Oyam widow struggles to change lives of communities

Hope Mafaranga

It is quite disturbing when you listened to a moving testimony from Eddy Okello, a widow who was displaced by Karimojong cattle raiders and later three of her kids abducted by the Lord`s Resistance Army (LRA).

Life is not stable, there is ups and downs part of it, a person may not imagine at certain point in time he or she will overcome the psychologically stress inflicted in his or her life and become very success in life. 

“We migrated from Olilim Sub County in Otuke district 1986 by the Karimonjong cattle rustlers,” she narrated. 

“We were displaced to Lira town and again the LRA insecurity invaded the region and ended up in Internally Displaced People camp in Lira town,” she added.  

Never would Okello expect to be the chairperson of prominent cooperative society with 6,250 members, both men and women. She is the chairperson of Acwec Omio Women Group suited at Acan Pii in Loro Sub County, Oyam district.

“Two of my girls were kidnapped by the LRA rebels from Iceme Girls secondary school including a boy, Omara Denis when we were still in Olilim,” she continued. Omara 12 was abducted when she was going to school.

After years living in squalid IDP camp at Pentecostal Church Uganda, life was not easy with Okello as most of the time the group relay on handout or relief from humanitarian agencies. She spent two years battling to survive in the camp.

She could retail water in town and fetched them with people doing construction at the cost sh100 per jerrican. Casual work like digging people`s garden was also another way of surviving in the camps which had displaced from Otuke and Alebtong 17,000.

Since Okello was looking at the future of the family, she could save the money purposely to acquire land and settled in Oyam. Okello`s 200 hectares was in Otuke and dormant.

“In 2003 we decided to buy this land at sh150, 000 and settled here,” she explained. The land is measuring 15 hectares.

Farming

In the piece of land Okello is comfortably producing adequate food and practicing commercial farming including paying fees for her children though she is a widow. The husband died last year. She has planted soya as oil seed, keeping 50 bee hives, sunflower, goats and rearing pigs.    

“I got 56kg of honey last year and sold each kilo at 15,000kg,” she added.  Other crops she produces in small quantity are simsim, groundnuts, beans and millet.

“We also bulk in our store things like sunflower, soya, maize and sorghum, waiting for the good market,” Okello added.

With planting season, no one could belief Okello spent two years in camp because several crops are coming up in his gardern around the compound.  

A close look to his compound it shows the one for a village tycoon as a number of group members keep on spending leisure hours at her home. She has constructed a permanent house in her compound after practicing commercial forming for some times.

Chairperson of cooperative

The group started with 15 members living in IDP camps but they become so active and other people also decided to join them. Now the group has shot to 6.250 members (3,000 men and 3,250 women) with it big store Acan Pii trading center.

International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) trained the group how to use fertilizers and have bumping harvest.

“IFDC gave us tarpaulin and advised us to buy improved seed if the cooperative is to go commercial,” she recalled.   

The group according to Okello is now stabilized and buying seeds from Victoria Seeds, Equator Seeds and Uganda Oil Seeds and Processor Association. She said each member has his owned land and would plant his or her crops and bulk it as a group.

The store

When she was given a chance to lead the group of farmers and revamp the cooperative society, Okello requested African Development Foundation to build a store to bulk their produce.

“They told us to prepare Bill of Quantity and give them. UOSPA helped us to prepare and we give them,” she added. She said the BOQ took two years and they were almost giving up on the request.

“But fortunately the request was honored and started construction while the community contribution was land, bricks and water,” she said. 

UOSPA donated sh45m to help the group with the construction of the store but now the store has the capacity of bulking 800 matrix tons.

 Okello`s fear.

“We are scared that the LRA will come back because for many times she will eagerly be attempting to come back to northern Uganda and start committing atrocities,” she added.

Okello says she is a peace maker and also among delegation who talked to Joseph Kony to stop fighting when the Uganda People Defence Force (UPDF) flashed him to Garamba forest in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“I went to Kenya and later to Garamba forest,” she elaborated.

Pictures and voices attached

End

Camp life inspired me into farming

By Hope Mafaranga

When we left the camp in 2006, we had nothing to turn to as most of our houses, crops and animals were destroyed by the 20 year old of the war of the Lord Resistance Army ( LRA) and one had to think out of the box to ensure his family survives.

