【Intern Activities】Activities in high school and encounter with Global Bridge Network (GBN)

   Hello! It’s Rio. It's been so hot lately that I feel like melting every day .

   Well, this time I would like to share with you all about "how we met with GBN!"

It was when we were in high school that we first learned that menstruation was a factor in educational disparities. When a lecture held at school, we were shocked to learn that there were girls around the world who were unable to attend school due to menstruation. This made us think, "there are things that we as high school students can do because they are high school students," and we decided to take any action.

In researching the issue through the Problem Inquiry class, we learned that menstruation was preventing girls in various parts of the world from freely choosing their future.

We wanted to learn more about the detailed situation in each region, and with the help of NPOs and NGOs, we developed our activities while learning about the situation in each of the places where we worked.

The main initiative of our activities is to promote cloth napkins and cloth napkin making methods to schools in Uganda, Kenya, and Thailand. First, we aim to deliver cloth sanitary napkins to the schools to make them aware of their existence, and eventually to enable local people to make their own cloth sanitary napkins. Our goal is that girls who are unable to attend school due to menstruation will be able to return to school and make autonomous choices about their future.

That is how I came across the Global Bridge Network, where I am currently interning 🌞I was researching organizations on the Internet that work to solve issues related to menstruation and happened to find GBN. We were interested in learning more about the reusable sanitary pad project “Improvement of school environment to combat Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) challenges to Stop Adolescent Girls 'School Dropouts”. that GBN was working on, and we immediately contacted them for advice. We could learn not only about the situation in Uganda but also about their activities.

As the days went by, and we worked hard on the activities, we began to feel a strong desire to actually go to Uganda. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that the activity was part of my high school class, we were never able to visit the site... 😢.

We wanted to continue this activity even after we became a university student, and we definitely wanted to go there! We thought, "Yes! we'll do an internship. We immediately sent an e-mail to GBN and asked if we could study there as interns when we became university students. We were very excited and waited for a reply, so we were very happy to hear that they gladly accepted our request.

 

It was a little while after that. It was at our first meeting. We were talking about what kind of activities we would like to do in the future and what we would like to work on as interns, when Maiko, the representative of the GBN, made a surprising comment.

She said, "We are going to Uganda this summer, why don’t you go to Uganda with us?

I think I stopped thinking for a moment. Of course, the answer was "Yes!". I was so happy and excited because I had never thought that my dream, which I had wished for since high school, would come true so soon.

 

Now, we are steadily preparing for our trip, which is coming up in two weeks.

In this article, I would like to introduce our encounter with Global Bridge Network! How was it? Personally, I think that you never know what life has in store for you 😂.

Next time, we'll bring you an update on our recent online exchange with the girls from a local school!

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【Environmental Protection】Activity Report2022 May-Jun Promoting clean environment through environmental education and garbage collection

 The 10 garbage containers to be stationed at the selected places where garbage will be disposed

<Progress of each activity>

 

Activity 1.1 A community-based radio communication system established with ability to relay information and messages via megaphones/loudspeakers to the entire training Centre

For every community system, an individual or organization is supposed to get permission from the government of Uganda which SORAK applied for and successfully got permission to run a radio. A radio station was preferred in this case because it covers a wide range of areas yet it’s sound tends to be clearer compared to that of megaphones. A radio tower was installed at the site on 25th/March/2022 and equipment’s necessary for the radio to operate were stationed on 30th May 2022.

 

Radio Tower and the Radio system installed at the site

Inside and outside appeareance of the house hosting the FM radio

Activity 1.2 Thirty (30) minutes’ environmental education talks conducted for 10 months

In respect to the above activity, SORAK has conducts daily 30 minutes talks shows on LUNA FM. These are conducted between 8:30 to 9:00 pm. These are intended to create awareness about the use of the garbage containers. The director explained to the community about the availability of the garbage containers. Launching of containers was planned to take place on 7^th July 2022 and it will be headed by the Subcounty Chief who will officially place the containers to their destinations.

 

The Director during the Radio talk show at FM radio in Kibalinga on 24th/06/2022.

Activity 1.3 An environmental education and awareness raising jingle/spot message aired 5 times a day

Airing of spot messages started on 4^th/June/2022 on the Fm radio in Kibalinga to create awareness about proper garbage management in the community thus improving sanitation and hygiene. These messages are aired 5 times a day to ensure that people acquire basic information about garbage.

 

<Spot Messages>   Fellow Ugandans, did you know that poor garbage disposal negatively affects both an  individual and the entire community in households and in the community. Poor garbage disposal can cause dangerous diseases like Cholera and Diarrhea that are harmful to our lives. Burning of garbage anyhow can lead to environmental degradation.  Therefore, SORAK has come out to provide support by engaging in sensitization of community members about proper garbage management, through providing containers where garbage will be disposed, a vehicle that will collect garbage to the collection points, sorting and recycling of garbage aimed to keep the environment clean  Therefore, it is advised that we work together in this call to improve sanitation and hygiene in Lusalira community.  This message is brought to you by SORAK together with Global Bridge Network-Japan

 

Activity 2.1 Ten (10) garbage containers/skips procured and stationed at 5 different places to encourage and support garbage sorting and safe disposal.

The garbage containers (10) were procured and brought to office on the 30^th/05/2022 where they were kept for labelling, cutting off the top covers and branding. After this was completed, the Subcounty Chief was alerted to provide time for the stationing of the containers at the selected places which will take place on the 7^th July 2022.

