Goats for Widows and Other Projects

After eight additional volunteers arrived to Entebbe Airport on Sunday, we traveled to Kalalu Monday morning, where we are staying to work in Iganga District for the rest of our trip.

On Monday, some of the volunteers met with Samuel and Scovia, who were chosen in August as the recipients of goats during this trip. Samuel is a widower with five children (ages five to 13). He works four acres of land as a farmer, but he is 65, and age and arthritis make it difficult for him to support his family. He repeatedly told us how grateful and happy he is to be receiving a goat that will produce milk. Scovia is a widow with eight children. Her husband died suddenly, she thinks from a heart attack. She is currently expecting another child.

The Vassar Uganda Project Goats for Widows program provides participants with one goat and veterinary care for one year. Participants in the program must construct a goat shed using donated grass, poles, and floor boards, as well as sticks they find in the village. They must undergo animal care training with a veterinarian and plant a special type of grass that will maximize milk production. The participants then breed the goats, and the first and third goats are donated back to the program to be given to other widows and widowers.

Today, preventive health volunteers John, David and Alex will accompany the Reverend to deliver the goats. They will also ensure that the mosquito nets we donated to them are being used properly to prevent malaria. On a preliminary examination, Samuel's mosquito net left a space between the mattress and the ground through which mosquitos could enter. We will ensure that Samuel is aware of its proper use.

The preventive health volunteers are also traveling to five households to assess whether their occupants will need mosquito nets.

Jared and Nicole are meeting with the village leaders, called local counselors, to make sure that people in that village are mobilized to receive mosquito nets at the end of this week.

The Emergency Medical Technician volunteers (Jacquie, Nicole Pontee, Ben, and John Garfinkel), as well as Medi and Anne, are traveling to two health centers to conduct needs and capacity assessments. The information they gather will allow us to train the ambulance responders for the eRanger program to take patients to health centers that have the capacity to help them.

Tomorrow, we will begin training medical professionals and citizen bystanders in CPR, first aid and preventive health. On Thursday alone, about 200 people will receive this training.

Stay tuned for updates and photographs about our programs and the experiences of individual volunteers - and be sure to scroll down to see photos from our journey north!