Free Condoms for the People of Bbaale

Kayunga district is one of those that takes seriously the protection and improvement of the health of her people by preventing human disease and promoting behaviors that lead to good physical and mental health.

Although the district has one major government-aided hospital, it boasts of four sub-district health centers each with a maternity theatre and a resident doctor; eight sub-county health centres and six parish health centres with about 140 medical personal at hand to manage patients.

On a recent visit to Bbaale Health Centre 4, we marveled at the diligence and dedication of the health officials. This is a referral health centre that gets patients from Health Centre 1 and 2 and even from as far as the neighbouring Kamuli district, but its doctor Mr Asuman Kasujja, the two clinical officers, two nursing officers and five nursing assistants, two midwives, a laboratory technician and the two security guards remain undaunted even when the centre is limited by medical resources like beds, medicine and mortuary.

Luckily, there's a fully equipped laboratory which was renovated by UNICEF and the medical personnel remain optimistic that with some funding services we even become better.

Presently, the centre provides family planning services including free condom supply, immunisation programs, antenatal care, screening clients for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, pre-and post counselling, dispensing contraceptives, diagnosing of clients, dental services and generally provide routine medical care to the people.

Over 6,000 residents have tested for HIV and more have been inspired to take the step, assured of free anti-retroviral drugs plus pre and post counselling from well-trained counsellors.

There is proper pre and post counselling by specially trained counsellors. Malaria disturbs especially with HIV, chicken pox, a viral infection with big rushes and blisters, and diarrhoea, according to Byakika Paul, a medical clinical officer at Bbaale Health Centre 4.

He added that they get many people suffering from malaria and diarrhoea which are frequently treated in addition to providing precautionary services such as encouraging residents to observe good hygiene, using mosquito nets, and proper nutrition.

Hardtimes for Education in Kayunga

Kayunga is one of those districts where secondary school education faces immense challenges. The district has very few privately owned secondary schools and only seven government-aided secondary schools which include St. Kalemba, Bbaale, Kanjuki, Kangulumira Public, Nangabi, Ndeeba and Busaana Secondary Schools.

The problem is that most of these schools are located in the remotest areas of the district which are not easily accessible because of the poor road network and the teachers that are posted there by the ministry of education end up not going there. Luckily, the government has taken note of the situation and it has been confirmed that most of the roads in Kayunga district will soon be repaired.

To ensure that education reaches even those in the far-flung areas of the district, and to make sure that the Universal Secondary Education is embraced by all in the district, the government has for example constructed a school in Galilaya Sub-Country called Galilaya Seed School at about 86km from Kayunga district.

The school has been blessed with two new blocks (two more will be constructed as well), a fully equipped laboratory and library, modern Ventilated Improved Pit latrines (VIPs), a staffroom and nice furniture.

Galilaya Seed School is a pioneer school in Galilaya Sub-County. And although the school opened two years ago and so far has only S.1 and S.2, it has inspired many parents who previously had a lukewarm attitude towards education and more so to girl-child education, to send their children to school.

However, boys still far outweigh girls in class numbers and there's a numbing lack of teachers. This is largely attributed to the fact that many teachers who are posted there shun the place saying it's too remote. Besides, there are no houses for rent neither are there staff quarters and therefore those who would willingly go there are impelled to chicken out figuring hard times they could face.

In spite of these challenges, the school's headmistress, Ms. Loy Kulaba, is optimistic that things will get better and that teachers, especially female teachers will come, and also that parents will stop marrying off their girls at a tender age and instead send them to school.

"We are blessed to have very clever students who I believe can ably compete against those in the so-called prominent schools in urban areas," she said, adding that her students are doing well the core subjects like Maths, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geography and English which are considered by many to be very hard.

So yes, the seed project, a government initiative that started in 2002 with financial support from the African Development Bank to aid schools in rural areas, is already bearing fruits in Kayunga district. It's not clear however how the district fairs compared to her neighbours Apac, Kamuli, Mukono, Luwero, Nakasongola and Jinja as far as education is concerned.

But as the district is strategically located in central Uganda with a virgin land and great promise of smooth infrastructure; and with programs like Plan for Modernization of Agriculture, Poverty Action Fund and the District Development Project, education like other sectors in Kayunga is surely bright.

