General Background Information on the Country

PROJECT REPORT

(Project title)

1. Background

General background information on the country

THE COUNTRY'S BRIEFS

According to the Human Development Context of 2001, Uganda has a population of 22.6 million, 44% are living below the poverty line, and 30% are under nourished. Life expectancy in 1999 was 43.2 years, down from 47 in the early 1990s. Maternal mortality is 510 per 100,000 lives births and infant mortality is 83 per 1,000 live births. 33.9% of adults are illiterate.

According to the 2007 State of the World Population Report and the State of Uganda Population Report, officially launched in Kampala on 27, June 2007 by the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Omara Atubo, the following were reflected on:

Life expectancy now 51.5 years, Urban Population up from 1.7 million in 1991 to 3.7 million in 2007, Only 45% of urban people have access to piped water, 44% of the households expenditure on food, drinks and tobacco, A third of households own a bicycle, 78% live in their own house, Only 1.6% of households own a car and 5.5% a telephone, Number of orphans rise to 2 million, 60% of universal Primary Education (UPE) pupils don't complete primary school, and finally 10,000 street children in Uganda.
The figures above give an average picture of the overall problems we are struggling to surmount. But we trust that through your support, our determination and courage will enable us to achieve success.

1. The village/community/school/people

Specific information on the project area

Details of the people (i.e. are they subsistence farmers; if they are school children give details of their ages,

background, distance from school etc; are they nomadic; number of households etc?)

The village/community/school/people

Kyampisi Sub-County

Namangaga village in Kyampisi Sub-County is located in Mukono North Constituency of Mukono

County, along Gayaza-Mukalagi road. The Sub-County headquarters are

some 2 kilometres from Mukalagi Trading Centre situated along Mukono

Kayunga road. It covers an area of 48,400 sq.km, with a population of 33,130

people in 4,035 households. It comprises six Parishes: Kyabakadde, Ntotto,

Dundu, Kabembe, Bulijjo, and Kyampisi.

Namanganga village in Kyampisi, subcounty is an area which is a primitive, remote rural village with a high growing population, which population can hardly be read.

The education facilities, transport, food, security, water & sanitation, household income, and all those in the category are still lacking and in an area which has an increasing rate of poverty, HIV/AIDS and Violence/ displacement .

Because of this primitivitness, poverty, HIV/AIDS, and violence, several people are still involved in child sacrifice, black magic, domestic violence, rapes, fighting development and the like. In this area, women heavily loaded with responsibility i.e for meeting basic needs of the family, yet are systematically denied the resources, information and freedom of action they need to fulfill this responsibility. Poor, illiterate, and HIV/AIDS infected. The vast majority of the poor in Mukono are women. Two-thirds of the illiterates are female.

Untold suffering from fetching water

The backwardness bin for these sub-counties, like Kyampisi, men hardly fetch water, so it’s the women and children who are always suffering to get water for the family.Considering their vulnerability, a lot of untold suffering has come along the way.

Imagine schools in a distance of 8-9km, but children have to wake up early enough to go fetch water before they leave for school.

At the same time, they have to line-up before they start pumping water from the borehole, so waiting time is always not less than two hours, then they walk back home with 20-litre water jerry cans, then prepare for school.

They always get to school so late. This has affected their academic performance, and there is increasing school drop outs in Kyampisi despite the sound presence of Universal Primary Education (UPE).

Also, when the children get back from school in the evenings, again they have to go and fetch water; this has put them at risk because its always in the night and they have to wait for long before they start pumping the water from the borehole.

Children in great danger at night

Kyampisi in Mukono district is topping the reported cases of child kidnapping and human blood sacrifice in most cases, children are kidnapped as they walk back home in the night.This has caused some parents not to send their children to fetch water – but that also means that the family will not have water to use at night.

Child and human blood sacrifice

Child sacrifice is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please, propitiate, or force supernatural beings in order to achieve a desired result. As such, it is a form of human sacrifice.This comes when people think that when they sacrifice, they become rich – and it's just because of poverty and ignorance in the community – and as I am giving this report, it is more common in Kyampisi.

An investigation by the police into human sacrifice in Uganda found that ritual killings of children are more common than Ugandan authorities once thought.

Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual (ritual killing). Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals (animal sacrifice) and of religious sacrifice in general.

Human sacrifice has been practiced in various cultures throughout history.

Victims were typically, brutually killed in a manner that was supposed to please or appease gods, spirits or the deceased, for example as a propitiatory offering, or as a retainer sacrifice when the king's servants are killed in order for them to continue to serve their master in the next life.

