Food Water Security at Sabina - 2015 update

Bananas at Sabina, February 2015

At Sabina, the Food Water Security program is going strong. Extensive plantations around the school are providing a significant proportion of the food eaten by the children at Sabina. Importantly this food is diverse, fresh and nutritious. The staff at Sabina are also using the garden as a teaching tool, newly invigorated by the recent visit of Prue Gill, teaching educator from Australia.

Under the direction of James Kalokala, big crops such as maize, banana (many varieties), cassava, coffee, sweet potato, and beans are all very productive. Intermingled throughout are fruit trees such as mango, jackfruit, and avocado. Pineapple and passionfruit provide delicious extra fruit treats and variety to an already good fresh food base. As an example of the extent to which the food production areas are contributing to the improved diet of children at the school, last year (2014), 900 kg of maize was produced, 400 kg of which was given to the children fresh, with the remainder made into flour. 

Jackfruit growing at Sabina, February 2015

The extent of land under production has also increased the direction of James Kalokala, producing a higher percentage of the food requirements of the children at Sabina and, importantly, providing it in fresh, nutritious form. Plans are afoot to reinvigorate the area of production dedicated to smaller leafy greens such as kale, mints, and other horticultural crops.

There are now approximately 500 chickens, providing each child with one egg per week with the rest sold in Sssanje, the local village. Proceeds are used to run the food production program.

Chickens at Sabina, February 2015

One of the goals for 2015 is for the school to develop a solid understanding of the economic value of the food production to the school in terms of cost savings on purchased food. This will assist with securing ongoing support for the program.

Among Sabina staff there is a deepening understanding of the educational value of using the unique sustainable agricultural activities to reinforce educational skills and understandings. Every class, from P3 upward is timetabled into the garden each week and teachers are using the garden for hands-on learning in maths and science.

This poster captures the school curriculum philosophy with food production at the heart. It is a work-in-progress - changes suggested by teachers during the recent workshops run by Prue Gill will be incorporated into the next version. Each teacher has their own copy, and there are several other posters being prepared for classrooms covering issues such as rights and responsibilities, and the principles of 'hands on learning'.

Teachers at Sabina attend a workshop, guided by Australian teacher educator Prue Gill, February 2015

Former students and permaculture-certificate holders Sharon Namubiru, Nyero Christopher, and Charles Mugarura return often, joined by other young Ugandans interested in sustainability eduction, such as Paul Musisi. The school's food-water-security program has the support of Godfrey Kiwanuka, District Production and Marketing Officer, who has invited Sabina to be a recipient of Uganda's Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), an outreach across Uganda to deliver agricultural inputs to villagers.

Nyero Christopher, Anna, and Paul Musisi, learning and teaching together, February 2015

Nyero Christopher teaching a workshop on soil fertility at Sabina, February 2015

Prue Gill, Ann Davis (new COU board member), and Jan Smart at Sabina, February 2015. Ann Davis visited in February 2015 and did amazing work smartening up the school and classrooms for the beginning of the year

Some comments from recent visitors to Sabina

‪Mike Openshaw‬. Just saw the remote plantations a few days ago. When the rainy season starts, they will have an incredible variety of food, especially sweet potatoes. Had some luscious jackfruit obtainable only by the very tall and gracious Nyeromeister VanNyero Christopher. Walked 8 miles that day on my new knee; knees were fine, but muscles and heat exhaustion required a half day of recovery.

‪Paul Zaake‬ I love this place and as a home, it is always on my heart. These smiles make me remember the childhood moments and the most recent moments (few days back) sitting in these gardens at night taking sodas,...and our elders like sister Jan Smart sipping a beer with other friends while looking at the blossoming of the full moon and discussing about the plans.

‪Jan Smart‬. ‪Paul Zaake‬ that was a beautiful evening, sitting in front of the bandas, with the full moon, with A/Prue, and such lively, young members of the COU family: you; ‪Mugarura Charles‬, ‪Sharon Namubiru‬, ‪Julius Agaba‬,‪Nyeromeister VanNyero Christopher‬, ‪Musisi Paul‬, and JB. Thanks for the company, and for the memories.