 The memories of the LRA seems fresh in the mind of Patrick Alengo, 49 , a resident of Onil Village, in Aloi sub-county, Alebtong district.

He remembers the suffering as if it just happened yesterday. Alengo a father of seven and a catechist at St Nichols, Awiny said, when they returned from the camps, they had nothing to feed their children on and had no shelter at all.

“We use to live on aid from non-government organisations and life was a nightmare. I had to do something extra ordinary to sustain my family,” he said.

An opener

 He said one day, he attended a meeting organised by Care international which was intended to sensitising war returnees about food security and it opened his eyes.

He said the meeting restored hope in him and started thinking about farming as he used to do before the war broke out.

His family like any other affected by war, was living in Aloi internal displaced persons camps. However his family returned when peace prevailed in 2006.

Upon coming back from the meeting, Alengo sat his wife Florence Adong down and decided to utilise their land to grow food for the family and also grow for sell to other war returnees.

“I started growing beans, maize and ground nuts for home consumption and I would sell the surplus to other people for little money,” he said.

As the region stabilised, Alengo was among the few farmers, that were growing food and he was invited to the Aloi sub-county headquarters for a farmer’s meeting.

 He said during the meeting, they were told to focus on growing crops that will generate income and uplift the standards of their living.

 How he started

He said the meeting discussed a number of crops that could help farmers make money and one that caught his eye was cassava growing.

In 2007, again he sat his wife down and made a decision to sell the seven cows they got brought using the money from the maize, g.nuts and beans to open the first of land for cassava growing.

 Growing cassava

Alengo who inherited 500 acres of land from his father, started with 12 acres in 2007 when peace was returning to the region and he has gradually upscale to 250 acres.

Value addition

 He acquired chips cutting machines which he used to cut cassava in small pieces which helps to dry the cassava and now sells to Mbale, Lira and Kenya.

He said the machine has the capacity of crushing over 5000 kilogrammes a day and because they are in small pieces it dries faster and reduces on the risk of rotting especially during rain session.

He also said the machine reduces the level of contamination since few hands touch the cassava.

 The machine is sold at sh 8.5m in agro input shops and uses only three liters of fuel every day.

Community involvement

After leaning the skills, Alengo saw the need of sharing with other members of the community and he started  Aneni Can Mega cluster group of 99 members . The group has 56 women and 43 men. He said one of the reasons of why they started a group, they wanted to get market for their cassava, fight food insecurity and increase on household income.

Market

Alengo’s support is among the over 8,000 members trained by International Fertisers Development Center (IFDC) and the organisation also linked them to market.

He said they now sell cassava cuttings to Operation wealth creation and NAADs and sell the tubers to the organisation that makes ethanol.

 Future plans

 He plans to buys a tractor at sh130m to easy his farming activities and currently he has sh 525m on his account which he wants to buy a bus.

“I want to venture into transport business in order to expand on his business empire,” he said.

He also wants to educate all his seven children and nine orphans he picked during the war he is taking care of up to University.

“When I picked those kids , I chose to be their father and I wanted to give them a permanent home . I will take care of them until the end,” he said.

Inspiration

 The last born out 10 and the son of Fenekansi Eyit and Norah Abiri, Alengo, was inspired by the suffering of war and wanted to keep his father’s legacy.

“Being the only boy in a family of 10, I knew that all my sisters would get married and I needed to keep the family going as a man,” he said.

Advice

He advised the youth to come back after school and engage in farming. He says this is the only sure way of creating jobs and fighting unemployment.

 He urged the youth to stop giving excuses and wasting time in gambling and betting  but come back start with the smallest land they have to engage in commercial farming.

“There is money in farming because people will never stop eating , there is ready market for food crop and youth should come back to dig,” he said.

He also advices farmers to stop subsistence farming but put their energies in commercial farming, to get money.

Alengo said that farmers also need to exercise some patience so that they can get the best yield out of their gardens.

Expanses

 According to Alengo,  in one acre of cassava, a farmer needs to invest in sh 120,000 for ploughing,  buy five bags of cassava cutting  at sh 50,000, sh 50,000 for weeding and sh 80,000 for planting, which comes to sh 300,000.

 He said one acre of land is capable of giving a farmer sh 6m from the cutting and sh 5m from tubers.

 Labor

He employs 10 permanent staff at his farm who he pays between sh 80,000 to 150,000 and gives them other incentives like food, cassava cutting and recommends them for trainings in cassava growing.

