January 21, 2010 - Ddegeya

This morning, Dave and Mike left for Kampala in search of BH parts and Plexiglas.
Kevin set up two solar cooker configurations---the same as yesterday, except with black-painted pot and kettle, and a stronger sun. Unfortunately, at about 12:30, it started raining, and the solar cookers must be moved indoors. Both WAPIs failed to melt. The Biosand filter was tested this morning, and the flow rate was about 57 seconds per litre.

Then Kevin set out to BH6/P3 to keep track of the water traffic. During the one-hour observation window, here is a transcript of events. All water collection was done at P3---no one used BH6.

8:57 - Observation starts
9:06 - Two young girls and an older girl show up, with 20L + 10L + 5L. The little girl is afraid of mzungus.
9:06 - One young man shows up with 2 x 10L.
9:09 - The young man finishes fetching the water. He lives about 5 minutes' walk away (Kevin later saw him farming just at the intersection of the footpaths near BH5, on the right-hand side of the rich house in the direction of the Trading Centre). He fetches water here about 2-3 times per day, needing about 30L/day.
9:16 - The three girls finish fetching water. They live perhaps 1 km away. They come here twice a day, perhaps fetching 70L/day.
9:21 - The same young man appears again for his second water fetching, with 2 x 10L.
9:22 - Two girls appear, with 2 x 10L + 5 L. A minute later, another young girl eating 2 mangoes appear with 5L. These three girls play around with BH. They don't speak English. When asked where they live, they reply "Ddegeya". We chat until 9:26.
9:23 - The young man leaves.
9:30 - The three girls reappear. They might live near the Trading Centre. We chat until 9:48.
9:46 - A lady with baby and 20L appears. When fetching water, she chats with a man.
9:53 - The lady, the man, and the baby leaves. At the beginning of the footpath leading to BH6/P3, the lady turns left (towards Mbarara), and the man turns right (towards the Trading Centre).
9:57 - Observation ends.

Kevin collected water samples from BH6 and P3. Then he returned to the clinic, and headed to Nalongo to do the same observation. Due to the higher traffic here, the water-fetcher(s) are letter-labelled for clarity. Observation starts at 10:22, whence there were already 7 people there (though from the notes Kevin only has 5 people so he must have botched up a little on the record-keeping):

B: Hien Mugerwa the hired water-carrier. He carries 2 x 20L on bike and leaves at 10:25. He returns at 10:47 with another 2 x 20L and leaves at 11:01. His family uses about 4 jerry cans per day, and collects rainwater. He claims that the water traffic is low today, as many households are still consuming rainwater collected from the heavy rain 36 hours ago. Kevin explains to him that Mike and Dave are in Kampala in search of parts to fix BH5. He thinks that fixing this BH is a waste of time, as the water is too deep (we politely disagree on the point of the water level).
C: One young man with 4 x 20L on bike. He fetches water 2 times a day, and lives in Bunyere. He leaves at 10:32.
D: Two girls with 2 x 5L on foot. At 10:37, they leave in the southern direction (left).
G: One young man washing a large blanket in a transparent basin. He refills his basin at 10:35 and at 11:10. His name is Mohammed. He lives near the mosque at the Trading Centre. His house uses about 10 jerry cans of water per day, usually collected from P3. Today he comes here because washing blanket requires more water. He goes to school, but complains that he does not have enough money for pens and books. He also complains that his eyes are bad, but that he cannot afford glasses. He seems altogether too eager to talk to Kevin. After the observation ends, Kevin helps him wring the blanket dry, and then shows him the Biosand filter and the solar cookers at the clinic, together with the three girls mentioned in I below. Mohammed claims to have learnt about these technologies at school.