‪JB Ssemanda‬ Really I appreciate COU administration for the struggle to bring up happy lives of many children! I too can remember those days just as said by A/‪Jan Smart‬; also with A/Kim & U/‪Clive Mullett‬. We enjoyed so much and bandas had such a lovely temperature that everyone needed! Weldone and thanks for the great work.

Activities at Sabina FWS

We welcome Musisi Paul as a volunteer on the FWS team. Paul is a graduate of Children of Uganda's education program, and now a student at Makerere University, Kampala, where he is pursuing a BSc in Ethnobiology, majoring in botany. Volunteering, under the guidance of FWS Program Manager, James Kalokola, will give him valuable experience in plant cultivation, identification, and botanical garden design, using permaculture principles. Some of Paul's responsibilities will be identifying and documenting medicinal plants currently  at Sabina. While doing that, he will be passing on what he is learning to the P4-7 students during their lessons in the garden.

Paul follows in the footsteps of Sharon Namubiru, Charles Mugarura, Christopher Nyero, Tom Iga, among other beneficiaries of Children of Uganda's education program.

Some very recent snapshots around Sabina

Sharon Namubiru from Sabina to teach on PDC in Uganda!

We are excited to announce that Sharon Namubiru, a graduate of the Sabina Permaculture PDC in and a long-term student volunteer on the project, is to help as an assistant teacher on an upcoming PDC to be taught on the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda in November 2012. Check out the course details here and Sharon we are so proud of you and good luck!

Check out a movie of the Sabina Permaculture project starring Sharon here

Nyero Christopher: Self Portrait

Nyero Christopher's Permaculture Journey

You will have read an earlier post from Nyero Christopher, one of COU's secondary students who attended the January 2010 PDC taught at Sabina Primary School. Nyero has been a member of Children of Uganda's education program since he was a young boy, spirited away from his home in Gulu to save him and his friends from being captured by the Lord's Resistance Army, the rebel group that has been enslaving boy and girls for more than twenty years. Nyero loves his country, his land, his place in the world, and has big dreams to bring sustainable agriculture to his homeland. Here are two stories written by Nyero. Enjoy!

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2011

MY WAY TO PERMACULTURE.

In this world of struggle for success, it is so difficult to know what can change one’s life. What you may think and expect to change your life may really do less to change your life, and what you don’t even know can do much to change your life. For me, the thing I didn’t know about that could do much to change my life is permaculture. But I have always loved farming: back home my father, mother and other family members are all gardeners.

It was in the holiday of August 2008 that this new permaculture idea landed in my world. It landed on fertile ground. Not only did I already admire farmers, but I was also especially interested in animal husbandry.

In 2008 before the August holiday and while I was still at school, Rosemary Morrow, Dan Palmer and Amanda Cuyler, permaculture experts from Australia, visited my school, Mbuye Farm School in the Rakai district to talk to the students about permaculture. They had already implemented permaculture at Sabina Home and School.

They were introduced to us by Auntie Deborah. Rosemary gave us small tid bits of permaculture, but I personally I didn’t pay attention to what she was airing as even the mere word permaculture sounded so strange and different to me.

When the holidays came I was told that I would be spending it at Sabina. It did not please me at first because I did not go to primary school there and I was not used to life at Sabina. On the first day of the holiday a truck came to pick people up. In no time we were already at Sabina as Mbuye is near there.

The next day was Saturday. Auntie Deborah called on the holiday makers. She said, “Welcome”. “Thank you Auntie”, we replied. She added “Let me hope that yesterday you have toured around and you have seen what is taking place”. “Yes Auntie”, we replied. She continued. “Jan Smart came up with the idea that Sabina could grow some of its own food on the small piece of land we have, to supplement the children’s diet. Jan Smart is hoping for a lot of support from you, the holiday makers, in term of labour, so you will be helping in many activities on the project.” At this point, some of the big boys became unhappy because they were to be allocated activities, instead being left to do their own activities that might earn them pocket money.

