Help Plant 533 Families out of Poverty in Uganda

Eyit Joe and Okaka Vincent are step brothers and neighbors in Orowma, a village in Northern Uganda. They are both participants in TREES’ Forest Garden Project in Uganda, which kicked off in April 2016. Eyit and Okaka are both married, with 15 children between the two families.

When their father passed away in 2013, his land was divided and given to his children: the two of them plus their 5 other brothers. Since then they have made due, growing cassava and maize in their fields, sometimes with beans. They each have a few banana trees, and small gardens with a few tomato, cabbage, bell pepper plants. It’s enough for now, but they worry about their growing children, most of them under 10. How are they going to feed them as they grow, and send them to school? Where are they going to sleep? The small huts they have are too small for so many people.

Eyit, Okaka, and their families were excited when Trees for the Future came to talk with them at the beginning of the year about the idea of turning their fields into Forest Gardens. They felt fortunate to be given the chance to be a part of the project. They never thought too much about planting trees on their fields; they never thought about how much it could help them. After participating in the initial training events they worked with their families to create designs of their fields that illustrate what they would like to grow in their Forest Gardens, and where. They learned to build tree nurseries and care for tree seedlings as they grew.

As the rains finally began – later than usual – in late September, they began planting their seedlings. Following TREES’ Forest Garden Approach, they first planted their trees in three parallel rows surrounding their fields to establish green walls. These green walls, an inner row of seedlings planted with Sesbania sesban, a parallel center row of Gliricidia sepium cuttings, and an outer row of Luecaena leucocephala seedlings, will grow quickly, protecting their fields and reducing soil erosion. They can use the abundant leaves to fertilize their fields’ soils, and the branches for fuelwood.

In January, after the rainy season, TREES project technicians will provide them with training, seeds, and tools to build permagarden beds, filling them with diverse, nutritious vegetables that they can eat and sell. After that they will begin planting fruit trees: avocado, mango, orange, and more banana. They know it will take some time before they can benefit from these fruit trees, but they can already visualize how the green walls will protect their fields and reduce their wives’ burden of fuelwood collection, and are excited for the new vegetables soon.

They are already making plans for the added income they will soon be earning: Okaka began building a brick house a while back, but hasn’t had the money to complete it. With some additional cash, he can finish the house and have more rooms for his 8 children. Eyit wants to build a new storage hut, to keep the mice and other pests from his harvests. He dreams of a brick house as well. They both are now more confident that they will be able to send all their kids to school, to buy their uniforms, and send them to the clinic when they are sick. They are happy they will be able to eat more, and eat healthier. Nine months into the project, Eyit and Okaka have high hopes for how Forest Gardens will change their lives.