Sustainable Farming Course, part two
Kasenge Riverford, Uganda
July 2012
Christadelphian Meal-a-Day Fund funded the second part of the sustainable farming course which CBM first undertook in Uganda in August 2007. We brought in 30 brothers/sisters and 30 non baptised members of the community to Kasenge Riverford, Mukono, for two weeks training.
The course was really very useful; whereas the initial course in 2007 had concentrated mainly on practical aspects of farming, both growing crops and rearing animals, this course was more geared towards business acumen and awareness of potential problems etc. I was congratulated by the director of the training school for choosing the items to go on the programme which were concerned with making money! In reality, I chose the items which we didn’t cover in the first two weeks back in 2007! It is intended that the first manual from the course in 2007, which does contain notes on a lot of practical farming, will be reprinted, and be available to all those who attended this second course, along with the second manual, which will be produced over the forthcoming months.
The final programme is attached to this report, and yes, it does consist of some valuable lessons in how to ensure that the business (which the attendees were encouraged to think of their farming as) does succeed, such as farm planning, record keeping, report writing etc, as well as some new ideas for making money which perhaps the participants would not have come across before. Our aim, however, in this is to encourage our brothers and sisters to be self sufficient.
We did experience a fall out – 15 of those who were to come did not attend. 2 of them were brothers who were detained at home, and the rest were non baptised members from one particular area in Central Uganda who just did not come. This made for inequality in terms of the numbers of CBM and non CBM, but there was nothing we could do about this. One area too, in Eastern Uganda, had not sent any delegates, either baptised or not, and although they were encouraged to send some to fill the empty places, did not manage to send at such short notice. The final invoice from Kasenge Riverford was reduced to take account of the shortfall, which I was not expecting and was grateful for, given that they had still had to pay for extra staff etc. Food would have been bought pretty much on a day by day basis, so that would have not been a real issue.
As is common in Ugandan education, on the first morning the group had to elect a Course Leader, a Secretary, a Pastor, a Time Keeper, Welfare representatives (two for the toilets, two for the kitchen). I was extremely impressed with the way that the two brothers elected course leader and secretary co-ordinated the group, liaised with the tutors, dealt with those who wanted to miss classes, sorted out any issues, and generally were on hand to help out. They were also a great help to me. All attendees were expected to get up at 5am and participate in cleaning of the compound, kitchen etc before breakfast. (Thankfully I was exempt!) The elected leaders of the group divided the participants into groups, and each group undertook a different task each day, on a rota basis. I was very impressed with the way they organised themselves, and dealt with those (mostly youngsters) who wouldn’t get out of bed!
I was asked to give a few comments on the first morning. I took the opportunity to explain who CBM was, who CMaD was, and why we were funding this training. I said that we expected full participation, and that we would issue them with manuals some time after the end of the course. In return, it was interesting then to hear what they were expecting to be given – a daily financial allowance (apparently common in Ugandan colleges), certificates, help with finding a job afterwards, handouts, free seeds, even links to international markets! Quite an eye opener, and made me realise that they were coming at the course from a totally different angle. They were expecting to be given things to change their lives, whereas in reality they actually learned that only they can change their lives. Interesting too was the tutors’ comment on their requests for a certificate at the conclusion of the course. They said that no certificate would be given, because the course was no good to them unless they put it into practice. Once they had proved they could put it into practice, then they could have a certificate, by which time of course they would realise that a certificate was not necessary, they had been taught valuable life skills.
I took the opportunity to discuss issues with the tutors whenever I could, and they all, to a man, said that Ugandans are lazy, and the only reason they are not rich is because they don’t want to be rich. (By this they meant that if they really wanted to be rich, they would work – those Ugandans who are rich, are rich because they have worked hard, not for any other reason.) You have to remember here that their main aim in putting the courses on is to make the participants better off financially by them becoming so good at their farming business that they make a lot of money. However, our aim is to make them self sufficient so that they won’t rely on CBM or CMaD for financial handouts. But nonetheless, it was very interesting to hear throughout the two weeks, as a constant refrain, that “you are lazy”. By the end of the course, I think most of the participants had grasped the idea that if they worked hard, they could change their lives. The only person who could actually do this was them themselves, nobody else.
This I think is what we have to continue to hammer home. The Ugandans (I cannot comment on other countries) have plenty of food just growing freely in the country, though it may not be what they want to eat, and so cannot be said to be starving. Neither can they be said to be poor, as they were constantly being told they were sitting on money (ie their land), if only they would see it. It requires a total change of mindset, and won’t happen overnight, but somehow we have to get over to Ugandans (and presumably all Africans) that CBM cannot continue to provide assistance as we have done in the past, (and probably done them a dis-service by so doing). They have to stop expecting financial help almost as a right, and realise that they are masters of their own destiny to a very great extent.
As was the case with the first course, I think the participants started out (especially some of the young non baptised ones), thinking that they were going to have a jolly away from home for a fortnight. By the end of the course, most of them (though not all) thanked me and John for facilitating the course, and promised most sincerely that they were going to put what they had learned into action. I asked a number of the brothers whether they thought it worked that nonbaptised were also invited to the course. They all said that it did; however I’m notentirely sure I agreed. There were a few disciplinary issues which mostly revolved around the non baptised participants, and some of the young people just did not take things seriously. To be fair, most of them improved as time went on, but the atmosphere was definitely different from the first course, where all had been baptised members. To be fair too, some of the most active participants were non baptised members.
We had said that at the end of the course we would provide “start up packs” to enable them to get started on some of the new projects which they had been taught. However, the tutors suggested that it may not be a good idea to just dole these out, but to give them as rewards once we have seen that they are starting to actually do what they learned. This seems to go along with the ethos of the training, ie actually you don’t need any money to start, you start with what you have, where you are, and move on from there.
We have had numerous emails since we returned home, asking us for money both for travelling round for further onward training, and also for this “start up pack”. Life has been manic since we returned, and replies to these emails are badly overdue. However, I will be sending an email to all the elders shortly, confirming that the money for the onward training will be sent by John in Q4, and that the start up packs will only be available to those who we have reports from and who we consider to be working well and putting it into practice. In practice, we will not be able to visit everyone, so I have emailed the Director of the college to ask for a quotation for him or one of his tutors to travel round the country visiting the participants’ villages and assessing the success or otherwise of the training for us. And in actual fact, they are far better at this than we would be!
I would like to thank CMAD very much indeed for their support of this training. I really do think this training for self development is the way to go in the future. I was asked many times during the two weeks if we would fund training in nutrition, so maybe that is the next thing to go for. I really do think that we are giving them the tools and the self respect to grow, and this knowledge can be passed on and on, and become self sustaining. Rather than just helping one off short term projects.
We still have money remaining from CMAD, and I am intending spending it thus:
If the quote is not too prohibitive, paying for the directors of Kasenge Riverford to travel round to visit the participants
Providing start up packs to those who KR recommend to us
Printing of second manual, and reprinting of first.
Sue Mathias
August 2012