It is Saturday, and the Piggery group is back in Kampala after a 5 hour drive from Bushenyi. We have finished what we came to Uganda to do, and what we have worked with for 6 months. Now it is time to ask – did we achieve what we wanted?
We have had meetings with all parties, we have visited schools and Vocational Skills children and we have made new agreements.
If you asked me before we left for Uganda what the outcome of this trip was going to be, I think I could not have predicted the result.
So what is the result?
First of all, it is not going to be any big central piggery which provides Silent Voices with their central funding. Why? Because to run a large piggery like that, you’ll need artificial food, and that is so expensive that we wouldn’t make money.
So what have we decided to do?
We have decided to fund a pilot project called one One parent One pig. This project is to fund the local parts of Silent Voices. Basically each parent group will make 8 parents piglet breeders and 12 parents pig fatteners. Then they sell off the pigs, and hopefully makes money.
We are also looking in to a larger school based piggery to be a part of the central funding of Silent Voices. We are still researching this and we are yet to decide if we are to try this project.
The one parent one pig pilot will start right away, as soon as Silent Voices finishes a project plan and a budget. The pilot I approved by the Silent Voices committee, and all funding is in place.
We are happy to get some of the funding projects of Silent Voices up and running. If the pilot is a success we are not alien to get further involved in the project.
Apart from talking money, the last week we have visited several schools where deaf children attend. Monday we actually used some of the money from the AIM-Art project from last year and painted two classrooms at one school. We are all happy to see how the schools are treating the deaf children, and we are motivated to support the work of Silent Voices. Wednesday we went high up in the mountains, got a flat tire on the way, but reached a remote school, Butare. There the deaf children were baking cookies to fund some of their school fees. Fascinating.
Finally – last year the pro:piggery group funded Silent Voices’ vocational skills program. We have visited several of the children participating in this program. Where deaf children learn skills in their community. We are again very happy to see the program working, and the children learning skills. Nina and Jenny even bought one dress and one skirt from Erika, one of the children in the program.
What have this stay in Bushenyi given us?
It have been rough, coming from safe student life’s in Norway to conditions totally different from our normal life. We have met people who cannot imagine our standard of living. It have also been rewarding. We have seen that our work, supporting Silent Voices, actually makes a difference. We have also seen that it is not necessary to live in Norway to have a good life. And we ave experienced how it is to be different in a foreign country.
All in all a very rewarding two weeks in Bushenyi.
Anders – Pro Piggery
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