Uganda farmland diversifies crops to offer broader nutritional benefit for orphans, students

Photo: Workers employed by our 6-acre farmland are happy for an abundant harvest of leafy greens.

We are thankful to share the good news that our native-led team has been hard at work on our organic farmland to diversify the types of crops we grow. In addition to our original crop of potatoes, we now also grow beans, corn, kale, and eggplant. This abundance ensures our farm staff’s employment, and helps to put a fresh-cooked nutritious lunch on our students’ plates every school day. In addition, safe drinking water from our well prevents numerous illnesses.

Thanks to profits from our farmland along with contributions from our generous donors, our budget was supplemented enough to launch the rural primary school project in late 2011. On September 8th of this year, our primary school students started a new semester, attending classes in the new building which now has concrete floors and brick walls — such a huge improvement from the dirt floors and wooden plank walls in the old building. The new building also has an elevated foundation to prevent flooding, and a sturdy roof that will shelter the children even in the heaviest of rain storms.

Before we established the school, local children had to walk several miles to a neighboring village to reach the only government school serving the area. Even then, the government school was overcrowded and offered no nutritional support to the children, making it nearly impossible for the children of Mairinya to obtain even the most simple primary education. Thanks to your support, the future is now looking much brighter for these children.

Our plan is to take graduating students from the primary school as candidates for the high school, which offers boarding facilities for non-local students. The next step of our vision is to establish a scholarship fund to help our graduating high school students attend universities in Kampala.

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