* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Tree-planting in northeast Uganda on the border of southern Sudan and Kenya was one of the first projects undertaken by AWARE Uganda (Action for Women and Awakening in Rural Environment), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded more than 25 years ago.
The women acquired various seeds which included mangoes, orange, guava, jackfruit, margarines, passion fruit, pawpaw, and they acquired about one hectare (2.5 acres) of land.
The women's group planted the seeds. A few of the seedlings survived and grew into trees. However, in the semi-desert environment of Kaabong, it is a constant struggle to keep the trees alive and productive.
With minimal outside help or agricultural assistance, the women have managed to keep some of the trees alive and have persisted in planting further seedlings.
VISIT BY SAFE WORLD
Safe World for Women founder, Chris Crowstaff, visited the orchard in the summer of 2009. At the time there had been no rain for 2 years. Even the previously productive trees had stopped giving fruit, apart from a few Guavas. AWARE Uganda is a field partner of Safe World, an NGO which campaigns for the rights of women and children.
AWARE Uganda founder, Grace Loumo, remembered how - in previous years - the orchard had supplied much-needed fruit, especially oranges, to the local hospital, as well as meeting the needs of AWARE members and their families. But now all the orange trees were barren.
The women have to walk about 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) to collect water for the trees, especially during the dry season. The dry season lasts for seven months and sometimes longer, since Karamoja only experiences one rainy season a year at the most. Some years there is no rain. The women and men dig the sand in the riverbed for water for the orchard.
SECURITY IS A HUGE ISSUE
Fruit is so scarce in Kaabong that, when the few fruits ripen there is stiff competition from the people and animals in the neighbourhood and much of the fruit disappears before the women and children could harvest it.
Kaabong is still primarily a warrior region. The warrior mindset, together with abject poverty, means that valuable commodities need to be carefully secured and guarded.
There is often little or no fruit in the shops in Kaabong and when fruit is brought in from elsewhere it is prohibitively expensive for the majority of the community. And yet fruit provides life-saving nutrients in such an arid environment.
HELP KAABONG WOMEN TO HELP THEMSELVES
The members of AWARE Uganda appeal for help to drill a bore hole in the orchard, provide irrigation pipes and a storage facility for water, and seed funding to purchase fertilizers and pay for security guards' wages and a fence to protect the fruits.
This will give the fruit trees the best possible chance and will help to improve the health of the women and children of AWARE Uganda considerably, in addition to helping the members to resume a small-scale fruit-selling industry.
TARGET
Project target is 19,000 pounds ($30,826) and 90.2 percent of the target amount will go to AWARE Uganda towards the cost of bore hole, irrigation equipment, storage tank, fertilizers, secure fencing and gates and security gards, while 9.8 percent will go towards the cost of monetary transfer and administration costs of The Safe World International Foundation.
This blog is part of AlertNet’s Solutions for a Hungry World story package. It first appeared on the Safe World for Women website. Safe World for Women is an NGO that campaigns for the rights of women and children.
