We had one of the greatest experiences of our mission today in Jinja. Each Sunday we drive the 80 km to Njeru a town outside of Jinja to support the branch there. We hate the drive but we love the people. We stayed over so we could attend the "Handover" of a Humanitarian Project on Monday at Bugembe, another town outside of Jinja. Jinja is a larger city and has several cities around it that make the metro area much bigger. Bugembe has about 50,000 people and the area the project will serve will be about 20,000 people. These 20,000 people were serviced by two(2) wooden, rotting latrines. Most of these people live in a one room mud, cement or clay brick(not fired) home. There is no running water in their homes and so no indoor plumbing. It is very common for them to relieve themselves in a bag, which is pitched in the garbage pile. This water and latrine project provided them with the first public toilet in Bugembe.
To obtain water these people carry it in a jerry can from a stream, lake, spring, or a bore hole as near to their homes as possible. The jerry cans are heavy and a family makes 4-6 trips daily for water. I have seen the smallest kids 4-5 yrs. old carrying gallon jugs.
With this project funded by the Church, the contractors were able to build a six stall toilet (3 men and 3 women) as well as five bore holes (water points) and one good sized protected spring water source. The Mayor, the Town Clerk and several Town Councilmen took us on a tour of the water projects and then the handover at the latrine site was attended by many other church and city dignitaries. It was great. The Hannans were honored as they are the Humanitarian Couple and we were representatives of the Church as well, so we were honored and given front row seats next to the Hannans. We were asked to speak as was the mayor, councilmen, the District President of our Church, etc. The whole day was an incredible event. These people were so appreciative.
The new latrine was surrounded by these little houses and lots of little kids so I took lots of pictures. I hope you can feel the joy we found from the excitement in this village today. I love these kids. The older children who cannot pay school fees stay home, which breaks our hearts, but what a blessing it was for us to be there today.
This baby is sucking on a piece of sugar cane. Many of these kids teeth fall out from decay.
The new latrine...the first public toilet in Bugembe. It even has a handicap ramp and one stall for anyone handicapped.
The Contractors (on each end, both are Church members), the Mayor in the middle, and Hannans.
A bore hole where families can come to pump water. They always build a protection around a bore hole to protect it from animals.
This water point is the only one for several miles around. There are some relatively nice home around but as there is no indoor plumbing in any of them, this is a busy place.
Susan and the Mayor filling jerry cans
The Mayor at the protected spring. The Church prefers to tap into the natural springs whenever possible rather than do a bore hole.
The old spring was down to a trickle so they moved it 12 feet up the hill and it really works well
The Handover
A Church member who serves on the City Council
Contractor Abubaker with the MC for the Handover
Mayor Stephen Wante of Bugembe
Neighborhood kids sitting and listening at the Handover
The ribbon cutting at the latrine
Everyone anxious to check out the latrine after the ribbon cutting
