioning. Unfortunately, even with carjacks lifting this pump up, the pump was still very much stuck and we did not see a way to unstick it. We will have to abandon that pump until we know more about it or can get a rig in to fix it (which we probably can't do since it's in the middle of nowhere surrounded by crop fields).
At the same time, Emmanuel and Shavi went back to Masaka (poor Shavi- going in again) to get one more thread put on a pipe, so that the drill bit can be attached. I also called Eunice (our customs clearing agent) and found out that we need to get a document to Entebbe, and it can't be faxed or scanned- needs to be the original document. So John gave me the paperwork, and I headed off to Kampala after lunch. Before that though the guys got a lot more wiring done and we also got about 30 free bricks from a local brickmaker so we can experiment with making a brick water tank for rainwater catchment.
The trip took a long time and there was a lot of traffic because of rain, so I didn't get a chance to drop off the document today (it ended up taking 6 hours from Engeye to Angela's house). Tomorrow morning I will drop the document with our clearing agent so she can keep working, and Angela needs to go get her passport at 2:30, so we're not sure exactly when we're heading back, or if we're heading back together. Tomorrow evening is the second Water Management Board meeting, so hopefully that goes well, and hopefully I'll be back before that. I finished my book on the drive here, so I'm not quite sure what I'll do on the 3 or 4 hour journey back, but I'm sure I'll manage.
Time is getting short! Michael and Alan leave our team on Friday, and the rest of us leave the following Sunday. Amazing how time flies!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
August 14- Jinja
Hello from Jinja! Shavi, Marisa, Tess, Emmanuel, and Michael are all in Jinja, while Bryan is back in the US and Angela and Alan are in Kampala.
This past week the whole group got a lot done. We were sorry to see Bryan leave, but we kept busy washing and sieving sand and even starting to dig test holes for boreholes. We finished the sand and attached the PVC pipe for the filter, so when we get back from Jinja we can actually construct our filter! Very exciting. We also started digging a test hole after buying 3 steel pipes in Masaka (the pipes we bought in the US are currently stuck in customs). It is very tiring work as the ground is apparently entirely made of clay in Ddegeya, but so far we've dug 9 feet into a pre-existing shallow hole, so our test hole reaches 13 feet into the ground. No water yet, but when we met with Uganda Village Project (another NGO in the area), they told us that the harder it is to find the water, the cleaner and more abundant the water ends up being. So we're going with that theory for now.
Then on Thursday the group headed to Kampala and shopped for metal to make a drill bit so our digging is easier. Angela and Alan then went home and Michael went to meetings regarding other NGO's that he's a part of, and Emmanuel, Shavi, Marisa, and Tess went shopping for gifts for people back home. Emmanuel was a great tour guide, and we saw more mzungus than we had in a while. We met up with Michael for dinner and (after some searching) found a restaurant that many of Michael's friends had suggested. When we got there the place was full of mzungus, but we figured that was normal. Apparently, it was not normal. We got drinks immediately, but ended up waiting an hour before they asked us what food we wanted. It then took another 2 hours before we got any food at all. All the mzungus ordered steak and were very excited about it. However, we were less excited when it was 10 pm and we still hadn't even been given bread. Anyways, the food finally came (after Tess went down and talked quite angrily to the manager) but the food was a much smaller portion than they usually give, they didn't have soup or dessert and they didn't have half of the sides that the meal was supposed to come with. Obviously, we were a little annoyed, but the food that we did get was delicious, and we ended up paying the equivalent of $3.50 for quite a lot of steak. So it kind of worked out in the end. We then went to the hostel (except for Emmanuel who went to his Kampala home) and slept very well.
The next day, Shavi, Michael, Marisa, Emmanuel, and Tess went to Jinja to meet with an NGO called the Uganda Village Project (UVP) and have a vacation. Meeting with UVP was very interesting- they made us think more about water storage, which we hadn't considered much before, and they showed us a successful shallow well that a village dug, which made us hopeful that we could do that in Ddegeya. We also got to try a rolex (not the watch- its chapatti and omelet wrapped up) which was yummy, but could have used some spicy curry or peppers or something. We then went with that NGO to the Mabira forest outside of Jinja, where they were having a goodbye goat roast for one of their members. We walked around the rain forest and saw a ton of monkeys, and then got to eat delicious goat meat and popcorn. Everyone but Emmanuel then headed to a hostel in Jinja, while Emmanuel went to his house near Jinja. When we got to the hostel, we were hungry because we hadn't had that much goat meat, so Marisa and I ordered burgers and french fries (it's been so nice getting mzungu food!!), Shavi got a tuna sandwich, and Michael got a salad. It was really yummy and we topped it off with smoothies. We then were really full, and headed to bed very happily.
