Buwerempe intern team meets the village

Life in Uganda is different from the fast-paced world of the United States or many other Western countries. Here, integrating into a village is an important first step to being listened to. Uganda Village Project interns teach about malaria causes and treatment, HIV prevention, hand washing, and many other topics that lead to improved health. But they also get to know their fellow villagers, and in doing so, make friends, gain respect, and earn the right to teach about topics that will keep families safe and healthy. Here’s a report from one of the 2013 teams, in their own words:

It takes a village to raise a child, is how the saying goes, because the village is one big family. And this family – the people of Buwerempe — has opened its arms wide to us. We are Uganda Village Project’s launch team to Buwerempe Village – Marva, Ian, Martha, Sneha, and team leaders Jasmine and Keneth.

From the first afternoon that we arrived here in Buwerempe, each day has been full of new experiences, lessons learned, and perspectives changed. Much of our time this first week has been spent settling into our homes, meeting community members, and getting acquainted with our village.

Settling into village life has definitely been an adjustment process, but it has been full of pleasant surprises as well. As expected, becoming accustomed to pit latrines and bucket showers is challenging. And one day, we spent nearly three hours between two water-fetching trips because the lines at the borehole were so long. Despite the challenges, by the end of one week in the village, we feel like we’ve been here for much longer. Our neighbor John has become a fast friend — he has been unbelievably generous. On the first day, John brought over several chairs and benches for our house. Later in the week, he took us on a tour of his extensive gardens, and we returned with more maize, oranges, guavas, and mangoes than we could carry. One woman, whose house we pass by every day, brought us a plate full of beans. As John explained, these actions show togetherness and are gestures of acceptance into the community.

A good portion of our week was spent in meetings. The highlight of our work week was the Community Meeting held on Thursday. This meeting was our first official introduction to the people of Buwerempe. We explained the goals and focus areas of UVP and asked several questions to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of the village in terms of health. From the responses we received, the important health issues in the village are access to clean water, malaria, family planning, and HIV testing. We were excited that many members had questions for us regarding specifics about UVP’s core projects, including questions from a few young men about male involvement in family planning. Because family planning is regarded by many men as a women’s issue, this interest from young men was very encouraging.

Our week of learning, meeting, and exploring was concluded on Saturday by a special treat. Many village women and children gathered to do traditional dancing, accompanied by singing and drums. Though our hips don’t move nearly as well as these women’s hips do, we had a spectacular time and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.