The Ichupa Upcycle Project - Annual Report - October 2019

ANNUAL REPORT (YEAR TWO)
O CTOBER 2019

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FROM THE FOUNDER
WHERE WE BEGAN
PHASE II PROGRAMMING,
OBJECTIVES & OUTCOMES
2019 IMPACT &
COMMUNITY NARRATIVES
OUR NEXT STEPS
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FROM THE FOUNDER
As I reflect over the last few years since the Ichupa
Upcycle Project began, I’ve grown immensely proud of my
executive team and our progress throughout Eastern
Uganda. What began as a small project on my former
compound in Mbale Town has transformed into a districtwide
effort to harvest rainwater while conserving the
environment as our tanks rise up from the ground.
This project continues to expand thanks to the hard
work of the many aspiring men, women, and youth wishing
to earn a respectable wage while promoting a new mindset
that plastic waste can be more ‘useful than wasteful,’ and
encouraging others to come and participate.
During one of my recent trips to visit our previous
beneficiaries, the headmaster at North Road Primary
School expressed that “even though the rains have not
come, water was able to be delivered from Manafwa River
after paying only 10,000 shillings ($3.00) to fill up all of
our tanks.” This being a fraction of the cost they would
have otherwise spent; opening funds for other activities.
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Later, as I walked a familiar path
down Republic Street—considered to be
Mbale’s busiest commercial corridor—I
watched dozens of youth collecting
plastic bottles from the street. Curious as
to why and for whom they were doing it
for, it was to my surprise when meeting
with my engineer Nicholas that he
explained that it is our project creating
this opportunity for the youth.
Alas, there is still so much more
work to be done. In order to strengthen
our approach, streamline our vision, and
b u i l d a s u c c e s s f u l a n d r e l i a b l e
management team we must continue to
invest into our programming. Interest for
these rainwater harvesting tanks are
growing into new districts, and we hope
our communities understand that we
have so much more in-store for them.
Looking ahead, we are excited to
continue growing our network and
national team. With thousands of plastic
Mbale, Uganda – A group of North Road Primary School students gathering in front of the rainwater
harvesting tanks they helped to build by packing each plastic brick with soil. (Photo by: Sophie Schillings).
bottles and millions of “re-useable”
pounds of plastic waste to up-cycle, we
encourage others who can join us in what
we hope to be a revolution on
environmental conservation and water
management in Uganda and beyond!
Bottle-by-bottle, we continue to build to
make that difference!
Mich% Matejczuk
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O
UR HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
While coasting to the urban town of Mbale, Uganda on a
Y.Y. Coaches bus from Kampala, you pass dozens of roadside
stops filled with quick snacks, hot food, and persistent
attendants. Attempting to wave down cars, taxis and any two- or
four-wheeled vehicle, these stewards of sustenance show no
mercy when it comes to acquiring a portion of their daily sales in
the seconds it takes a moving vehicle to get-in and get-out. It is
a spectacle worth experiencing, watching as each seller fulfills
their customer’s order while navigating through any open
window and the sea of outstretched arms. This moment is over
in seconds, only after supplying each guest with their desired
refreshment; bottled beverages being the bulk request.
I single out bottled beverages as it is common to witness
that same plastic bottled beverage—or another random bit of
plastic—thrown out the window onto the roadside or
strewn across someone else’s front yard. Bottles, plastic kaveras
(bags), remnants of a past lunch or afternoon snack, plastic is
king in Uganda and it comes to you in various shapes, sizes, and
colors. Without going too much into our disdain for single-use
plastic, we became triggered yet inspired about this visible
annoyance to everyday life in Uganda.
The Ichupa Upcycle Project, in its rawest form, was
created from a Ugandan dry spell and the excess trash
surrounding many urban neighborhoods. In an attempt to
alleviate the pain of going to bed without water each day, a small
team began collecting any plastic bottles we could find. As one
became a hundred and a hundred became thousands, it was
important for us to continue adding more members and local
businesses while searching for potential leaders to join the
team. Soon, we had a team assembled and the bottles collected.
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to finance their building expenses, acquire the masons
necessary to build their tanks, locate the plastic bottles and the
people needed to fill them, and ensured our team that the
construction of their tanks would be completed on time. In
having to deal with the foreign formalities of working with
The Project’s first year involved hundreds of community
members, thousands of primary school students, a dozen
trained masons, various technical advisors, a group of local
different sites and negotiating with new stakeholders, this
Project remained a unique opportunity for all of us as its main
stakeholders and beneficiaries.
friends with a tremendous amount of patience to construct nine
rainwater catchment tanks. These tanks utilized over 30,000
plastic bottles, and created a holding capacity of more than
40,000L for rainwater throughout the community of Mbale,
Uganda. A remarkable feat in just a short period of time.