Today, Michael went white water rafting on the Nile, while Shavi, Marisa, and Tess wandered around the Jinja area. We don't know yet how rafting was, but we're sure he had a good time. The rest of us had pancakes this morning (I have actually been craving pancakes for a week) and then went to Bujagali Falls, which were beautiful. We spent some time there and took lots of pictures, and then headed into Jinja town. We got some money and then wandered around for a while. We ended up finding a mzungu place to eat and got sandwiches and hummus and salads and even ice cream! We're really spoiling ourselves while we can. It was awesome. We then headed to the source of the Nile where we saw lots of cormorants and went on a boat ride around the source and a little bit of Lake Victoria. We then did a little more gift shopping (we've become experts at bargaining) and then headed back to the hostel. We are now relaxing and getting ready for a birthday dinner for Shavi, who turns 21 on Monday. We've been having a really good time, and I think we all feel much more energetic heading towards our last two weeks.
In official news, we got a TIN!! Wooooooooo! John put a lot of work into it on Friday (he's been great) so now our customs clearance agent should be able to get one of our crates through before we leave! We're very excited about that.
Tomorrow we head back to Kampala and then Ddegeya to get back to work, but we've had a great weekend off. I'm sure our new found energy (both from rest and from finally eating protein!) will allow us to get a lot done our last two weeks. Hard to believe only 2 weeks left!
This past week the whole group got a lot done. We were sorry to see Bryan leave, but we kept busy washing and sieving sand and even starting to dig test holes for boreholes. We finished the sand and attached the PVC pipe for the filter, so when we get back from Jinja we can actually construct our filter! Very exciting. We also started digging a test hole after buying 3 steel pipes in Masaka (the pipes we bought in the US are currently stuck in customs). It is very tiring work as the ground is apparently entirely made of clay in Ddegeya, but so far we've dug 9 feet into a pre-existing shallow hole, so our test hole reaches 13 feet into the ground. No water yet, but when we met with Uganda Village Project (another NGO in the area), they told us that the harder it is to find the water, the cleaner and more abundant the water ends up being. So we're going with that theory for now.
Then on Thursday the group headed to Kampala and shopped for metal to make a drill bit so our digging is easier. Angela and Alan then went home and Michael went to meetings regarding other NGO's that he's a part of, and Emmanuel, Shavi, Marisa, and Tess went shopping for gifts for people back home. Emmanuel was a great tour guide, and we saw more mzungus than we had in a while. We met up with Michael for dinner and (after some searching) found a restaurant that many of Michael's friends had suggested. When we got there the place was full of mzungus, but we figured that was normal. Apparently, it was not normal. We got drinks immediately, but ended up waiting an hour before they asked us what food we wanted. It then took another 2 hours before we got any food at all. All the mzungus ordered steak and were very excited about it. However, we were less excited when it was 10 pm and we still hadn't even been given bread. Anyways, the food finally came (after Tess went down and talked quite angrily to the manager) but the food was a much smaller portion than they usually give, they didn't have soup or dessert and they didn't have half of the sides that the meal was supposed to come with. Obviously, we were a little annoyed, but the food that we did get was delicious, and we ended up paying the equivalent of $3.50 for quite a lot of steak. So it kind of worked out in the end. We then went to the hostel (except for Emmanuel who went to his Kampala home) and slept very well.
The next day, Shavi, Michael, Marisa, Emmanuel, and Tess went to Jinja to meet with an NGO called the Uganda Village Project (UVP) and have a vacation. Meeting with UVP was very interesting- they made us think more about water storage, which we hadn't considered much before, and they showed us a successful shallow well that a village dug, which made us hopeful that we could do that in Ddegeya. We also got to try a rolex (not the watch- its chapatti and omelet wrapped up) which was yummy, but could have used some spicy curry or peppers or something. We then went with that NGO to the Mabira forest outside of Jinja, where they were having a goodbye goat roast for one of their members. We walked around the rain forest and saw a ton of monkeys, and then got to eat delicious goat meat and popcorn. Everyone but Emmanuel then headed to a hostel in Jinja, while Emmanuel went to his house near Jinja. When we got to the hostel, we were hungry because we hadn't had that much goat meat, so Marisa and I ordered burgers and french fries (it's been so nice getting mzungu food!!), Shavi got a tuna sandwich, and Michael got a salad. It was really yummy and we topped it off with smoothies. We then were really full, and headed to bed very happily.
