First Cassava Crop in Uganda and April 10 Live Update!
/Yoga! which is Hello! in Kumam. We have important news to share!
First, on April 10th, we are hosting an event at Christ Congregational Church on Colesville Road for an exciting update on the First Cassava Harvest in Uganda (see location and directions below). Despite great odds the past several months, the cassava is in and already being sold!
Also at the April 10th event, The Uganda Ministry Team of the church will announce a special project they have adopted to help with girls’ education and women’s empowerment in Kobulubulu. Thank you gifts for all donations will be available for your choice depending on level of the donation.
Before our gathering, here's A Preview of the News from Uganda:
Devastation and Determination!
For months, El Nino blew through Eastern Africa, and some areas of Ethiopia suffered total crop loss from widespread drought. In Kobulubulu, after weeks of torrential and constant rains, the women’s cassava fields were flooded. Our agricultural consultant Arthur Kiiza couldn’t even get through the impassable roads to check on conditions there. He warned our board that the women farmers might be facing a total loss of their first cassava crop. When the worse rains in over seven years began and continued, the crops had been ready for harvesting.
Yet, when the rains finally stopped, our determined farmers made a spectacular recovery and harvested what remained. A majority of the women were able to harvest enough cassava to make good sales, set aside funds to cover 20 percent of their budget for KRMA’s share of expenses, and still have enough left over for school fees.
I close by sharing an excerpt of an article co-authored by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Foreign Affairs magazine: “Food and the Transformation of Africa.”
“The new African food system should be built around the idea that agriculture is about more than producing calories; it is about changing society. Its five components should be valuing the smallholder farmer, empowering women, focusing on the quality as well as the quantity of food, creating a thriving rural economy, and protecting the environment.”
If you wish to continue supporting the transformation of Africa by “empowering women” and “creating a thriving rural economy”, your 2016 donation of any amount can help us be your agents in supporting the courageous women farmers of Kobulubulu. Send a check or DONATE by credit card under the tab SUPPORT on our website.
The April 10th event will be held at 11:45 a.m., in the Conference Room upstairs from the entrance off the parking lot at Christ Congregational Church (UCC) on Colesville Road in Silver Spring. For directions, go to www.cccsilverspring.org. We look forward to seeing you there!
