Uganda Participatory Evaluation Process

Transcription

1 Uganda Participatory Evaluation Process Autumn 2011 Partner: Pentecostal Assemblies of God Dear supporting churches Thank you for your support of our project, your gifts and prayers have helped to transform communities from being dependants to being self-sustaining, from being victims of disasters to planning ahead in case a disaster occurs by believing in the usefulness of their little but available resources. Unlike the previous quarter which was marked with drought, towards the end and at the beginning of this quarter, it started raining. Crops which were feared to be withering away were able to recover and grew well. At the end of the first two months of this quarter, households which planted crops during the drought were harvesting. PEP community members fell into this category because they learnt in their trainings that planting early leads to early harvests and thus earning a lot when crop prices and demand is still high. They indeed have reaped from their knowledge, especially with increasing costs of food crops in the whole country because of limited supply due to prolonged drought. Towards the end of this quarter however, persistent rains resulted into floods especially in the Teso region where PEP is mostly rooted. Gardens have been covered by water, bridges eroded and roads cut off. Tuber crops like cassava which had matured were immediately uprooted and stored in granaries, but those which were planted later have unfortunately rotted in the soil. Water borne diseases have also increased, and some other strange diseases also thought to be water borne have been noticed. Crop and animal diseases have also increased. Unlike before, PEP communities have encountered this problem with bravery. They have even been able to respond to their neighbouring communities who were not prepared for this disaster with food supplies. Despite the above challenge, PEP activities continued. Communities which have been undergoing the training for the last two years are in their final stages which are the back bone of this program sustainability. The information which was gathered about their community performance in all sectors of development is being analysed and communities are taking decisions after analysing each sector. They will then prioritise the decisions and agree upon actions. The church and community will then select committees of people whom they think are active and can drive them to achieving their goals. The process will then be left in their hands to steer the community to their desired future. At the national level, Tearfund partners are continuing with their training sessions on PEP/UMOJA. After just four lots of training, their communities have realised great achievements already. For example, after the second training in Kitgum diocese, the church was challenged to respond to the needs of its people instead of watching from a distance. They contributed resources to support orphans in their neighbouring community, despite their religious affiliations. They are so far taking care of about 11 orphans. KOBAP; one of the trained Tearfund partners encouraged the communities in Mbale to work towards overcoming their food security problem and the community members have now doubled their production and have envisioned the future they want to have. During program implementation, floods have been the biggest challenge encountered. Some roads leading to communities were cut off. For example, in Karamoja, which is very remote, trainings had to be postponed until the roads were cleared up. Vehicles could not reach there for a week. Also, costs for commodities and all services have been increasing steadily, which has made operational costs to be higher than estimated. Transformation in these communities is vivid and it all begins with change in attitudes towards work and believing in one s self that they are their biggest resource.

2 Swamps, Stewardship and Sugarcane 48 year-old Opolot John Peter is married with 6 children. Before the Lord s Resistance Army rebels (LRA) attacked the place, Peter says that life was good. We were rich. We had cattle, goats and sheep. Educating children was very easy; one cow would pay for two terms. Food was abundant and although I was a pastor, my family was in a good state. In just a short while, all that we held dearly was gone, and suddenly, we were made very poor and ran for safety in IDP camps. Peter recalls. Opolot John Peter and his wife. Photo: PAG On return, resettling was hard. They had to start from scratch. They hardly had enough to feed on. All my hopes were in the Lord. I would pray, hoping that God would perform a miracle and send someone to help me get on my feet again. I left work to my wife and children. Our children were not old enough to support their mother to grow enough crops that would serve as food and for sale to meet other needs. As a result, we had famine all year through. We could not send children to school. Instead of supporting my wife to increase food production, I would waste time in the trading centre, and would come back home expecting to find food ready. The church I was rebuilding was not growing because people were as needy as I was and I could not help them. Instead, I wanted them to help me, He says. Because of my failure to provide for my family, problems with my wife started coming up. Instead of responding positively and helping her with garden work, I increased my time away from home to avoid quarrels with her. This made it worse so that she even demanded that I stop pastoring. My marriage was at the verge of breaking up. I decided to leave pastoral work to support my family. But even then, nothing changed. I used to waste time. When PEP started, they both attended. One of the first trainings we had was about God s purpose for mankind. We realized that GOD first provided for man before he created him, however, we the cocreators were not doing the same. We were producing children and hoping for an outsider to come and educate them or feed them for us. We also learnt that everything that God created and entrusted us with was of great value and was meant to help us in times of our need. The trainer challenged us to begin appreciating the little resources we have and to utilize them well to meet their needs. We realised that unless we appreciated and used the resources that God has already blessed us with like the disciples who thought they could not feed the crowds, God was not going to entrust us with more resources. I had land, but the biggest part of it is swamp. I had never perceived anything good coming out of it.

