Over the weekend I had the chance to see my parents’ sponsor child (now 21 years old) Opio. I have known Opio and his twin brother Odong since my first Uganda trip, in 2004. They are bright and good mannered young men; I like them a lot. Opio and Odong want to start a business to help support their family. Bryan and my friends Bob and Carolyn guide young adults in starting or joining businesses, so we arranged for them to meet. It was a good time of discussion about why he chose that business, what skills and personnel would be required to run it, the reality of expenses involved. Three of Opio’s neighbours had died in an accident along the main road that very morning, so I hope he was able to take in what Bob was saying. Opio’s mother has started selling charcoal and wants to add other non-perishables to her business, so another option would be for Opio and Odong to build on what their family already has. Of course that’s not as exciting as having and implementing your own ideas, but it’s also good to build up and learn along the way, giving your own idea better chance of success. My dad communicates with the boys quite frequently, and being a business man himself has been able to offer good encouragement and advice. Odong has started university, doing Business Administration.
Handing the drying rack and cash to the magole
(the magole is the one being celebrated, male or female)
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Kikondo women are making their business endeavours too. There are about 60 women in a group called ‘Agali Awamu’, and within that a sub-group called ‘Sweety’. Sweety is a savings group. The women contribute a set amount to the woman of the party (dressed as a bride) and put in for the gift, which after Ritah and I talking about the importance of home hygiene is a drying rack. Those who want can put in more money, but then the receiver will also have to pay them back more. Every contribution is recorded. The cash contributed from the set amount must be put towards business; the extra can be spent on something like school fees or home needs. I think the women’s cooperation is a good thing as it is empowering for the women to be independent and coordinate activities, especially as communities are not working together so much now that the cash economy is prevalent is most places. Plus they have a lot of fun. WMU is going to train these women in WaSH, and then some of them can pass on the trainings to the schools and households. We also want to coordinate with the schools to have WaSH teams and trainings during school hours.
At the tank with Rogers, Bryan and Vibeke
Welcoming song by Lwanika Primary School (left); The children performed local dance (right)
At the beginning of the month we commissioned another Safe Water Project along Lake Victoria, in a fishing village called Lwanika. Commissioning celebrations involved speeches by local leaders, the Safe Water Committee (SWC) and WMU; tour of the system, including explanation; intermingled between the speeches and tour of the system are performances in the form of songs, dances and drama; and we end with a late lunch. The community, headed up by the SWC, organises the celebration. WMU contributes some of the lunch food, tents, chairs and sound system, and helps coordinate. We want the community to feel like the project is really theirs. All of the performances in Lwanika were by the local primary school. They did a fantastic job: they were confident, skilled, and had even made up their own songs about Water Missions, safe water and home hygiene. The guest of honour, the District Speaker, was a humble man who gave good advice to the community regarding safe water and many other areas. Speeches are a chance for leaders to self-promote and address general issues, so we’re used to the variety of topics that come out. The Lwanika SWP has actually been running for a couple of months already, and it is so far a great success. On average, projects use less than half of system capacity, whereas Lwanika uses more than 90%. They have good savings to match. It really helps when we work in a community that has already had WaSH training or worked with a NGO; Lwanika has had both.
Speech by vice-chairperson from neighbouring community
The District Speaker challenged the community members on their personal financial management and encouraged parents to teach their children to dig so that they will always be able to feed themselves (with a lot more words and description than that). I appreciated his stance that people need to be productive and wise with what they do have. Work and having good work ethics provides for the family, requires cooperation with and respect for a variety of people, and builds up a community. I’m not pro-capitalism, but I am pro-productivity. Who doesn’t want to be efficient and productive? In some way we all want to produce something, to have impact and see that we are capable of achieving.
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
– 2 Peter 1:5-8
I don’t have much to update about Bill, the boy whose leg was amputated. I had not heard from the family for about a month. I had attempted contact, but didn’t want to push it because I know it must be such a hard time. Ally contacted me on the weekend to say Bill is still very sick. Bill will see a physio-therapist this week. Good! Additionally, Esther from CARE4Kids is very sick and the doctors don’t yet know the cause. Esther had three blood transfusions in Kampala on Friday night and has returned today to see the results, and possibly have some more tests done. CARE4Kids volunteer Clarice was one of Esther’s blood donors and is the main person taking care of her.
Please pray for:
- Opio and Odong to hear from God about what to do regarding business and/or studies
- Bill to have quick recovery from the amputation and to be psychologically strong
- That Esther does not have a permanent illness and no longer suffers from today
- Clarice taking care of Esther, as it is potentially very draining
- WMU to find a Ugandan CPD. We are also looking to hire an additional technician
- The 6 Water Missions visitors coming to have safe journeys and productive stays
- WMU staff to balance their work and hosting, and that it will be a mutual learning experience
- Bryan and my departure next Thursday, and our proceeding 3 weeks in Australia
Lwanika mother gives child safe water to drink
Thank you and much love
Your friend Emily