Today, Michael went white water rafting on the Nile, while Shavi, Marisa, and Tess wandered around the Jinja area. We don't know yet how rafting was, but we're sure he had a good time. The rest of us had pancakes this morning (I have actually been craving pancakes for a week) and then went to Bujagali Falls, which were beautiful. We spent some time there and took lots of pictures, and then headed into Jinja town. We got some money and then wandered around for a while. We ended up finding a mzungu place to eat and got sandwiches and hummus and salads and even ice cream! We're really spoiling ourselves while we can. It was awesome. We then headed to the source of the Nile where we saw lots of cormorants and went on a boat ride around the source and a little bit of Lake Victoria. We then did a little more gift shopping (we've become experts at bargaining) and then headed back to the hostel. We are now relaxing and getting ready for a birthday dinner for Shavi, who turns 21 on Monday. We've been having a really good time, and I think we all feel much more energetic heading towards our last two weeks.
In official news, we got a TIN!! Wooooooooo! John put a lot of work into it on Friday (he's been great) so now our customs clearance agent should be able to get one of our crates through before we leave! We're very excited about that.
Tomorrow we head back to Kampala and then Ddegeya to get back to work, but we've had a great weekend off. I'm sure our new found energy (both from rest and from finally eating protein!) will allow us to get a lot done our last two weeks. Hard to believe only 2 weeks left!
Monday, August 9, 2010
August 9 - Ddegeya
The medical mission arrives today and Bryan leaves tomorrow so there are lots of changes happening soon. The wiring is pretty much done, except for the panels of course, and the sand sieving is coming along, although very slowly (that's actually all I did yesterday and we're still only 2/3 of the way through sifting the sand, let alone washing it). Today, Shavi, Alan, and Tess went to Masaka to shop for a few more electrical parts to neaten the wiring and to look for several parts for the water project- pipes to dig test wells, gutters to do rain water collection, tarps and cement and rebars to make a prototype concrete rain water collection tank, and more. Meanwhile, Emmanuel, Marisa, and Angela went to talk to some villagers who we think are potential water board members, while Bryan came along for the ride so he could get to see more of the village before he leaves. This afternoon will be focused on transitioning and planning (and of course sieving more sand) so that we're ready for the coming weeks.
Things are still all on course, although we're still experiencing hiccups with the crates- apparently we have a certificate of registration, which is not a TIN, but will allow us to get a TIN in 4 to 28 days. So that's progress, but we're not as close as I had hoped. Sifting sand is a very long process, but we are making it fun by listening to music and drumming to the beat. It takes a long time, but we're getting great sand so we're hopeful that the filter could work.
Things are going well- we've covered our misquito net with tin foil so that the bat can't pee on us and we're having a very good time together as a team. The night sky is amazing here- you can see the milky way!- so that's been fun. As always, the kids are great, and everyone at the clinic is very nice. Let's hope the medical mission transition goes well!
Things are still all on course, although we're still experiencing hiccups with the crates- apparently we have a certificate of registration, which is not a TIN, but will allow us to get a TIN in 4 to 28 days. So that's progress, but we're not as close as I had hoped. Sifting sand is a very long process, but we are making it fun by listening to music and drumming to the beat. It takes a long time, but we're getting great sand so we're hopeful that the filter could work.
Things are going well- we've covered our misquito net with tin foil so that the bat can't pee on us and we're having a very good time together as a team. The night sky is amazing here- you can see the milky way!- so that's been fun. As always, the kids are great, and everyone at the clinic is very nice. Let's hope the medical mission transition goes well!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
August 7- Ddegeya
Hey everyone!
We've made some amazing progress on all sides of our project since my last post. The clinic's wiring is close to complete for the solar panels- conduit is up in the ceiling (I can't wait to show people pictures of that process!- lots of boys up on very tall ladders), sand is halfway sifted, and partway washed for our filters, a TIN for the clinic has been acquired (so we should be able to get at least one of the crates through soon), and we're all having a great time.
It's been fun having both Michael (our mentor) and Alan (a Makerere student) added to our team, and many hands has made the work go by much faster. We've been having some adventures clearing out wells- Marisa pulled a mashed up mango out of a borehole- figuring out how to sleep- bats have been peeing on Angela while she sleeps- and exercising- I had a bunch of people imitating my crew workout where I was doing squats for 2 minutes. They thought it was hilarious.