 When the weed is too much, he also hires prisoners about 40 every day and at cost of sh 4,000 each.

Challenges

His biggest challenges are weather related which he has nothing to do about them.

“ Aleptong sometimes floods and when it’s a dry session, it dries so much that we lose our crops,” he said.

Achievement

Stabilising and picking the pieces from the camp is one of the most significant achievement Alengo mentions.

Being able to get market outside Uganda, educating his children, expanding his farming and becoming popular are some of the significant gains he has attained

 Vox pops

Sofia Obira

Some of us did not want to comeback from the camps because we were used  to being given free food but Alengo convinced us and now we are making a living and sustaining our families through farming.

Yubantino Odyamo: every time there is a meeting related to agriculture at the district, Alengo comes to the farmers and ask their views so that he can tell them to the authorities and brings back feedback.

Sam Okol: he has wanted to go to urban center to search for a job but Alengo showed him the way of making money from farming and he abandoned the idea of going to town and has no regrets.

End

   

Processing ethanol from cassava

By Hope Mafaranga

Most of people know ethanol in medical terms while others know it in alcohol.   Many think it is a concussion that comes from a chemical not known to many.

However ethanol plays an important aspect in pharmaceuticals, beauty products and brewing.

It is one of the things government has to spend tax-payers money importing it yet, locally available resources like Cassava, Maize, and Sugarcane ar

e also the main potential in producing ethanol and it can reduce on this expense.

 At the moment government imports one million litters of ethanol every year. Locally a litter goes for sh6,000 but the government’s expense is much high when you put into consideration, transportation, taxes and clearance. 

  Uganda imports

The director of Kamtech Logistical Uganda Ltd Tobby Arecha said they have invested over USD1.6M into the plant to process 150 tunes of cassava daily  which produces 4,000 litres of ethanol.

“We produce only 10 percent of what government requires and getting more actors in the business will go along away in implementing government’s efforts and also reduce on its cost of importing ethanol,” he said.

 Uplifting the standard of the farmers

Found in Barlwala village, Adekokwok sub-county in Lira district, the company buys cassava chips from 8,000 farmers from Teso, Lango, Bunyoro, Acholi and West Nile.

 The company also employs 65 workers including scientists and chemists and it hopes to employ more 65 people once the store which is under construction is complete.

The farmers were trained and empowered by International Fertiliser Development Center (IFDC) with aim of adding value to their produce and complete the value chain.

 Ronald Lemo the IFDC regional coordination said, when they started training farmers, they had to look for ways of ensuring they get market.

He also said ethanol processing has increased the price of cassava in the region and changed farmers’ method of farming from substance farming into commercial farmers.

“In 2015, before Kamtech logistics Uganda Ltd started processing ethanol, farmers used to sell a bag of 100 kilogrammes  of dry cassava chips at sh 20,000 but  now the price has shot up to sh85,000 per bag.   Now farmers look at farming as a business and this has changed their standards of living,” he said.

 He adds   ethanol processing in the region from cassava has also reduced of the market players who used to cheat farmers.

“ There was a lot of middle men taking fresh cassava from farmers but this had reduced  because we gave farmers solar drier and they dry their cassava and bring it to the processing plant and get better prices,’ he added. 

  Sustainability

Orecha said they are hopeful they will sustain production because cassava is not a sessional plant.

“Cassava can spend three years in the garden and therefore we are assured to have the supply throughout and now farmers’ plant at different periods to sustain us,” he said.

How ethanol

Apollo Serembe  of the company’s production Manager, said there are four stages which ethanol can be process to meet the Uganda National Bureau if standard requirement.

“From chips, to power, fermentation and then we get out final product of 96 percent,” he said.

Teopista Adeng one of the cassava farmers said the plant has enabled farmers to get more money and improve on their income.

“ I can never sell fresh cassava anymore because if I take it to the plant , I get more money,” she said.

Managing waste

The district has given the company land where to expose the waste from, while others is turned into manure which they give back to their farmers and make animal feeds as well.

Challenges

“The starting point was not easy because Umeme refused to give us the electricity for nine months , we had no buy our own line which is a high voltage and this caused us a delay in production,” he said.

