Humble Beginnings: Community Development Officer (Zam Namotosi)

Transcribed from Video/Audio by: Michał Matejczuk

"Before I met Michał, I was driving past North Primary School here in Mbale and I saw some strange design in front of the buildings. I parked my car, and walked over to the fence just to be sure of what I was actually seeing. At first I didn’t know what it was, but once I saw water taps I knew then that these structures were for water. I didn’t know anything more about the Project back then, until I met with a friend who donated his plastic bottles for the tanks. Then after the first interaction I had with Michal and learning more about the Ichupa Upcycle Project, from there I fell in love and kept interacting more and more with the events that unfolded next.

"To my surprise, actually as I speak now, what began as a conversation around a table has turned into twelve new beautiful water tanks across four major health centers in Mbale District. A few weeks back, I received the chance to visit these communities surrounding these health centers, and I remember that the whole experience moved me as I remember first discussing this project to now seeing it actually happening.

"I think it’s lovely to see how the Ichupa Upcycle Project has brought change into the lives of the youth who have been trained by Engineer Nicholas to take up this role of building and learning a new skill. I also got the opportunity to speak with several of the builders that are now a part of Nicholas’ task-force. The majority are construction workers that have worked with him since the beginning of the Project, and some that joined recently as all four sites began building at the same time.

"As I spoke to one of them, Peter, the leader of the site, he told me that the community of Busiu was first and foremost really excited to see these tanks. They kept coming up to ask him what exactly he was doing as he was putting up the walls on each of these tanks, how did he learn this method, and how they can learn more.

"Peter went on to express, “that in the past we used the bricks, but never created something like this. Ever since Nicholas trained us in using this skill I keep thinking what else can I build. I am happy about this project because we received knowledge and a new skill we never knew. The project has been helpful in providing us a living wage, and helping us pay for schools fees. Our families are very happy.”

"Another builder, a senior six vocation student, said that he would love to stay with the Ichupa Upcycle Project even if he gets an opportunity to go back to school. He never in his life built anything before until Engineer Nicholas found him working with his father at their hardware shop. He told me that at first he was surprised because he has never even built a house before but through training he learned quickly and can now build tanks and other Structures.

"We also interacted with community members, many of them women, when visiting Busiu’s maternity ward. Although the hospital has a borehole, whenever there is a breakdown they had to travel long distances around the community in search of water. They said it is true that there are some wells, but most of the wells are unprotected and contaminated, but because of scarcity they have no choice but to bring this water back. The same was echoed in Namawanga Sub-County, where we had a community member tell us that when it comes to childbirth “water is a necessity that cannot be debated about.”

"I remember from the month of December in 2018, we had a dry spell across the entire district up to late March when the rains starting coming. That’s when we were able to receive water again from the taps. But my worry lies in what will happen again when another dry spell comes again. There is still a very large opportunity for the Ichupa Upcycle Project and more work needed to be done as Mbale District requires more water reserving points. So as we work together with the community and district officials, more tanks will eventually be built throughout Mbale. Because the spell is coming, again and again.