It's been hard work, but we're making a lot of progress. Today is laundry day, and meeting people day. We're hoping to make some good progress on a Village Water Management Board this week. A medical mission comes in on Monday, so the place is going to be swamped. We are aiming to have the wiring done by the time they arrive, so we've been working very hard. Once the wiring is done, we will focus on the water project and finding new energy projects until the crates arrive.
Weather has been beautiful- the sunrise this morning was amazing! Only 3 weeks left for most of us! (2 weeks for Michael and only a few days for Bryan!) so we're enjoying it while we can =)
We've made some amazing progress on all sides of our project since my last post. The clinic's wiring is close to complete for the solar panels- conduit is up in the ceiling (I can't wait to show people pictures of that process!- lots of boys up on very tall ladders), sand is halfway sifted, and partway washed for our filters, a TIN for the clinic has been acquired (so we should be able to get at least one of the crates through soon), and we're all having a great time.
It's been fun having both Michael (our mentor) and Alan (a Makerere student) added to our team, and many hands has made the work go by much faster. We've been having some adventures clearing out wells- Marisa pulled a mashed up mango out of a borehole- figuring out how to sleep- bats have been peeing on Angela while she sleeps- and exercising- I had a bunch of people imitating my crew workout where I was doing squats for 2 minutes. They thought it was hilarious.
It's been hard work, but we're making a lot of progress. Today is laundry day, and meeting people day. We're hoping to make some good progress on a Village Water Management Board this week. A medical mission comes in on Monday, so the place is going to be swamped. We are aiming to have the wiring done by the time they arrive, so we've been working very hard. Once the wiring is done, we will focus on the water project and finding new energy projects until the crates arrive.
Weather has been beautiful- the sunrise this morning was amazing! Only 3 weeks left for most of us! (2 weeks for Michael and only a few days for Bryan!) so we're enjoying it while we can =)
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
August 4- Kampala and Ddegeya
Angela and I had an informative day in Kampala. I went to a meeting with another shipping company (not FedEx), to find help on the solar panel crates. My meeting went very well- the customs agent was very clear with me and very helpful, and promised to immediately head to the airport to start dealing with the issue. She later got back to me and told me that we can use their company's TIN- the first piece to get these crates through customs. I am increasingly hopeful that this company will be able to get the solar panels through quickly. The rest of the team back at MIT is also hard at work, getting documents together to get the panels through customs.
Today we also went to the grocery store to stock up on food for the village. I had just about run out of chocolate, so I grabbed a ton of chocolate bars and a tub of peanut butter, while Angela got some fruit punch mix to make water less boring, and some instant coffee for poor tired Bryan. It was an odd group of grocery's, but hopefully it will hold us over while we (hopefully) spend the next week or 2 at Ddegeya without coming back to Kampala.
I can't speak for the team back in Ddegeya about their activities or progress. We spoke breifly today, but as airtime seems to run out quite quickly here, we couldn't talk for long. Hopefully when we head back tomorrow, we will find some good progress at the clinic. I'm looking forward to being back in the village and seeing the beautiful stars again!
Today we also went to the grocery store to stock up on food for the village. I had just about run out of chocolate, so I grabbed a ton of chocolate bars and a tub of peanut butter, while Angela got some fruit punch mix to make water less boring, and some instant coffee for poor tired Bryan. It was an odd group of grocery's, but hopefully it will hold us over while we (hopefully) spend the next week or 2 at Ddegeya without coming back to Kampala.
I can't speak for the team back in Ddegeya about their activities or progress. We spoke breifly today, but as airtime seems to run out quite quickly here, we couldn't talk for long. Hopefully when we head back tomorrow, we will find some good progress at the clinic. I'm looking forward to being back in the village and seeing the beautiful stars again!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
August 3- Kampala and Ddegeya
Hello from Kampala! Angela and I are back at her house in Ntinda (a town right next to Kampala) while the rest of the team (Bryan, Emmanuel, Shavi, Marisa, and Michael now too) are all in Ddegeya.
