Merewyn Smith - Uganda

In November 2002, after having worked in Melbourne as an advertising executive for 5 years, I went in search of something more personally challenging and rewarding in my life. Something that would enable me to make a positive contribution to the world in a place where people really needed it. After undertaking some research I decided that I wanted to travel to Africa to do some volunteer work, and I particularly decided that I wanted to volunteer with an organization called Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW).

SPW is an international youth-led organization that coordinates volunteer programs in developing nations around the world. The 2 programs that they conduct are a Health Education Program that operates in primary and secondary schools, and a Community Resource Program that works with community groups by teaching about sustainable organic farming techniques. It was the Community Resource Program (CRP) that I worked on.

After fundraising the $10,000 required to support my work, I departed for Uganda on 18 th March 2003 . I was very nervous about what the next 5 months had in store for me and if I had my way the pilot of our aeroplane would have turned around and flown me directly back to the comfort and familiarity of my home town. However, knowing that this was an impossibility, I instead mustered up as much courage as I could for when I met our Program Manager, who was collecting me from Entebbe airport.

My first month in Uganda involved intense training in sustainable organic farming techniques with the other volunteers on the Program. There were 23 Ugandan volunteers and 5 overseas volunteers from all corners of the globe. The idea of working in conjunction with local volunteers was a strong influencing factor in my deciding to work for SPW. At the end of training, we were a tight knit group of people who were very eager to find out where we would be working for the next 4 months. We were divided into groups of 4, with 1 overseas volunteer and 3 Ugandan volunteers per group. Each group was then assigned to a rural sub county in the district surrounding the town of Mbale .

My fellow volunteers, Amos, Gerald and Mary, and I were placed in Buteza sub county which was a 1 hour taxi ride along a steep and deteriorated dirt road from the township. We lived in a house that was no more than the size of a large lounge room, with an outside banana leaf walled shower, and a pit latrine that was about 70m from the house on public land. Over the next 4 months we collected water daily from a nearby source, cooked on a single pot charcoal stove, had cold showers with a jerry can and a basin, and received light in the evenings courtesy of a paraffin lamp. Our house was positioned on the edge of the local trading centre, and was surrounded by fields of banana plantations and small farms, as well 2 imposing green mountains.

As we began our initial reviews of the sub county we were to discover that despite Buteza's lush appearance, many farmers were suffering from significant problems. Some of the major agricultural concerns were soil erosion and landslides, severe lack of firewood for cooking, pests and diseases attacking crops, and very poor soil fertility. These problems were just adding devastation to people's already impoverished situation.

Our volunteer group began meeting with community groups throughout the sub county, often walking 1 hour each way up steep and muddy paths to meet with them. Our initial meeting with groups involved discussing each others expectations of the other, and then working together to prioritize problems and find solutions. By the end of the meeting we had a schedule of demonstrations on organic farming techniques which we would return to each group to complete on a weekly basis over the upcoming months. The type of techniques which we would be demonstrating included: fuel efficient stoves, composts, liquid manures, organic pesticides, nursery beds, agroforesty and the use of an A-Frame to find hill contours, and land maximizing gardens. They are all techniques which use inexpensive local available materials to solve the problems and improve the situations of the community.

Our aim was to work together, with participation from the community, to help make a sustainable difference in Buteza. It is a strong principle of SPW that sustainability is achieved through community participation and contribution in their own development, rather than just donations and assistance from rich overseas organizations. This approach is much more time consuming but far more likely to make a permanent positive change. Based on this principle, the demonstrations that we were to conduct would require the community to collect and provide all the local required materials, as well as to be active in the actual demonstration. By making such contributions, people are empowered with a sense of ownership and commitment to the cause, and by actively participating they are more likely to remember what they have learnt. It is believed that in conjunction, this leads to increased sustainability.

The following 4 months of conducting demonstrations, as well as coordinating addition activities such as writing a Resource Book to leave behind with the community, organizing an excursion to a Model Organic Farm, and organizing a workshop on more complex modern farming techniques such as fish farming and bio gas systems (which create energy for cooking and heating from excess cow dung), meant that we were extremely busy. We were regularly experiencing physical exhaustion, however it was all worth it when we started to see results as we began monitoring and evaluating our work. We were to find that people were starting to tell their fellow community members of what they had learnt as well as starting to construct and implement techniques on their own. Farmers had made over 30 fuel efficient stoves, over 10 nursery beds, over 15 liquid manures, and over 15 composts, as well as much more, during the time we were in Buteza. The joy I experienced when people told us of what techniques they had implemented and how much it had helped them is almost indescribable. To know that people have gained knowledge, which will be with them for a lifetime, on how to solve their problems, is just so personally rewarding. It certainly made the challenges of the hard living conditions, and physical exhaustion well worth while.

During my 4 months in Buteza I was welcomed so openly into the community. People made me feel as though I was at home and they welcomed me like I was family, and for that I am so grateful. So when the time came to say goodbye it was no surprise that I shed tears.

My time volunteering with SPW is an experience that I will remember and treasure forever. It is an experience that I recommend to any other young person who is willing to accept the challenge. I can testify that the personal rewards gained when you see a community playing an active role in improving their situation by implementing some of the techniques we have taught them, is well worth any challenges faced!!