This Project also inspired different communities to work
and speak with one another, inspiring collaboration using
grassroots advocacy and a multi-stakeholder commitment. With
being tasked to come up with their own solutions to any
programmatic issues that arose, these communities continued
30,000 BTLs
40,000L
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Prior to our founder’s Peace Corps service, climate
change was a term describing the global phenomenon
happening outside of his comprehension. He believed then that
is was better to “leave the work to the experts,” with those able
to change what was occurring on a much grander platform
better than he ever could. However, he was mistaken.
Comprised of many individual stakeholders, the Ichupa
Upcycle Project focuses heavily on driving home the message
that plastic waste can be more useful than wasteful. During this
that facilitates an idea, a response, and a behavioral shift to our
current lifestyles. The Ichupa Upcycle Project continues to use
the experience of working across multiple grassroots initiatives
to promote and protect our natural resources, and in the
coming years we seek to create innovative strategies to continue
reducing our use of plastic products. Today, the term ‘climate
change’ reflects not only our individual responsibility (and that
of the Project’s mission) but a promise to protect the basic
human right and access to water in Uganda.
recent phase of the Project’s mission, we focused our attention
on increasing our stakeholders by including health centers and
local clinics, sharing our growing narrative on both national and
international efforts, and procuring investors who are interested
in partnering together to address the need for clean water and
support community health and the environment.
Climate change isn’t a foreign misunderstanding
anymore, but a global dilemma in need of a creative solution
Mbale, Uganda - Our first set of rainwater harvesting tanks at North
Road Primary School.
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P HASE II P ROGRAMMING
On average, it could take up to three 20-liter jerrycans to
be admitted into a rural Ugandan health center for any medical
emergency, birth, or life-changing surgery. Due to the limited
access of clean water in many community hospitals and patient
wards (threatened by periodic droughts caused by climate
change), the water necessary to perform life-saving operations
and routine medical care falls on the patient and their family.
If your local stream runs dry, you could choose to walk
several kilometers it takes to fill them, or you can send someone
to fetch it at a premium price. Either way, both would cost you
time or a week’s worth of wages on top of climbing medical
expenses and risk. This all to potentially avoid the re-use of
contaminated water often recycled when water is critically
unavailable during a dry season. This is the reality not for every
Ugandan health center, but for the majority of the population
that helps feed the rest of country as smallholder farmers.
While attending Cornell University, founder Michał
Matejczuk initiated contact with visiting scholar Alfred Namaasa
(Mbale District Local Councillor) regarding a mutual interest to
expand the Ichupa Upcycle Project into rural health centers.
After developing a plan and securing approval from the District
Health Officer, our construction team set out into each new
community—and soon enough—each tank promised was
completed earlier than expected.
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INITIAL OBJECTIVES
Construction of twelve (12) 3,000L
r a i n w a t e r c a t c h m e n t s y s t e m s
(outfitted with gutter systems, tap
locks, and connected to a nearby
roof/building) within Mbale District
medical centers or public clinics.
Installing (4) SODIS Water
Disinfection Systems at
e a c h m e d i c a l c e n t e r ,
promoting safe drinking
water using solar energy for
disinfection.
Conduct (4) trainings at each
medical center on Water and
Sanitation Health, and (2) lessons
related to the installed SODIS
Water Disinfection System.
Complete the formal registration of The Ichupa Upcycle
Project as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United
States, and as a registered nongovernmental organization
entity in Uganda. Nominate five (5) aspiring host country
nationals to join as board members and support the on-going
efforts of the organization, its expansion, and marketing of
services.
One (1) Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan
including: promoting education on climate stewardship in
Uganda, generating income for those wishing to
participate in community waste collection, and building
future partnerships for those interested in environmental
conservation in neighboring districts of Mbale, Uganda.
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OUTCOMES (2019)
(12) - 10,000L RAINWATER CATCHMENT
SYSTEMS (WITH GUTTER SYSTEMS, TAP LOCKS,
AND ROOF CONNECTIONS) WERE ESTABLISHED AT
FOUR M BALE H EALTH C ENTERS
(BUSIU; BUFUMBO; NAMAWANGA; BUSANO).