Things have been going well the past few days. The families that we are staying with are very nice. The girls' room is up off of the main road, in the home of Ms. Mwenika, who has been very kind and hospitable to us, even providing us hot water in the morning to wash our faces. It has taken me some time to get used to roosters crowing all morning starting at about 5 am, but besides that it has been really nice. We have their whole front room, and we bought small mattresses and misquito nets which we are sharing between the 3 of us. The guys' house is apparently also very nice, and while they don't have roosters, they do have a host who enjoys listening to the radio at high volume all night. So we all have things to get used to.
The batteries and wiring all arrived safely in Engeye and have since been unwrapped and stored as we start to connect the system together. We have also found a man to weld two 3 storied shelves that can hold the batteries and keep them neat and out of the way. The shelves should be ready tomorrow or the next day. The water section of the trip is also going well. We have found a couple sources of sand, and are looking for others to find the purest source. We have also found many of the wells that are on the water team maps from previous trips, and we are hoping that Michael will help us in evaluating what is wrong and what could be fixed. Marisa and I (Tess) went for a walk to find the wells, but did not get to two of the dirtier open wells because an older lady talked to us for so long in Luganda (I just kept repeating "I don't speak Luganda" in Luganda, but she didn't seem to care), so we eventually gave up and basically ran away back to Engeye. Maybe next time we'll take either Emmanuel or Angela.
Angela got a visa appointment for Wednesday morning at 9 am, so she needed to head back into Kampala. Then I called a man named Roey from another NGO in Uganda that imports solar panels, and he gave me a contact at JM Freight, who he suggested I talk to about getting a more reliable customs agent. I set up a meeting for Wednesday at 11 am, so that I can talk to that company. Angela and I set out back to Kampala this morning at about 9:30, after having spent only 2 days in the village. Hopefully soon we will stay there for a more extended period of time (those taxi rides really aren't that fun back and forth to Kampala). We will return to Ddegeya on Thursday, hopefully with good news from Kampala and to find some good stuff happening in Ddegeya.
We have all had fun interacting with the kids (they all decided to pile on top of Bryan, getting him dirty enough that he finally agreed to shower) and we have had a good time getting to know the other Americans at the clinic. We have also had some good walks to Kinoni since taxis don't seem to stop for us at Engeye, which is about a 2 or 3 mile walk. Everything is going well, and I will keep you updated.
Things have been going well the past few days. The families that we are staying with are very nice. The girls' room is up off of the main road, in the home of Ms. Mwenika, who has been very kind and hospitable to us, even providing us hot water in the morning to wash our faces. It has taken me some time to get used to roosters crowing all morning starting at about 5 am, but besides that it has been really nice. We have their whole front room, and we bought small mattresses and misquito nets which we are sharing between the 3 of us. The guys' house is apparently also very nice, and while they don't have roosters, they do have a host who enjoys listening to the radio at high volume all night. So we all have things to get used to.
The batteries and wiring all arrived safely in Engeye and have since been unwrapped and stored as we start to connect the system together. We have also found a man to weld two 3 storied shelves that can hold the batteries and keep them neat and out of the way. The shelves should be ready tomorrow or the next day. The water section of the trip is also going well. We have found a couple sources of sand, and are looking for others to find the purest source. We have also found many of the wells that are on the water team maps from previous trips, and we are hoping that Michael will help us in evaluating what is wrong and what could be fixed. Marisa and I (Tess) went for a walk to find the wells, but did not get to two of the dirtier open wells because an older lady talked to us for so long in Luganda (I just kept repeating "I don't speak Luganda" in Luganda, but she didn't seem to care), so we eventually gave up and basically ran away back to Engeye. Maybe next time we'll take either Emmanuel or Angela.
Angela got a visa appointment for Wednesday morning at 9 am, so she needed to head back into Kampala. Then I called a man named Roey from another NGO in Uganda that imports solar panels, and he gave me a contact at JM Freight, who he suggested I talk to about getting a more reliable customs agent. I set up a meeting for Wednesday at 11 am, so that I can talk to that company. Angela and I set out back to Kampala this morning at about 9:30, after having spent only 2 days in the village. Hopefully soon we will stay there for a more extended period of time (those taxi rides really aren't that fun back and forth to Kampala). We will return to Ddegeya on Thursday, hopefully with good news from Kampala and to find some good stuff happening in Ddegeya.
We have all had fun interacting with the kids (they all decided to pile on top of Bryan, getting him dirty enough that he finally agreed to shower) and we have had a good time getting to know the other Americans at the clinic. We have also had some good walks to Kinoni since taxis don't seem to stop for us at Engeye, which is about a 2 or 3 mile walk. Everything is going well, and I will keep you updated.
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