Activity 3.1 A community based environmental protection monitoring group established and it is active in monitoring and reporting safe garbage disposal and sorting in Lusalira trading Centre

The monitoring group is also active as they help in sensitizing the community about proper garbage disposal. After stationing of garbage containers, they will become so active as they will monitor the containers to make sure they’re not misused.

 

Activity 3.2 Safe garbage disposal by-laws passed and enforced.

On 5^th/05/2022, the Subcounty Chief, Technical Planning Committee, SORAK team and the Local leaders conducted a council session to pass the by-laws for Garbage Management at Kibalinga subcounty hall. In the council various people attended including two monitoring committee persons to hear the passing of the by-laws. By-laws were passed on this day as indicated below in the annex.

The sub county Chief, SORAK team, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Chairman LC3 and other local leaders during the passing of the by-laws at the council

<NEXT PLAN>

·         Garbage containers to be stationed at different places to encourage and support garbage sorting and safe disposal on 7^th/July/2022

·         Garbage processing into manure with SORAK youth volunteers. Some farmers are ready to take decomposable garbage as manure.

 

<Positive influences/ Changes>

·         Five (5) Councilors from Kibalinga sub county requested GBN and SORAK to extend such a wonderful project to their area

·         Chairman LCIII Kibalinga thanked his fellow leaders and other members for their wonderful response towards the call for the meeting to pass the by-laws for garbage management.

·         Local leaders appreciated the efforts made by SORAK and GBN to improve the sanitation and hygiene in Lusalira trading center

 

<Challenges faced during conducting of May and June activities >

·       Poor time management by some of the local leaders but that didn’t stop the meeting from progressing as we proceeded and they got us on the way, after we explained to the late comers what they missed at the end of the meeting

·       Too much expectations from the local leaders as they were requesting for bigger trash containers where they will dispose of garbage though SORAK explained the size of the garbage containers that it will avail to the community

·       The councilor for persons with disabilities (PWDs) requested SORAK to collect garbage for PWDs from their households which was not part of the plan but were informed about the possibility of being supported by their caregivers to carry garbage to collection points.

 

<Lessons Learnt>

·      It was learnt that most local leaders appreciated the project and requested GBN through SORAK to keep up the spirit of bringing such wonderful projects that improve the wellbeing of the community

Annex 

Minutes of the Meeting held on 5^th/05/2022 with the Subcounty Chief, Technical Planning Committee and the Local leaders to pass the by-laws for Garbage Management

Venue:  Kibalinga Sub County Hall-Mubende District

Members Present: Chairperson LCIII, Vice Chairperson LCIII, Speaker & Deputy Speaker, Subcounty Chief Kibalinga, 18 Councilors, 12 Parish Chiefs, 5 Project staff, 2 Monitoring committee personnel’s, LC1 Chairman Lusalira. (43 total)

 

The Chairperson opened the discussion of the presented by laws by the community members and called for additions and improvements from the members. The following were the improvements and the suggested by-laws to guide proper garbage management in Lusalira trading Centre;

·       A penalty of 30,000# will be charged to those caught mishandling garbage

·       Anyone caught mishandling containers will be obliged to buy two containers and failure to do so will call for arrest of the victim

·       Anyone caught with a hip of garbage at his/her place will be warned first to dispose garbage in the containers that will be provided and failure to do so will call for a charge of 30,000# penalty

 

The by-law below was pending as members didn’t come to a common agreement and this was pushed to the next council for more discussion;

·       Children above 2 years will be left home. Mothers in the markets were advised by their fellow vendors that children of the mentioned age should be left at home since they congest the market area and dispose waste anyhow

 

The following action points and the way forward were raised by the local leaders as indicated below;

·       Councilor PWDs requested SORAK to assist PWDs by collecting garbage from their places as they may not be able to carry it to the containers

·       Youth Councilor requested for another meeting with community members so that they can give more suggestions on the project

·       Posts with words in both Luganda and English should be put on some routes like on Zifa- Olaba road and some places like around market areas indicating the penalty for garbage mis handlers

·       Some leaders requested GBN through SORAK to extend the same project to their areas as they face the same problem

 

·       The Speaker advised his fellow leaders to take lead in the project by sensitizing, advising and guiding of the community members about the need for proper garbage management

·       Emptying of the containers should be done regularly at the start

·       More sensitization of people on sanitation and hygiene, garbage sorting and the importance of recycling, proper garbage management should be done regularly

·       Words should be written on the containers in both Luganda and English encouraging people to dispose garbage inside the containers

·       The sub county Chief advised her fellow leaders to engage farmers to help take the organic waste to their gardens to be used as fertilizers, to take food peelings and left overs for their animals to reduce on garbage

·       The Speaker advised leaders that the penalty charged to garbage by laws’ offenders is not a source of income to SORAK or the Sub County but rather a punishment to make community members observe the by-laws and keep the community clean

·       Some leaders requested for bigger and many containers that they collect much garbage

·       Those caught mismanaging garbage or containers will first be taken to the sub county court to assess them and then punish them accordingly

·       The Chairman LC3 clarified that the penalty for garbage by laws offenders will be collected by the Sub County team and it will be invested in developing of the community

·       There will be other punishments like cleaning the community for a week depending on the offense and character of the offender in the community

 

Way forward;

·       More discussions about the project will be done in the next council meeting

↓↓↓Click on the following link to view related reports

The List of Reports 

*This project is is supported by the fund form TAISEI CORPORATION

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