These people arrived later:

A: A girl and a boy arrive on bike with 20L + 10L at 10:23 from the south (left). They leave at 10:37 after having found some grass to stuff the opening of one of the jerry cans.
E: A young woman with 2 x 10L arrives on bike at 10:28 from the north (right), followed by a boy at 10:29. They live in Bunyere. Having picked up some grass to stuff the opening of one uncapped jerry can, they leave at 10:36.
F: One young man arrives at 10:35 on bike with 2 x 20L from the north (right). He lives near P3 but the water is bad---according to Hien the water-carrier. He leaves at 10:50.
H: One man arrives at 10:44 from the north (right) with 3 x 20L. His family lives in Bunyere near St. Timothy's school, and collects rainwater. He leaves at 10:57.
I: 3 girls arrive at 10:49 with 2 x 10L + 2 x 5L from the north (right), and leaves at 11:03. The family is located at the first shop in Bunyere on the Masaka-Mbarara Road. They collect rater about 4 times a day, for an approximate 80L/day. The family collects rainwater.
J: Two boys with 10L + 5 L arrives at 10:56, and leaves at 11:04. They live near Bunyere, which, according to Hien the water-carrier, is about 15 minutes' walk away.
K: An older man arrives at 11:04 from the north (right) with 20L + 10L, and heads for P2. He drinks water directly out of the jerry can. At 11:07, he goes to P1 to collect more water. He leaves at 11:10. According to Hien the water-carrier, this man is mad---having had too much marijuana---and lives at the nother end of Bunyere (about 30 minutes' walk). Hien claims that marijuana is a large problem in Ddegeya---many a young man near the Trading Centre consumes it (John later falsifies this statement). Later when Kevin comes to BH4 to fetch some water for the Biosand filter, this same man helps Kevin with filling the jerry cans.
L: At 11:23, a girl and a boy arrive with 2 x 5L.

Kevin's observations end here. In the afternoon, the same was done with the two ponds at BH1. Kevin arrived on site at 14:05 and stood by the ponds like an idiot for 1 hour, almost getting heat stroke. At 14:39, a man filled 20L half-full, and a woman filled 20L. At 14:42, the woman and the man left, going separate ways (the man goes through the fenced brick-making ground). At 14:47, a child shows up---but with no jerry can. He said that his family uses 2 jerry cans/day, and that the pond supports about 20 people---using both ponds. After the child left, someone was calling "mzungu" from the eucalyptus forest, somewhat eerily since Kevin could not see where the caller was (it turned out that he was on a tree---possibly collecting firewood). The rest of the observation period (until 15:05) passed without incident. On the way back passing by the brick-making facility, Kevin met Ronald the brick-maker. Apparently he makes clay bricks and builds firewood to fire up the bricks---these are charged 60 shillings apiece. This seems to be a very good contact for making/testing ceramic filters---Kevin later followed up on this with John and Joseph, who agrees to bring us to visit Ronald's household some time. According to Ronald, the two ponds just visited supports about 400 people, albeit that these are big families.
Kevin returned to the clinic and plated all the water samples on Petrifilm. Then at 15:59, he went down to Nalongo to repeat the traffic-counting. At this time, six people are present already:

E: A man with 4 x 20L leaves on bike at 16:13 to the south (right).
F: A girl with 2 x 10L leaves on foot at 16:13 to the south (right).
G: A girl with 20L leaves on foot at 16:12 to the south (right).
H: A boy with 10L leaves on foot at 16:13 to the south (right).
The following constitutes the remaining water traffic:
A: A woman with a bundle of grass and a girl with 3L arrives at 16:00 and leaves at 16:01 to the south (right).
B: A girl with 10L arrives at 16:03 from the right (south) and leaves at 16:11. She arrives again at 16:26 with 8L and leaves at 16:31.
C: A boy with 3L arrives at 16:04 and leaves at 16:13 to the south (right).
D: A man with 2 x 20L and a woman with 15L arrives by bike at 16:06 and leaves at 16:23. They use P1 to wash the jerry cans first before filling water from BH4. They live close to the mosque.
I: A girl with 10L arrives on foot at 16:13 from the right (south) and leaves at 16:25.
J: Mohammed arrives at 16:17 with 2 x 20L by bike and leaves at 16:23. He returns at 16:50 from the south (left) on bike with 2 x 20L.
K: A boy arrives from the north (left) at 16:20 on bike with 2 x 10L. He obtains water from P1 and leaves at 16:26.
L: A girl arrives with 2 x 5L at 16:26 and leaves at 16:31.
M: 2 boys arrives on bike at 16:24 with 20L from the south (left) and leaves at 16:31.
N: A girl arrives at 16:29 with 2 x 5L and leaves at 16:31.
O: 2 boys arrives on bike at 16:34 with 20L and leaves at 16:59 to the north (right).
P: A boy arrives on bike at 16:45 with 2 x 20L and leaves at 16:59 to the north (right). His family uses about 2 jerry cans/day.
Q: Arrives at 16:50 on bike with 20L and leaves at 16:59 to the north (right). Lives near St.. Timothy's Church (?).
R: Arrives at 16:50 from the south (left) with 5L. Lives in Bunyere.
S: Arrives at 16:51 from the south (left) with 2 x 20L on bike. Goes to P2 to fill up the two jerry cans, apparently used for agricultural purposes (e.g. spraying). Leaves at 16:57. Lives near the Trading Centre.
T: 2 girls and a boy arrive at 16:52 with 10L + 2 x 5L.
U: A woman arrives at 16:57, followed by a boy and a girl with 10L + 2 x 20L on bike.
V: A same boy with blue shirt arrives at 16:59 with 8L + 10L on bike.
W: An old woman arrives with 20L at 17:00 on foot. Observation ends here.

