Rubingo

This week, David, Michelle and I spent a few days in Rubingo, which is about forty-five minutes away from our camp at Nyakyera. In 2001, ACTS built a pipeline system in Rubingo – 203 taps, I think – quite the project. Rubingo is very similar to Nyakyera, and has beautiful mountainous views for anyone who is willing to climb up that far in the heat.

As soon as we arrived in Rubingo, we held a long meeting with the water committee leaders. They are having trouble with their caretaker, who has put in illegal taps and had, that very day, sold a tank needed for the project to a local. The local was caught, the tank returned, but the caretaker is now on the run. Also, the water pressure has dropped somewhat in some places, largely due (we think) to the extra taps. The young engineers will check out this project next month to see if the extra taps need to be removed (which would be a shame, because one of them is serving a recently built school). But in spite of all this, the Rubingo project is going very well. The Water Committee leaders seem to be on top of things, and to keep themselves accountable with funds, they get an external examiner in every year to check up on things. We were all very encouraged when visiting the area.

The next day, we talked with several other groups that ACTS is working with. Firstly, we met with a group of widows who receive funding from ACTS to rent land for farming. David is hoping that, like the widows of Nyakyera, the Rubingo widows will be able to renew their rent by themselves (and become independent) once they have more land. He therefore promised them money to rent more fields over the next two years. They were very pleased. David also gave them goats and chickens – excellent gifts, because they provide renewable income once they produce offspring. After that, we met with the HIV/AIDS victims’ microfinance program, which is going remarkably well. As a group, they lend money to their members for projects with interest. After collecting the interest, the group bought pigs, which have already multiplied. The group is hoping, the leader said, to eventually give two pigs to each member (there are over a hundred). David thought this was a great plan, and promised them sixty pigs. He was very cheerful this trip – he likes playing Father Christmas. 

The day after that, we visited the homes of several widows. Before ACTS had stepped in to build them houses, these widows were the poorest of the poor. Most had been landless, and had many children to support. Building houses for these women was fairly expensive. Our driver, when he heard the cost, suggested that we just rent homes for them. But the thing is, when a widow who is renting a house dies, her children have nothing. However, when a widow owns a house, she has something to leave to her children, and there is a much better chance that the family will stay together afterwards. 

Other interesting things this week: I saw my first case of elephantitus. One of the widows had very swollen feet and toes thick as sausages. She could barely walk, but still managed to stand when she greeted us. On the more positive side, the local church at Nyakyera has given us two chickens – one rooster and one hen – to keep at camp. Matt wanted to eat them right away, but Melanie desperately wanted to wait for fluffy chicks. She convinced Matt to help her build a pen for them right outside of her tent… and has since been woken up at 5 am every morning by the dratted rooster. Given enough time, I think she might ring its neck herself!   

That’s all for now – until next week!