January 8, 2010 - Ddegeya

In the morning, we had a simple breakfast of peanut butter and bread slices, and then met with Joseph. We briefly formulated a plan about the household interviews as well as our meeting with the community elders. Tom mentioned that currently that the villagers now spend a lot of resources on boiling their water (e.g. with firewood), and he imagined that the villagers would be very happy if we could find a way to clean their water without firewood. This point was accorded by Joseph. At 9:45 a.m., we set out on the large footpath branching out from the Masaka-Mbarara Road, bearing south from the clinic.

There were many houses beside the road. The houses---built mainly with bricks and corrugated roofs---were accompanied with plantations of bananas, corns, potatoes, coffee trees, yams, sweet potatoes, and a few mango trees. According to Joseph, most families practise subsistence farming primarily, though coffee is a cash crop. Since it is the school break, some children carrying water were commuting along the road. After maybe 15-20 minutes, we turned west from the main road onto another smaller footpath (Joseph told us that if we turned left, this smaller footpath would lead us to a seasonally functioning borehole, which we would visit later). After some walk, we arrived at the house of Salongo Kivumbi, the current community chairperson (whose first name is related to being a twin---remember the word Nalongo). According to Joseph, the community chairperson is elected once every five years. The chairperson then appoints other people on the committee, playing different roles such as defence, women's affairs, etc. The chairperson of Ddegeya (level 1) reports to another committee (level 2), which oversees a larger area (perhaps 3 villages or so). There are regular meetings, usually over the weekends. There are five levels of representation before the parliament, but any problems tend to get reported quickly nowadays thanks to mobile phones.

We took a seat in Salongo's house, and he took out a guestbook for us to sign. Most of the conversation was between Salongo and Joseph in Luganda, though Salongo also spoke a little English, and kept emphasising that his village is poor---they cannot afford water technologies (e.g. storage tanks). According to Salongo, the biggest problem is the boreholes. There used to be a borehole task force, but that was disbended since most of the boreholes stopped working. Salongo asked when it would be that we would be able to fix the boreholes, and we emphasised that we could try to diagnose the problems and fix the boreholes, but it would be up to the borehole task force to maintain these in working order afterwards. Salongo also noted that there was a bad smell emenating from many of the non-functional boreholes. Afterwards, he accompanied us a little while as we retraced our steps towards the main south-running road (that branched off from the Masaka-Mbarara Road).

This time, we continued east (across from the south-running road) to visit the borehole that only works seasonally. According to Joseph, this borehole works about 6 months in a year during the rainy season, and has just stopped working. While the borehole is giving out water, approximately 20 households obtain water from here in lieu of Nalongo. When the borehole is not working, some households obtain water from a pair of newly dug open sources about 200 m (very rough estimate) south of the borehole (we will come to these open sources later). Of the numbered boreholes in Helen and Becca's report, we are not clear on what this borehole corresponds to. According to Joseph, Michael Thornton visited this borehole in the summer and tried to take it apart. We tried to pump---and as expected, no water came out. However, the handle moved quite easily, and Mike claimed that he could still feel some suction. The soil around this area is sandy in texture. Our initial suspicion was that this borehole was not drilled deeply enough, but our consequent visit to the nearby new open sources had evidence that questions this suspicion.

We next walked downhill slightly (bearing approximately south) past a fenced area where someone was making some bricks. Here there was an attempted digging but is a dry source. The size of this dry source is about 4 m by 2 m. David suggested that we should try to dig a little deeper to see if we can reach the water table (which theoretically shouldn't be more than 2-3 m below ground level).

About 50 m (rough estimate) away (bearing south, still slightly downhill), we reached the two newly dug open sources (that Joseph claimed that were not there when Helen and Becca visited). The smaller pond was about 2 m in diameter (according to Mike, about 4-6 feet in diameter). The water was quite turbid, and the depth was around 50-60 cm. At the bottom of the pond, the soil was sandy. The larger open source was about 4 m by 2 m. Though we didn't measure it, Joseph said that it was deeper---about 7 m deep!! The soil was quite sandy here as well. Since the water level of these two open sources was about 2 m below ground (and there is water even as the borehole nearby ran dry), and there was no significant elevation rise between here and the borehole, it became a little perplexing why the borehole stopped working when the rainy season stopped. Any thoughts?

