Helen and I just wanted to send an email letting everyone know how things aregoing. John has a modem at the clinic, so we have internet. We arrived atEntebbe yesterday at about 8pm and stayed the night at a hostel in Kampala. Wemet up with the Minerva Fellows, Tom and Monica, who were also at the hostel asthey had been in Kampala for a couple of days scouting out possible craft ideasfor the women in the village.
We left Kampala early this morning and settled in for the 4 hour ride toDdegeya. We came in a 14-person taxi, which at one point had 18 people. People stand on the side of the road and wait for a taxi going their direction,and then get in. We passed through markets and smaller towns which are bustlingalong the highway.
We stopped in Masaka to exchange money. The current rate is 2035 Ugandan shillings to the dollar. After that we headed towards Ddegeya. When we got there, we unpacked and observed our surroundings. We are staying at the clinic,in a building with two rooms, one for men and one for women, each with 8 beds init. We unpacked and inventoried all of our equipment (water tests, totalstation, GPS, etc. etc.). We had a snack of pineapple, which was really good,but different than what you would get in the US. It started raining, which itreally hasn't done much of yet apparently. It didn't last very long, maybe anhour, but we ate lunch while it rained. Our lunch (which is typical fare)consisted of rice, matooke (steamed cornstarch mixed with water), avocado, andbeans with tomatoes and onions. It was pretty good, but we'll let you knowwhat you think in a couple of days (or meals).
We hung around the clinic for a little bit. It is a magnet for children. We met some kids, like John's son Jeff, as well as his friends who live in thevillage, such as Faiza, Oliva, Akwo, Florence, Adam and many more. There are LOTS of kids here, and they are usually pretty excited to come up and try theirone English phrase, and ask what your name is. We brushed up on our Lugandanwith phrases such as Oli otya (how are you?), bulungi (good), gwanni? (what'syour name?), Kiki kino? (what's this), mazzi (water), Simanyi (I don't know),ye bale (a greeting to an adult), nyabbo (madam), ssebo (sir) and some more. And of course, nedda (no) and yee (yes).
Before John was free, Helen, her dad and I took a casual walk up the main roadthrough the village. On the way we met a lot of kids, many of whom thought Iwas Monica (the Fellow from Union College). We learned a lot of names, most ofwhich we don't remember, and got a general feeling of friendliness, at leastfrom the kids.
After the rain stopped, and John finished typing up clinic reports and meetingwith the Engeye scholars (kids that the clinic sponsors to go to better schoolsin Masaka; they are on holiday right now), he took us out to show us a lot of the water sources. The first one he took us to was a Borehole that was built by the government, but which quickly runs out of water. John said it can take an hour to fill your jerry cans. Something else we noticed is that not everyone uses funnels, so there is a lot of wasted water. Next, he showed ustwo holes that villagers had dug in an attempt to find more water. They were pretty deep (we haven't measured yet), but not much water, except at the very bottom. The holes are abandoned. He showed us another borehole which has run dry, also built by the government. A private school in the area (St.Gertrude's Primary school) had also dug a well on the side of the hill it ison, but it bone dry. It was maybe 20 feet deep. There are two primary schoolsin Ddegeya, according to John. This private one and one government sponsoredone. He said that many kids do go to school. The government school costsmaybe $15/term (it is supposed to be free, but teachers are not paid by thegovernment and students must have uniforms), but this is too much for manypeople. The private school is more, maybe $150/term or year (we're not sure),but it is a better school. The teachers are paid, so they want to teach. It was started by a Catholic priest, but is not a Catholic school. It is next to aCatholic church which is open occassionally. Most people go over the big hill tothe parish church. The private school had interesting signs posted on thetrees, such as "Speak English", "AIDS has no cure", "Avoid early marriages","Say no to sex", "Avoid trespassing", "Be panctual", "Respect elders" and somemore. We took GPS locations at each of the sources and locations.
After we visited the private school, we crossed the main road to the other sideof the village. (We're only half way through this email, FYI). John took usoff the main road into the village. Whenever we passed people, John would stopand introduce us and what we're here for. It sounds like we will have acommunity meeting at the clinic on Monday, which is good progress. All theadults seemed really receptive to us being here, and wanted us to come to their homes to talk to them. We met a woman, Sauda Muwanika, who is on the ParishCouncil and is the representative for women's affairs. We are going to go backto talk to her. It is a good step towards finding some of the community leadership.
The village is a manageable size. People grow bananas/plantains, coffee,tomatoes, sweet potatoes, mangoes, tapioca, papaya and other. Most people liveoff their land, and may sell coffee to make some extra money. A lot of thehouses had separate kitchens. People with more money build their houses out ofbrick with tin roofs and cook outside, while poorer people will use sticks andmud, and may cover it with a mixture of sand and water (looks similar tocement). It seems everyone cooks in a separate place from where they live though. Some people have latrines, a pit 30-50 feet deep. Again, richer people may pave the area with cement, while poorer people put logs over it, andit does not last.
The final water source we visited is the pond and borehole by the clinic. These are the main water sources for the community because they are the only reliableones. The pond is very murky and has tadpoles and frogs in it. It seemslower than in some of the pictures we've seen. This pump works pretty well (no waiting for water to come out), but people don't know how to use it properly(especially the kids). The pump it too fast/hard, and there are a lot ofleaks. Some people will still get water from the pond, even though the waterin the borehole at least comes out clear. We don't know why yet, but areinterested in finding out. We tested out the distance wheel from the main roaddown to the pond. It is 657 feet. We didn't do distances from anything else yet.
People come here from the entire village, even from the neighboring village,Nakateete, which is much further down the road. There aren't clear territorial boundaries, only the occasional sign from a school or something.
Tomorrow we are going to start doing water tests and measuring distances, andthen hopefully Monday will be the meeting. We are going to make a rough calendar of what we will be doing.
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