REAP and Field Survey

I am going to digress a bit and talk about work that I have been involved in.

In Masaka town, there are a number of small NGOs that formed when big organizations operated here several years ago. Many of them operated here when there was a surging epidemic of AIDS/HIV. Although the rate of occurence still approaches around 60%, big organizations left Masaka as they realized progress would require a long term strategy vs. a quick fix.

One of the small organization left behind that still operates today is REAP - Renewed Efforts to Alleviate Poverty. REAP works together with my organization - FSD - to build water harvesting tanks and plant trees in areas that have been deforested for firewood. Here you can see their mission statement and program scope.

REAP promotes the idea of "Model Homestead." This is a concept that having a home equipped with an outhouse for sanitation, farm for income-generating activities, water tank for irrigation and drinking, etc. enable people to live in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner.

My fellow intern Fennie and I decided to go out in the field and see the work that REAP has been spearheading on a Saturday afternoon. First, we headed out to an area about 20 KMs west of Masaka. Molly from REAP took us to a farm that has worked with REAP previously and now raise pigs and harvests water. Here is a field planted with beans.

 We also saw banana trees planted all across the field. These trees grow well without much upkeep so people plant them wherever land is available.

We also saw some coffee plants that people also used to sell and supplement their income.

We also witnessed some interesting farming techniques that have increased the yield and produced better crop. Below you see an avocado plant that has been grafted to another plant. This enables the plant to produce the fruit faster. Also farmers use brown banana leaf to shield the sappling from the sun. And a water bottle is used to fill up and planted in the ground near the sappling. In time, the water slowly seeps through the clay-like soil and ends up "irrigating" the plant. Organizations like SEAP transfer such knowledge and better techniques to these subsistence farmers.

Next we visited a family that was raising pigs. These are the two boys from this home. When I took my cap off, they were absolutely amazed by my hair color.

In the back there were pig pens and the farmer spoke to us about challenges and past succeses.

And here I encountered my favorite pig "Babe." He was kind enough to smile for the camera.

We went and visited another house/farm probably 1 KM down the road. And I came across an amazing device:

This bicycle above was built from scratch by a seven year old. It's amazing. People just need the right tools and materials and they will help themselves.

Molly also took us to a hand washing station. Many households still lack running water so they take a jerry can and rig it up to a stick that can be pressed to pour water on your hands.

 Kids around the neighborhood saw us and followed us around. This girl kept staring us in awe...

Before we left the area, we then saw some examples of water tanks in rural Masaka. In the town, most building have water tanks that harvest rain water for general use like washing, etc. in addition to the running water that people pay to use. In rural areas, people don't have money to purchase these giant tanks. Instead they go to a contaminated well miles away to retrieve water. As a result, kids and women spend a good deal of time carrying 50 lb. cans of water just for irrigation or drinking...

Instead people dig open holes/wells to collect rain water. Those who can afford it may even place plastic on the bottom to keep water from leaking into the soil. But this breeds mosquitoes and further contaminates the water.

In another farm, we saw a covered water harvesting tank. This keeps the contaminants out... I'll cover the construction of these tanks in the next entry.