INTRODUCTION

A number of initiatives have been created to support and provide work for the community. These include a wide range of skills including farming, horticulture and craft making.

These are a development of the ‘Kabubbu Women’s Club’ and the ‘Kabubbu Men’s Group’ that we helped form and have been working alongside since our first visit in 1999. The two groups combined in 2003 to work together.

We first came across the group of women in February 1999 and called them ‘The Quarry Women’. These women had taken the initiative, regardless of the physical cost, to seek to earn a living to feed and clothe their children.

Many of the women had lost their husbands because of AIDS and to support their families they work in the hot sun smashing large boulders into small stones to be used in the construction industry using a small household hammer. For their work they earn around £2.50 (€3.75 / US $5.00) per week.

Work brings a means to provide for your own family through the income you earn. It also brings dignity and a means to self-sufficiency.

There is a well known expression: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish (and give him a rod and line) and you feed him for life”.

We are into feeding the man for life. How about you? Please can you help them to help themselves through the provision of the necessary tools?

I WOULD LIKE TO HELP PROVIDE FOR FARMING AND WORK – click here

FARMING

In Kabubbu the majority of households have a small plot on which they seek to grow sufficient vegetables and other crops to feed themselves. They may have a pig that produces a small number of piglets each year to pay for school fees or some other form of essential.

To have a cow means an income and milk to improve their diet with extra vitamins. Chicken are the same. With training in animal husbandry they can double the number of piglets, increase the milk yield of their cows and the number of eggs from their chicken. Goats, correctly managed, can provide a rich source of milk and meat.

Initial understanding in animal husbandry and crop care is given through the Adult Literacy programmes run through the Library and then by intensive hands-on training in the field.

We are working towards a Model Farm initiative to teach best practices in all aspects of farming. We have acquired the land now we need to develop it with the animal and crop resources.

Using the concept of giving a man a fish or teaching him to fish we seek to provide both the expertise and the initial resource to those who show understanding and a capability to succeed – seeds, hoes, a pig, chicken or a cow and so on.

A chicken farm of 100 chickens provides an income. This costs £520 which covers the costs of the initial months until the chicks grow into laying hens, a chicken house and all vaccinations and chicken feed. A pair of breeding pigs costs £150, goats £120 and a cow is £500 inclusive of all initial feeds.

No sum is too small in the provision of resources to assist the community to develop farming initiatives and learn new skills.

I WOULD LIKE TO HELP PROVIDE FOR FARMING AND WORK – click here

CONSTRUCTION

The men in the community are learning additional skills through work initiatives alongside Quicken Trust. These include bricklaying, building, fencing and maintenance. They quickly learn these new skills that can be used to earn an income in the wider community.

They know how to make bricks from the earth by mixing it with water, forming in a mould, drying in the sun and then stacking the dry bricks into a kiln shape covered in mud and firing the bricks by burning logs and branches in holes in the kiln. They then sell the bricks for others to build houses.

What they couldn’t do was use the bricks to build houses for themselves because they couldn’t afford the cement and the corrugated iron for the roof. They had therefore never acquired the skill. But with training and the supply of cement they have shown an aptitude for construction. They are now using their new-found skill to help earn an income.

The same is true for all aspects of construction. Show them how to do it and they can. Uganda is going through a construction boom and their new skills bring an income and dignity through work.

No sum is too small in the provision of resources to assist the community to develop construction skills.

I WOULD LIKE TO HELP PROVIDE FOR CONSTRUCTION INITIATIVES – click here

VOCATIONAL TRAINING

Education is a priority for all young people in Kabubbu. But not all young people can fully advance through academic qualifications. But they all have a skill of some form. We are working to develop their skills.

Uganda is developing at a fast pace but, as is often the case, skills development to meet such needs is lagging behind. Vocational training is a positive response and in Kabubbu there is a willingness to develop these skills.

Critical skills that have been identified include plumbing, electrical installation, carpentry, computer skills, animal husbandry and crop management. We are seeking to develop training courses and supply the resources that will provide certified qualifications in these and other aspects yet to be identified.

In many aspects of training we will be identifying existing training institutions and providing the means for Kabubbu young people to attend and develop their skill. This may mean working with the training institution to ensure the qualification achieved is fully certified and recognised.

Uganda needs highly skilled workers and for the less academically able in Kabubbu their new skills will bring an income and dignity through work.

No sum is too small in the provision of resources to assist the community to develop skills.

I WOULD LIKE TO HELP PROVIDE FOR VOCATIONAL TRAINING – click here

MANAGEMENT TRAINING

Kabubbu has many in the community willing to work and willing to manage the work of others. However there is a primary problem that has to be overcome.

With a community that has existed for years on a basis of minimal education because of lack of money for school fees, a life spent trying to grow sufficient crops to feed their families and insufficient jobs in the community needing any form of people or work management there is a great lack of management skill or understanding.

If the manager does not fully understand or hold the necessary skills their management will be lacking and any staff they are responsible for will not be given the competence to play their part correctly. This has become apparent with management functions given to some in the community. They have had some management training but the level deemed necessary at the outset has proved insufficient.

There are two options:
1. Employ managers from outside the community
2. Train those who show embryonic management skills to become good and      competent managers

The first option creates a feeling of rejection within the community. However, in the short term it may be necessary to do so although the primary management tasks will then have gone to ‘outsiders’!

We have embarked on a management training programme within the community and are reviewing community members who we believe will show good management skills with competent training. To achieve their full skill will take time, effort and resources.

No sum is too small in the provision of resources to assist the community to develop management skills.

I WOULD LIKE TO HELP PROVIDE FOR MANAGEMENT TRAINING – click here

CRAFT WORKSHOPS

In February 2000 the 'Quarry Women' asked us to help find them other work initiatives they were better able to do. Their mothers taught them from an early age how to make baskets, rush mats, how to sew and make other items from natural resources for use around the home. They showed us the colourful goods they make and asked if we could find them a market for them.

We have since discovered many other craft making skills especially through the art department of Trust High School.

These include batik, art, pottery and greetings cards using natural resources. We anticipate finding woodcarving and other skills there as well. The encouragement of arts and crafts is foundational within any community as it maintains and develops the local culture.

Many of the items would have a highly competitive market among the craft areas for tourists in Kampala. We are bringing many of the items to the UK and have set up a Craft Shop on our website through which you can help Kabubbu by buying directly through us. The items and cards make a special and unique gift for you or for others at birthdays and other special occasions.

Please visit our Craft Shop. (note that it is under construction)

We are reviewing the need to encourage young people at Trust High School to develop their skills through an area specially created for them to develop their skills through a craft workshop.

No sum is too small in the provision of resources to assist them develop their skills.

I WOULD LIKE TO HELP DEVELOP WORK INITIATIVES, BUSINESSES &
ENTERPRISES – click here