Seeds of hope
some chance of building a life in the communities where they were born and reared.
The first year of the project has seen many young people commit their futures to their local areas – as processors and traders, as book-keepers, construction workers, transport providers and other careers as well as farming.
While the scale of the problems of rural Africa may be vast, and the provision of training to 3,000 may in some respects be just a drop in the ocean, it does illustrate the practical measures that are making a difference.
These are practical steps made possible by the kindness of my 12 Irish travelling companions to Uganda, and could be made by you too.
For too long, young people in Uganda have been fleeing the land because they feel that it doesn’t offer a future. And who would blame them?
If the family only has a small portion of land, and if that has to be tended, day after day, using hand tools, why not strike out for city life?
Sadly, city life for millions of rural poor Africans isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. Some of the fastest-growing slums and shanty-towns in the world are now springing up in Africa.
That is why so many are willing to take the terrible risks and gamble everything on making a new life in Europe.
In spite of all the interventions put in place in Uganda, poverty and corruption remain rife.
Millions of people in rural areas are living in chronic poverty; it’s a crushing cycle where people are born in poverty, live in poverty and frequently pass that poverty on to their children.
But corruption should not stop us from trying to make a difference for those that need our help and support.
The call to overcome poverty and to uphold human dignity is not new, but today this challenge is especially compelling.
In Self Help Africa, we believe we have the capacity to make a difference, and thankfully we are making a difference for good in a lot of the areas where we work.
Building on past progress and new opportunities, we can make this a time for hope.
OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO GIVE THEM SOME CHANCE OF BUILDING A LIFE IN THE COMMUNITIES WHERE THEY WERE BORN AND REARED