From Uganda (Nteko Batwa): Mud Houses

The last month working for the Batwa Development Program (BDP) has been full of excitement, exhaustion, laughter, success, failure, and everything in between. We mudded a house, started a garden at a primary school, spent half a week running a camp to empower the Batwa youth, and of course had time to roast a goat and celebrate all the work we have done. My time is starting to come to an end here and it makes me sad every time I think about having to head home. On the positive side, it means I have had a wonderful summer here in Uganda and all the memories I have made will not soon be forgotten.

Mudding A House in Nteko Batwa Settlement:

A group of us took a three-day backpack trip through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to a Batwa settlement called Nteko. “Up hill both ways” has never been truer than for this backpack trip! When we finally reached the settlement, we were exhausted but had little time to rest as the next morning we woke up early to start mudding a house for a family of six. The family’s previous house had a leaking roof and the mud was sliding off the walls letting in the heavy rainfall. Not only was the house falling apart, all six of the members lived in one small room that was about 15’ by 15’.

Everyone in the settlement helped us mud the house and by afternoon we finished in time for a goat roasting. It was great experience and even better knowing that we were leaving the settlement after really helping a family.

Sutter Allen, undergraduate student, Human Development, UC Davis

Comments

Welcome to the UC Davis Blum Center Blog!

Here you will find updates on our organization, and blog posts written by each of our Blum Fellows about their experiences abroad. Make sure to check out our website at blumcenter.ucdavis.edu, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCDavisBlumCenter to get regular updates and see our upcoming events.

Visiting the New Roots Farm, By Stella Sappington

At this point in my project I have incorporated my supervisors notes into the first draft of the survey, asked questions regarding his changes, and begun to survey clients. Many of the changes he made were for the purposes of brevity and clarity. He removed the questions I had in place regarding favorite foods and whether the interviewee was the primary shopper, as well as an experimental question about community meals. He also managed to consolidate the multiple questions I had regarding food insecurity that were separated whether they interrogated price, unavailability or distance. I questioned these changes as I was concerned about the knowledge gap between shopper and interviewee that one report mentioned and elucidating rich responses to all aspects of food security. However, I ultimately incorporated each of his changes. At this time I have called 80 numbers intending to administer the survey with only 10 respondents. Their answers are so far similar in nature and offer good gu...

Sky-High Natural Dyes by Jennifer Hoover

In June of 2014, I was bracing myself for my last few days in the Himalayan village I had come to call home. I had spent 3 months there, befriending a few women with whom I worked on various textile projects. As we wrung out the last of our skeins of yarn over a dye bath, Nirmala commented, “You will always remember the time you had only two students.” “No,” I countered, “I will remember the time I had two teachers.” “Three students, three teachers,” we agreed. This, to me, is the power of participatory action research: we are all students, and all teachers; all researchers, and all research subjects. And so I am thrilled to be back for further collaboration, with the support of the Blum Center. I am here in Kullu Valley working with some participants in a women's self-help group (www.whims.in) who produce textile goods as a way of generating some independent income and preserving traditional craft skills. Although the women have started working with the acrylic ...

UC Davis Blum Center for Developing Economies

Search This Blog