The next day was Sunday, and in Uganda Sundays are meant to be free from any activity apart from cooking and bathing (indoor activities). So we were excused from working on the project. But I noticed that Dan and Amanda went on working and by the time we reported back from the Church, they had done much of the planting, stacking and many other permaculture activities.

Monday morning dawned with lovely bright morning sunshine. Among the activities I helped with that day were: making or building compost manure heap, transplanting seedlings from the nursery bed to the mandala garden, making/sharpening more stacks, making more vegetable and nursery beds, and constructing a simple bridge that could be used to cross the swale beside the mandala garden. My schoolmate Tony Obalim and I successfully constructed the simple bridge. That was my first real experience of helping on the project.

One Wednesday, when I was still new at the project something happened that almost made me stop coming back to the project. One of the boys on the project borrowed Dan and Amanda’s camera from the mandala garden without their permission. He took photos of all kinds that he loved. Amanda looked everywhere for the camera but everyone who was asked “Do you know where the camera is?” would answer “No”. I began to get worried that all the boys who had worked in the mandala garden would be suspected. This fear almost making me stop lending a hand: I fear and I hate being suspected of wrong doing. But thank goodness the boy who took the camera was seen taking snaps in the dormitory and this was reported to Auntie Deborah. So the camera was returned. This episode made me think a lot about whether I wanted to continue to work on the project. I did not want something dreadful like that to happen again. But I decided to continue giving a hand.

One day in the afternoon, as I was seated, I saw Dan digging a swale behind the dormitories. My brain was occupied with some thinking. Dan was alone and working so hard. I was not used to being around whites and I was also too shy to consult people older than me, such as Dan, so I feared giving Dan a hand but I really wanted to. I forced myself out of shyness and went to give Dan a hand. He welcomed me and gave me a shovel and he kept the pick axe, digging the swale as I shoveled. Later I took over the pick axe and he used a shovel. As we came to the end of our task, another boy, Obalim, joined us. That was my physical activity for that day but that was also my introduction to Dan. Soon I was working every day with Dan from early in the morning until sun set, doing gardening and other activities. My introduction to Amanda was when we were making compost manure heaps.

From then on, I realised that I could motivate myself to do any activity being performed at the project without any one having to ask me or persuade me. I was at last accustomed to helping the two volunteers. Eventually, Dan and Amanda started to leave me in charge of children in the garden when they were away in Kampala. I remember one morning when, as they were leaving for Kampala, Dan came very early and gave me a list of activities that could be done as they are away. All the activities were done by the time they returned, and more!

By the end of the holiday, I was a great helper on the project but eventually the time came for Dan and Amanda to leave. And after that the volunteers started to arrive and leave quickly: Mike Cloutier and Carl Jacobsen replaced Dan and Amanda; Kim Glasow and Clive Mullet plus Mrs. Anna replaced Mike and Carl; Ralph replaced Kim and Clive; Will replaced Ralph; Michelle Sabto replaced Will; Cam and Simon replaced Michelle; and finally Mr.Kalokola James and Mrs. Anna replaced Cam and Simon.

In January 2010, I was one of the three youngest participants in the 1^st Permaculture Design Course (PDC) ever held in Uganda. I got my Permaculture Design Certificate. I was able to do this with the financial support of my Australian friends Michele Sabto and Andrew Trevillian. So I take this time to appreciate them for their support.

The teachers on the course were Rosemary Morrow, Dan Palmer, Amanda Culyer, Lindsay Dozoretz, Claudia and Rachel Otuyar. Doing this course has been one of the great highlights of my life. There were almost 50 participants from all over the world, including Canada, Australia, the UK, Kenya and Tanzania, as well as Uganda.

This has been my way to permaculture.


