All over the world, people have skills and abilities they’re excited to share with younger generations. But it can be difficult to pass down trades without the right tools or equipment. In the Oruchinga Refugee Settlement, the Busheka women’s group faced this very problem that we wanted to help tackle. The Busheka women’s group is a collective of 35 women who believe in training girls and single mothers with skills that will help them become more self-sufficient. One skill that many women want to teach is sewing and tailoring. But despite it being such a large group, the women only had three machines to work with and train on. To fix this, we got them another five machines and a number of sewing machine accessories: thread, needles, scissors, measuring tape and more. Fiedah, the group leader, could easily see the impact of the additional machines and supplies, saying “I train the other women in how to sew and mend. Typically, a group will come at 9 in the morning and stay … [Read more...] about Oruchinga’s Got Style

The Oruchinga Refugee Settlement in Southwest Uganda has plenty of green space surrounding the community. Despite this, trees are few and far between. We decided to remedy this by planting a half dozen trees around some of the offices we support in the refugee settlement! We planted in collaboration with the Office of the Prime Minister in Oruchinga. Not only will the trees provide shade for customers seeking services at these offices, but they will eventually also provide fruit, prevent erosion, and so much more. Iyan, a livelihoods officer and trained agronomist, was an eager tree planter! He also helped us make sure that the trees were planted deep enough so that the roots will take hold for a more successful future. We can’t wait to see these trees grow big and strong over the next few years! The representative from the Office of the Prime Minister was excited to help us dig holes and plant trees. They’ve already added tons of lush vegetation all around, but these … [Read more...] about Leafing Behind a Legacy

Getting finances in order might not always be a business owner’s favorite tasks, but it’s an important one that we wanted to help tackle. So today, we started by re-visiting the group we saw yesterday, Safe Boda! Safe Boda’s drivers are trained in safer road skills and gender-based violence prevention. Despite running a successful business that is faring well, keeping track of the books can be challenging. We learned that they didn’t have the tools necessary for more successful accounting, especially when it came to making plans for the future, which they definitely want to do. So, in addition to giving them helmets, we decided to give them some safety boxes to keep track of their expenses and other finances. Augustin, one of the men we helped, noted that “the safety box reminds us that we need to set up a meeting with the livelihood officer to learn more about working as a group and how we can improve our savings culture and record keeping. We appreciate the initiative … [Read more...] about Money Making Machine

Whether by plane, train, automobile or motorcycle taxi, we all have to get around. Transportation is a huge part of daily life, and it’s important to keep safe while you get where you're going. But transportation can be dangerous. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 1.35 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes. A large portion of these accidents happen in the global South. We wanted to do something to help prevent this kind of danger. So today, we linked up with a group working to make travel safer in Uganda. Safe Boda, a small organization that began in Uganda with ARC's support, is a tight-knit group of motorcycle taxi — or boda—drivers who are working to make travel safer for both drivers and passengers. Not only do drivers receive training on how to be safer drivers on the roads, but they are also trained in gender-based violence prevention and how to report instances of violence to authorities in the settlement. While … [Read more...] about Safety First!

Though food insecurity is sometimes due to famine or crop failure, many people simply don’t have the funds for food. So, securing a stable income is one great way to combat food insecurity for both individuals and families! Today, we wanted to see what could be done to enhance food security for youth living in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. So, we looked for a social enterprise that helps employ and train younger members of the community to add stability to their lives. Universal Garage, a shop located on the main road that runs through Nakivale, is one of these places. John, the owner of the garage, trains youth to help make them more independent and currently has five apprentices. It’s a welding and repair shop that works on bikes, cars, metal doors, and more! To support the business, we dropped off a gas cylinder that will help John and his apprentices work on more projects, which increases their impact! We were especially excited to find that John is … [Read more...] about Women Welding

Yesterday, we started building a fence around the Juru Greenhouse in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement. But it’s a big job, and our work wasn’t over yet! Yesterday, we started to pour the foundation of a fence that would help keep out animals eating their very precious crops. Today, we’re adding the poles and wire to make the fence complete. The greenhouse is only a few months old — it opened in July 2018, which makes it the newest of four greenhouses we help manage in the area. But though a young operation, it’s a mighty one. The garden’s incredible success has had a great impact in the community. Not only does it act as a demonstration center to show people how to manage backyard gardens, but it has produced so much food that members of the community were able to open a market in a remote area of the Nakivale Refugee Settlement. Andrew, one of the ARC staff members who helped with the inauguration of the greenhouse, emphasized to us how much the fence would help keep … [Read more...] about Fencing in the Garden

As any farmer will tell you, critters both big and small are a persistent threat to gardens. Ensuring a bountiful harvest full of fresh fruits and vegetable requires keeping pests under control. We helped farmers at our four greenhouses in Nakivale and Oruchinga fight of the small critters with fungicides and pesticides. But we still hadn’t solved for how to keep larger creatures’ paws off the juicy tomatoes and plump eggplants. So, today at the Juru Greenhouse in Nakivale, we started building a fence to encompass the greenhouses and the plots of land surrounding those buildings! It was a big endeavor to undertake, but today we were able to pour the cement that would be a foundation for the fence. Innocent, one of the members of the greenhouse, told us how the protecting the harvest from animals that come and take fruits and vegetables will directly impact the community: “It will improve the income of the members of the house.  Before, they often suffered from diseases, … [Read more...] about Cementing Our Futures

It takes a long chain of people to get food from the field and into bellies. But because the chain is long and interconnected, it’s also ripe with opportunities for support. In one such chain, we have the super flour mill in a neighborhood called Juru, where residents can pay to have their grains milled. Milling helps prepare grains for cooking and eating. There are a number of larger mills throughout the community in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, but the Juru mill is one that ARC and its staff know well. We visited Adrian one morning to see what might be helpful for him and his colleagues as they keep the mill running. One challenge they identified was with accounting – it can be difficult to find a safe space to keep the money they earn. So, we decided to get the group a safety box to store their money and records! When we spoke with Adrian, he said, “it will help us to store our money. Thank you very much for the box you have given to us. Thank you for following up with … [Read more...] about Milling About

Food is related to so many aspects of our lives, not the least of which is income. So, when trying to tackle the problem of food security, it’s important to provide support on multiple levels. Today, we spent the day working in the community surrounding the Juru Greenhouse, looking for ways to help make the surrounding community more food secure. We decided to focus on supporting wages. Although growing the food itself is the first step, it’s also important that the local community be able to pay for it. So, we decided to support a women’s sewing cooperative. This group of approximately 20 women already knew how to sew, but they didn’t have the equipment to run the type of business they wanted to. We remedied this by bringing the group four sewing machines! One of the women in the group, Maria, spoke with us about the impact these machines would have.“I had no hope of getting a sewing machine to support myself as girl. Now, I will be able to earn living and also train … [Read more...] about Sewing Our Way to Success

There's a lot going on - and growing - inside our greenhouses. When the greenhouses aren’t being used to grow seedlings, they’ll often grow tomatoes or other plants that need to climb. To help them with this, we decided to buy all four greenhouses trellising and galvanized wire to help maximize the space to grow! The galvanized wire will run across the roof of the greenhouse, securing the trellising wire that will hang down for the plants to crawl onto. Maximizing space is key in the Nakivale and Oruchinga refugee settlements. Whether it’s corn fields with bean plants growing in between the stalks or sorghum drying on the roof of a house, it’s common to see space used for multiple purposes. Prince spoke about this exact approach: “Food security is one of the most challenging in refugee settlements because of the limited space of land allocated to them by government. Adopting modern farming practices at household level is the way to go.” … [Read more...] about Climbing Higher and Higher