Development Issues/Sanitation

Uganda is a very interesting country. The prevalence of malaria here is staggering. There are around 23,000 people living in Wakiso district and approximately 6,000 new malaria cases every 10 months. While peace corps provided volunteers with malaria prophylaxis and mosquitoe nets, it would be impractical and expensive for everyone in the country to take a pill once every week/daily. Therefore, insecticide mosquitoe nets are encouraged and sold at a cheap rate (5,000ushs < $5) especially for OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children) and pregnant women. However, it is very rare to see a household using these nets. Many excuses include the heat and inconvenience of getting in and out of the bed. Still, malaria is highly endemic throughout the country ~95% so the excuse of little or no mosquitoes in a particular area is pretty poor, even if there is no standing water around. Most everyone I know from Uganda has had malaria at least once during her/his lifetime. Additionally, VERY few households have piped water. Most households get their water from tanks, boreholes, wells, springs (unprotected/protected) which they also must boil or add chemicals to (watergaurd) in order to clean the water from any living bacteria. In order to boil the water either coal fires (sitegeras) or wood fires are used. Ovens/stoves are incredibly rare (I have yet to see one in a house - most likely due to cost) but a lot of families have electricity. This does not mean constant power though, especially during the rainy season. The power in Wakiso was off for four days due to 2 power line poles falling over - one killing a dog, the other killing a cow). I have gotten to be an expert at keeping matches near and being able to light my keroscene lamp as soon as the electricity turns off. Additionally, bucket bathing is quite a challenge. At first I took this title literally by bathing while standing inside the bucket. This method was very wrong and very uncomfortable. You actually just keep a cup by the bucket and pour water on your body. With practice and patience I feel I may once again experience the pleasure of being completely clean. Along with very little piped water, there are also very few flush toilets. Pit latrines are the norm in Wakiso and around Uganda (other very very remote places use just holes in the ground). A huge issue with pit latrines is missing the pit (tiny hole - often for just long calls/ number 2 / pooping) which often leads to flies. No piped water + pit latrines = jerry can and soap (often missing) for hand washing. Peace corps awesomely taught us PCTs how to create a tippy tap/hand washing station at our homestays. I attached some mosquitoe netting (which I bought for curtains to keep out the flies, but I cannot tell if it is working b/c the front door is always open resulting in easy entrance) which holds the soap (soap on a rope).