W.A.S.H: Community Meeting

                                                                                                                                                   9/3/2013

               In refugee settlement camps water and hygiene practices can mean the difference between life or death for many who live here. With the constant rush of refugees coming into Kyangwali and setting up their new lives, important issues such as the safe practice of obtaining clean water and sanitation often get put on the back burner. This is the reason why W.A.S.H (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) is one of the largest sectors of AAH. W.A.S.H travels out to the villages in Kyangwali multiple times a week to hold community meetings in each one. Their goal in these meetings is to explain to the community members the best practices in W.A.S.H and to try to prevent W.A.S.H-related diseases such as cholera, malaria, and diarrhea.

Head of W.A.S.H Richard Ariku educates a
community on safe water practices

Meetings like this are held routinely by AAH in order for the community to come together and learn about the diseases that are a threat to the refugees all over the settlement camp. Visits such as these help AAH stay connected with each village and in turn helps the villages stay connected with AAH, which gives them a chance to voice their concerns or ask questions. Richard Ariku, the head of AAH’s W.A.S.H program in Kyangwali, attends each of these meetings and reaches out to the community and provides them with whatever help the refugees need.

The way communities are established in Kyangwali are based off of the convoys the refugees happen to come in from. Each convoy of refugees is established like its own town or village, and in each convoy, there is one spokesperson or chairperson elected by the convoy who acts similar to a mayor for that specific community. The earlier AAH can get into a community and talk about the dangers and benefits of W.A.S.H the better it is and the more it will help prevent waterborne disease. The refugees at this meeting have been here in Kyangwali for three weeks, and right off the bat they are encouraged to build permanent structures and settle in their land. Around 5000 new refugees have settled into this area and AAH needs to hold these meetings for each convoy that comes into Kyangwali. They need to educate the refugees and hold elections to establish a Committee of Exemplary People who will listen and help their community live in a safer environment.

Community meeting

Topics for the meeting are:

-        Environmental sanitation

-        Encouraging own latrines, permanent housing

-        Drying racks

-        Hand-washing facilities

-        Clean houses

-        Elections for committee

Many from the community attend the meeting, including men, women, and children, but men show the most strength in numbers, which reflects the role that they play in these households. One of the first topics discussed in the meeting was how AAH can work with and help this community use safe water practices; that is boiling water and not collecting it from areas where contaminates are known to fester. Richard provides as much support as he can, even going as far as giving his personal cell phone number out to each community so that they can call him directly for help and ask questions. He guides the community to areas where they will be able to get safe water and also finds other water sources the community may be using and checks if they are safe to use. The Red Cross Society of Uganda also was present at the meeting in order to try and drive the safe water usage points with AAH.

Red Cross officials explaining (with visual aid) symptoms of
cholera and other water borne diseases 

Since Kyangwali is near Lake Albert, AAH and the Red Cross must teach the community about the dangers and symptoms of cholera and other waterborne diseases. They also tell them to avoid certain streams where cholera has been known to live. So far, there have been no cases of cholera in this community, and the only sanitary problem that they have an issue with is Jiggers (small flies that normally live around pigs due to the filth, that feed on blood and dig into feet). The refugees often keep animals in their houses, which is the cause of most of these cases. This is all caused by poor hygiene. The villagers were also advised on how to use the safe practices of water and sanitation by learning sanitary practices of latrine use, safe practices of food consumption (must wash hands before eating, diarrhea-related diseases, also the use of boiled water), malaria prevention (not using mosquito nets for building their homes but use them for sleeping under), and the difference between water that should be used for drinking and water that should be used for other activities such as washing clothes and leisure. 

During the meeting, Richard makes AAH’s plan clear for this community. He tells them not to continue living in temporary structures and to start establishing new permanent homes. Many refugees new to the settlement camp hold on to the notion that Kyangwali is not somewhere they will be living for a long time, but in reality it is quite the opposite. Refugees are told that the Congo is no longer their home for the moment and to make Uganda their home now; that the surrounding families and communities are now their brothers and that they need to help each other establish a new life here. Being a refugee in a settlement camp here in Uganda means that nobody is alone in their struggle. AAH emphasizes community collaboration to them and working together with their community to build permanent housing, dig latrines, set up hand-washing facilities, and help each other grow into their new lives.

This village helps clear the area around the tank
for better drainage 

AAH’s motto is ‘working with refugees instead of working for them’, which means that there is no benefit in providing the refugees with everything because they need to learn these skills and later on they will take these projects for granted and lose respect for them. If the refugees help with projects and work with AAH, then they will take pride in their work, treat that project with respect, and take ownership over it. In this upcoming week AAH plans on installing a new water tank in this village to make gathering safe, usable water easier for the people here. Richard has asked for the help of the community to first establish a foundation for the tank so that the work can be done quicker while also teaching the refugees in this community to work together.

When the refugees first arrive into the village, AAH helps construct communal latrines. However, these communal latrines are an inconvenience to everyone in the area due to the distance and overuse.  Because they are inconvenient and also unsanitary from overuse, every family is encouraged to dig their own latrines. To make sure that each family is constructing their own, AAH goes around to every family in these new areas and checks to see if they have set up proper facilities that are not a threat to their health. To help promote the construction of these proper facilities, AAH rallies the community and puts together a competition to see who can establish all of the complete permanent structures that AAH encourages everyone to construct. The winners of the competition in each villages receive prizes such as mattresses, bed seats, hand-washing facilities, soap, etc.  

               Before ending the meeting, Richard has the community hold an election to establish a committee to elect five men and five women from their community to be examples of safe practices and to help reinforce everything that this meeting covered today. The committee members will also hear the concerns of all the villagers and become the voice of the people in these meetings. AAH trains these 10 people and evaluates them to see if they would be a good candidate for a leadership position in the community. The 10 members can all call for community meetings to address issues and other problems that they may see or experience. These committee members are also responsible for going around the village, to check up on how progress of permanent construction is going, see if the tools the people are given are being used, and if not, they take them and give them to someone else who needs them. These committee members should be the model citizens to be an example for, and help everyone else in the community.

The elected committee members of this community

When the elections are finished and all the topics of importance have been discussed, Richard asks the committee of newly-elected officials when they can hold their next meeting of just villagers. Meetings like this one are an important staple of the W.A.S.H curriculum. Richard tries to attend community meetings weekly to really reiterate what they have discussed today and stay on top of how the progress of construction and sanitary practices are going.