WATSAN in Ntara

Wow, what a busy and fun last week we have had working with the WATSAN program. As you might well be wondering what WATSAN is, let me explain. WATSAN stands for WATer and SANitation. The program started here in Kamwenge in 2003 with the main purpose being to improve the general sanitation practices of people as well as creating safe water sources. SP goes about accomplishing this goal by first sending a team of educators into local villages. They call for a village meeting, where they sensitize the community by discussing current health problems, how sanitation/ their water source relates to those problems, and finally how SP will respond. The village elects a WATSAN Committee comprised of between 5-10 individuals. These individuals receive further training on disease, how it is spread and how they can safeguard their water source from harboring many of these diseases. Next, SP sends in a technical team to construct biosand water filters made completely from materials locally available. (Check out Samaritan Purse BioSand Filter and Biosand Filter.org for more info). SP requires interested beneficiaries to provide some of the materials as well as most of the labor. A technician will visit the beneficiaries 4 times after they have received their filter to make sure it is being used properly, to answer any questions and provide further training where necessary. SP has also implemented a rainwater harvesting project which has created several large tanks (20000 liter) for local schools as well as smaller jars (1000 liters) for families. These allow the beneficiaries a constant source of clean water for most of the year. Soo.... As you will see from the pictures, Kristi and I were able to get involved in all aspects of the program; from filter construction to community sensitization to follow up visitations.

Despite our busyness, we were able to take last weekend off and head to Kibale national park where we went for a "forest walk". The forest was so immense that I had the feeling of being visitor in an other-worldly place. As we were hiking around I kept thinking about the quote in "Heart of Darkness" where Marlow describes the forest this way; "Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine. The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into the gloom of overshadowed distances. "