2009 Trip
In July 2009 a seven member group traveled to Northern Uganda and worked at several projects for a period of three weeks. The members of the team included Dr. Chris Opio, Tony Donovan, Allan and Karol Hume, Danielle Samuels, Wendy Bergman and Karyn Smith. The primary goal of this trip was to visit existing wells, ensure they were working properly, fund and initiate the building of 4 more wells, check on the “goats” given to various villages during the 2008 trip and assist with building of a roof for the Church in Kamdini Parish.
Wells:
The existing 12 wells were visited. One was not functioning and in need of minor repairs which were completed and the other 11 were found in good working order. Research was conducted at each well with a primary goal of determining if the wells were making a difference in terms of the villagers overall state of health. It was determined that the most common ailments like gastrointestinal problems that previously existed because of the unhealthy drinking water had had a significant decrease with the implementation of the clean water now accessible from the well. Four new wells were funded during this trip and construction started.
Goats:
Three Villages were given 10 goats each to breed and increase the goat population in Northern Uganda. Other villages that were given goats in 2008 were visited and a status update on the number of goats they currently had was obtained.
Some of the villages we visited and gave goats to or checked on existing goats.
Dogapio, Akwic, Tedoka, Station, Oburi, Amwa Headquarters, Minakulu, Awimingo, Awuru, Zambia, Alyec.
Community Centre (Canada House):
Construction was started on a community centre in Kamdini. The will serve as an education and training centre, an office for NUDF and a meeting place for the community. It will also house teams representing NUDF who travel to Northern Uganda to perform volunteer work. During this visit, the foundation was started. NUDF will follow the progress of this construction.
Hospital:
A variety of medical supplies were taken and donated to the (insert name of hospital) in….. Two members on the team Wendy Bergman and Karyn Smith (both registered nurses) had the opportunity to work in the hospital for a couple of days to better understand the medical needs of the community. This work enabled the team to gain knowledge of the benefits of fresh water wells on health and the significant impact these wells are making on the people in Northern Uganda.
Nursery:
We received a proposal from a group to help start a nursery. We had several discussions and we decided that this would help the community in a few ways. Deforestation is a major problem in Uganda that is starting to effect local and possibly global weather patterns. During this year there was a severe drought in Northern Uganda. Uganda generally receives a lot of rainfall and this was unheard of. The nursery provides seedlings to the community at a very good cost. The nursery employs several people to operate it. We decide to contribute some funds for start up. Check progress in 2010 trip.
Seeds and Simple Farming tools
While in the north we purchased spades and seeds for 10 families. This will allow them to start a small farm. This will provide them some food and income.