My small village
 

“Luwek” is my birthplace and “Loibo” is my nearby Village in the country side. This is a so small Village where everyone knows each other by name. We know each other’s parents and homes, so it is a small community that a Visitor may even be spotted from a far. The often dusty murram road that is narrow; trucks, trailers and buses that by passes the Village while leading both to and from Kitgum and Sudan loaded with agriculture produce, ornamental trees and manufactured products frequently use this route.

After the peace has been restored, people started getting back to the country side and the Village is breathing again. But still everyone who is over 18years of age here has fresh memories of the Lord’s Resistance Army {L.R.A} war that left many family members dead. It was horrible, terrible, deplorable, and sad and causing sorrow seeing the killing of humans; we really suffered so much at the hands of the L.R.A. By the time I left for Kampala, the situation had worsened and to me, it breaks my heart whenever I flash on how people suffered. On the other side of business, agriculture is still the main economic activity.

Though the Village doesn’t have any Industrious farmers and instead they do the farming in a Subsistence way, but still Villagers produce enough food for the community and supply the few to the town in exchange of money. People mainly grow cereals crops like rice, millet, sorghum, simsim, beans, pigeon peas, cow peas, soya beans, cassava among others and vegetables include cabbage, egg plants, okra etc. Villagers also keep some poultry birds like pigeons, chickens, ducks and turkey, and animals like goats, sheep, pigs and cattle.

With the land issue, here people face problems of land wrangles as they have just got back to the country side after the peace restoration in the area. With modernity, my Village unfortunately is trying to replace rural lifestyle slowly with urban ways of life style. And boys have adopted some for example boys play cards and gamble all day long. Instead of engaging in Income generating activities. I wonder up and down because others drink alcohol for breakfast-they start from morning! And only God knows where they get the money to sustain that kind of lifestyle.

Under modernity still, no storey buildings are replacing our traditional mud and wattle grassed thatched huts. With Music and Entertainment, the days of Larakaraka, Dingi-Dingi and Bwola among others of the 1960s are long gone and were the days of my father. Here the youth buy Music played by foreigners for as cheap as1500 [Ugandan shilling] on a CD. Others even record songs on their Mobile phones with the help of memory card. If it comes to modern dance, youth here love dancing modern dances and at times they hold each other’s waist and squeeze each other- which are a new way of dancing that has affected youth in the area due to modernity. And for those who may have time and can afford paying dance fee, they either attend to the one within the Village or go dancing in Gulu Town which is about 30-40 minutes ride on a Boda-Boda. With the fact of many and different friends with different minds and characters, they always close up the Dance with fighting among them self.

My Father-Mr.Kolo Bilentino, told me that he miss the moon light dance of their good old days when they were real men. He added, “We used to go hunting wild animals, birds and dig big gardens to prove our manhood and this is why I have a very big piece of Land. A real woman used to stay home to do house hold chores like fetching water, cleaning utensils, sweeping the compounds and preparing local dishes. Today, they use machines to make Odi {ground nut and simsim paste}. Really gone are the days of the grinding stone”.

As different Tribes with different likes, so here Youth mostly take Xmas, Easter and Independence Days as their Days of showing off. So these are the most days you will see youth dressed in different ways depending on the weight of their Wallets. They try all their level best to be different on such days so that to refresh their minds off the L.R.A periods. Boys put on heavy clothe, Jungle shoes with a baseball cap on top mostly in a 50 Cent way of design. For girls, they look for nice designs of hair and nice looking dresses that can match with their choices.

Yeah, on the side of Early Marriage, both girls and boys are in early Marriage. Children’s Activist and NGOs have tried to stop early Marriage in this Area like it does in other areas but tradition always wins as transactions are carried out secretly. Dowry here is not so expensive and give people chances of Early Marriages. In the past, early Marriage was un-heard of, but has grown with the problem influx of poverty among families, can you imagine?

With the tradition mud and wattle grass thatched hut everywhere, with dusty narrow road that passes through, and you will never see any electricity pole here! On top of all that, it is my favorite place when I need to get away. In my homeland and I’m feeling so alive cause it’s where I was born and it’s where I did my nursery class from-my first class room to be was under a mango tree and i would writie on the soil because I could not have a book and a pencil to use.

