2011, a year of pineapples, peanuts and proud moments

Thank you so much for your support which, in 2011, has provided amongst other things….

40,000 pineapple plants

28,000 coffee seedlings

12,813 kgs of ground-nut seeds

In 2011 we entered into a partnership with Send a Cow Uganda, who run fabulous programmes with farmers groups. One of the challenges they face is supporting farmers’ transition from subsistence to commercial farming.  Seeds for Development are helping fill that gap by advancing their farmers seeds and other things, such as pineapple suckers!  Pineapples take 18 months to produce fruit and generate an income, so it is really important that the farmers benefit from Seeds for Development, as we are not in a hurry to be repaid!  We are now working together with 10 groups in northern Uganda, which brings the total of Seeds for Development groups to 14.

One of these groups is made up of around 40 teenage mothers.  I met them in March and it was really hard to see all these young girls with babies and no education or support.  Several of the girls were just 13 when they had their first (oh yes, they don’t just have one) baby.

We have pledged to support them as best we can and we plan to advance them seeds and other inputs in March next year.

You might be asking what on earth are we doing with coffee seedlings… earlier in the year I attended a Leadership programme in Kampala along with farmer Patrick from Olwal, Timothy from Send a Cow Uganda and Paddy who works with our original farmers in Mpigi.  We were also joined by British entrepreneur Rob Bernard-Weston!

We spent a week working on a project to identify new income generating activities.  We quickly realised that there were 2 huge opportunities for us around coffee… firstly, to bring existing Mpigi coffee farmers together as a group and secondly to start commercial coffee growing in the north.

It takes 3 years for a coffee tree to start earning its keep and produce enough beans – but as with the pineapples, the farmers are patient and so are we.  The first thing the farmers did after the Pepal programme, was to go back and talk to the community to see if there is an interest – a resounding YES.  
Paddy has signed up 200+ farmers (already Seeds for Development farmers) ready and willing to collaborate and work together.  Patrick has 280+ farmers (also Seeds for Development farmers) signed up and ready to go.  

We were delighted that Seeds for Development could advance the money to grow 28,000 coffee seedlings and Timothy now has the lovely job of planting and growing them until they can be planted out in March!  Good luck Timothy… 

This new venture will be somewhat unique.  The farmers will set up, own and manage their coffee company.  They will produce excellent coffee, in excellent conditions and treat their growers and families in an excellent way.  Bet you can’t guess what it’ll be called…..

You got it….  The Excellent Coffee Company!

Watch out for excellent coffee coming to a store near you – but don’t hold your breath!

On top of all this excitement we had 2 big farmer visiting trips to Uganda this year.  The first in March included nearly a week in Gulu meeting all the new farmers and spending time with Timothy from Send a Cow.  In November, I went with fellow trustee Sally and her husband Ed and introduced them to the many projects that we now have underway.  There was much celebrating including us planting trees to mark the occasion.

In the past I have updated you on how our original farmers were improving their homes and sending their children to school.  They have moved up a league and are now building businesses in the local town – like this row of 3 shops…  Our challenge now is to move the successful farmers out of the project to allow new farmers to join.  

What a great challenge to have!

So after an amazing 4^th year in existence, we see that Seeds for Development works and will continue to grow, expand, diversify and work and work and work… There is so much more I could share with you but there is only so much a person can take… thank you for reading this far…

Without you this wouldn’t be possible, so thank you so much for your ongoing support in whatever way it is.  We continue to pay our expenses and send all the money to the farmers!

One last thing… meet my namesake Alison (the cow, not Jennifer, the beautiful farmer!).  The farmers at Parabongo received this cow from Send a Cow Uganda!  I am taking this as a huge compliment (despite what my brother says!)

Enough is enough.  

Thank you again and 

very best wishes to you,

Alison

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Drought in East Africa

It is a very strange world we live in.  I signed off last time saying hurrah rain has arrived in Gulu.  I start this one with the news, from a text message I received today, that more than 25 people have been killed by lightning in the Amuru district where our farmers are.  These are mainly children and Demon says that many many more have been injured.  So whilst there are millions of people potentially starving to death because of drought in the region, we have people being killed in huge rain storms.


