July Updates - by Jolly Babirukamu
* Distributed 230 water tanks to the grannies in Kanungu. Each tank holds 120 litres of water. We are also giving out garden tools (hoes) to Grannies in Rugyeyo and Kirima. We are distributing plates and cups to Grannies in Mpungu.
* Building pit latrines for grannies: 4 in Kayonza, 4 in Nyakishenyi, and 2 for Buyanja sub-counties.
HistoryThe Grannies Project is one of our most important programs. Africa has become a continent of orphans. Almost 2.2 million orphans are in Uganda alone. In the midst of this devastation, grandmothers have emerged as the true heroes of the AIDS crisis in Africa. These courageous women bury their own children and defy all the odds to become parents all over again in their 50s, 60s, and 70s - all with little or no support.
At Nyaka and Kutamba, support is provided through the following:
* Provide group support on the village, sub-county, and district level to assist grandmothers.
* Help grandmothers start income-generating projects to improve their households.
* Provide training and support through regular group meetings where the grandmothers have opportunities to share their experiences and learn from facilitators.
* The Nyaka nurse visits the grandmothers and teaches hygiene, sanitation, and nutrition-building skills.
Other Activites include:
* Building latrines for grannies
* Have a demonstration garden at each grannies home
* Engaging grannies in self-help activities
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What's new with our Grannies? Catch up on the latest Mukaka Project News...
Latest Reports - by Jolly Babirukamu
Two recent reports have been sent by our Grannies Project Coordinator, Jolly Babirukamu. One report highlights our project progress in terms of numbers of grannies who have joined the project in the 11 subcounties we work in. It also summarizes the projects being worked on. A second report highlights the living conditions of the grannies. Both reports will give you an information look at what the project is accomplishing and how necessary it is as well. Read the Evaluation and Monitoring report here. Read the Living Conditions report here.
Updates - by Jolly Babirukamu
Recently, I have managed to visit some homes of Grannies where you find that there are no latrines or kitchen and the house is almost on the ground. Some of the grannies are sharing a small blanket to cover with the grandchildren at night. Imagine sleeping with no mattress either. The imediate needs are blankets, jerrycans for fetching water, hoes for gardening and seeds for planting. We have encouraged the grannies to also contact NAADS to help them with more information about Modern agriculture. As for health issues, most of the grannies have problems with poor eyesight and need reading glasses. There is no eye clinic anywhere in Kanungu, so need volunteers to come and check their and give the right spectacles. Some grandmothers were telling me that they have one meal a day because of poor facilities. Some are too old to plant and havest food, too frail to fetch water from a well which is a distance away from home and some grandchildren are HIV positive with poor nutrition and cannot help with house chores. One grandmother lives with 10 grandchildren between 6 years - 16 years in a two-roomed house sitting on one acre of land in Kihihi. One other issue is the old ladies cannot use the longdrop latrines as they are too old to squat on the hole. We are now planning to build Latrines with toilet seats. One of our future intervention plans is putting a water harvesting tank in some of the homes of the very destitute grandmothers. We found plastic tanks costing about 160.000 Ug sh which would hold 500 litres of water. We will give you more stories accompanied with photographs soon. I am glad to inform you that the trainners we trained were the ones facilitating and they did a good job and are the ones doing most of the follow ups at the grassroots level. |
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