Empower AIDS Widows - Save a Community

Progressive report for Empower AIDS widows - Save Community as of June 2015

By Onyango Joseph – Executive Director RARUDO

Uganda is a landlocked and fertile country with many lakes and rivers, 86% of the population live in rural areas and rely on subsistence agriculture. More than half live in poverty without reliable access to food, as despite Uganda’s good soil and favorable weather, there are many barriers preventing poor farmers making the most of the country’s growing economy.

Activities ongoing: The main activities this time round has been, planting the seeds, and weeding the crops. This was enabled by the support from our dear donors at Global Giving and the River Fund.

As soon as the great down pour of rain, the work of planting started and we hope to improve nutrition especially among children, increased income from the sale of surplus vegetables, balanced diet by providing hope for the future as they improve on their own gardens by adopting of sustainable organic agriculture so as to maximize the crop yields and thus better income.

RARUDO works to serve rural Ugandan women to increase the value of their harvests through better farming practices and simple processing of any surplus they produce. We help them find ways of earning a living that are suited to their natural environment, so they can improve their lives without damaging the natural resources they rely on.

Maize is hugely important to the people of eastern districts of Uganda, both as food and as a cash crop. This season on average, local farmers planted two acres of maize each, from which they expect to harvest around 1,000 kg just because late planting due to late rainfall.

They also planted some vegetables on their vegetable gardens which are usually installed after the millet and maize harvest on the plots of land closest to the kitchen and this we refer it as kitchen gardens. But due to the long drought women carried both the food crop and vegetables when the rain started late April. The vegetables that are most frequently grown were cabbage, eggplant, beans, green peppers, and carrots. 

Challenges met in this quarter.

• Shortage of food as a result of long drought as it usually takes four to five months to harvest.
• High prices of food as this make many families go empty stomach most especially the OVCs (orphans and other vulnerable children) and child headed homes and elderly energy less women.
• The fear is that we may face far worse conditions as the outcome of malnutrition.
• Poor diet is expected because flood washed away some of the members vegetables gardens which makes many children more vulnerable.

Way forward

- By continuing training women in better methods of sustainable organic farming so that their land can produce better yields and using improved seeds, they can quadruple their harvests to 4,000kg each. - We are also introducing drying racks to reduce post-harvest wastage. - Forming co-operative societies that will train women famers to produce finished products like quality flour and briquettes to increase income at house hold levels for sustainability.

Conclusion

These products can be sold to earn extra income for household expenses, school and medical costs as well to help women buy additional land and have better housing. To resource our ambitious organizational goals, we still put request in pursuing funding opportunities, not for the sake of growth alone, but also we can have greater impact and ensure women, children, the elderly, the PWDS (persons with disabilities) and PLWHAs (persons living with HIV/AIDS) benefit from greater economies of scale.

Last but not least on behalf of RARUDO family I want to extend my sincere gratitude to our dear donors, friends at Global Giving and The River Fund for their tireless and generous support extended to our noble cause.

May God Bless you. 

I remain yours in service,

Onyango Joseph

Executive Director

RARUDO

Note from Jaya Canterbury-Counts, Executive Director The River Fund

In rural Uganda, we work primarily with women and have been doing this work since 2001.

Investing in women impacts more people than just the families involved. In fact, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization have estimated that if women were given the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase the yields on their farms by twenty to thirty percent – raising total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5% to 4%, in turn.

It is estimated that by closing the gender gap in agriculture, we could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12% to 17% percent.

RARUDO PROGRESS REPORT 1^ST QUARTER OF 2015 By Onyango Joseph, Tel: +256 752 964 642,
Email: rarudouganda@gmail.com

Empowering 327 AIDs widows through provision of seeds for vegetable gardens

It is our sincere gratitude to all our dear donors and well-wishers for generous support that they have always extended us.

 RARUDO’s programme of empowering women is very crucial and important to mitigate poverty and vulnerability and essential to advancing gender equality most especially when natural disasters take place like the long drought we have currently, women often have no way to escape poverty and malnutrition for themselves or their children. They always fall victims of such circumstances.

In December 2014 we received support from The River Fund to help alleviate the suffering of our community particularly when and children. This women support was of a total of UG. Shs. 33,000,000 which were spent by women to have vegetable seeds for vegetable garden. We have distributed the seeds but the women have not planted anything because of the drought. They are waiting when the next rain begins then garden work continue extensively meanwhile the gardens have been prepared and ready for planting

The details of the expenditures are as indicated below:

Cabbage seeds                 100 gm Sachet 4 x4,000 x 327                     5,232,000
Maize seeds                      5 kg x 3,000 x 327                                         4,905,000
Beans seeds                       3 kg x 5,000 x 327                                       4,905,000
Eggplant seeds                  100 gm Sachet 4 x 4,000 x 327                   5,232,000
Green pepper seeds      100 gm Sachet 4 x 4,000 x 327                       5,232,000
Carrot seeds                      100 gm sachet4 x 4,000 x327                      5,232,000
Blandina’s medical support                                                                    1,000,000
Refreshment during the distribution                                                      1,000,000
Balance on account                                                                                       62,000
Total expenses                                                                    33,000,000 

Activities carried out and ongoing:
The main activities this quarter has been basically purchasing the seeds, distributing and preparing the gardens. Since there is still a lot of sunshine, crops may get dry out, everybody is waiting for the rain and then planting starts. The long-term impacts: Our expectations are many; improved nutrition especially among children, increased income from the sale of surplus vegetables, balanced diet by providing hope for the future as they improve on their own gardens by adopting of sustainable organic agriculture so as to maximise the crop yields and thus better income.

When women are empowered, the benefits ripple outwards and bring benefits to many others more especially children and their closest families. We call up on more donors, friends and well wishers to join us and be part of this great venture as we continue in our quest to fund this project for the deserving participatory Empower AIDs widows-save a community tospread the word about the need for vegetable seeds.

Challenges
We have experienced long spell of drought since November 2014 to date i.e. 5 months, this may cause outbreak of famine and hunger if rain still will take another week or month to fall. I wanted to let you know we may experience hunger in Eastern Uganda this time round due to late rain because as I speak even animals (cows, goats ) are starving and some are dying. No grass for animals to feed, no water for families, women walk long distances spending whole day looking for water. The nearby wells and springs have dried out even the home dug wells are dry now.

Conclusion
My sincere thanks goes to all our dear donors at Global Giving, The River Fund, the Uganda government, local leaders and all well wishers for supporting our cause of bringing hope to the vulnerable women

May God Bless you.

Onyango Joseph Executive Director RARUDO