Ochan Self-Help Alliance

Deforestation is reportedly occurring at an alarming rate in Uganda.   OCHAN’s mission is to urge the village to conserve wood and to engage in large-scale tree planting.  OCHAN has needed a messenger to persuade villagers to take action and found him in the second-in-command of Uganda Police, Mr. Julius Odwe,  whose home is not far from Opac, though he works in Kampala.  He paid Opac a visit, first to the police post on business and then to OCHAN’s project site for lunch and to address the clan leaders (pictured at left) on the critical importance of tree planting.  Mr. Odwe’s university degree is in forestry for which he has maintained a lifelong passion.  He spoke of the tree planting he had been doing for 13 years in his home village of Dokolo and how more rain has fallen there than in other parts of this semi-arid zone.  He credits his mini-forest with the difference.  Mr. Odwe, currently developing a tree nursery in his home area, urged the clan leaders to do the same in Opac in order to support massive tree planting as a way to battle climate change and to spur their village’s economic development.

clan leaders listen closely, take notes.

His message was a wake up call to these leaders; they pledged to make conservation of wood and reforestation their priorities in educating villagers on how to protect their land for future generations.  Mr. Odwe introduced the leaders to Melia volkensii , a tree that he is farming not only to counter destabilization of the local climate and degradation of the land but also to provide animal fodder of its canopy during growth as well as timber in 10 years’ time and other uses.  He left the leaders with a large bag of seeds to plant but with no instructions on how to germinate them.  If you click on its name (above) you will read all about this tree including how particularly difficult it is to germinate due to its hard shell and wide-range of time each seed may take to sprout, if at all.

J. Ochieng--Chair of Ocan Agenne, J. Odwe, W. Boto--Pres. OCHAN

Local farmers and OCHAN members are currently experimenting with different germinal strategies; pictured here is a promising one. Meet Melia volkensii.  May they grow into their grand name and beyond.  Thank  you, Mr. Odwe.

Ben Okello rests face up on a woven grass mat in his hut of mud walls and thatched roof.  His 4-month-old son, Tony, lies fast asleep on a nearby mat.  It is close to 9 p.m. and pitch dark inside as this family cannot afford candles or kerosene lamps.  In the courtyard, Ben’s wife Tero prepares the family dinner over a wood fire, its heavy smoke swirling into the night.  The familiar sounds and smells outside and the quiet inside allow Ben’s mind to wander to his life:  his loving wife, his first son, and big plans for farming in 2010.

In the midst of darkness and reverie, Ben feels a cold object methodically crawling from one side of his body to the other across his bare stomach.  Its  weight suggests the intruder is sizable: it feels lengthy and crawls in a zigzag manner like a snake, which is usually shy of human company. Fear of the unknown and for his son sets his heart racing.  Should he flee from the hut? Should he play dead until it crawls away? What if he grabs and strangles it with his bare hands?  Courage is not what he lacks:  in search of meat for family meals, he has slain an assortment of wild animals in the game parks.  At this moment, the risk of losing his first child fills him with terror.

When he no longer feels or hears any movement, Ben quietly and slowly lifts the upper part of his body from the bed and sits, his two hands anchored to the mat for back support.  With similar care and slow motion he rises and tiptoes outside to join his wife.  Ben narrates his weird experience in a quivering murmur, sweat beading on his forehead, his neck, his nose.  “But where is Baby Tony right now?” his wife demands, anxiety constricting her voice.  “Still sleeping on his mat,” he replies.

Full of concern for her son, Tero quickly sets fire to one end of a bundle of dry spear grass and with it in her hand both of them haltingly peer into the hut.  Light from the burning grass reveals in detail the situation:  Tony lies on his right side apparently asleep judging from his breathing, his body loosely encircled by the length of a giant python marked in camouflage with olive, brown and tan blotches. Its elongated neck and tail, loosely knotted close to the infant’s ankle, can grab Tony if he makes a move.  Right now it too seems asleep, basking near the baby’s warmth.

