ふるさとウガンダへ恩返し！子どもたちを学校へ行かせたい！

 

A community tractor…Help!

 

Livingstone Kyeyune is my name. I was born and raised in the East African nation of Uganda. As a little boy growing up in rural Uganda, it was a fact of life that I had to get up very early in morning, grab a hand hoe and till the land for a couple of hours before getting a jerrycan (a 20-liter plastic container), run down to the well to collect some water for home use before heading to school.

 

Looking back, it’s been close to forty years since then. The painful truth is that life for kids in many rural communities in Uganda has hardly changed. Why? Perhaps no one dared to try to make a difference in many of those communities, among a host of other factors.

 

In January of 2000, I moved to Japan and a couple of years later, I joined hands with a bunch of friends and formed an association to dare to make a difference in the lives of people in the community where I grew up and beyond. I have been engaged in activities and projects that promote friendship between Uganda and Japan to enhance the quality of life in rural communities of Uganda such as installation of safe water wells (12 wells installed so far), improving cooking facilities and providing scholastic materials to rural schools in Uganda especially in the Bukomero area.

 

To further impact the lives of people in Bukomero area, we have encouraged them to form an association in order to speak as a united voice about their concerns and come up with plans and proposals to alleviate poverty.

 

One of the problems the Bukomero community have identified is the lack of a tractor. The community needs a tractor to enable them to expand their agricultural production as well as cutting down on the time children spend working in the fields. This will free up time for the children to do more school work and other child development activities.

 

I’d like through this message to amplify the united voice of the Bukomero community asking for your support to help them raise US $14,000 for a second-hand TRACTOR.

 

Agriculture is the major source of livelihood in Bukomero and other rural areas in Uganda.

 

 

The current agricultural life in Bukomero community.

 

Currently most of the families if not all depend on a hand hole to till the land which is a long and tedious undertaking and even then, the size of land that can be cleared is quite limited. Families in the community find it challenging and expensive to open up new land for cultivation even when all the family members including young children get involved and that means at times children have to forego school in order to help out on the fields.

 

 

How will the tractor benefit the community?

 

1.The tractor will help families in expanding land for agriculture on which a variety of crops will be grown.

 

2.More food for families to feed the children which will improve nutrition

 

3.Extra food will be sold leading to improved family earnings from the current $30 t0 $ 100 per month on average.

 

4.Children will no longer sacrifice school time for farm work hence better performance in classroom and beyond.

 

5.Poverty alleviation and improved standard of living. The little boy who toiled day after day working in the fields, fetching water, collecting firewood in addition to school forty years ago,my work is pushing me to make this plea on behalf of thousands little boys and girls who are walking the same path of life this very moment. Let’s extend a helping hand to them.