As we went uphill from this borehole, there was more sandy soil. We crossed the south-bearing main road again and went a different footpath towards the village. We were quite close to a large house with a power line running nearby (and we could even hear the traffic on the Masaka-Mbarara Road), when Joseph turned left off the path (bearing west??) and we came to a perenially non-functioning borehole. This borehole, which we think corresponds to BH5 in Helen and Becca's report, has a blue label to its side that says:
UNICEF Serial #3739
India Mark III ??? O.M. Deep Well Hand Pump
Mfd by: Balaji Industrial and Agricultural Castings

There was no information regarding the year or the depth of the borehole. According to Joseph, this borehole worked initially when installed (for maybe 1 year), but have since stopped working for many years. When we tried to pump, the handle felt sticky, with a large resistance. So we suspect that it could be a mechanical problem. This borehole was set up, according to Mike, quite elegantly, and we think it would be easy just to take the cover up and directly peek inside. The soil near this borehole is "hard-packed clay" (Mike), though everywhere plants still managed to break through the soil and prospered. This borehole felt higher in elevation, probably one of the highest ones in Ddegeya (Joseph thought this could also refer to BH7 in Helen and Becca's report, but we settled for BH5 ultimately).

Having returned to the clinic, we did two Petrifilm samples from BH4 and P1 (both Nalongo-drawn), for E. coli and Enterobacteria. We were not sure if we did the Petrifilm tests correctly (Kevin screwed up two samples and Dave's Petrifilms had pink liquids leaking out of the circular boundary). While the package of the Petrifilm said that the product should be stored at 8C, Kevin was of the opinion that this was both unnecessary and unrealistic. The manual suggested several incubation temperatures from 30 to 37C. Joe informed us that an incubator, if there is one in stock in Kampala (JMS), would cost 3,000,000 UGX. We decided to "incubate" these samples at room temperature, on the top shelf inside the sleeping quarters. We will see how long it takes for the dots to develop.

We had a late lunch consisting mainly of yesterday dinner's leftovers, plus mangoes. In the afternoon, under the tutelege of the local kids, Dave has become an expert in Luganda. At 3:30 p.m., Joseph showed up again, and we started our household visits. Though some people spoke some English (others not), we had Joseph translate for us. We tried to cross-check our answers to gauge the accuracy of the answers given by the households, but we still need to take everything they say with a grain of salt. We have found that the standard unit of volume in this part of the world is in terms of jerry cans. Approximately speaking, 1 jerry can is equivalent to 20 L. Also, 7 jerry cans make about 1 drum (about 140 L).

Household 1
Mrs. Majinha Farida runs a shop with a small clinic on the Masaka-Mbarara Road at the Trading Centre, and sells some drugs. She sees about 5 people per day---the number if variable seasonally, but tends to increase in the rainy season. She speaks some English, and this is the first time that anyone has interviewed her. There are 13 people in her family (mostly children). The children are of the school age, and are back home during the holidays. The family uses about 20 jerry cans of water per day, for bathing, cooking, an drinking. Their main source is from Nalongo---both BH4 and P1. They know about P2 (the small pond inside the bamboo forest) but do not use it because of the leaves make it appear that the pond water is not clean. The children take turns collect the water---it takes about 30 minutes of waiting at Nalongo usually. Water collection is usually done twice, morning and evening. Each trip can take up to 2 hours (sometimes the children could be playing along the way). The children never miss school by collecting water.

Drinking water is sometimes boiled (water used for washing is not boiled), but sometimes children just cannot wait (like they may not wait to collect water from BH4 by Nalongo). The household drinks about 5 L of water per day. Depending on the volume, it is estimated that it can take 30 minutes to heat up the water, and the water is held at boiling (note that due to elevation this will be lower than 100C) for 10 minutes. The family buys firewood at 100 shillings/piece, and it takes about 4 pieces to boil water at one setting. Sometimes children also collect firewood, and the family uses both bought and collected firewood, roughly in half-half proportions. The water from BH4 or P1 is initially collected in jerry cans. If the water is used for non-drinking purposes, these are poured into a drum. If the water is for drinking, this is put inside a ceramic pot for boiling.

During the raining season, the family uses one open drum to collect rainwater---no additional gutters on the ceiling, etc. If a rain is particularly heavy and the drum is completely filled, then the family can skip going to Nalongo for a few days (2 days, according to a later figure). The family also boils collected rainwater if it is to be used for drunking. If the clinic installs some long-term rainwater storage facility, they are willing to collect water from the clinic. When the drum is completely filled, the time required to collect water per day is close to nil. The family notices that the rainy season changes---it has shifted to later (but with duration kept approximately the same).

