Food crisis in East Africa

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Marcia Bujold

 

Maize is a staple crop in the Hands of Action farm community. In Bududa District, maize has been
severely damaged by drought, a disaster for local farm families.

 

Where is the answer to food crisis in East Africa?

 
Uganda could be the next country hit by alarming malnutrition rates due to the drought which has sparked famine in southern Somalia and hunger in Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.
Reuters: Uganda could be next hit by malnutrition, UN warns

It’s only remaining to declare Uganda, but the reality is that Uganda has already been hit by the drought.  We have just seen the death of sixteen children in one day due to malnutrition in eastern Uganda.    Making matters worse, inflation in Uganda is driving the price of food and other consumable commodities to unbearable levels – prices that the common Ugandan cannot afford.
Daily Monitor: Government under fire over sugar crisis

Maize damaged by drought and insects

 
Boosting Ugandan agriculture is one of the most effective and sure ways to address future food shortages and incidences of hunger.  But the key long-standing challenge to agriculture this year is DROUGHT, which is causing misery in every farmer’s home across Uganda and East Africa.

Famine conditions have been declared in two regions of Somalia in July 2011 where 3.7 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.  Eight million people need food assistance in neighboring countries, including Kenya and Ethiopia.  United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calls the situation a “catastrophic combination of conflict, high food prices and drought” and has appealed for immediate aid.

“Will I eat today?”

Uganda is known as a “Food Basket” of east Africa.   But climate change is creating huge problems in Uganda. Altered weather patterns due to climate change has caused a long drought span, causing beans, maize crops, etc, to dry and weaken in the germination stage.  This condition encourages dangerous pests and insects, such as cassava mosaic and banana wilt to attack the plantation. Uganda is no longer a Food Basket. Ugandans now ask “Will I eat today?”.

Prices for commodities in East Africa, in Ugandan currency. Source: Daily Monitor, August 11, 2011

 
Furthermore, fuel inflation greatly effects the costs of food that a person needs to buy.  In Uganda, the daily income of a person in the village is less than one dollar, but 1 kilogram of maize flour has risen from .5$ to 2$ – more than a day’s pay. The cost of sugar has risen from a half dollar to 3.2$ per kilogram.

Orphans with no father and no mother face great danger, as these children are often left to fend for themselves and have nothing to eat. The challenges that have produced the mass of refugees in Somalia, and created crises in Kenya, Sudan and Rwanda, are the same challenges now facing Uganda.  Small harvests and high prices for produce results in starvation in Uganda communities.

Here in our community in Bududa District, we are already seeing much suffering from food shortages.  Our orphanage has been struggling to feed our 180 children, and local people often go several days without food.  Thanks to friends who have made food donations, we have been able to provide simple food for our orphans, but this is a short-term solution to a long-term problem.

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Helping Hands

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Marcia Bujold

 

Helping Hands will be a regular feature where we highlight the contributions of the kind people who help our community.

Shisa James Fredrick and Mwambu Charles showing children how to use mosquito nets. Thank you Shirin Zavosh and David Tye!

 

Friends around the world send help

Mosquito nets are a gift of life
We thank our friends, Shirin Zavosh-Forrester and David Tye from US, for their gift of mosquito nets, which are being used by children in the orphanage.

Jane receiving a mosquito net from Shisa James Fredrick and Mwambu Charles

Malaria is the leading cause of death for Ugandan children under the age of five.  On average, the Ugandan child suffers from six malaria episodes every year.  Malaria kills 350 children every day and is the main cause of infant mortality, underweight and premature births. One out of every two children is admitted to the hospital from malaria and 8% to 25% of the children admitted to the hospital die. 
  70% of child out patients die of malaria.

Malaria is an overwhelming burden all across Africa, contributing to widespread poverty.  Poor communities often lack the basic infrastructure needed for successful mosquito control and disease management.  In turn, people who are sick with malaria cannot perform well in school or jobs. Thus, the malaria/poverty cycle is a vicious trap.

Our friends Shirin Zavosh-Forrester and David Tye have given a gift of life. Thank you!  You have saved the life of future leaders.

A mosquito net costs only $6, and can save a life here in Uganda.

 

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A gift of play
All work and no play makes a child dull, and our friend Rachel Caddell in Canada comes through with balls for the children to play with.  Rachel has sent a football (soccer) for the boys and a netball for the girls.

Children have basic needs – love, food, water, shelter, medical care.  But children also need to play.  Play is essential for growing healthy bodies and happy minds.  Football and netball are popular sports here in Uganda, but many of the orphans in our community have never had the opportunity to play this game.

We thank you Rachel for helping our children have a childhood!

With the increasing numbers of children in our care, we are in need of sports equipment so that all can play.  Can anyone help with this?

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Love the children

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Marcia Bujold

 

Friends, please come to rescue this boy. No clothes, sickness, no education, no love. Please help such a child.

 

The child not trained for life will be a beggar for life

Michael is an orphan in our village.  When he lost both of his parents, he thought his life had come to an end.  He could not imagine anyone sponsoring him for studies.  Life had become meaningless, without hope.  Even the Aunts who cared for him were helpless.

Children whose parents are living with HIV often experience many negative changes in their lives.  They suffer neglect, including emotional neglect, long before they are orphaned.  Eventually, they suffer the death of their parent(s) and the emotional trauma that results. They may then have to adjust to a new situation with little or no support.  They may suffer exploitation and abuse.

