Soft Power Health Visits the Pygmies

On December 7, we made our second Soft Power Health visit to Buhoma Community Health Center. Last December, we began a collaborative project on malaria education and prevention in communities surrounding the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest with Buhoma Community Health Center (BCHC). The demand for the education and nets far exceeded our expectations and almost as soon as we left, we were asked to come back. During the past year, the Ugandan Government began free distributions of nets in certain communities around Uganda. Some of the villages surrounding Buhoma received nets but they were targeted to children under 1 year old and pregnant women, and as far as I know, there was no education that went with these distributions.

Also on our last visit, we visited a few Batwa homes and decided that there would be a way to get nets and education to these people who live in some of the worst poverty I have seen. If you are unfamiliar with the Batwa, they are otherwise known as the Pygmies and once Bwindi Impenetrable Forest was made a national park, the Pygmies were forced to leave their homes in the park and began squatting outside in surrounding communities. Needless to say, their culture and way of life have been changed forever and their adaptation to an agricultural way of life from hunter/ gatherer existence has been hard on them.

This year I was very excited to return not only because we had such a great time last year, but also because we have our new super terrific nets stronger, dark blue in color, and truly long lasting insecticide treated! No trip to Buhoma would be complete with a small epic getting there; its really part of the fun! Last year, my clothes and wallet were stolen on the way. This year, our roof rack broke. All nine bundles of nets from our roof had to be packed inside our car and the other one traveling with us. This left little room for us inside. And this all happened in the dark! Luckily we made it, just a little later than expected.

We had the returning crew of Juerg, Francis, Joseph and myself coupled with new volunteers Morgan, Anna, and my Mom, Clare. On Saturday morning, we awoke to pouring rain, which continued for most of the day. We met Godfrey and Vasta from BCHC, whom I had helped train last year to be malaria outreach educators, and we set off to our first village about an hour drive away.

Despite the rain, which usually keeps everyone away, we had a good turn out for our first session. Our audience included husbands, wives and children and one drunken man that kept professing love to Morgan. The next day, we organized an early morning forest walk for everyone so that they could see the amazing forest that Bwindi is. Francis and Joseph were very much hoping to see a Gorilla but enjoyed the hike to the waterfall without seeing their desired beasties. That afternoon, we went to Vasta's home village, which is right next to the Congo Border. We met the villagers after church and we had a nice turnout. We had many questions about our nets and why they were supposed to be so good. This was a little strange to me because people don't usually ask those types of questions. When it came time to sell the nets, we did not have many takers. This was very surprising since demand in the past had been so high. What we discovered was that this village was one targeted by the governments free net distribution and they had just received free nets in the last two months! It was a good learning experience for us, and we will be sure to research more carefully which villages have received recent donations.

On Monday, Juerg and I visited the Gorillas and said goodbye to my Mom, Anna, and Morgan. When we got back from an amazing sighting, we held an education session and net sale in the Buhoma trading center. It was very well attended, especially by men. Many good questions were asked and we sold some nets. The Buhoma Park Rangers and others who work with them also had contacted us. All of them wanted nets, so we ended up doing a very impromptu net sale for them. We learned that the nearest place to get nets was in Butogota, 17 kilometers away. These rangers were very grateful for our services.

Finally on Tuesday, we had an incredibly busy day with three malaria education sessions and net sales scheduled. I was really excited because we were finally beginning our plan of working with the Batwa that Paul and I had discussed a year earlier. Levy, who is the Batwa coordinator for BCHC, was an incredible help. He brought Kenneth, a Mutwa himself who studies in Kampala and Christine, a nurse from BCHC. Our first visit to the Batwa settlement was amazing. The homes these people live in are so tiny and very flimsy looking. The first home we saw had 7 people living in it, and one of our double mosquito nets would have covered the whole house! We brought single nets for these families so that the nets could hang over their sleeping areas without interfering with the cooking that they do in their houses.

Our first session was very well attended. People asked good questions and we exchanged nets for jewellery, carvings, or money. Juerg hung up a net in one woman's house so that the community could see how it was done. Everyone seemed to be very happy for our services and Juerg even did a little dance for the people before we left which inspired lots of laughing and clapping.

The next village we visited was a mixed Batwa and Bukiga village. We had a large crowd, but our teaching was interrupted by a sudden and severe storm. Everyone ran for cover under a tea shed. Once the worst part of the storm passed, we picked up where we left off and finished. We had many questions and then a bit of chaos when the net selling began. As the Batwa were exchanging things for nets, the other villagers wanted to partake and all of a sudden we had people who wanted to exchange tomatoes, rice, sugar cane, eggs, you name it for nets. Everyone was very good spirited about the whole thing and everyone who wanted nets got them. We left with a car full of Matoke, chickens, pumpkin, jewelry, and spears.

Our final stop was in Butogota. We again got a large crowd and sold out of all our nets. By the time we headed back, everyone was happy with a full day’s work well done. Godfrey, Vasta, Levy, and Christine will be keeping us up to date on how the follow-ups go as well as forthcoming net sales. We are really looking forward to our next visit to Buhoma. Its great to see what collaboration can produce. Thanks to Paul, Vicky, and Scott for hosting us, and thanks to Vasta, Godfrey, Levy and Christine for continuing the good work.