Seeds for Development is too small to launch our own emergency appeal, but we are very willing to help however we can.  Because of our close friendship and collaboration with Send a Cow Uganda we are very keen to support their emergency appeal:  https://www.sendacow.org.uk/drought-appeal . Send a Cow's projects in Ethiopia are located near the very worst affected areas.  Food prices have rocketed and harvests are in danger.  Families are going hungry - and fear that worse is to come.    If you haven't seen or heard about this, Al Jazeera have very comprehensive coverage:  http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/2011710112312872979.html  as does the BBC (where you can also support the DEC appeal):  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14106859


We shall continue with our projects in the hope that the weather stabilises and the harvest is a good one.  If the situation changes, then we will change with it and re-think how we can best support our farmers.  Whilst we are only working with a small number of farmers, at least they will not starve to death, but does anyone know anything about lightning conductors? 

Uganda March 2011 - part 2 - visiting Parabongo

It was very hot in Gulu on March 14th 2011 - about 36 degrees hot!  So with bottles of water at the ready Timothy Njakasi from Send a Cow Uganda and myself headed off from Gulu to visit our farmers at the nearby village of Parabongo.  Nearby if you are a crow, but if you are driving the 10 miles, or so, it takes about an hour on the bumpy, bouncy, pot-hole filled roads of Uganda. I couldn't help but think about my first trip there in 2008 when I was faced with 60 faces filled with so much sadness and pain it was almost unbearable.

This was my 3rd trip, and the first time I was visiting our farmers at home and not in the IDP camp.  Excited was not the word!  We had planned for the whole day to spend with the farmers (which translates to about 3 hours!).   There is a short slide-show of photos of the day at the bottom of this blog.

We arrived to the most wonderful welcome.  The farmers lined the path down to Demon's (yes really) house.  They were singing, clapping and dancing as we made our way in a procession to his home!

We now have 2 groups at Parabongo - the original and the new.  The new group seemed slightly bemused by the excitement of our reunion! Both groups sang welcoming songs and then we got down to the nitty gritty of the day - the meeting.

Meetings start with a farmers prayer and then I ask about their lives, the progress they have made and the challenges they face.  The progress stories are brilliant, ranging from sending the children to school (hurrah) and eating 3 meals a day to setting up businesses, buying land and building houses. Seeing their new houses was very moving because everything they had was destroyed during the war, so they are re-building their lives hut by hut.  The challenges are very practical; storage for the seeds, water for irrigation and help for the schools.  Here is the report/letter they wrote for me (I know it's big, but I thought you would like to be able to read it!): 

Their homes consist of huts and lots of space.  Because of the horrendously cramped conditions in the camp they said that they are using more space than before.  The compound, as they call it, is made up of; the kitchen hut, the living-room hut (eating, relaxing), bedroom huts for the children (one each boys and girls) and the parents bedroom hut.  They are learning (thanks to Send a Cow Uganda) to build separate lavatories and washing areas.


Then we had lunch... 3 years ago I visited them and they had nothing - absolutely nothing.  2 years ago, still in the camp, they presented me with a beautiful pot, a basket and a brush to sweep my compound - they did ask me if I use the brush to sweep my compound... I think next time I will take some photos of how we live in our part of the world.

They cooked and served lunch on plates, whilst we sat on chairs in their newly built home.  They haven't got to knives and forks yet and it was an interesting experience eating sweet potatoes, spinach and groundnut (peanut) purée with my fingers. 
As I am a beginner of this way of eating,  I have left out the photos of me trying...   It was fabulous and quite the best meal I have ever had in my entire life.

After lunch we headed off to visit other farmers and their homes.  Disaster struck after farmer number 1.  The dreaded puncture... in the middle of the bush... no mobile phone signal... no shade and no water left in the bottles.  An hour and considerable sun-burn later all was mended.  Luckily Timothy never leaves home without a spare wheel in his truck.  Sadly it meant that we couldn't visit anymore farms and had to head back to Gulu before darkness fell.

I was going to end this by asking you to pray/hope/wish for rain in Gulu as it is a real problem.  But... as I type Demon has just sent a text message saying that it is raining!  So hurrah for rain and hurrah for the wonderful people of Northern Uganda - and a special hurrah for mobile phones!

Uganda trip March 2011 - part 1

Well here I am, one week back from a truly remarkable trip to Uganda.  I was very lucky to spend time with the farmers without being in a mad rush.  Being back for a week means that I can condense my thoughts into a readable blog, rather than pages of blah blah!

So, where to start... at the beginning.  I headed north to Gulu and met farmers old and new.  The first groups I met were new groups for us at Seeds.  Lacor is a community just outside of Gulu and was the site of one of the largest IDP camps.  In partnership with Send a Cow Uganda (SACU) we are now advancing seeds to 4 groups.

