Permaculture progresses at Sabina

“Start with the little that you know and learn more from doing” (a guiding principle for new Permaculture managers at Sabina)

Sabina pupils harvest maize 

With this principle at the back of our mind I, (James Kalokola, FWS Assistant Program Manager) and Anna (FWS worker), assisted by teachers and staff at Sabina have been hard at work in the gardens. We have followed permaculture principles, including: stacking, multiple uses, and companion planting.

In the background of the photo above, you can see the school buildings. Water falling on the rooves is collected in the gutters and stored in the rainwater tanks. The collected water is used to water the vegetables, as drinking water for the chickens and in dry spells is used by the kitchen.

Sabina pupils harvest maize

Sabina pupils help prepare harvested maize for cooking

As well as the vegetables that are grown to improve the nutrition level of the lunch meal, a main crop is pineapples, enjoyed greatly by both pupils and staff. Maize uses the vertical space and ground nuts fix nitrogen, which is one of the nutrients required by the pineapple. Climbing beans on stands increase vertical yield without shading the pineapples, and they also fix nitrogen.

Sabina pupils enjoying maize from the permaculture gardens

 

 Anna and pupils harvest maize

Older COU students volunteer
Nyero Christopher and Yiga Tom have been volunteering at FWS during their form four vacation. These young men give us hope that there the new generation in Uganda will lead meaningful lives. They have volunteered of their own accord. This is the spirit of giving and hard work that we would like to inculcate in children. We would like them to think ahead to their survival after school. These two young men are now studying at Butende Technical Institute, continuing to improve their skills in construction. With so many skills under their belts they will undoubtedly do well after school.

 

Anna and Yiga Tom harvest eggplants

Yiga and Tom harvest according to a schedule of vegetable supply to the kitchen

Yiga and Nyero make their way to the kitchen after ‘shopping’, not from a distant market but from the Sabina permaculture vegetable market, a market that supplies toxin free vegetables

Yiga, Nyero and James demarcating an access path in the new banana plantation. Banana is a favourite food of children from central Uganda.

 

Sabina pupils eat popcorn made from maize grown at Sabina

Vegetable  garden  with maize  sukuma wiki,  spinach  amaranthus  and climber beans. There is increased yield as a result of using  the vertical space and appropriate selection of companions.  The garden is fertilised with compost made on site.

A wheel barrow contains cabbages sent as part of a vegetable package sent to Kiwanga

During Christmas season it is the time to receive gifts from loved ones, a time when even the poor who cannot afford a good meal most days give gifts, using money from dear ones, or accumulated over time in preparation for the festive season. And so it was with FWS, which sent  a Christmas package of vegetables  and fresh beans to children with no known relatives celebrating the holiday together at Kiwanga, which is also home to Philip’s House.

Yiga, together with Kenedy, a Sabina staff member, pack fresh beans from FWS to be sent to Kiwanga.

The woodlot
This woodlot, a FWS project, consists of approximately 24,000 eucalypts. Children of Uganda will save money spent on firewood, an expense that strains its coffers. The woodlot will also generate income for Children of Uganda by through the sale of excess fire wood or poles. The money saved and generated can be used to improve the welfare of children.

Juvenile eucalypts in the Sabina woodlot

 

This is what we have for you on our blog now. Keep visiting it for many more updates. And we hope to see you at Sabina one day to witness permaculture activities.

 

James Kalokola, Assistant FWS Program Manager