Omutukuvu is a community based organization registered by the government of Uganda and located in a very remote area, 65 km away from Jinja, where the Nile takes its source. Omutukuvu projects aim at promoting sustainable ways of life and work as an educational center for children and adult of the close communities who want to learn agriculture methods. Omutukuvu Mission We aim to establish small green communities with eco-friendly housing, green energy (solar/wind), unlimited flow of fresh water and permaculture ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient. We spent seven days at Omutukuvu during which we helped redesigning their website, manage their social networks, dig the terraces for planting, and last but not least, build dry toilets and the preliminary foundations of a compost hacienda! Origin and milestones Omutukuvu is only one year old and started on the initiative of Ken who inherited from about 5 hectares of land in the family village of Mayirinya. Ken had travelled and experienced the life in the cities enough to realise our urban life model is tiring people down, generating misery and is not sustainable. In reaction against the urban way of life, Ken decided to settle in his village and come back to the roots, to a more natural and community based lifestyle. He soon met Bethany, an American woman engaged in sustainable development, during one of her travels in Africa. They decided to team up to extend the project to an educational organisation, to train children and adults of the community willing to work with agriculture in a sustainable manner. By welcoming volunteers and new team members, Ken got to know about concepts like permaculture, alternative energies and ways to live sustainably while respecting nature. In one year the organisation achieved autonomy in energy with a solar panel that covers the needs for light and power at the project. Another big step was reach for dealing with water issues thanks to a fundraising campaign that enabled the installation of a solar pump system to get water more easily from the whel. This campaign #WATERISLIFE is a first big milestone toward the sustainable of Omutukuvu. The next big milestone for this year is the #EDUCATIONISHOPE campaign to finance the school facilities and start working as an education centre for the communities around. A fundraising is ongoing and a partnership with a Canadian organisation promises already some great success for this year. How we helped Omutukuvu BUILD DRY TOILETS & COMPOST HACIENDA DIG TERRACES WEBSITE REDESIGN Check it out here: Subjective notes and conclusion We had a great week at Omutukuvu and we were happy to meet the team. For such a young project they have already achieved a lot. We wish them to continue on this path, especially keep on the good networking and marketing work as they are pretty good at getting awareness. We would love to see them getting more knowledge in permaculture both in ethics and in applied methods. Indeed they are settled in a remote and very dry area where water is a vital issue. They need to turn to various water solutions not only for the people but for the soils. We advice planting more trees to get shadow for their soils, digging swales, mulcihing, use dry toilets and compost for fertilising, think through the design of the land to optimise their effort, refuse chemicals that destroy the land and harm the people. Waste is also an issue. Like in most places we visited in Africa, people either litter or burn plastic, most often do both. We would love for Omutukuvu to also integrate waste management in its educational programme and teach about reducing, recycling and repairing. As a very young project Omutukuvu shows great potential for improvement and there is still plenty of work. We wish them the best and a bright future. Did you like this post?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Author
Laura & Mathieu Archives
October 2018
Categories
All
|