Rubingo

Well I have finally arrived at my new home. Monday the 17^th of October we left Mbarara town and drove into the hills and valleys to Rubingo village and the water project area. The area is all big rolling hills with valleys in between, dotted with villages. Rubingo camp is on a little hill in a valley so we can see the surrounding hills and plantations. It is a beautiful place, very idyllic rural African sort of idea! It is lush and green, almost everyone in the area relies on subsistence farming for their living. There are Matooke trees EVERYWHERE!! Not to mention goats, cows, sheep, and lots of dirty little children running around screaming and waving at us! Matooke is a type of banana tree but matooke is green and tastes sort of like plantains. It is a big hit here diet wise but I’m not sure I agree with the Ugandans on that one!! They also have a type of banana tree whose fruit is used for local brew, as well as bananas like we are used to…yellow and sweet. These I love!! Anyways…..moving on from food. I live in Rubingo work camp in a sweet little safari tent “nestled” (not my word!) in a wooden platform/roof structure. Camp is on a slope like everything else around here so you have to be careful not to wipe out when it rains! My tent is at the very top so I can overlook camp and the valley below. There are 6 of these safari tents as well as dining room and office wooden shelters. There are also rooms for the local staff who live here at camp. I have to tell you about our shower because it is a nice little set up with papyrus reed walls and no roof, this is the kind of shelter Ugandans use for their bathing, but for us they even hooked a hose up to a shower head and we have our own little outdoor shower! The water is kept in big black pipes on the hillside so it is warmed by the sun and if you have a shower at around 3 in the afternoon you might even get warm water! Either way it is very refreshing.

When we first got here we met all of the staff and specifically those whom we will be working with. They are all wonderful people who have done their best to translate and explain everything to us so we know what is going on! We have had the chance to visit all of the different projects in the Rubingo area that ACTS has implemented, even the ones not in our field of expertise so to speak. We hiked to the source of the water project, viewed the holding tanks, and visited the tap stands in the villages that deliver water. The health and agriculture crew has kind of been working together this past little while so we all understand what the others are doing. Katie (the other nurse) and I went with Graeme and Laura (Agriculture crew) to some meetings of the Widows Mutual Benefit Societies. These are groups of widows who share land and garden together as well as make crafts for income. ACTS assisted in implementing these self governing groups and helps them out as well with land rental, and other needs that arise. Many of the widows are aging and it is difficult for them to work in the field so we are trying to arrange a selling strategy for their crafts so they can have a sustainable and sufficient source of income. These ladies work so hard, in the garden as well as other jobs, and many still lack the money for simply homes to live in, or school fees for their children. The needs are many and it has been overwhelming at times meeting with many people and groups who look to us as an answer to all their needs. We Muzungus (white people) represent money to them and in many ways it is true. Without the resources and opportunities that we have it is difficult to get ahead especially when there is no form of governmental social security to fall back on in hard times. It really is a testament to fundraising because there are soo many legitimate needs and people who need support. Our job is going to be trying to create sustainable ways of helping these people so when we leave it keeps on happening. However that takes money in the first place a lot of the time! These first few months we will just be learning and taking it all in, there is so much work represented here, of years and years of interns from Canada, as well as the ongoing work of the staff here who know far more than we do!! Luckily they are teaching us! There are so many experiences I have had so far in little over a week! I will have to write more about them later, from visiting with widows, to filling out health/sanitation home surveys in the villages, to going to market, to crazy church services, to home visits with our HIV/AIDS clients. Each one could have its own blog entry! For now I will hopefully just leave you with some more pictures because they say more than I can!!

Our beautiful valley, with Rose, one of our Health/Sanitation workers standing on the path. I climbed that mountain behind her at 6am one day!!











This is my lovely safari tent! My home. It was laundry day when I took this picture so my deck is a bit cluttered.


















The view of camp downhill from my tent. You can see the dining room building on the left and on the lower right is the office building. And a big cactus in the lower middle which has to be avoided in the dark!!







The Rubingo Aid Station.