Kevin then visited BH6/P3 to conduct the same observation session. He also measured the turbidity of P3 (9-10 NTU) and BH6 (100-110 NTU).

17:38 - Observation starts. At this point, the pond has the same young man on bike with 20L + 10L, and 2 boys on bike with 20L + 10L.
17:42 - Young man leaves.
17:42 - 2 girls and a boy arrives with 10L + 3 x 5L. The family uses 6 jerry cans/day. They do not use BH due to dirty water. They do not collect rainwater.
17:49 - The same young man arrives on bike with 2 x 10L.
17:50 - A woman (Anne) with 2 children (Dominic and Wayne) arrive, pushing a wheelbarrow with 2 x 20L + 10L.
17:52 - The 2 boys leave. They live in the direction of Mbarara about 0.5 km away.
17:57 - The same young man leaves, for the final time.
17:59 - Anne, Dominic, and Wayne leave. They live about 5 minutes' walk away, and collect water once a day. They do not collect rainwater. One of the children has broken the wheelbarrow, hence the woman seems to have so much trouble pushing the wheelbarrow up. They do not use the BH because it is very old.
18:06 - The wheelbarrow topsides. Some water is lost. Dominic is ordered back to fetch another 10L.
18:08 - Anne, Dominic, and Wayne leave, asking Kevin to say hi to Francis at Engeye. Francis claims not to know this woman or the children.
18:02 - A girl (10L), and 2 boys (20L each) appear. They come from near the Trading Centre. The household collects rainwater, and needs about 7 jerry cans of water per day. Water is fetched twice daily. They do not use the BH due to bad water.
18:12 - The girl and 2 boys leave.
18:27 - A boy with 10L arrives. The family leaves near the Trading Centre (about 10 minutes' walk) and uses about 10 jerry cans / day, without rainwater collection. The BH water is bad.
18:34 - Running, a girl (10L) and 2 boys (10L each) appear. They live close to the Trading Centre on the Bunyere side of the road. The family requires about 2 trips per day.
18:35 - Another girl of the same family appears with 20L.
18:37 - Observation ends.

On his way back, Kevin encountered Anne, Dominic, and Wayne, still struggling with their wheelbarrow halfway up the hill. They seemed not to know to lift the wheelbarrow before pushing it. Kevin helped them and manages to get up the other half of the hill in 5 minutes. Then the final 2 girls and 2 boys requested that Kevin also help them carry water (10L). This was done to near their home on the Masaka-Mbarara Road.

At about 7 p.m., the drum was taken out, and the Ddegeya kids had a great time doing drums/dances/songs in front of a cheering audience. This was followed by a sumptious dinner consisting of many greens and pineapples, amongst other goodies. It is a pity that Mike and Dave, who were on their way back from Kampala, missed all these.

Mike and Dave returned at about 9 p.m., without the Plexiglas or solar cooker models. But they spent the whole day tracking down the pipes from Market St., to no avail. Then they got a taxi to the industrial park and argued with the people a little---the pipes came in units of 3 metres, while we requested 3.5 metres. They also brought some seals. This would hopefully fix BH1 and---less certainly---BH5!