Internet at RASD and Other Good Things

This post is evidence of just one of the big projects in the works now here in Nkokonjeru--it's being composed and posted right here at our resource center. It's been a busy month with the arrival of our friends from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Last year's Engineers Without Borders trip to Uganda has expanded as part of the Duke Engage program to include students from a variety of disciplines to work as interns at various organizations in Kampala as well as continuing the engineering projects here at RASD.

The Nkokonjeru-based team hit the ground running with the construction of a security fence around the resource center complete with a gate they designed and built themselves. They haven't stopped since, with introduction of the Internet, construction of an outdoor carpentry and welding workshop, and preparation of agricultural test plot all well underway. With any luck, the vocational school and the Internet cafe will be up and running soon. The list of projects continues with experimenting with bio-mass charcoal, developing alternative coffee-shelling technology, pressing oil from jatropha seeds, building an improved "first-flush" rainwater harvesting system, and grounding the solar panels Duke Smart Home provided last year.

Listing the projects can't begin to describe the hard work and ingenuity this team of undergraduates (plus Duke's EWB chapter founder as their advisor) has brought to RASD and the greater community of Nkokonjeru. With two weeks to go here on the ground, the Duke team will get to meet our other American partners from UC Davis, who arrive in less than 10 days.

In other news, Sam and Ssengoba have continued to build dome-slab latrines, bringing the total this summer up to seven.

Needless to say, it's an exciting time to us at the Rural Agency for Sustainable Development!

Dome Slab Latrines

The past few weekends in Nkokonjeru have been working ones! Sam has been busy constructing dome slab latrines in Mayirikiti, a village in our Town Council. These latrines require only one bag of cement each and therefore are a cost-effective alternative for families that cannot easily afford traditional designs. So far, five latrines have been built with a donation made by our friends at UC Davis. Beneficiaries will pay four equal installments over the next four months, and this repayment will allow RASD to continue building for more families.

Hello World!

As a way of keeping in touch with our friends and partners, we at the Rural Agency for Sustainable Development, have created this blog. Allow us to introduce ourselves:

RASD was formed in 2000 as a community based organization (CBO) and registered in 2005 with the Ministry of Internal Affairs NGO board under the 1989 NGO statute. In coordination with local government and other motivated organizations, we seek to contribute to the alleviation of extreme poverty with the Mukono District by promoting sustainable development. This is to be achieved through vocational training, facilitating income-generating activities, and introducing appropriate technologies meant to enhance the lives of those who utilize them.

That's all for now, but visit again soon for posts on our current projects.