(4) SODIS WATER DISINFECTION SYSTEMS
WERE CONSTRUCTED AT EACH MEDICAL CENTER
(LISTED ABOVE), PROMOTING A MORE ACCESSIBLE
METHOD FOR WATER DISINFECTION WITHOUT
USING FIREWOOD TO HEAT IT.
AT EACH MEDICAL CENTER, A COMMUNITY
REPRESENTATIVE WAS ELECTED TO HOST A
WEEKLY TRAINING ON WATER & SANITATION
HEALTH, AND ADDITIONAL TRAINING ON THE
(SODIS) WATER DISINFECTION METHOD.
THE REGISTRATION OF THE ICHUPA UPCYCLE
P ROJECT AS A 501(C ) ( 3 ) NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES IS
CURRENTLY BEING PROCESSED, AND AS A
COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATION IN UGANDA.
TO IMPROVE CLIMATE STEWARDSHIP AND THE
MANAGEMENT OF OUR LOCAL UGANDAN TEAM,
THE ICHUPA UPCYCLE PROJECT CREATED A
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN AND AN
EXPANSION PLAN FOR THE COMING YEARS.
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IMPACT (PROGRESS TO-DATE)
100
10
10
9
30
40
30
12
34
120
15
19
66
240
55
40
130
400
Year 1 - 2018 Year 2 - 2019 Private Institutions CURRENT TOTAL
Apprenticeships (Provided to Local Youth)
Rainwater Harvesting Tanks (completed)
Plastic Bottles upcycled (in thousands)
Total holding capacity Achieved (in thousands)
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IMPACT (COMMUNITY SERVED)
1000
10,800
19,625
13,000
17,300
215
1,035
150
1,040
462
531
736
363
100
Attendees (Yearly) Average Births Water-Borne Illnesses (Treated)
Busano Health Center
Namawanga Health Center
Busiu Health Center
Bufumbo Health Center
*All information above was collected from the Assistant District Health Officer in the office of the District Health Officer in Mbale, Uganda
**Data represents averages obtained from 2016-2018 health center records.
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NICHOLAS
MASETE
In Uganda here, to most, these plastic bottles are useless. Since meeting Michał, he
came here and guided me on how to use these bottles. In the beginning it was hard
for me, but I caught up and understood what he wanted to do with the Ichupa
Upcycle Project. One challenge I continue to face is when people see me collecting
the bottles, they call me mad as if somehow I’ve gone mad with collecting all this
rubbish, and it’s greatly from people not believing that we can make something out
of them.
When the community people witness our work, they express that they never saw
this type of tank before. Because we use different colored bottle caps, (red, yellow,
black, blue, brown), many people want to ask me when I am building whether I am
constructing a flower in the compound. When I was building the harvesting tanks at
North Road Primary School, people used to just question me. “What are you doing?
What is this? How does this become a tank? Are you going to put your own water
into it?” So many questions.
People who admire this Project often ask
me, “How do you know this type of work?”
Who teach you? Who trained you? I told
them that there was a man named Michał
who trained me, and he allowed me to train
other people who are now benefiting from it.
I am proud of this work. Not only because I
can provide for myself and my family, but
this Project also helps most of the
community by providing employment,
including street kids. These youth don’t
have many who consider taking care of them
or providing them with work, but because of
Michał now these kids receive a premium for
what they collect along the streets in Mbale
District.
These same children have earned enough to
even support their own education. When anyone sees the street kids working on the
road or in the rubbish piles, they also think these kids are mad. They’re not mad,
they’re providing for themselves because no one else wants to be bothered by them.
These are some of the happiest people I work with, and its thanks to the Ichupa
Upcycle Project.
During the dry season, our national water
can disappear and it can last a full month
before we receive it for just two hours before
it disappears again. Even from December of
this past year and into this recent March,
there was no water here in Mbale District.
Community members have to fetch water
from rivers on the other side, where it is
being shared with cows, goats, pigs. This
same water can cost you 2-3,000 shillings
($1 USD) per jerrycan. The rural
communities cannot afford this, especially
on top of traveling over ten kilometers for
water.
One unit of water is 10,000 UGX ($3)
Director of Engineering, The Ichupa Upcycle Project
including taxes. If I were to have this tank at
me home, I can reduce up to 90% of my
expenses. Because if you were to construct one of our 10,000L tanks, it could take
you up to six months to use all of it meaning that you can save a lot of money. Our
customers, including our early beneficiaries, have continued to expressed their
savings. Per term, they were spending over four million shillings ($1,050), but now
spend less than one million shillings. ($265). That’s a lot of money!