I love the Village and it’s my first choice area to develop so as to become known worldwide. I always enjoy getting back to Village for my December holidays. Really this is where Nyero Christopher comes from and it is where I belong.

The Sabina Permaculture Garden at the heart of school and community life.

Contributed by Prue Gill, a great friend of the teachers and children at Sabina Primary Boarding School. Prue's experience is as an elementary, secondary, and tertiary teacher in Australia, and as a Board Member of the Stephanie Alexander Foundation, which brings Kitchen Garden Programs into Australian primary schools. Prue's passion for teaching and teachers, for children, and for gardening and good food, have intersected at Sabina. We thank you Prue, and can't wait to see you again soon in Uganda!

"Recently I had the good fortune to return to Sabina Boarding School to spend some time with teachers talking about the implementation of the Permaculture Curriculum that a group of teachers at the school have devised. This curriculum is aimed particularly for children in Primary years 4, 5 and 6, but it will influence what happens in all classes at the school, and in the kitchen of the home.

The aim of the curriculum is to balance the good work that has been done at Sabina on developing the academic side of school learning, with an equal emphasis on developing valuable vocational and life skills for the children. The hope is that every child who comes to this school will be able to live a meaningful life, and produce food, even in the absence of ‘professional employment’.

We also aim to share the benefits of the garden with the whole school community, including the families and guardians of children who attend the school. We want to produce a varied array of fruits and vegetables for all to share, to spread skills and love for permaculture principles and ethics, and also to use the garden as a site for hands on learning across the academic disciplines. Much of the valuable work in producing food for the kitchen is now being done by children, led of course by the wonderful James Kalokola and Anna Kisakye Nakibinge, the students of the Permaculture Club and the class teachers.

It is inspiring to see how teachers at the school have embraced the garden, appreciating its beauty as well as its productivity. In the time that I was there, we explored the opportunities a garden creates to think imaginatively about teaching and learning, and we came up with a concept that places the garden at the heart of the education offered by Sabina school.

Using the beautiful garden as central to learning, we talked of it as the basis for:

· Educating children in life skills – useful knowledge

· Food and water security – leading to healthy communities

· Educating children to shape their future – democratic citizenship

· Global responsibility and sustainability – caring for our planet

· Disciplinary and academic development - including literacy and numeracy and the skills required to perform well in national testing, as well as science, agriculture, the arts, the humanities

· Thematic and interdisciplinary learning – including problem solving and integration of theory and practice

· Opportunities for children with a range of learning styles – hands on learning, co-operative learning, differentiated tasks

· Improved diet and well being of children - hence optimising potential to learn

· Building positive links with the community through opportunities for sharing produce, running short courses for parents and guardians, inviting others in – including local and district schools

Teachers are now working on the many ways they will integrate permaculture and national curriculums. Think for example of the ‘problem’ of the chickens. The home has 70 hens which are laying about 60 eggs a day. Children are given an egg a week, other eggs are used in the kitchen, and surplus eggs are being sold in the village of Ssanje. This earns a little money that is put back into the garden. But chicken food is expensive, and we need to know whether our chicken project is cost effective? Here is a research question that can be given to senior primary students to work on together.Such research would involve counting eggs, developing a system of record keeping, drawing graphs, costing the regular expenses of chickens, charting the income from eggs, even ‘accounting’ in some way for the improved well being of children. It could require a written report at the end, maybe with illustrations.

The audience for the report would be diverse - James as manager of the FWS project, Margaret Kasekende as CEO of Children of Uganda, perhaps even the Children of Uganda Board. Such a research project would offer opportunity for learners of all kinds to draw some conclusions about a question that is very important for the organisation. It would put literacy and numeracy skills to good use, and children might even be involved in presenting the data orally in a formal way.

Our next step is to develop a beautiful poster which encapsulates this idea of the place of the garden in the life of the school and community. This can be placed in each classroom, in the kitchen, and shared with other community members and schools. It will act as a visual representation of our philosophy, and something to be proud of."