Scaling up

 With support from IFDC, they has installed a solar dries with a capacity of drying up four tonnes of cassava in three hours and is constructing a multi-million stores  that will store more than ten tonnes of dry cassava.

Health dangers

Dr. Paul Lubega a senior medical officer at International medical centre said if misused, ethanol can cause health havoc. He said it can damage the liver and blindness.

“You have seen people with read lips, it’s a sign of misusing ethanol and the damage can be worse if not detected early. It affects the eyes leading to permanent blindness and it can total destroy the liver and it fails to work,” he said.

End

She defied the refugee life to inspire other

By Hope Mafaranga

  As you enter Kyangwali refugee’s settlement Camp in Hoima district, a big signpost bearing the picture of Luciano Agago promoting male circumcision ushers you into the camp.

The 24-year-old Agago manages a restaurant and promotes other refugees to be self-reliant.

How she ended up in Kyangwali 

 Agago was living with her family and was a happy child like any other. She grew up in a cattle keeping family.

To her, life was about taking milk and enjoying her parent’s love. However in 1997, together with her family they flew their home village in Lobira in Eastern Equatorial in South Sudan, during the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) insurgency at the age of six.

The second born of four children, Agago remembers the day as if it just happened yesterday. Narrating how they were tortured and the suffering that led them to Uganda is a moving story altogether.

“We ran away when the Garang’s war spoke out. I was six years old then. We walked long distance and ended up in Acholi Pii camp in Kitgum district the current Pader now.

I never imagined this was the time to become fatherless and homeless. My father was killed by SPLA’S rebels and all our cattle of about 500 herds were robbed.

During this long walk, my youngest sister who was used of drinking milk could not bear the torture and she died.

None of us had the time to bury our father and sister.  Their bodies were left to be eaten by birds. This is one of the of the saddest memories in my life and whenever I see people’s graves is, I wish, I could also see my father and sister’s grave. It hurts me so much and after 18 years, I am still coming to terms with that reality.

Mother disappears too

We settled there up to 2002, when the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Kony intensified in northern Uganda. We had no choice but to run for our safety.

This is the time our mother and another brother disappeared. I stuck to my uncle’s family up to now.  

At that time I was in primary four we footed through Lira to Kiryandongo settlement camp.

 At that camp we stayed there for two days and we were relocated to Kyangwali where I call home now.

Her education

She went to Agago primary school in Kitgum up to P.4 then Rwenyayarwa primary school where she completed her primary school education.

Agago attained 17 aggregates which earned her a scholarship to the only secondly school in the refugee camp Kyangwali SS.

Double tragedy

As she was completing her S.4, her uncle got an accident and he could not feed the family anymore. As if that was not bad enough, her aunt also developed a spinal code problem and right now she is in a wheel chair.

“ I persisted and finished senior four but could not continue as I had to support my family to survive in the camp. You know after three years, the Office of the Prime minister allocates land to refugees so that they can cultivate their food,” she said.

Humble beginning

Despite her young age, Agago has actively promoted self-reliance and sustainable livelihoods and enhanced her own and her family’s livelihood by a variety of means.

After her senior four, she knew she had to support her family. She started to do business by selling sugarcane with a starting capital of sh 500.

“ I bought sugarcane at sh500 and cut small pieces . I made a profit of sh2, 500. This was a good start. I saved slowly until I accumulated sh 12,000 and I started going to Lake Albert to buy mukene (silver fish.

 The first basin of mukene I made sh25,000. I paid an extra attention to other traders how they were measuring their mukene and I learnt a trick that the cups they were using to measure were small than what I had.

I also changed my tactics. The third basin I made sh 60,000. I never looked back,” she said.

Getting into hotel business

At one time a friend of her aunt identified as Mary Atelo approached her aunt and requested that Agago should come and work in her restaurant so that she is saved  from the hassle of going to the lake  to look for Mukene and she allowed.

“ I used to work in Mary’s restaurant for free  for three weeks in a month and the fourth week, I would still go to the lake to get mukene,” she said.

 From Mary’s restaurant, she gained experience and started nursing her ambitions of owing one.

One  day she was invited to attend a  workshop in Hoima by one of the NGO that works in the camp  she was given sh 300,000 as per diem, she saved the money  and again  after a month she was again invited to Fort portal where she attended training and out of others were shopping for clothes, Agago was looking at attaining her dream of becoming a restaurant owner.