The orphans whom I was following up from deep in the villages of Bukari. No Father No Mother No Education and No Clean water.

Bududa District in Uganda has a vast number of helpless orphans, but not only as a result of HIV/AIDS.   This is a community of disasters, poverty, malaria and hunger, all of which has caused much death.  In addition, we see a great deal of divorce due to domestic violence and family neglect. Parents sometimes move from village to town in search of jobs, leaving helpless children alone to head the families.  This has contributed to the suffering in our community.

Together, you and Hands of Action Uganda can change these communities for the better.  Our people want to control their destinies, to build a world where children enjoy life with their parents.

Together, we can empower these communities and give our orphans a home.  Hands of Action Uganda acts as an eye for the orphans on the ground.  We are the internal actor for the better community.  When an external actor – which is YOU – presents an opportunity in any form to us, we transform that opportunity into tangible action.

Hands of Action Uganda is here to treat the cause, not just the symptoms.  Our orphans, who suffer from hunger and malaria, need food to survive today.  They need mosquito nets and anti-malarial drugs.  Those with HIV/AIDS need anti-retroviral drugs to survive.

Partners of Hands of Action Uganda… love the children!  Let’s change from a negative way of thinking to a positive way of thinking.  Let’s make poverty a history in our community.  Help us end domestic violence which is 65% cause of orphans in Uganda due to poverty in families.  Together, let us empower mothers and fathers to fish, to make loaves of bread themselves and free themselves from reliance on charities.

Michael needs your help now. Only $350 sends him to school with scholastic materials. Can you give this boy a chance?

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Quit talking and begin doing!

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Marcia Bujold

 

To reduce poverty in communities,
quit talking and begin doing!

From our perspective at Hands of Action Uganda, poverty can briefly be defined as the deprivation of basic human and social needs and rights. The local people in Uganda do not see it so differently. They simply define poverty as a situation “beyond the lack of income and material assets to include the absence of social aspects that supports life”. (UPPAP, 2000)

This definition implies that poor people not only lack of access to resources. They are also vulnerable and blocked from developing secure livelihoods. They do not have access to necessary education and knowledge. And they are not in a position to exercise their rights. People’s own perception of their situation – as well as factors leading to this situation – becomes important.

Poverty is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon with location and situation specifics – a result of many political, economic, cultural and social processes, which are often difficult to categorize.  In Bududa, structural causes include such diverse phenomena as deteriorating terms of landslide, domestic violence, malaria, HIV/AIDS, landlessness, gender discrimination, malpractice in public resources management, environmental violence and instability. Furthermore, it is very often a combination of these phenomena that can explain poverty.

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The Fish are Goats!

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Marcia Bujold

 

Hands of Action Uganda from Design for Docs on Vimeo.

 

Hands of Action Launches Goat Project for Needy Families

We all know the old saying that begins, if you give a man a fish, you can feed him for a day. But if you teach a man how to fish, you can feed him for a lifetime.

But in Bukibokolo … the fish are goats!

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Give a Child a Chance

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Marcia Bujold

 

With no father and no mother, 10 year old James has no other option but to sell sugar cane "so that I can have what to eat or buy a pen".


 

Poverty is the Cause of Child Labour

Give a Child a Chance is the call of the day
as Hands of Action Uganda marks June 12, 2011 as
World Day Against Child Labour.

Over 1.8 million children in Uganda between the ages of 5-16 years old are engaged in child labour.  Of this group, 798,451 are girls (International Labour Organization).

Child labour is found in agriculture, transport, mining and related sectors, fishing, construction, the urban informal sector, domestic service (cooking, cleaning and fetching water and fuel) and commercial sexual exploitation of children. Other activities include illegal cross border trade (smuggling) and trafficking of children within and outside the country for employment and other purposes. The most affected groups are HIV/AIDS affected and infected children, children from very poor families, orphans, children with disabilities as well as children caught up in armed conflict.

An orphan child forced to fetch 10 jerican of water before going to school.

 

Girls at especially high risk
Over 100 million girls are involved in child labour worldwide.  Many of these girls undertake similar work as boys, but endure additional hardships and face extra risks.  Girls are exposed to some of the worst forms of child labour – often in hidden work situations -  including slavery, bonded labour, prostitution and pornography.  Girls face particular disadvantages due to discrimination and practices which allocate certain forms of work to girls. Many girls take on unpaid household work for their families more than boys. Girls must combine long hours of household chores with some form of economic activity outside the household, presenting girls with a double burden.

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Plant a Tree, Save a Life

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Marcia Bujold

 

The girl carrying fire wood harvested from her family's garden. The trees were provided to them by Hands of Action Uganda.

 

Hands of Action Uganda celebrates
World Environment Day 2011, June 5

The combined force of rural electrification, industrialization and
community agro-forestry participation will prevent deforestation in Uganda

World Environment Day is a global celebration and call for action initiated by the United Nations Environment Program. This year’s World Environment Day theme is Forests: Nature at Your Service, recognizing the need for both conservation and sustainable use of forests.  The global host country for 2011 is India, a country in which forests constitute more than 20 percent of geographical land mass. India is the second most populous nation in the world with around 1.2 billion people. It has the seventh largest land mass on the planet, 3.28 million square kilometers, providing home to a largely Hindu population. The country faces serious environmental challenges related to population increase and uncontrolled urbanization, industrialization, and the massive intensification of agriculture. The problems include deforestation, pollution, loss of water resources and wildlife trade.

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