Productivity for the Win!

What a productive day! While Trisa, Juliana, and Kenzie ventured into Iganga, Isaac, Andrew, and I had the most productive Monday by far. We went to build a tippy tap for the winner at last week's sensitization. To our surprise, she had one already that was fully functional, but really short. So we took it apart and built her a taller one. Since she already had one, we allowed her to refer us to a friend or relative that didn't have one and we would build that person one as well. So bam! Within 2 hours, we built two tippy taps.

(Before)

(After)

(Tippy Tap Winner Juliet)

(Before)

(After)

We then went to Kasambiika Primary School to check in on the hand-washing project. We talked to the Sanitation Teacher, Sanitation Prefects, and the Tippy Tap Prefect about some issues we saw with the project so far. We talked about the problem with the soap chain and the teacher mentioned how they believed that the chain was unsustainable as well. They all agreed that ash would be a good idea. Everything panned out really well. We also talked to the Tippy Tap Prefect separately. In addition to a small checklist of items he should mentally go through each day (i.e. Are the jerrycans full of water? Are the tippy taps in good condition?), we also talked to him about the feasibility and reality of the changes we wanted to make. We were worried that the teachers would pressure the prefects, but he agreed that all of it would work.

After our visit to the school, we checked in with the head midwife of the health center to confirm the HIV Testing Day this Wednesday that we planned with her a few weeks ago. She did not seem to remember, but agreed to the testing day.

Once Trisa, Juliana, and Kenzie came back, we had a meeting with our VHTs. We talked about upcoming sensitization, expectations, and their thoughts and opinions on certain issues in the community. After the meeting, I am certain that our VHTs are by far the best team in UVP. They are so dedicated and engaged and they are constantly present at all of our events. They are definitely a strong advantage we have.

After the meeting, Andrew, Isaac, and I went in search of some of our favorite kids. We ended up having a mini dance party in the moonlight

Dancin' in the Rain

Yay for the weekend! We had some other interns come visit today in Kasambika 2. It was fun to see some familiar faces. With 8 new faces, the kids still came by to hang out and I ended up playing with them for most of the time. Guster made me a bouquet of flowers today. Batale and Robert came by to play some cards. Then Batale and Robert took us for bike rides around the village! It was so much fun sitting on the back of the bike saying "Jambo!" and trying hard not to scream every time we hit a dip or a bump. The people we passed by just laughed and pointed while we rode by. When I came back from the bike ride, someone threw the football out and a game started. It went on for awhile...until the rain came.

At first, it was just some sprinkles so we kept playing. Then it started coming down harder and a few of us still tried to play while others took refuge under our roof at the porch. I tried to stay as long as possible, but then the monsoon came. At this point, everyone (kids and interns) were all huddled on the porch hiding from the rain. The kids started to use the runoff rain from the roof to wash their hands and sing the song at the same time. Then Trisa yells over the noisy rain "Esther, let's dance in the rain!"

Immediately, I jumped from the porch and started twirling and jumping in the rain, dancing my heart out. Other interns came down to dance and the kids soon followed. We kicked at the puddles, ran down the street, and chased each other, slipping and falling all the while. It was glorious.

Relaxing

Today was a fairly relaxing day. While the team leaders (Juliana and Trisa) went into Iganga Town for their weekly meeting, the rest of us took up baseline survey again. We started a new zone and got about 13 houses finished in 2 hours. Many of the children hadn't seen us in this part of the village so we had quite the caravan after awhile, but it didn't bother me. That is, until we noticed that a lot of the kids had ringworm... It was on their heads and faces. It was really sad and disturbing to see; I just hope that we can put on a de-worming day for the kids in the village.

As we walked back under a cloudy sky (which was thankfully the weather the entire time we did baseline), a couple of boda boda friends picked us up and took us home, saving us some 15-20 extra minutes of walking. When we got back, I learned a new card game with the kids and played with them for some time.

Later, we met with the Kasambika 1 team to plan our school visit tomorrow to build tippy taps and teach the hand-washing song. It was a very short meeting so we started the football game earlier than usual. With all the kids sitting around, waiting for the ball and staring at the new muzungus, it was easy to set the teams and start playing. As the game came to end, we had another big dance circle party to finish the night off.

Chapatti Sunday

First thing's first, Happy Birthday Dad! I hope it was wonderful! 

Unfortunately, I didn't have that many adventures this weekend, but I did make a lot of memories! The first was Issac making chapatti! Yumm. Flour, oil, salt, water, carrots & onions is all you need. Matched with peas, that was lunch! It was delicioso! (But I forgot to take a picture of the completed masterpiece....sorry!)

 The usual football game started earlier today around mid-day. While the older kids played, I made paper airplanes for the younger ones. But surprisingly, that attracted the attention of the older kids too. It was nice to see everyone throwing them around, but after awhile, we had about 10 airplanes on our roof. Then it was back to soccer, until our 77-year old neighbor across the street, Kabaale James, came out and told the kids to stop playing. They didn't listen to him the first time and when he started to come towards the house, all I read was some screaming and thundering footsteps coming towards me. One of them chucked the ball into the house and followed the rest of them, running around the back of the house.

Still, we had another game later in the day - a shorter one because out of nowhere, an impromptu dance party arrived. With simple clapping as the beat, the kids started to dance. Let's just say the kids of Kasambika 2 know how to move their hips!