The sh 500,000 was an engine to kick start her hotel business. She now manages her own restaurant, which employs four single mothers.

She is now also in farming to ensure food security and a steady income to sustain her family.  She rears pigs and she has 12 with a hope of increasing her piggery project and also gives the piglet to other young girls in the camp to sustain themselves.

Her inspiration

Agago was scared that after a while, the OPM and other NGO will stop giving refugee aid and food and this pushed her to work to ensure she puts food on the table.

“The fear of sleeping on an empty stomach and seeing my uncle drop out of school pushed me to think out of the box,” she said.

 Community work

On top of her businesses, Agago has done remarkable work for her community.  She has started a Rebeneteko community group and served as the women representative of refugee welfare council.

The group save money for development and own two oxen which they use to dig for orphaned children who lost their parents during wars and HIV.

She is also a Village Health Team member for Kasonga and offers free counseling services to other members of her community.

“People come to me after having fights at home or wanting to gain business advice. Many have seen my business grow and using it as an example have decided to start their own businesses,” she says.

 Achievements

About ten years ago Agago’s uncle and aunt fell sick and since then Luciano has been responsible for supporting the family financially.

She has managed to send her sisters and cousins study outside the refugee settlement and pay for all of her mother’s medical bills.

“ I spend about sh 2.5m per term on school fees and  saving sh 1m per month is a miracle. I also gained people trust I was elected to represent refugees and this is not a mean a achievement,” she said.

Advice to other women

“ I want to encourage others to follow my example. Women need to be encouraged and stop feeling petty in their currently situation but look at challenges as opportunities,” she said.

Agago was in Monday 20, 2016 was  awarded Refugee Woman of the Year in Uganda. The selection is made in co-operation with the Finnish Refugee Council (FRC), UNCHR and Office of the Prime Minister.

The awards is aimed at increasing awareness of refugee issues and encourage refugee women to go forward and promote positive images of skilled and resourceful women in Uganda.

The winner will be awarded sh 3m of which sh 1m goes to the winner and sh 2m go to a community project of her choice.  She is the fifth women to be awarded.

Fears

Agago freezes whenever the thought of repatriating them crosses her mind. “ I have grown up from here and I call Uganda home.  Sometimes, refuges are sent back to their original countries when peace returns. I cannt imagine going back to Southern Sudan to homeless land with no relatives,” she says.

 Her vision

Agago dream the day she will see refugee women empowered and are able to depend on themselves. “ You are not sure when the food will be delivered. We live a life of probability and not sure of your welfare of tomorrow. But if women are empowered all these worries will be no more and it will reduce on donor dependence and give a chance to the new entries a chance to have a meaning resettlement,” she said.

 She also wants to go back to school to attain higher education and expand her business. “If I had a degree, I would one of the country directors of some of these NGOs,” she said.

The numbers

 Tarja Saarela-Kaonga, resident representative in Uganda, The Finnish Refugee Council said Agago  was awarded  for  promoting  self-reliance and sustainable livelihoods.

According to Tarja, Uganda has currently 538,252 registered refugees and asylum-seekers, adding that women constitute the biggest number.

“About 35,000 of these are asylum seekers, leaving about 503,000 refugees and of these, 51% are women.  The purpose of selecting the Refugee Woman of the Year is to raise awareness on refugee women’s issues and bring forward a positive and progressive example of a refugee woman, who is an inspiration to other women,” she said.

 Who is eligible for the award?

Tarja said the selection committee looks at exemplary and inspirational refugee woman in general, who have been active in promoting self-reliance and practicing sustainable livelihood.

“We were looking for a refugee woman who has enhanced her own livelihood by for example skills training, self-employment and small business development and supported the livelihoods of other refugees in her community in economically, socially and ecologically sustainable manner,” she explains..

She said one to qualify must be registered as a refugee in Uganda and have a ration card number or registered under her head of household. 

Vox pops

 Felister Hisita: I had given up on life but Agago gave me a reason to live and start life all over again.

Micheal Odele: she is an extra ordinary human being with a golden heart, a listening ear and her hands never get tired of helping others.

Redina Kabasumba a community worker: Agago is a mult-tasking person. I was once shocked seeing her fixing boreholes for the community and she never misses meetings

Elder Akello: I was focusing on living on aid but Agago approached me and advised me to join a group so that I can save for my family. I will be forever grateful for her advice.