New Post from Site

Hi,
Just got back from my future site visit and it looks awesome! I can't wait! I am giddy with excitement. I’ll be living in my supervisor's guesthouse. It’s pretty posh pad for the Peace Corps. I’ll have a toilet, running water and electricity! The organization looks awesome. They do work in the Rakai region, which is in the southern part of the country, close to the Tanzanian border. I’ll be in the town of Kalisizo, which is a small town on the main road. It’s a poor region in which only about 50% of the people have access to a protected spring or protected well, in the adjacent sub-county the number is a mere 3%. It was hit hard by the AIDS epidemic in its early days and is still recovering. My organization is protecting a number of springs in the area, and is looking to expand that work. They are also very involved in environmental awareness work in the area, planting trees, cleaning up trash, promoting pit latrines and educating people about more sustainable living and farming practices. They also do work on malaria prevention and AIDS education. I’ll probably be working in all of those areas, but it looks like I’ll definitely be doing allot of engineering work on springs and maybe wells. I’d also like to get involved in the environmental work. My boss is very nice, in fact he has a master's degree from a Belgium University and is definitely not your average Ugandan! The region is very pretty. Lots of rolling green hills and bananas! It gets rural really fast once you are outside the cities. My town is only about 20-km from Lake Victoria, and I'm definitely looking forward to some weekend bike trips. There are two Internet cafes in town, so I’ll definitely be better connected than I have been. There is also a medical research facility run by John's Hopkins. So it looks like I’ll have some American neighbors.

I have just one week remaining in Luwero, and then a few days in Kampala before heading back to my site for good. I can’t wait to get started!

Check out my website that my mom has been updating for me: http://rtwjon.blogspot.com/

I guess that's about it for now, hope you all are doing well!

Cheers
Jon

Jon got his assignment!

Jon got his assignment! He will be working in Kalisizo for the Community-based Options for Social Welfare and Responses . Below is an article from The New Vision, a Ugandan News paper.

Kyotera gets sh100m water project
Sunday, 8th April, 2007

By Ali Mambule

THE United Nations Development Programme is funding a sh100m sanitation project in Kalisizo and Kyotera town councils in Rakai district.

The eco-project is implemented by the Rakai Women to Save the Environment in Kyotera and the Community-based Options for Social Welfare and Responses in Kalisizo.

“We have already started sensitising residents on how to keep their homes and the surrounding areas clean and to construct latrines,” the Kalisizo manager, Joseph Mubiru, said on Wednesday.

He explained that part of the funds would be used to construct six spring wells in rural areas.

The project manager in Kyotera, Hadijah Ssozi, said the project would benefit women.

“We have a number of widows who have no jobs and I believe that this project will help them save some money.”
Kalisizo mayor Sande Ntambaazi commended UNDP for funding the project, saying the council had faced difficulties in convincing residents to clean their homes and the town.