3 After that training, I sat with my wife and we started mentioning the resources we had and how we had utilised them. When we mentioned the swamp, we all said it was useless. But later, something told me, it is useful! I started thinking how useful a swamp could be. Then I remembered that sugarcane can grow there, and also rice. I told my wife about it and we agreed to plough it for sugarcane because no one had grown it in our village. John Peter and his wife tending to their crops. Photos: PAG On top of increased production of food crops, Peter planted one acre of sugarcane in the swamp and the remaining three acres with rice. I started valuing my time. Instead of going to the centres to chat, I spend it in the garden with my family. We started having more than enough food in the family, and we would be able to give to the neighbours. Food security is very key to us now. Sugarcane and rice are the ones we sell out for money to help with other home needs. My children have gone back to school and I don t have worries over their school fees. Pastoring was my calling, but the problem was that I was blind. I did not know how to match the physical and spiritual leadership at home and at church. I thank Tearfund for PEP because I have been renewed holistically. I resumed my Pastoral work and the church now is very strong and growing too. My family supports me in this. Preaching in church is very easy because PEP taught us how to interpret the Bible and apply it to our daily life. It is very easy for me to counsel people using the Bible now. Peter says that PEP has continued to increase their knowledge. Recently, he says he again learnt that he needs to practice crop rotation in order to maintain soil fertility on his piece of land which is packed with both food and cash crops like improved oranges, ginger and sugar cane.

4 A New Future Besides many individual inspiring stories, churches are also growing and touching their communities with the love of Christ. As we drove past Nyabushenyi trading centre with newly built houses, our driver who happens to come from the same place made a comment; I wonder what has brought such developments in Nyabushenyi! he wondered. It triggered me to ask why he had such a perception over them. He said that people from this community were known in the whole district of being drunkards and always having famine. They survived on selling labour. PEP was the reason for the driver s wonder. This program found the community in a dire situation. Children could not study past primary level. Poverty was at its peak. The church was as good as not there because the old building was leaking; people were not giving because they did not have anything to give. According to Pastor Moses Muhwezi, the church pastor, when he was transferred there, his father in-law who is a member of the church mobilised members to reject him. His motive was to protect his daughter from living in this poor community again with his grand children. Who would feed them? When Moses finally settled in, he requested PAG to introduce PEP there because he is one of the community trainers. Two years down the road with PEP, the community has completely turned its fate around. Food security has been addressed, they have built permanent houses, children are in school, and they also have transformed their church building. They are constructing a building 80ft by30ft, using their own resources, a thing they had never thought of. Each one of them contributes what they can afford, not necessarily money, but fruits, crops, cows and goats. Out of UGX 25,670,000 budget, UGX 1,300,000 was collected in three months. They are hopeful that in the next one year, they will have finished the building. They are also helping the needy in their community, irrespective of their religion. So far they have 15 orphans who had dropped out of school, being taken care of and educated too. Pastor Moses preaching to his congregation. Photos: PAG

5 Points for prayer Last time we asked you to pray for rain. We thank God for he heard your prayers and we received rains in abundance shortly after. However, it has become too much and some communities are being flooded and crops are rotting. Pray that it will stabilise to required quantities. Sharon Ibiara is our district coordinator for Kaberemaido. She will be getting married on the 8th of October She requests that you pray for her marriage to be guided by God always. Pray for God s providence. Communities have lost their crops in floods. We anticipate that famine might affect them soon Pray that God will Provide for these families. In the next quarter we hope that all communities where the program is being implemented will have formulated their development committees and prioritised, and development initiatives initiated at a community level. We also hope that the rains will reduce and transport will be made easy. It will also be a busy quarter where businesses will boom as we get closer to Christmas. I would like to thank you for your commitment to be part of the great miracles that are taking place in each of these communities. Listening to stories of beneficiaries feels like a dying person was brought back to life with a dose of a bible study. I would therefore ask you to continue giving, so that more communities could be reached with this life giving dose of PEP, with love in Christ. Merry Christmas! Nansamba Odiirah Nansamba Odiirah (report writer) Odiirah works for Participatory Evaluation Process as a communications and Promotions officer and lives in Kampala-Uganda. She is married to Deogratius Kemerwa. Pray that GOD guides them in their marriage. Participatory Evaluation Process (PEP) or Church and Community Mobilisation Process (CCMP) PEP is seeking to mobilise churches in Uganda to work with their local communities to bring about long term sustainable development. Funding target: 200,000