The family will also be interested in our workshop on water treatment (such that it bypasses the need to use firewood to sterilise water). The mother is quite busy with the shops, and thinks that she can only devote about 30 minutes per day for the workshops.

The family also occasionally have stomach worms (which Mike speculates could have come from either food or water). The family explains that they boil water to fight germs.

Household 2
Mrs. Kyaddondo Jafari's family practises subsistance farming, and are located beside the Masaka-Mbarara Road a little further down from Household 1 near the Trading Centre. No one has approached her for an interview before. While interviewing us, she was peeling green bananas into a basket. She spoke no English, so Joseph did translation completely for us. Her household, which practises subsistence farming, has 15 people, 13 of which are school-aged children, who are now at home during the holidays. The household uses about 5 jerry cans of water per day, divided as follows roughly: 3 jerry cans for cloth-washing, 2 jerry cans for cooking, and about 20 L for drinking (sorry we couldn't get the numbers to add up with Mrs. Jafari, try as we did). The children take turns gathering water from Nalongo---usually only from BH4, but if BH4 breaks, then also from P1, but they never miss school because of water collection. The family is unaware of P2. It takes about 30 minutes per children to get Nalongo water, but the trip often takes about 1 hour (the children could be playing along the way, etc.). The family claims that they boil all their drinking water---1 jerry can can last about 2 days (sorry this number also disagrees with what has been given above). However, Mike said anecdotally that he just saw one of the kids drinking water directly out of a jerry can. For boiling, the firewood is mostly collected from a family-owned eucalyptus forest, and is purchased when what is collected is not sufficient. The firewood, if purchased, costs about 500 UGX for 20 L per day, which the family considers to be a minor cost. It takes about 5 minutes to heat the water up, and the family holds the water at the boiling point for another 5 minutes. The family utilises pot and smaller jerry cans to store water used for different purposes, and claims that the jerry cans are specifically labelled for the different purposes, though we did not verify.

Rainwater collection appears to be an important practice in this family, which uses a large drum for the rainwater collection (without any other rooftop installations). If a rain is heavy enough, a filled drum can sustain the family for a week without needing to go to Nalongo. When asked if the family would be willing to collect stored rainwater from the clinic as opposed to the Nalongo water, the family responds that the answer is obvious---they would use rainwater because it is cleaner. However, the family still boils rainwater because they do not consider it clean enough. The family appears to collect all the rainwater, and does not make a distinction between first and later rains.

The family would be interested in attending our workshops, and they would devote about 30 minutes per day at a maximum attending these.

Household 3
Also located on the Masaka-Mbarara Road near the Trading Center. This household was too busy to talk to us.

Household 4
Mr. Kirembeka Swahib lives on a footpath off the Masaka-Mbarara Road just south of the Trading Centre---close to the road but not on the road. It takes about 5 minutes of walk to the clinic. No one has approached him for an interview before. He has a family of 5, with 3 children, and practises subsistance farming, selling some coffee as well. There are other family members who are either in Kampala working, or are married. The family uses about 5 jerry cans of water per day, with the following approximate breakdown: 3 jerry cans for cloth-washing, 1 jerry cans for cooking, some for drinking tea, some for watering the plants, and some for cleaning for entering the mosque (located at the Trading Centre). The family only drinks tea---twice a day (at first we thought this was implausible, but Tom held a different view). The family uses only BH4. The children, who are mostly school-aged, are too young to collect water. Sometimes Mr. Swahib collects water himself, and sometimes pays for someone else to bring the water, which costs about 1000 UGX. The family boil water for tea, but otherwise do not boil water for other purposes. The family first claim that they do not use firewood, and then later under more questioning say that they sometimes use charcoal and sometimes firewood. Then they say that they use no charcoal and only firewood---collected from the forest (family-owned).

The family does collect rainwater in one big drum and one small drum. However, Mike noted anecdotally that even though there was some short and intense rains the past two days, the big drum that the family owns (fixed to the ground) appears completely empty. We did see a little water---which appears highly contaminated---in the small drum. According to the family, during heavy rains, the filled drums can last the family for 5 days. It is estimated that there is about 1 week per year during which time there is no need to go to Nalongo. If the clinic has some rainwater storage facility, the family would prefer the clinic's rainwater because P1 is contaminated (though BH4 is not contaminated). Mr. Swahib anticipates that the family may have to go back to P1/BH4 if the line-up at the clinic is long. The family is willing to spend about 20 minutes waiting. Kevin wanted to ask why it matters if the water is contaminated if the family drinks tea and always boils their water, but Joseph wanted to leave at this point.
Mr. Swahib mentioned that the government is installing running water for households along the Masaka-Mbarara Road---so far 3 families (thereabouts) have received pipes---non-functional. According to Mr. Swahib, the government will pump water from Masaka. At first Mike questioned this notion, but Monica thought that this was not so far-fetched given that Masaka is the location of the nearest lake. Monica has also seen workers digging (presumably for the same water works) beside the Masaka-Mbarara Road since about 2 months ago, though it is not clear how long the project will take to finish, if at all. Mr. Swahib later showed us the government pipe---which is a coil of black pipe about 10 m long and not connected to anything yet.
Mr. Swahib also asked if we can fix BH5, as well as another source (BH7??). The family used to collect water from here. The family also mentions that there are other villages with non-functioning BHs. Some of these BHs are within the family's reach as well.

