Back home

I’m finally back from my whirlwind tour of East/Northeast Uganda! The trip was generally smooth and productive, and now I have officially completed all of my field work and can move on to data analysis and report writing. This next step will definitely take me a few weeks, as I have tons of information to compile. Proposing strategies for BRAC to address sanitation is proving to be more complex than I thought. The areas with poorest sanitation are those in more rural areas, a few of which BRAC is active in. However, because BRAC is centered around microfinance, its branches tend to be based in more urban areas where groups of women can easily be organized. I was hoping to write a report focusing on what can be done in the most rural areas, since they are lacking the most in the sanitation area, and I was also going to focus my work more on exploring the possibility of implementing Ecosan latrines (composting toilets). But the reality of BRAC’s current positioning means I will have to devote more energy to also devising solutions for more urban areas. I’ll need a week or two to go through all my findings, re-review the literature, and do some thinking before I can come up with some thoughtful strategies to propose, and will update more on this when I do so.

I am posting lots of photos below from my trip instead of writing about it in depth.
Household I interviewed in the town of Kyotera. This woman had 7 children, about average for rural areas. This was probably the most rural area I visited during my field work.



Three of the children

One more

Inside the home where we did the interview

Schoolyard on our walk back to town

Cool tree

My least favorite animal in all of Uganda. Vile vulture bird thing that is probably taller than my waist. They are meat eaters and were hanging out in this meat packing area. Disgusting.

Next town - Bugiri. Interviewing a community health worker. To my left is my research assistant, Allen, who accompanied me the whole trip. My friend Louise came too so she took some pictures during the interview

In this view you can see the crowd that gathered to watch. We were right by a schoolyard and the kids were having a break so some of them followed us.

Loving the camera

Jackfruit - a new treat I've discovered in Uganda

My friend Louise trying out a borehole - one of the common sources of water here

Some typical homes in the Northeast area - pretty cute huh?

Tiny baby goat. You can see how small it is compared to the hand!

Microfinance group

View on our drive to the next town of Tororo

Tororo town - with Tororo rock in the background

Former railroad company buildings turned into housing owned by the government

Nice tree outside our hotel room

Last town - Soroti

One of the many people who wear Obama gear - I think he has even more fans here than at home