Tag Archive: Kazo

Blue House Camp, Part II

Author: April 2, 2017

A  chronicle of the afternoon camp activities

 

Morning leftover. The girls are doodling on a whiteboard waiting for the RUMPs session to let out. The lesson learned here was “What’s the difference between permanent ink markers and board markers on a whiteboard?”    ……………………………In the iconic pose of the 21st Century, Scott checks out how the Mets are doing in Spring training.

The afternoon means permagarden time for all the girls. I thought those new pants were supposed to be pajamas!

Matthews wants to dig a permagarden for the village where we did last week’s lesson. Watching Dave teach it twice was helpful.

“This hoe has seconds to live.” About ten readers will get that. Drop me a line!

Dave is ready to go MMA to disarm the hoe from the Sewing Instructor…… No, actually he is showing the width of the garden bed with his feet so you can work on it without stepping on it.

 

 

 

 

David, 58, is a fellow fossil, and Agribusness volunteer.He is our cohort’s permagarden master, He was featured in my blog a year ago here. David is from North Carolina by way of Pittsburgh and Wisconsin. After a career as a graphic artist, he did some woofing before his Peace Corps service. After service, he intends to help care for his mother in North Carolina for at least a year. He also hopes to work for a nearby branch of the Food Corps, part of AmeriCorps Eventually he’d like to do another Peace Corps tour.. David designed the Blue House camp t-shirts we used.

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Elphaz stopped by. He serves on the board, amd is the brother of Beatrice, the late founder of Blue House. At one point he was caring for 20 children under his roof. His is 64.

The ground was transformed in less than two hours. Aine tells me they have had rain, and the straw has come off at both sites after germination.

“…and then that P-2 kid accidentally whacked me with her hoe right here….”

“If you can learn to levitate a ball, like this, you get into Hogwarts. Or Makere U. in Kampala, your choice.”

The older girls talked about HIV, consent, and condoms. The men were kicked out during question time. Scott mobilized the younger ones for “Hide the matoke”

Sweet Victory

Scott, 25, an Agribusiness volunteer, and hails from New Jersey. He is a recent graduate of Duquesne, as a Business Major. Before Peace Corps. he worked in the marketing department for the New York Mets baseball team. He is still thinking about his post-Peace Corps options, perhaps doing some consulting.

The venerable Ugandan tradition of handing out certificates. House Mom Matene is pleased.

Fossils propping each other up.

This is the link to Hope Multipurpose Inc, the org that supports the Blue House.

When a camp is over, Mackenzie just gets carried away.

Almost time to go to the pork joint.  A favorite Ugandan culinary delight. My brother-in-law loved it. Wish I had a photo of it.

…..but lets do a silly one first. Where is my mount?

 

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Peace Corps Uganda Rocked It at the Blue House Camp- Part 1

Author: April 2, 2017

I don’t know how our cohort nick-named itself “Cohort Best” rather than a more mundane title like Education Cohort 3. I thought maybe it was Becky, who loves Superlatives, but she credits Katy J.. Anyway, we were a pretty veteran crew who came to Kazo Uganda and put on a camp for the Blue House girls orphanage on a recent Saturday.  I had written about the Blue House here...That photo above is another frame-able.  It belongs in a brochure.

We started proceedings with a welcome and introductions and a little talk I give to schools about trying your best and always being honest

We ended my little portion with an energizer called “Rainstorm”

Mackenzie led a session for the whole camp, including staff on Nutrition

“Now, is this a healthy plate?”

Lillian on the left is a bright leader, but that is a lot of butter!

What’s Dave looking for?

Mackenzie. 24, a Health Volunteer, has roots in both Chicago and Iowa. She is a graduate of the University of Iowa, double majoring in Political Science and International Studies. She studied in Tanzania for a year. After service, she intends to obtain a Master’s Degree in Public Health. I believe she has been accepted by eleven schools so far. Hard choice coming up.

We all went outside and Scott led a variation of Simon Says.

The older girls went to the sewing room, where Kelly, assisted by David, learned to sew RUMPs

Kelly, 25, a Health volunteer, is from Indiana PA. and has a degree in French from the University of Pittsburgh. After her service, she will attend nursing school, and eventually would like to work for the French organization, Medicens sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders). If you follow the news, you know that will take courage

On the left is the house mother, Ziporah Matene

…from the rafters?


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Karen gives it a shot

Doin’ the RUMPs shuffle

Well done!

Meanwhile, the Primary age girls learn about washing their hands properly

Getting it right

Only the roof of the Blue House is blue. We were lucky to have great weather during our visit, which is supposed to be the beginning of rainy season, but now those permagardens need to get wet!

After Scott observed many of the girls did not use their mosquito nets properly,, they segued into a session on why nets are important. Scott had a bad case of malaria last year.

