The link between health and wealth
- The highest cost expenditure for most of the members of our community is medical costs, outstripping costs for their land, school fees, and food by a large margin. Many of the illnesses they pay to treat at preventable at low or no cost, through better hygiene practices or improved nutrition. We have identified a number of small steps that could significantly reduce the need for clinic visits and free up family incomes for tuition, investments, and other lasting ways to improve quality of life.
Agriculture for better nutrition
- We are extremely fortunate to live in an environment blessed with rich soil and ample rainfall that allows a wide variety of crops to thrive. Despite this fertility, it is striking how little the local diet reflects the diversity of available foods, consisting mainly of simple starches and weak on vitamins and protein. Good nutrition is the basis for good health and growth, and we hope that improved access to nutritious foods will improve the poor health records of local children. Since dietary habits are hard to change once they are formed, we are focused on intervening early. We are working with students at Aunt Susan’s School and Mbuga Primary School to plant school gardens which will teach children about fruit and vegetables which would greatly benefit their diets mainly composed of vitamin and protein poor starches, and provide the knowledge and seedstock necessary to grow them on their own.
- We are also planning community days to celebrate what the children have grown and learned and share it with their parents, cooking classes to teach how to use different foods in an enjoyable setting, and a seedbank to promote and preserve local, non-GMO varieties of nutritious plants.
The central role of hygiene, clean water, and fuel
- A problem that we have found touches the lives of many of our neighbours in a variety of ways is lack of clean drinking water and the illnesses that come from contaminated food and water. Most families sterilize water by boiling, a method that is both imperfect and firewood intensive, a fuel that is a significant burden to gather. There are now a wide variety of alternatives to boiling water with firewood available developed by numerous experienced organizations, and we are looking into several of them as viable options for our community. We are now exploring fuel-efficient stoves, solar cooking, UV sanitization, and trying out a physical filter which never needs replacing and works without power, generously donated by the experienced people at Noah’s Ark. (For more information about Noah’s Ark’s work on water, hygiene, and other issues, see http://www.nacmu.org/EN/.)
Models for supplemental income generation
- Most of our neighbors are subsistence farmers, able to support their families but struggling to create greater opportunities for their children. There are many opportunities for small-scale entrepreneurship building on skills they already have through experience in cultivation and animal husbandry. We are exploring ways to provide starting points for some of these activities, including raising rabbits or goats, an activity that has been successful for many organizations, and drying local herbs for herbal teas.
Long vacation activities
- From November to February, Ugandan students have a long vacation like summer vacation on an American or British school calendar. For most students, though, there is no summer camp or other activity to continue learning between school years. To address the learning gap that shows up over the course of this long vacation, to work on English language skills and to take the opportunity to teach with work on the school garden, we are starting a twice weekly camp. Thirty children from ages eight to fifteen will meet every week through the long vacation, and hopefully they will come back to school having learned more (and forgotten less) than in the past.
Apprenticeship programs
- As we have brought some of our students through secondary school sponsorships, some have found vocational school better suits their goals. For many of these students, their hope is to start their own small business, as a hair dresser, tailor, electrician, carpenter, or another skilled profession. It is a lot to ask a high school graduate, though, to go from student to business owner seamlessly. Apprenticing with a professional already practicing in their desired field provides the opportunity to learn hands on the practical education necessarily absent from school curriculum. This arrangement bridges the gap between student and business person in a supported but independent environment. We have thus far matched a few students with willing professionals who are willing to take on trainees for a nominal fee, and hope they will come out after a few months with a clearer idea of how to effectively practice their trade.
Making early interventions
- As we have come to know our community and the students we sponsor, we have realized that by the time they reach secondary school they have already lived with many disadvantages. This awareness has inspired us to act earlier in their lives, starting with pre-primary education and, ultimately pre-natal care and post-natal nutrition for mothers and babies. To that end, we hope to establish an early learning facility with child-minding for the youngest children, together with adult education targeted at young and expectant mothers.
