Ochan Self-Help Alliance

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Mt. Washington, Baltimore MD, has been crafting clay sunflowers for several Lenten Sundays this year to offer to all in church on Easter Sunday as gifts of hope and love.  Rev. Lori Babcock, the pastor, stated the following in St. John’s Epistle of April 1, 2010:  “We will hand out decorative clay flowers as a symbol of our own new life and our support of the new life and hope for the resettled refugees of Opac Village, [northern]Uganda.”

OCHAN, touched and grateful for such creative and uplifting support, hope to carry some some of the clay beauties pictured here to the women leaders of the farmers in Opac. We will also carry the hope expressed as a blessing in the final lesson of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland’s 2010 Lenten Project, ‘Sunflowers for Opac’:  May God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain.” Genesis: 27.28.

The thatch-roofed pit latrine that served the police post for several years has just been upgraded due to increasing traffic  in the area. Located near the small commercial center and clinic that is drawing more business, this latrine will serve families of patients, visitors to the police post,  patrons of the nearby open-air market under a mango tree and small store that sells sundry items.

A privacy wall surrounds the facility and also separates the doors for men and women; a small space at one end is reserved as a bathing area for the police who carry their own buckets of water there as the only source of  water is a bore hole a quarter of a mile away.   the Need for improved sanitation in public areas such as churches, schools,  and markets, has been expressed by the clan leaders of Opac’s community organization, Ocan Agenne.  With the help of local people and the generosity of donors in 2009,  OCHAN hopes to build  several  such high volume structures to serve this village.  Pictured here is the second public facility OCHAN has built.

From their small nursery under the care of Valentino the Gardener, twelve baby Melia V. moved to new homes,  the soil in Opac Village.

Some branches with thick, sharp barbs are posted around them as sentinels  against the tongues of cows.

In one photo   a hoof-print is perilously close to the little tree.  Eh!

Still, these ‘treelings’ are spreading out,  sprouting new growth.  Ahhhh!

In the same heavy rains that tragically brought down the side of a mountain in eastern Uganda, burying and displacing thousands of people in mudslides, women of Opac in northern Uganda strive to prepare their fields for planting.  The rainy season has started prematurely so they want to plant soon.  After the drought of 2009 destroyed their sunflower cash crop and hopes for economic recovery, they are eager to begin again the agricultural work that provides food, medicine, and clothing for their families.

One March morning after hoeing, the farmers of Ocan Resettlement Women’s Group gather under the shade of a mango tree to meet with OCHAN’s president, William, and the leaders of their umbrella community organization, Ocan Agenne.  Last summer at a meeting with the farmers, OCHAN learned that the women wanted to begin their 2010 farming season by planting soybeans for home consumption, for sale, and for enrichment of the soil for the subsequent planting of hybrid sunflower crop.  If the soybean seed germinates within two weeks, it can withstand dry spells  along the way to a healthy harvest.

OCHAN’s mission is to help these women succeed in their farming efforts.  Through the generosity of our donors, 200 women will each receive an acre’s worth of soybeans (@$6.00 per acre.)  The  Director for Crop and Tree farming, Mr. Jimmy Ogwang, elected by Ocan Agenne as the liaison to the women’s farming group, is pictured here receiving a check from OCHAN to purchase the soybean seeds.

A church in U.S. donated funds to provide two important communication ‘tools’ for farmers to stay in touch with each other, with Mr. Ogwang, and with latest market prices.

Here Lily Ochola, the over all leader of the women farmers, receives a bicycle to ride to all the farms as needed.

Estella Elem, a centrally located leader, is pictured receiving a mobile phone.  OCHAN hopes that such attention to developing the infrastructure of the women’s group will improve their communication, cohesion, and success along the road to self-sustainable living.

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.

People in Northern Uganda have traditionally been able to count on the regularity of rainfall between March and November each year.  They use this ample time to plant and harvest several crops in rotation as well as slower growing crops such as cassava and cotton.  OCHAN, a partner in resettlement with the people of Opac, provided  sunflower crop seeds and tree seedlings last April to 200 women.  To read these blogs of early 2009  with pictures of young sunflower plants rising in the fields is to sense the hope that the women sowed with this cash crop:  a good first harvest since their return from the IDP camps would launch their economic resuscitation.

June 2009

Instead, unpredicted drought attacked right in the middle of this planting season, just early enough  to ruin the young plants along with other food crops such as sesame and millet.  One can read about this drought in Uganda’s New Vision online news and can see it in the droop of the flowers and leaves in this picture.

The women who either immediately planted the seeds provided by OCHAN in early April or waited out the drought and planted late in the season (Sept. or Oct.) realized good harvests and 350%  average return on OCHAN’s investment.  Sadly, these successes amount to less than 50% of the farmers who participated in OCHAN’s program.

January 2010: Women bagging a good harvest of sunflower crop seeds. OCHAN provided the initial seeds, the bags, and the tarpaulin.

For farmers who lost their crops, famine looms high in the months to come during the dry season.  At the December Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, urgent calls by developing countries including Uganda for major polluters to curb carbon emissions  voiced what farmers in Opac are facing in a real way:  volatile and erratic swings in weather that  severely affect their livelihood and environmental health.  Both Uganda newspapers, The Monitor and New Vision, have reported extensively on effects of global warming in their country.