Already, the World Vision and African Evangelical Enterprise (AEE) have too helped construct schools and given support to the needy students. It is left with the politicians in the area, the local authorities and all the natives Kayunga to play their parts in building their district until it gets to the mountaintop.

A Secret Goldmine!

Kayunga district could best be described as the shrubby virgin of Uganda. For a moment as you traverse through this land, you get the feeling it's located at the end of the earth, yet it's actually in central Uganda.

Covered with shrubs and all kinds of trees, Kayunga is so green and flat that you walk miles upon miles without seeing a hill or even valley. Most of her people live in the villages and depending largely on cattle rearing and subsistence farming for their livelihood.

In fact, agriculture provides about 90 percent of the total employment to the people of Kayunga with two types of agriculture i.e. animal husbandry or livestock farming and crop husbandry practiced there.

And because of the good climate and fertile soils, and a vast land, Kayunga district is the leading producer of high quality vanilla in Uganda although about 88 percent of the population is engaged in production of cassava, matooke (plantains), pineapples, maize, millet, watermelon, potatoes and passion fruits.

Beyond this, the people of Bbaale, Galilaya and the neighbourhood, do fishing at Bangala landing site on Lake Kyoga; in fact, fishing especially of tilapia and mudfish, is the now one of the chief economic activities of the people of Kayunga. The many colourful, light boats on Lake Kyoga are testimony to this.

The fish is exported in containers to Kenya, Rwanda the Democratic Republic of Congo. And of course, as we all know the importance of fish especially how throughout the world fish protein has been a great source of good health to global people, the people of Kayunga retain some for their own consumption.

But like on other lakes, there is fear that the different species of fish on Lake Kyoga may dwindle to a mere trickle because of fishing with primitive traditional gears like oversized nets and catching young fish. And of course because of the poor road network, some fish get spoilt before they reach the market and it's the fishermen that lose out.

According to Mr. Ozombo Patrick who is one of the administrators at Bangala landing site, the roads will soon be worked on and fishermen are consistently monitored to ensure that they don't use wrong nets.

With large scale farming supplemented with fishing, the future of the people of Kayunga is certainly bright. Potential investors would certainly find this virgin and highly fertile flatland a goldmine!

Uganda's Pineapple District

If there's one man in Kayunga district who has played his role in the eradication of poverty and embraced the country's Prosperity-for-all Program, that man is Mr. Hebert Ntanda.

As the Parish Chief of Galilaya Sub-County in Kayunga district, the 30-year-old, has led by example and become an inspiration to his fellow natives because of his agricultural initiatives which began in 2006 when he visited a pineapple farmer in Busana Sub-County of the same district.

"I was impressed by what I saw," says Ntanda. "So I asked him how they grow pineapples, the rate of harvest and what he had gained from his pineapple farm."

Ntanda was amazed that the farmer was hiring the land on which he grew his pineapples yet back home Ntanda's father has very fertile land which had long been idle. Hearing how enterprising he sounded, Ntanda's father gave his son one and half acres of land and so began the pineapple business.

Imagine how disappointing a few months after planting, the pineapples dried –all of them. A distraught Ntanda uprooted them and had he been faint-hearted, he would have given up then. But he planted afresh and this time they sprouted with vigour and two years down the road he made his first reap.

He was more than excited when the locals from Galilaya and the rest of Kayunga flocked to his farm, clamouring for his fat and juicy pineapples. By picking 500-700 pineapples monthly and selling each at 700, Ntanda earns over half a million shillings every month.

"Poverty has since jumped out of my pockets," he says with a smile.

From his pineapple garden, Ntanda pays school fees for his brother and sister who are in secondary school, and has also bought a plot of land which he will use to expand his pineapple garden.

"It's humbling that I've inspired many others in my district to also engage in agricultural projects to improve themselves both physically and finally," he says.

It's interesting that Ntanda who holds a diploma in marketing didn't stay in the city looking for a job. He heeded the advice his of idol president Yoweri Museveni who has always young people to become job creators than job seekers. So he returned to his village to serve his people as well as become a job creator.

Ntanda has a dream. His dream to help Kayunga district become the centre of pineapple production in the country. It's not a dream that's far-fetched. With such fertile plains, and with zealous and enterprising young men like Hebert Ntanda, Kayunga may be on its way to becoming Uganda's "Pineapple District" just like Lanai Island in central Hawaii is known as "Pineapple Island" because of the fond cultivation of pineapples there.