Community Integration

1. Please identify the strategies you have used thus far to learn more about your community and/or organization in terms of local norms and values:
• formal interviews, observation, informal discussion, attending meetings, a lot of question asking on my behalf, and reading of organizations materials.
2. What strategies have you used to learn the local language, and how has this influenced your community entry and integration?
• I have used the text book, notes taken from training, tutoring, conversations, but most importantly asking a LOT of questions to my co-workers; all of which are extremely helpful and are enthusiastic about me learning. This has positively influenced my integration into the community by obvious means; more respect, the people of the community are more willing and eager to talk to me and trust me as a member of their community, and it gives me a piece of mind by being able to understand and tell people in Luganda when they are cheating me or lying.
3. Please list one or two interesting characteristics you believe make your community or organization unique.
• HIV/AIDS
• The Bahima tribe. They are a number one consideration for RACOBAO. They have been very creative with the cattle; making gee (butter), sell the horns and design crafts, and utilizing the hide of the cattle to make instruments, mats, decorations and hats.
4. What PACA tools have you used in the community integration process and what did these tools help you learn about your community (please name up to three tools)?
• A seasonal map. The seasonal map helped me to learn when meetings could be scheduled to gain the most information and be most effective. Additionally, it has helped me to understand when the people of the community suffer the most and from what and vice versa.
• Needs assessment. The needs assessment allowed me to gain information about the community as a whole and helped me gain more breadth and depth into each of the sections/questions asked.
• Daily activity schedule. The daily activities schedule (while every person varies to some degree) helped to me sum together the different gender activities that they partake in daily which ultimately allowed me to better understand the roles that men and women and children play within their community.
5. What assets or resources have you and your colleagues identified in your community and/or organization that may play a role in future collaborative development activities you implement together?
• 1) We trying to fight (or work with) the harmful cultural practices. Among the Bahima tribe the HIV/AIDS rate is as high as 27%. During weddings and celebrations they love dance and musical poems- they get very excited about those. So RACOBAO is going to work with their culture by integrating positive HIV/AIDS messages within those musical poems to help inform the members of the tribe and community.
• 2) We are lead agents for the NGO forum and want to use the opportunity to work with the other NGOs in order to share the work plans as well as compare and contrast ideas and perspectives so that we can work cooperatively with one another.
• 3) The identification that information sharing was not effective and therefore implementing projects focused towards behavioral change.
• 4) Realizing that many people listen to the local radio station, as this is a transit town- more HIV/AIDS messages are now being played by RACOBAO.
6. What are some of the major activities you have carried out thus far with your organization colleagues and/or community members (3-4)?
• 1) FORUM meetings- they were feedback meetings and we asked the community (each sub-county) what they thought of our work in the community as well as told them our accomplishments and work plans for the near future.
• 2) Global Giving, we had posted a proposal and were able to give 80 bags of 50kg to vulnerable breastfeeding mothers who were HIV+.
• 3) I helped conduct a life skills training at one of the schools.
• 4) Teaching English at the vocational school.
• 5) I have made multiple trips to the field.
• 6) NGO forum- I took minutes and will be creating the data base to synergize the forum.
• 7) YES youth camp- I participated in a youth camp.
7. What are the top three community needs/priorities identified by you and your counterparts, community members, etc?
• 1) HACEP (HIV and AIDS Community Empowerment Project)
• Food
• Health
• Education
8. What are some of the possible solutions you and your counterparts and collaborators are evaluating as possible future activities to address these needs?
• 1) We trained community based advocacy groups in 5 out of 8 sub counties. They empower people and sensitize them of their rights and do the advocacy themselves
• 2) Established primary student rights clubs (a teacher heads those). They meet weekly and create poems and dramas to sensitize their surrounding schools and travel to other schools.
• 3) Do work to make sure that the human rights are met such as education sponsorship (77 students sponsored)- RACOBAO has its own vocational school (34-50students).
• 4) Health: our volunteer councilors provide social psycho support to the community members and refer them to our health center. The hospital recommends to RACOBAO those who are on ARV’s: those too week to farm and too poor to buy food are sent to us and we provide food supplements.
• 5) We have trained health people at every health center. There are health management comities that are supposed to provide solutions to the hospital problems.
• 6) OPEN Door Uganda has helped RACOBA to create a goat project as a financial empowerment tool. There are 3 sub counties that participate and each family is given 2 goats. Once they have babies they have to give one back to RACOBAO and then we give it to another person in community who is vulnerable. That cycle is perpetuated.
9. What are you most proud of thus far in your community integration process?
• 1) The exposure that I have been able to endure. I have had a plethora of opportunities to go to the field and attend meetings, have many one on one interviews and get to know the entire RACOBAO staff. Additionally, I have been able to learn and understand how the organization works as well as the gaps that I feel I am able to help fill.