Emboldened or blinded by the raw emotion of a first-time father, Ben immediately grabs his nearest weapon, a hoe, to hurl at the threat. His wife reacts by grabbing the hoe from him with her free hand and throwing it away. “What are you doing with that, you coward?” she hisses.  “You have never been a man from the day you were born.  The spirit of your ancestors placed the wrong organs on a girl!”  With that said, she inches closer to study the snake’s encirclement of Tony. In a single swoop, she grabs the baby’s left arm, lifts him out of its reach and rushes, wailing and screaming in terror, out the door.

Ben retrieves and hurls his improvised weapon at the snake.  The hoe misses its target by at least a foot.  The agitated snake promptly coils, lifts itself up, up, up in violent convulsions,  its head weaving as if daring Ben to try again.  He freezes.  In the next second, the python scales up the mud wall and escapes through the  wide-open ventilation, the same way it entered this house.

Comment: Pythons are common in Northern Uganda.  A more durable and secure home for Ben and his family as well as for all the villagers whose huts have been invaded by danger, disease-bearing insects, or rain leaking through the roof would give them peace of mind.  Such stronger homes can also save the environment by no longer having to rely on trees to replace the hut structures every 3-5 years.  OCHAN’s mission in housing is to build environmentally-friendly, durable and secure houses for the most vulnerable in Opac Village.  The core house, pictured below costs $3,000 to build.  Without the assistance of such strategies as save to build, micro-financing, and increased agricultural yields of cash crops, the cost of such a home is beyond the reach of most households in Opac.

Here is the finished medical residence beautifying the neighborhood behind the clinic. As need arises and funds become available for housing more staff  and/or volunteers from afar, rooms can be added on either side of this core house.   OCHAN plans to use this model to build homes for the most needy families in Opac.

Front of house faces the back of the clinic

This side faces a small path and the police post.

The back faces a field.

Tailor-made plans for restructuring Ocan Community Clinic grew out of the needs of the clinic as experienced in its first year of operation.  A floor plan was developed.  Every wall torn down or erected, every window and door added or subtracted,  is a response to the needs of the patient population and a concerted effort to augment the quality and quantity of services.   Generous donors to OCHAN in 2009 have made this transformation possible.  Pictures below show some of the restructuring  taking place.

Mr. Acuma, the medical officer who designed the expansion of the clinic, takes notes for the men’s 5-bed ward that will be where he is standing.

5-bed women’s ward takes shape.

View from one end of the veranda to the other end where a door will lead to the prenatal clinic. Such ready and direct access to it from outside will enable patients to move more easily in and out without having to spend time in the general waiting room.  The big hole in the wall at right will be the main entrance to the clinic and the beginning of the central corridor.

One central interior corridor that runs the length of entire clinic, instead of the three hallways that were there for the three stores, will allow for quick monitoring of activities including security,  ready interior access to the different services,  and air flow.

Item #1: Pictured below are the leaders of Ocan Resettlement Women’s Group who were elected by over 200 women farmers in Opac to represent their interests and concerns and with whom OCHAN executives met last summer to learn of their pressing resettlement needs as well as to give them support in their agricultural efforts.  These leaders are resourceful, focused, forward-looking, articulate, and determined under difficult circumstances to succeed in implementing strategies for the farmers’ success.

September 2009. L-R: Estella Elem, Yayeri Odur, Rosita Okello, Joci Okot, Lily Ocola, Karen Apio, Jente Ogwara, a guest, Bonny Boto of OCHAN

Item #2.  OCHAN, through the sponsorship of St. John’s Church Mt. Washington, Baltimore, MD, received from the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland a Millenium Development Goals (MDG) grant to support reforestation and revive green commerce in Opac Village.  The MDG, an initiative of the United Nations, targets the poorest of poor nations (which includes Uganda at under $825 per capita per year) with efforts to eradicate poverty by 2015.  The Diocese of Maryland has further honored OCHAN  by awarding it the 2010 Lenten Project, entitled “Sunflowers for Opac.”  Proceeds of this education program for Sunday schools in the Diocese will be donated to OCHAN to help the women plant sunflowers again as their cash and food crop and more tree seedlings for retaining moisture in the soil as a barrier against the drying winds and as a long- term investment in the health  of their environment stressed by climate change.  Readers may access the project background and all lessons by clicking on the link above.  Enjoy!  We’d love to hear from you.