Sustainable Farming Project
Modeled after our successful Sierra Leone sustainable farming project, which reunited 51 children with extended family or placed them in loving community foster homes, we launched another Farming God’s Way project for the children of Mukono, Uganda. We purchased 2 acres of farmland to help supplement the children’s food needs, as they are currently facing a food crisis.
Our long goal for the project is two-fold: To help the orphanage provide food for the children, thereby fighting malnutrition, and to teach sustainable farming to the community, which will help local families pull themselves out of poverty. This will reduce the number of future orphans and allow some of the Dove Orphan School children to return to extended family members who can now afford to care for them due to increased levels of self produced income.
Now, just 2 years later, the farm is currently supplementing meals for over 200 children and 20 teaching staff at the Dove School daily with fresh fruits and vegetables, including peanuts for protein, in order to provide better food security, a healthier more varied diet, and to reduce the need for sponsor funding to purchase food or seek medical care for issues related to malnutrition. Production of this quantity of food is only possible through the Farming God’s Way method.
The farm is managed fully by individual community members, showing it has achieved a truly impactful, sustainable project. There are also plans to increase the size of the farm to reach more community members, as the focus of production right now is the Dove School. Soon we will announce steps and goals for the farm’s expansion.
While the farm is producing enough food to feed the children 2-3 meals daily, there is still a need for sponsorship to support the children’s schooling. Please consider sponsoring a child to give them access to quality education and shelter at the Dove School. Read more about sponsoring a child HERE.
WHY UGANDA?
Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, small deposits of copper, gold, and other minerals, and recently discovered oil. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing more than one-third of the work force.
The sad thing is that Uganda should be a bread basket to the world, but there are many starving Ugandans. Uganda has fertile ground, great amounts of sunlight, sufficient rainfall with two rainy seasons, and a large labor force. The main reason that Uganda is not a bread basket to the world is due to improper farming methods and management leading to soil erosion, soil nutrient depletion, and poor yields.
Despite all this natural wealth there are more orphans in Uganda than anywhere else in the world — over 2.90 million children out of the 3 — due to the AIDS epidemic, extreme poverty, and decades of civil conflict. Since achieving independence from Britain in 1962, Uganda has suffered almost uninterrupted brutality. Armed rebellions, mostly split along ethnic lines, have wracked the population, now estimated at 26.4 million.
Today, many Western governments regard Uganda as a qualified success from a development standpoint. It has made significant progress against AIDS, promoting condom use and other measures; since the mid-1990s, the prevalence of AIDS cases among Ugandans 15 to 49 years old has fallen, from 18 percent to 6 percent. Still, AIDS remains the leading cause of death of people in that age group.
MAKULON, SIERRA LEONE
Sierra Leone is one of the world’s poorest countries, and abject poverty remains throughout. According to the National Headcount of Street Children, nearly 80% of Sierra Leoneans live in poverty and over 60% of the population lives on less than $1.25 U.S. per day. As a result, families are often unable to adequately provide for their children. Accordingly, there is an orphan crisis throughout the country. This problem increased significantly over the past 4 years.
According to the publication Public Health Action, during 2014 and 2015, West Africa experienced the largest outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in history. In Sierra Leone alone, at least 13,992 people became infected with EVD and nearly 4,000 died. As a result, the Ebola crisis alone created over 12,000 orphans – dramatically escalating the number of orphans. Consequently, for those who survived the crisis and are faced with the inability to care for their children, it is often an economic and workforce issue.
BLOOM’s Sierra Leone Sustainable Farming Project addresses this issue. Our goal was two-fold: To help the orphanage provide food for the children, thereby fighting malnutrition, and to teach sustainable farming to the community, which will help local families pull themselves out of poverty. This will reduce the number of future orphans and has already allowed orphans to return to extended family members who can now afford to care for them due to increased levels of self produced income. The farm will supplement the school children’s meals with fresh fruits and vegetables and also peanuts for protein in order to provide better food security, a healthier more varied diet, and to reduce the need for sponsor funding to purchase food or seek medical care for issues related to malnutrition.
PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED:
The farm is currently thriving, and has produced enough food to not only feed the 51 children who were in the orphanage, but also to feed the local community. This led to the reunification of most children with extended families, and the rest with foster families. The food from the farm is currently distributed to the families who have brought these orphans and vulnerable children into their homes in order to ensure there is adequate nutrition for all.
Thank you to everyone who donated to make this dream a reality for the children. As they are now placed in community foster homes and in kinship care, and the orphanage has been converted into a school and community center.