A visit to the VIP latrines

Yesterday was a milk and RVCP project day. In the morning Miriam took us to Jose's Milk House, where we had half a litre of milk and some Mandazi - a sweet fried dough. 

The mandazi was delicious but there was no way I could managed a half-litre of milk, especially when it was so creamy. It's definitely something I'm going to get used to though!

In the afternoon, Miri and I went with Paci from RVCP to visit a project run under RVCP's Hygiene programme. RVCP work in Mpungwe village to build Ventilated Improved Pit latrines (VIP latrines) for families who do not have a clean and safe latrine. This programme was started in response to a government programme which seeks to move Rwandans from remote rural areas into villages, where they can concentrate infrastructure and house construction, thus ensuring that most people have access to electricity and water.

This is part of the Rwandan government's Vision 2020 initiative, which was launched by Kagame in 2000. In short, it seeks to transform Rwanda into a middle-income country, and this is to be achieved by reducing poverty, increasing and improving education, good governance, efficient agriculture, improving health systems and creating a united Rwanda. The housing initiative was first started to provide houses for widows of the genocide in 1994, and is continuing under Vision 2020. Therefore, villages such as Mpungwe are growing fast.

The houses built by the government however do not have latrines, since it is expected that the residents themselves will construct their own latrine. However, most people lack the resources and skills necessary to do this, and so have very unsafe and unhygienic latrines. RVCP seeks to improve the health and hygiene of the villagers by buying and building long-lasting and sustainable deep pit latrines.

RVCP build 4 latrines a year in Mpungwe, and the project started in 2005. The latrines built in 2005 are still in use, so the latrines are a long-term solution to provide improved hygiene in the village. RVCP provide materials, labour and money to buy expert labour to dig the pits (which are 8 metres deep). RVCP volunteers also provide education about how to keep the latrines clean and hygienic, the importance of clean water, how to practice good hygiene and how livestock near the house can spread diseases.

Out of around 156 families in the area, 97 families currently benefit from a VIP latrine and RVCP is currently researching where to construct the next four latrines. In the future RVCP hopes to be able to teach the villagers with the capacity to do so how to construct their own safe latrine.

The village of Mpungwe is spread over a hill above a valley, and the scenery is incredible. Again, photos don't do it justice, especially with that annoying speck on my camera lens which I only noticed until I was at home and uploading the pictures. I'm really keen to do some trekking in this area, so we're planning a walk to Mount Huye in a few weekends time which will be amazing.

Interesting information about Vision 2020 is at http://www.rwandachamber.org/rwanda+vision+2020

Projects, pigs and washable tan

Yesterday, we visited some RVCP projects. One was an agricultural cooperative ran under the Maternal Health initiative, and two others were incoming generating projects. Visiting these projects involved an adrenaline-filled motorbike ride, a lot of dust and even more pigs and rabbits....

The agricultural cooperative involves about 100 women, providing land, fertiliser and seeds for them to grow crops to sell at local markets. This falls under the Maternal Health initiative, and seeks to promote women's health and to provide them with an income to buy medicine and food for their babies. We spoke to some of the women and it was inspiring to hear that the money they earned through the cooperative was spent on improving the life and health of their children, and provided the women with a job that they would otherwise not have. With any development project, it is often difficult to fully understand how they work and whether they do actually have an impact upon the target community, which is why it is so important for me to visit these projects and speak directly to the people involved.

The photos don't quite do justice to how beautiful Rwanda is, it is by far the most incredible place I have ever been. It is also more hilly than Bristol (which is impressive). 

We then met with the project heads of Income Generation, and visited both the pig and rabbit projects. The pig project involves ten families, who each receive a pig. After a year, the pig will have piglets, and the family will be able to breed from them again, or sell them to make money. RVCP has two piglets from each family, which are then given to other families, and so the project is sustained once the initial ten pigs have been bought. We visited four of the ten families, who all told us how much the pig means to them and how it will help them make some money once it has piglets. 

We then visited the rabbit project, which I was a bit dubious about. But happily all the rabbits looked healthy and well-fed! The rabbit project involves a youth club, and in return for looking after the rabbits, the youth club can sell the rabbits and make an income from them.

I asked Benedict why the youth club have rabbits and what they can sell them for, and this was met with a incredulous 'But you don't eat rabbit in England then?' It turns out that rabbit is actually a popular meat in Rwanda and that hotels can sell rabbit for around 6000RFW (£6), so the youth club can get pretty good prices when selling the rabbits at market. I told Benedict that no, people don't really eat much rabbit in England, and anyway I don't at all because I don't eat any meat, and this was met with another incredulous exclamation of 'Oh no!' and a facepalm. Telling people I don't eat meat will never get old! 

After a day in the Rwandan sun (it's been seriously hot the past few days) I was looking pretty tanned. But sadly a dust tan is not permanent, and it all washed away in some very disgusting shower water. I also lost a fight with a mosquito and I am covered in more bites, one of which is on the sole of my foot which is the WORST place to have a bite. But apart from dust and vicious mosquitoes, Rwanda is a pretty amazing place to live, and visiting some RVCP projects has made me even more certain of this.