On November 11, two members of the International Service Committee (Dennis Gray and Joe Clarke) of the Rotary Club of Toronto Eglinton, travelled to Uganda to review progress on the Bugiri, Uganda WASH in Schools project funded by Global Grant 1634459 with many contributions coming from District 7070 Rotary Clubs. Here is their report.......
An initial proposal to work with 10 schools in this very poor district of southeastern Uganda was separated into two global grant applications. This site visit was scheduled to review the work described in a comprehensive progress report when work on the first 4 schools was well advanced.
Prior to any training or construction of facilities, each school and community underwent a full year of health promotion, in the course of which the community was involved in the planning and actual construction of the sanitation facilities.
The site visit took 5 days and included all 4 schools to be funded with the first global grant. Meetings were held with the head teacher of each school, teachers in charge of child health and sanitation training (CHAST) and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) education, members of the Student Health Clubs, and members of the community. A tour was made of the construction and functioning of the rain water harvest (RWH) tanks, gutters, hand-washing facilities, and the latrines for both girls and boys and washrooms for girls.
All 4 schools underwent comprehensive and intensive Child Health and Sanitation Training (CHAST) and Menstrual Hygiene Management training. We were particularly impressed that the training spread, by the students’ influence at home, to the rest of the community, resulting in a general appreciation and practice of improved personal hygiene. The construction of 30,000 litre ferro-cement rain water harvest (RWH) tanks and gutters was complete and the water was piped to hand-washing stations for use by the students after using the latrines. These schools also had newly constructed or renovated ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines and also separate, private washrooms for girls to use during menstruation.
The site visit was a success. The project is on schedule. The CHAST and MHM education was well advanced and effective. The construction of rain water harvesting, hand-washing facilities, and latrines was competently undertaken and functioning.
Thank you to the Canadian Rotary Clubs contributing to the ultimate project goal of 10 schools in the Bugiri District of Uganda:
District 7070: Coburg, Whitby Sunrise, Toronto Eglinton, Toronto West, Port Perry, Toronto East, Wellington, Belleville, Toronto Forest Hill, Willowdale, Scarborough, Etobicoke, Oshawa-Parkwood, Toronto Skyline, Markham Sunrise, Ajax, Uxbridge, Newmarket, and Toronto.
District 7080: Oakville Trafalgar, Cambridge North, Burlington Lakeshore
District 5550: Swan Valley, Nipawin, Winnipeg Assinaboine