Report from BHW Uganda Partnership Facilitators

We spent two days in late July with Anna Ocen and the people from Hope Restoration Centre. We had a number of other people travelling with us which meant it was a little bit difficult to fully review every aspect of HRC.  

Recent Events

Children

We spent quite a lot of time with the children, who all appear to be in good heart.  

Last year we assisted HRC with the provision of a small amount of money to assist in the purchase of some tools to enable some of the young men to start carpentry projects. We also assisted the young women with materials to start learning crochet and bead making. When we were there this year we found that both the men and women had done very well with their respective endeavours and we have attached photographs of their handiwork. The tables and bed that they have made have all been earmarked for sale and there will be modest profit. At this stage they have not yet commenced marketing the crochet products but we understand that this is about to happen. Part of the rationale behind the small amount of money (UGX 700,000 / US$190) was simply to keep the children occupied over the school holiday period when they can get somewhat bored. 

Another project which we found them industriously engaged in doing was the making of their own exercise books. Not only did they make their own books, but these are also able to be sold. We have attached a photograph and they appear to be of good quality. The profit from the exercise books will in fact be quite modest but is also quite an encouraging sign of steps being taken.

On a more sombre note, one of the matters which has really affected HRC this year was the death of Allan Okello from HIV/AIDS complications in February this year. This has really affected the young people and was quite tangible. Not long after we arrived Emmanuel Ayoo prayed a very heartfelt prayer both for the children in their grief, and also for the leadership of HRC. We were very touched by this. We were also able to spend time listening to and sharing in the details surrounding Allan’s death, the difficult and encouraging stories of their time with him before he died, and Simon spoke of arranging for his burial on village land.   

One of the things that we need to remember about the children is that, although they have suffered much and yet appear to be in quite good health and mostly in positive spirits, they are very deeply affected by the losses that they experience still. This particularly relates to the death of Pamela in 2014 and Allan more recently. All of us at BHW who knew Allan and his significant struggles, also grieve with them.

The children are still continuing to progress well with their education with very few set-backs. One of the side effects of Allan’s death is that two of the other young men (Elvis, his brother, and Yako) have improved their performance significantly. Elvis clearly has some significant health issues himself but his academic performance and behavior have changed dramatically.

The other issue relating to HRC is the future steps which the young people will take when they finish senior 6 or senior 7 in school. We have started over the last few years the very difficult discussions about university education versus vocational training. We have made it clear that into the future we are going to support vocational training which is more cost effective and also enables the young people to have more realistic chances of employment. This is an extremely challenging conversation to continue to have however there is growing understanding of the reasons and acceptance of this. 

The Mill

Matt visited the mill site with Simon. Interestingly, although the mill is not working yet, Simon is still doing everything he can to see if a power connection can be made. This requires upgrading the transformer from 80 KVA to 300 KVA as there are at least five other businesses in the area who have also been waiting some lengths of time for the power connection. Simon, along with a number of these other businesses, recently met with the country’s Energy Minister and outlined the problem. Apparently there are a large number of businesses in urban areas around the country who are suffering from the same issue. The reason for this is that the country now has a policy of ensuring rural power connections, even though many of those in rural areas cannot even afford the supply. This has come at the expense of the urban areas. We discussed and agreed to write a letter to Umeme (the power authority) in support of the application as we think this might assist in the process.

This is a picture of the mill site and plantings. The offending transformer is in the distance.

Simon has also been planting on the land around the mill. The site is about 1½ acres and Simon and Anna have now been able to purchase this in their own name using the proceeds from the sale of a piece of land in Lira town. The land is planted in beans (black and red), ground nuts and maize. All of this is to be used to supplement the feeding at HRC. 

Income Generation

Apart from the mill we did discuss other possibilities for income generation. One of the possibilities discussed and raised by Anna was purchasing primary produce from the villages and re-selling it in the town at a profit. This idea was initially very attractive however they had some worries about it and in the end decided not to proceed. Anna subsequently reported that this was the right decision as there were some locals who had done this and ended up with a considerable loss. This highlights the vulnerability and difficulty of making such decisions in the current social and financial climate of change.

We also discussed soap production however this is too small scale to affect the budget.  

The best long-term solution is undoubtedly to see whether we can expedite the power connection.

Ideas for the Future

Simon and Anna are exploring the possibility of a small scale, more modern Chinese mill which is suitable for peas, beans and sesame. This can possibly be done at a lower cost. We note that there is an amount of 8,000,000 UGX (US$2,200) which is presently still held in their bank account for the purchase of the initial maize inputs for the mill. This could possibly be applied to the purchase of a small single-phase mill in an effort to get something started. We are awaiting further comments from them in regard to this. If this does not eventuate then it might be that we allow them to put the 8,000,000 UGX into the HRC budget and reduce the funding from BHW for next year.

Current Issues and Challenges

Food prices have dramatically increased, more than doubling in many cases over the last year or so. Drought, the refugee problem, and food shortages in South Sudan and Congo are escalating prices.

Anna is acutely aware of the need to rein in the budget and despite the challenges with dramatically increased feeding costs, they want to keep the food and other costs in the budget at the same level as last year. They have a strategy for dealing with this issue, particularly where schools are requiring food contributions over and above school fees, and then the children are in boarding. They simply say “no” and push back and this strategy appears to be working. They have also simplified the children’s diet and are implementing cost cutting measures. Unfortunately, this is one of the realities of the situation. On the positive side, the ground nuts grown by Simon produced 6 x 40 kg bags, all of which are to be used for HRC consumption. The likely produce of beans and maize are clearly going to supplement the food at HRC.

Prayer and Praise Points

1) That the children and young people will be comforted following the loss of Allan.

2) For health and strength for Anna, Simon and Penninah. Anna’s overall health is significantly improved however she continues to have acute episodes. We are ensuring that she has education to support her to manage her health and a year’s supply of medication to enable her to manage her chronic asthmatic condition which in the past has been life threatening.

3) For wisdom in managing the dramatically increasing costs and rampant inflation.

4) For wisdom in developing income producing strategies and for considering what will happen next as the children mature and go onto the next stages of their lives.

5) For clarity about asking the children as they get employment to support HRC and the younger children. We think this is reasonable.

Comments

We know that the budget needs to come down for HRC and that the ongoing reliance on donor support may be quite difficult into the future. At the same time external factors are posing significant difficulties. We applaud what Anna, Simon and Penninah are doing in terms of reining in the costs and they clearly do not have an ongoing expectation that it will simply be laid on. At the same time this will continue to be a slow process in an extraordinarily difficult and inflationary environment.

If we had been going to adjust the budget for inflation, the food and incidentals budget would have shifted by 100% minimum. The fact that they have agreed (without any request from us) to keep it the same as last year shows that they are taking this issue seriously.