Mosquito tag! A couple of kids with cardboard mosquitoes try to ‘infect’ their mates with malaria. Scott and Mackenzie make a safe haven ‘net’. in the background.

If you get malaria, you need a doctor to get back in the game.

My turn as mosquito was exhausting! Those kids can turn on a dime. I eventually adopted the lion hunting strategy and let another mosquito drive a victim towards me.

 The district probation officer, Fortunate Abaho, gave an inspirational talk.

Fortunate had never heard of the Peace Corps so Karen recruited Mackenzie to explain how during training, you learn how to make those duck shadows..

Yum! Part two of the camp is in the next post!

 

 

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PCVs Sharing Knowledge with Kazo town

Author: March 29, 2017

Our first working day was on Friday, providing sessions to benefit the town of Kazo. We dug a demonstration permagarden behind the Catholic Primary School, taught financial literacy to local farmers, and taught RUMPs to a vocational sewing school. It all went well.

They removed too much top soil in prepping the land so we had to bring some of it back. Notice the adjacent roof which will help drain rain into the garden

David brought his illustrated grain sacks to explain this type of garden

A color-full plate grown in a garden next to your house provides year-round good nutrition even in hard times.

 

Add ash for minerals, manure for nitrogen, charcoal for water retention, and egg shells for calcium

Scott pours a full Jerry can into one of the corner holes to show how much the garden can retain. The water seeps deep under the garden.

The MaMas dig as well as the men!

We planted our color-full plate of cabbage, carrots, eggplant, cucumbers, and simi greens (collards)

Since the garden is dug so deep, you can plant the seeds closer together. The roots will go straight down and seek out the water that is stored. The surface growth, being closer, adds shade and so there is less surface drying.

Spectators from the classroom

Finish with a cover of straw. Water a bit if it doesn’t rain, allow the seeds to germinate, remove the covering.


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After digging the garden, we moved inside a class room to teach a session of record keeping

They are paying attention too!

Scott invited the farmers up to record the cash book entries

Meanwhile at the town’s vocational school run by the Blue House on it’s grounds, Kelly and Mackenzie teach how to sew Reusable Menstrual Pads (RUMPs) with the school’s teacher Musiime as their able assistant and translator. These students come from the town and nearby villages. Some board in a nearby building during the week. One student is a Blue House girl.

I love this photo but I can’t rotate it!

 

In the background on the chalkboard, Kelly has has done the math to show the cost of commercial pads for three women in the family is 216,000 UGx, compared to 15,000 UGx for RUMPs. They help keep girls in school the full month. They also can be made and sold to other girls as an Income Generating Activity

Finished RUMPs. A girl snaps it into her panty and can remove the absorbent cloth from under the ribbons to wash and re-use. I’ll show this better in the Blue House camp post

Karen set out piles of clothes for the girls made at, and donated by, students in a clothing design class at the University of Minnesota

Back at the Guest House we relax and plan for the Blue House Orphanage Girl’s Camp the next day

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The Muzungu Invasion of Kazo Uganda

Author: March 29, 2017

We left Bugiri and visited Jinja and the source of the Nile, meeting PCV Nick for lunch at the PCVs’ favorite Indian restaurant. We drove on to Kampala for the night, where Karen greeted five Secondary School graduates who were raised at the Blue House. They are still supported by the orphanage’s NGO, Hope Multipurpose, Inc. in their studies at University or vocational school.

On the way to Kazo we took the obligatory Equator Photo

I join the other Peace Corps Volunteers at the BAM Guesthouse after our arrival in Kazo. In another post I will provide more information about each of them. Note the African country names for the rooms.

We arrived at the Blue House on a Thursday afternoon. Dave and Kelly chat, while Mackenzie fills out the guestbook, a necessity everywhere you go in Uganda

Karen greets Blue House Girls, while the Director, Aine, looks on

This is Alice, the Blue House Social Worker

Each dorm room has two bunk beds for four girls. They actually live in somewhat better conditions compared to the dingy dorms and dining halls I have seen in the schools I have visited. If a youth doesn’t board at a school but still attends, he is a “desk scholar” and there seems to be a stigma attached to it.


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David isn’t just a good permagarden instructor. He is good with the kids.

Sharing a book

Aine Abel, the Director of Blue House

Girls bring Jerry Cans of water up from a spring-fed pond. I love the simplicity and symmetry of this photo. I will print and frame this some day.

This is the spring-fed pond which supplies water for the Blue House. It is also off of the Kazo electric grid, but is well solar powered.

When Karen, my other sister Marian, and my niece Hannah last visited the Blue House in December, 2013, they brought the girls soccer uniforms. The girls later personalized them. The jerseys have held up well. In an evening performance after dinner, they wore them and preformed drum, song and dance routines for their visitors. Hopefully I will be able to link you to the video(s) soon.

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