If the family were taught some filtering technologies, they plan to filter water before boiling it for tea.

Household 5
Mrs. Nakarembe Cissy lives in a house off the Masaka-Mbarara Road close to household 4. She speaks some English, though Joseph still did some translation. Her household cooks indoors in the kitchen, and when we visited, there was a lot of smokes, smelling strongly of firewood, coming out from the kitchen windows (it had no chimney). The walls immediately outside the windows were blackened. Fortunately, the sleeping quarters is elsewhere. The family practises subsistance farming, and has 7 people, 4 of which are children. The family needs about 5 jerry cans of water per day: about 1 for bathing, 1 for cooking, 3 for washing, and about 3 L for drinking. The family collects water from a pond and a nearby BH that we have not visited (down the road---maybe P3 and BH6???). The BH works seasonally, though Mrs. Cissy does not know if it is working now, as it is the children who take turns collecting the water. It takes about 30 minutes per trip for water collection, and about 2 trips are needed per day. The children go to school, so often collect water before or after school.

Mrs. Cissy boils drinking water, with either firewood or charcoal, both bought. Firewood costs about 1000 shillings per bundle, which is sufficient for 2 days. The family finds it expensive to afford the firewood. Once the water is boiled, it is kept boiling for 2-5 minutes. Boiling is done is a saucepan or a kettle, and boiled water is transferred to a small pot. There appears to be a separation of containers.

Rainwater collection is practised. Once the drum is filled in a heavy rain, the water can last the family about 2-3 weeks, during which time there is no need to go the BH. During the rainy season, there can be a few months (???) during which time there is no need to collect water from the BH. Collected rainwater is still boiled before drinking, as it is not clean. New rainwater is always preferred: if it starts raining again and the collected rainwater from the previous rain has not been finished, the family will pour the old rainwater away and start the collection anew. When asked why, Mrs. Cissy claims that she has seen mosquitoes in the old rainwater.
If the clinic has some rainwater storage system, the family would still prefer collecting from their present BH, since the BH is closer to their home (about 15 minutes walking). Mrs. Cissy does not really have time to attend our workshop, but her husband may. Her husband's availability and willingness to participate are uncertain at this point.

The interviews took about a little more than 30 minutes per household, and we wrapped things up at 18:19. On our way back, Joseph told Kevin about the education situation in Uganda. It costs about $25 per month to attend private primary school, and public primary schools are only about $5 cheaper---and as such many households cannot afford children to go to school. The fees are more expensive on the secondary school level. Secondary school concludes with the A-levels, much alike the British system. University takes about 3-4 years to finish depending on the subject and the workload. There are some government scholarships but those are highly competitive. Most primary and secondary school students live at home; most university students live on campus.

Upon returning to the clinic, we found Tom/Joe to be playing guitar, and many local kids around. Apparently, one of the kids pushed Goose (a dog that John got last week whose original name was Banana) off and she suffered an injury either at the right paw or arm. It took us a while to figure out what was wrong, as she simply wailed when trying to walk gingerly. Dinner was served at about 9 p.m.. Tom (and unexpectedly Joe) made superb chapati. We combined this with our usual fare described yesterday. Everyone had some fun making fun of British English, and the word of the day was the verb bugger. According to Francis, Kevin looks like a North Korean.

Tomorrow, Joseph will bring us to see some more BHs in the morning. We plan to meet at 9 a.m., and the process will take only about 1 hour or so. We then plan to assemble the mesh and start assembling the water filter. Dave is worried about how to drill a hole to the side of the plastic bucket without also making the filter leaky (because the hole obviously will not be a perfect fit). Duct tape or some other waterproof adhesives might work. In the afternoon (circa 3 p.m.), Joseph plans to take us to visit a couple more households.