I want to show you this picture because of the shock I had when they put up their hands in answer to this question:

"How many of you had children abducted during the war?"  This was the response.  Almost more shocking was when I asked them "how many of you are still waiting to hear any news from your children and to hear if they are still alive?".  Half of these people put their hands up.

I then met a group of 38 child mothers.  The youngest was 13 when she had her baby... They have had an awful time and have turned to each other for support.  They were rejected by their families, raped and have suffered terrible things.  I didn't meet them all, but heard enough stories to make me weep.

We will support them how we can - initially with hand hoes and seeds.

Life in an IDP camp

If you are in the UK and listen to BBC Radio 4, or follow the BBC news, you might have noticed a lot of reports and coverage on Northern Uganda, The Lords Resistance Army and the elections that took place yesterday.  .http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12472574

Many of the reports refer to IDP camps - Internally Displaced Persons camps and I thought you might be interested in seeing these pictures I took during my first trip to the IDP camps around Gulu.  The photos show just how grim life is in these camps.  The huts (you can't call them houses) are so close together which means a huge fire risk as they do their cooking inside... there are no medical facilities or schools and you can see that the children are very creative in their toys - string and banana leaves make a football.  You can see bigger pictures here: Youtube version of photos .

Our farmers in Northern Uganda all lived in these camps for more than 10 years.  Thankfully, they have now left the camps and returned to their homes, which is no mean feat.  Their homes were destroyed and they went home in an atmosphere of fear and with no belongings, food or income.  I am really looking forward to visiting their homes and seeing all these people in their right environment, not herded like animals.  I still find it hard to accept that animals in our farms here in the UK have a much better quality of life than the people in the camps.

So here ends my second attempt at a blog - there is another one for February which celebrates moving into the 21st Century and using technology!  It would be great if you could click on the "follow button", so you automatically receive updates - which I hope and plan to be more often than our older updates.

Seeds for Development finally catches up with 2011

Well here we are catapulted into 2011!  Here at Seeds for Development, we thought it should be the year to embrace technology... so I'm giving it a go by writing a blog rather than sending the clunky emails of old.  I hope it works and that it makes it much easier to update you on what we are doing.

This is partly driven by the guilt and shame of realising that you haven't seen an update for 6 months.  Of course this doesn't mean that nothing has been going on!  Quite the contrary, but not too much that is visibly obvious.  Lots of plotting and planning on how we grow in a sustainable way.  So this is how we are going to do it!

Firstly, Our group of 20 farmers in the Nama Farmers Group, in Mukono (here are 6 of them).  We have tried to work with them for 2 years.  Finally, we have overcome the challenges (which were not rocket science, just a matter of a missing number on the bank account!!) and last week transferred £500 to them.  This will allow them to buy bean seeds and also get help with the labour.  These women all farm their farms single handed and so a bit of help with labour will allow them to greatly increase their yield.

When I visited Uganda last July I spent quite a bit of time with our friends at Send a Cow Uganda (SACU) - www.sendacowuganda.org  and I am delighted to share with you that in 2011 we will begin a partnership with them which will allow us to increase our reach out to farmers in a rather significant way.

We currently support 6 groups (one new one in northern Uganda since updating you last summer).  Working with SACU we will be initially working with an additional 8 groups in and around Gulu.  Our plan is to advance the money for seeds to these 8 groups - bringing us up to 14 groups!

SACU will also provide life skills and social development to our 2 farmers groups from Olwal and Parabongo.  During their time last year in Uganda last year, our 2 wonderful ambassadors Libby and Pete found that whilst our farmers were making money and great progress in their farming lives, they were unfortunately not making so much progress in their social development - things like personal hygiene, HIV awareness, Malaria prevention etc.  So SACU will be supporting them with a 12 month programme.

All of this takes resource to manage.  Thanks to a wonderful large donation - and with their agreement, we are able to support SACU with this for one year (to start with).  This will allow us to have much better visibility of how our farmers are doing and also start to manage the financial side of things more locally.

Another wonderful gift to Seeds for Development was made by a very good friend with strict instructions for us to use it to grow the charity, which will in turn allow us to help more and more farmers. So with this fabulous gift we are embarking on 2 projects.  Firstly to bring our website into the 21st Century and secondly to develop an income generating idea we have.  More to follow on the income generating idea... and watch this space for the new website - which won't be glitzy but will be so much easier to update.

I think this is enough for a blog isn't it?  I hope it brings you back in touch with what we are doing and apologies for keeping you in the dark.

Thank you so much for your continued support and, fingers crossed, we will continue to update you on a far more regular basis via this blog - assuming it works!