The practice of human sacrifice is on the rise in Uganda more so in our area, as measured by ritual killings where body parts, often facial features or genitals, are cut off for use in ceremonies.

However, the rise in human sacrifices in Uganda appears to come from a desire for wealth and a belief that drugs made from human organs can bring riches, according to task force head .

Psychological disorientation

To me I call it a problem of psychological disorientation,

People get disoriented.

People stop having respect in humanity and believe more in the worth of money and so-called good fortune, and they lose that natural social respect for people.

And in some communities you can find that children no longer walk to school without one of their parents.

But they can't do that forever. "You can't keep holding onto a child very tightly. Children move freely."

So people get scared that there are such vices in the country, when people want to get riches.

Being at the borehole brings battering back home

Domestic violence is also closely related to the water problems: when women go to the borehole in the evenings – on return, their husbands are not always happy, thinking that they spent all that time at the borehole sleeping with other men.

Women have always been beaten, battered by their men – and some have been in killed in these fights.

Thank you Just A Drop and Travel 2 for this water source. We have been spending hours walking to locations miles away in order to fetch water for household needs more so when we experience massive droughts but now we have water.

The community is very happy for this bore hole.

1. The existing water situation/facilities and related problems

Problem description

The main problem or challenges are:

• Distances to the well from the households in hilly areas.
• Time wasted by the women and children fetching water.
• Water borne and related diseases.
• risks like rape, and child sacrifice
• Risks on the way to the well e.g. accidents, snake bites etc

Causes of these problems

• Poverty in the area the community cannot afford enough money to built up a better water system to extend water near their houses.
• The available water sources are unprotected, and therefore probably polluted, springs (pond).
• Diseases are due the available contaminated water.
• The distance between the water sources causes time wastage and the households.

Given the present human resource constraints that the sector is facing both at the central and district local government levels, it is recommended that the sector identifies and focuses attention and support to some critical areas that affect the service delivery efficiency. For example Though mukono is surrounded by the lake and that is lake Victoria, some other parts which are not near the lake people in that area fetch water from the trench and water in these trenches is not safe reason being that this water is being used by both people and animals which leads to an out brake of diseases in this area.

Water & sanitation project: This project will combat the high levels and concern of the appealing situation of the increased number sickness/illness as a result of luck of clean and safe water in the area.. Statistics/evidence shows that this area does not have any protected water source to provide clean and safe water to the people in the entire communities. As a result of this, several cases of malaria, typhoid, bilharzias and diarrhorea both in children and adults have been so rampant. On a daily basis, Kyampisi health centre, a health unit in the area receives a total of 25 and 35 patients suffering from such dirty water related diseases on a daily basis

This project basically aims at providing accessible clean and safe water for everyone in the community of Kyampisi Namanganga village for a better and healthy life.

At the local government levels, it is recommended that the sector identifies and focuses attention and support to some critical areas that affect the service delivery efficiency. For example; though Mukono is boarded by Lake Victoria, some other parts which are not near the lake, people in those areas fetch water from the trench which is not safe, reason being that this water is used by both people and animals which leads to an out brake of diseases in this area.

Water & sanitation project: This project will combat the high levels and concern of the appealing situation of the increased number of sickness/illness as a result of lack of clean and safe water in the area. Statistics/evidence shows that this area does not have any protected water source to provide clean and safe water to the people in the entire communities. As a result several cases of malaria, typhoid, bilharzias and diarrhorea both in children and adults have been rampant. On a daily basis, Kyampisi Health Centre, a health unit in the area receives a total of 25 and 35 patients suffering from such dirty water related diseases on a daily basis.

This project basically aims at providing accessible clean and safe water for everyone in the community of Kyampisi, Namanganga village for a better and healthy life.

Water, sanitation and hygiene can affect health as you can see in the photo below.

Water supply, sanitation and health are closely related. Poor hygiene, inadequate quantities and quality of drinking water and lack of sanitation facilities cause millions of the world’s poorest people to die from preventable diseases each year. Women and children are the main victims.

Water, sanitation and health are linked in many ways:

• contaminated water that is consumed may result in water-borne diseases including viral hepatitis, typhoid, cholera, dysentery and other diseases that cause diarrhea
• without adequate quantities of water for personal hygiene, skin and eye infections (trachoma) spread easily
• water-based diseases and water-related vector-borne diseases can result from water supply projects (including dams and irrigation structures) that inadvertently provide habitats for mosquitoes and snails that are intermediate hosts of parasites that cause malaria, schistomsomisis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis and Japanese encephalitis
• drinking water supplies that contain high amounts of certain chemicals (like arsenic and nitrates) can cause serious disease.