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ZAM
NAMOTOSI
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.
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.”
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
c h a n c e t o v i s i t t h e s e c o m m u n i t i e s
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
Director of Community Development, The Ichupa Upcycle Project
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.”
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ALFRED
NAMAASA
In our district we are experiencing a serious water crisis. When you look at the Mt.
Elgon region, you witness a lot of water during the rainy season. In the same extent,
some of our people are dying because of landslides caused by too much water
[hitting] the ground. People are not harvesting during the rainy season, so when it
becomes the dry season no one has water for domestic and community purposes.
With trying at places such as schools,
health centers and community spaces to
bring-in large plastic drums, they are still
of little capacity and very costly for us.
From that investment, we have also
experienced the challenges of local
v a n d a l i s m . T h i s h a p p e n s w h e n
[institutions] do not permit the local
communities to come and collect any
water. Eventually a small group sets out to
destroy to retaliate so that all will not have
any. This is not a solution in any shape or
form.
The Ichupa Upcycle Project has helped us
construct rainwater tanks in some of our
more susceptible area health centers
including Busiu Health Center IV,
Bufumbo Health Center IV, Busano
Health Center III, and Namawanga Health
Center III. These types of tanks were actually
unheard of. When one community member approached us when we were
assembling the project, he expressed out loud, “why are these people heaping this
rubbish from town, which is littered all over, and bringing it here.” Now he is a
changed man. The project went above to explain how the communities could
Director of Government Relations, The Ichupa Upcycle Project
disinfect their water (using the sun) to reduce the consumption of contaminated
water, and the diseases that increase during the rainy season such as cholera,
dysyntery, and giardia.
During the dry season, our people, because they have not harvested the rain water,
have to walk long distances, sometimes 4km away to a river where there is more
contaminated waters. This river is
frequented by livestock, and it is the same
water that is taken up for their household
use.
Although the government has tried to put
up a number of boreholes and protect
some springs, these addition are quite far
apart. You can have a borehole that is four
kilometers from the homestay, and some
even ten kilometers. You can only imagine
what happens to a mother or a child that
has to walk these long ways everyday,
maybe even twice a day.
Another thing, this water is potentially
unsafe where as communities believe that
what they are pulling up from the borehole
can only be clean. When you go to the
borehole you find long queues of people with
jerrycans and odd containers to access water.
So I believe, once rainwater harvesting is implemented, [we] will reduce greater
pressures on the land and the distance that will need to be traveled for water. If
given the opportunity, we still have a long way to go (especially in the upper hills)
but at least we started. That’s most important.
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OUR
NEXT STEPS
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCT A HOME OFFICE, INCLUDING
AN UP-CYCLING DEPOSITORY IN MBALE, UGANDA TO
EDUCATE AND EMPOWER YOUTH AND FUTURE
ENTREPRENEURS TO CONSERVE THE ENVIRONMENT.
CREATE OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPAND AND MARKET
OUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES INTO NEIGHBORING
DISTRICTS. PILOT A NEW APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM
WITH LOCAL UNIVERSITIES, NON-PROFITS AND
ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS.
BY 2025, CONSTRUCT 150 TANKS, UP-CYCLE
1,000,000 PLASTIC BOTTLES, AND ESTABLISH A
TOTAL HOLDING CAPACITY OF ONE MILLION LITERS
OF WATER ACROSS EASTERN UGANDA.
ORGANIZE AN MBALE DISTRICT CLEAN-UP & AND
ESTABLISH A LOCAL RECYCLING PROGRAM THAT
PROVIDES INCENTIVES FOR VARIOUS TYPES OF
PLASTIC WASTE AND BY-PRODUCTS.
TO NOTIFY COMMUNITY MEMBERS ABOUT AVAILABLE
WATER AT A NEARBY RAINWATER HARVESTING TANK,
WE HOPE TO PARTNER WITH A BUSINESS THAT CAN
PROVIDE SMS NOTIFICATION SERVICES FOR OUR
CURRENT NETWORK AND COMMUNITY.
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The Ichupa Upcycle Project wishes to express our
sincere gratitude to Cornell University’s Institute for African
Development, including Professor Muna Ndulo and Mrs.
Jackie Sayegh, for their generous financial contribution and
academic support, and helping us achieve our goals to
increase environmental conservation and water management
in Mbale, Uganda during our 2019 programming.
Furthermore, we wish to extend our gratitude and
appreciation to the businesses, community members, local
government officials, and friends of the Ichupa Upcycle
Project who continue to offer their kind words of support and
donations.
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