This week has been packed full of exciting new developments in our Nourish Project! We’ve been working hard and learning a lot from GHNU, community members, and our favorite kids next door. We spent this week visiting different sites in the field and trying new ways to help the Oyam District Community. On Mondays we start off with a morning meeting with most of the GHNU staff and Team A (Syracuse University students) to figure out what our week is going to look like and prep for different activities. After our Monday morning meeting we went straight to the field for hygiene and sanitation visits with Team A. We split up into groups and maneuvered our way around a smaller section of Loro Sub-county to visit homes and asses their overall cleanliness. We had a general outline of what each home needed including a dish drying rack, rubbish pit, well made latrines, tippy taps, separate huts for adults and children, and more. Many of the homes were well kept and very clean, but there were also a lot that needed work. Hopefully by collecting data, seeing what people are missing, and revisiting homes we can help these families avoid disease and other common problems caused by poor hygiene.
The next three days we spent a majority of our time at Primary schools around Oyam. We’ve focused our time on HIV/AIDS education to kids of all ages. Many of the older kids have heard the information before and had great responses to our questions. The younger kids were definitely less aware of the information we were trying to teach them. It’s been so much fun to get to talk to the kids and play all sorts of games with them. Sharks and Minnows has definitely been a hit! We hope that we can continue to teach about HIV and AIDS as well as other important information that the young kids would find useful in their daily lives. One of the days we went to Adigo Primary School for School Health Day. We helped all of the students clean the entire school from the latrines to slashing the fields. After we cleaned, the students performed and welcomed us with song and dance. We all had a great time interacting with students and can only wait for more!
We’ve also had the chance to visit a health clinic in one of the villages near by. Before we left we helped put together about 80 Mamma Kits to hand out. Unfortunately, we came on a day where they were understaffed so we didn’t get to stay for long. While we were there some of us got to help in the lab by recording results of malaria tests, some got to see the process of their pharmacy and distributing medication, and others got to see the distribution of vaccines to expecting mothers and new borns. Although it was a short experience we were excited to see the clinic and hopefully we get to go back to learn more!
After visiting the health clinic, and eating a delicious lunch made by our wonderful cook Agnes, we headed to Agyegi to work with the Agyegi Woman Health group. There, we lead a group dynamic training that discussed the different types of community groups and how they function to better the community. The group we worked with was very organized and were on top of their game as well as being very lovely people. After the training, the group offered us porridge and fried dough balls (doughnuts). The group was very welcoming and it was inspiring to hear all the great things that have come from them working together to better the community. The perks of being part of the group was a nice meal of porridge at every meeting, the ability to travel, and saving money to help their community. The group was made up of mostly women and it was awesome to see women take charge and have a successful community group. We loved the people of the group and can’t wait for our home stays with one of the families involved.
On Friday we visited Omolo Primary School and taught the students about HIV and AIDS, the kids were cute and excited to see us. Friday is a half day for us, so after visiting the school we headed home. Earlier that morning while talking to Agnes (our Chef) she told us that Gabby, the 11 year old girl who helps her in the kitchen, comes from a home with a widowed mother who is struggling to pay rent and feed her three children. We decided to surprise the family and buy them a goat. When we came home from the school our goat was waiting for us (Agnes picked it up for us at the market). We named The goat Beyonce and set off to deliver our goat to Gabby’s family. There was nothing better than seeing the look on Gabby’s mothers face when we told her the goat was for her family. She places her face in her hands and thanked us and then God. It was truly amazing to be able to help their family with someone as simple as a goat, that only cost us 25 US dollars. We hope for Beyonce the goat to become pregnant soon so that she can provide even more for Gabby’s family.
With our high from delivering Gabby’s family the goat, we set off to Lira to spend some more money at the Trade Show. The Trade Show was full of clothes and goods from all over Uganda. Most of us got hand made woven bowls and gifts for our family back in the US. There were a couple of rides at the Trade show and the brave Destiney and Victoria rode the rickety swing ride like champs. We ventured into the city of Lira after the trade show where we picked up a couple Uganda Football jerseys. In the city we stopped at a fabric shop and a couple of us bought fabric and are getting outfits made from the cloth.
On Saturday we woke up bright and early and headed out on a five hour drive to hike Sipi Falls. The Sipi Falls adventure was amazing, one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been to. Arriving to the falls we were given hiking sticks and a skilled mountain guide name Mike who led us on our four hour hike. The hike was full of waterfall and tracking up hills, that ended with a wooden ladder up the final stretch of the mountain. At the top was an elementary school and we learned that the students of that school make the hike up every day, they all must have amazing calve muscles. Overall the hiking was amazing and although it was raining down on us hard, the hike was a great adventure that we would recommend to anyone headed to Uganda.
And on Sunday we relaxed. We were all tired from the long week and spent the day watching movies and playing with the neighborhood kids.
It was a great second week here in Uganda and we cannot wait to continue our adventures!ddd