Water, sanitation and hygiene can affect health as you can see in the photo below.

All the wells in Kyampisi Sub County contain Algae, germs, frogs, mad-fish and crawling features like snakes. As seen above, the water is consumed by both human beings and animals. More photos will be sent to you next week.

Groundwater is the main water source in the area. Perennial surface water is only in the form of surface ground traditional water wells, rivers and swamps. And in the photo below is Shadrak Kyobe trying to look at the water which these people have been taking “This water sauce is deep in the forest and its the only source which has been serving the entire community but we know with more support more sauces of water will be set up in order to improve on the health of our community. Can you believe that Domestic violence has also been closely related to the water problems: when women go to the borehole in the evenings – on return, their husbands are not always happy, thinking that they spent all that time at the borehole sleeping with other men. Women have always been beaten, battered by their men – and some have been in killed in these fights but all has been because the wells are very far like three (3) km away from there homes.” Shadrak Kyobe.

Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene account for a large part of the burden of illness and death in developing countries like uganda:

Pictures of the available water sources in this area

Shadrak Kyobe on the sauce of water which this community has been taking

(Special thanks to Just A Drop for this water and sanitation project’ Shadrak Kyobe)

Untold suffering from fetching water: Because of the backwardness being these sub-counties like Kyampisi, men hardly participate in water fetching activities, so it’s the women and children who are always suffering to get water for the family.

Considering their vulnerability, a lot of untold suffering has come in along the way.

Imagine schools in a distance of 8-9km, but children have to wake up early enough to go fetch water before they leave for school.

At the same time, they have to walk long distances, then they walk back home with 20-litre water jerry cans, then prepare for school. No wonder they always get to school so late.

This has affected their academic performance, and there is increasing school drop outs in Kyampisi despite the sound presence of Universal Primary Education (UPE).

Also, when the children come back from school in the evenings, again they have to go and fetch water; this has put them at risk because it’s always in the night and they have to walk long distances.

Children have been also in great danger at night: Kyampisi in Mukono district is topping the reported cases of child kidnapping and human blood sacrifice. In most cases, children are kidnapped as they walk back home in the night. This has caused some parents to stop their children from fetching water – but that also means that the family will not have water to use at night and it’s because of these sources being far.

Water for Production: Data from Mukono district shows that 83% of the facilities used for livestock are used for domestic purposes. The lack of option of other improved water sources forces the rural population to use untreated water from the water for production facilities for domestic purposes. In addition, 55% of all facilities in this district are not fully operational due to siltation.

These people have high rates of malnourishment, low but increasing levels of school attendance (especially low amongst girls), high rates of disease (especially malaria), and numerous other problems linked to severe poverty and an exceptionally low standard of living. In many households, children (especially girls), are kept out of school so that they can perform this and other related chores. In Mukono, the creation of a borehole well will put a clean, sustainable source of water in close proximity to approximately 3,000 beneficiaries. The goal of this project is to put in borehole wells in five sub-counties. There are no sources of water in the vicinity. Villagers (especially women) must spend hours walking to locations miles away in order to fetch water for household needs more so when we experience massive droughts.

4. The solution and objectives

Outline of what is required to solve the water problem

This Water and Sanitation project aims at making measurable and sustainable improvements in water supply, sanitation, hygiene, and the overall environment in the communities we serve.

We recognize that in order to successfully improve health in developing areas, programs must be comprehensive, targeting both the direct and indirect causes of poor health and nutrition. We therefore integrate our water and sanitation projects into our health and nutrition programs, as well as our workforce & enterprise development and food security & agriculture programs.

The objectives of this Water and Sanitation programs are to:

1. Increase access to potable water and sanitation facilities
2. Promote positive behavior towards water and sanitation facility utilization & hygiene practices (Behavior Change Communication)
3. Strengthen capacities of relevant national, county, district, and community stakeholders to perform their role in community water and sanitation services delivery management
4. Improve clean water and sanitation standards, guidelines, procedures, and approaches achieved through regular & productive coordination and collaboration with relevant government, NGOs, and donor stakeholders
5. Increase access to seed funds to support community generated activities that will complement infrastructural development
6. Enhance strategic alliances and partnerships between public and private entities for development)

5. Project implementation, operation and achievements