HUGS has drawn up a long shopping list to kit out the New Hope School, which will open its doors in February and care for 300 children from the KosOvo Kampala slum. The children will need books, pencils, pens and paper of course; school uniforms, shoes and a sports kit. Teaching equipment; a blackboard, chalk, desks and chairs. Then there are items to help maintain health; soap, cleaning fluids, mosquito nets and cooking utensils, pots and bowls. And don’t forget the need for beds, mattresses and a place to store belongings. Over a year 300 children will eat 150,000 meals. Schools are resource hungry. They become a place where local businesses provide services and trade. We observe how local farmers alter their crops and micro-industries are created.
Ugandans are acutely aware of how much they rely on their natural environment. 80% of the population are farmers, and with a growing population, now topping 50 million, living on a land mass of 250,000 sq km (the same as the UK) a growing challenge is how to make development sustainable.
We see this being played out in our schools. With wise and intelligent leadership, all of our schools own land and use it to provide goods. They grow a variety of crops in ways which value diversity. They collect rainwater, generate solar electricity and use high efficient stoves for cooking and move as far to self-sustainability as possible. HUGS encourages and funds these initiatives. We have also sponsored gifted students to study Agriculture and Public health at University.
These activities work because of education. Ugandans are acutely aware of climate change and can observe how ‘developed countries’ have worked the land too hard destroying nature’s ability to regenerate. The children at Good Shepherd School, Little Shepherd School and Asili Girls School learn sustainable farming techniques. They help plant, harvest and store crops and feed livestock and breed fish. The New Hope School has 9 acres of farmland and intends to copy these initiatives so much of their ongoing ‘shopping list’ is provided in a locally sustainable way, safeguarding their future.
We will tell you more about the New Hope Farm project over the next few years. If you’d like to be involved, we are looking for interested partners. Please contact us at hugs.chair@gmail.com