Why Is Uganda Special To Us?
With Uganda being so close to the birthplace of coffee, it is a perfect location to benefit from ideal growing conditions! Our coffee of the month is from the Rwenzori region and supplied by the Silver Mountain Coffee which is also known as “Mountains of the Moon”. At the heart of the company, the livelihood of the farmers, as well as the quality of the coffee is of utmost importance.
Uganda has a special place in the heart of Lee-on-the-Solent Coffee Company – a project farm with a family connection to Kjellfrid was the inspiration that sparked the whole company. The project, based in Gulu, northern Uganda, was created to combat poverty for young people of the Acholi tribe by teaching and training them with agricultural skills and starter kits for their own plantations. They can then develop the business of farming produce, including speciality coffee, and supplying the produce further afield. We plan to one day use their coffee, and we are so pleased to share with you a little more about what they have been up to.
An update on the project, published on a local Western Norwegian news site and translated to English by Kjellfrid Castle in October 2019:
Two years ago, Moses Onen Peterson of Herøy, Norway, started the development project of his life in his home country. Now, he is seeing the first students create a future for themselves and their families.
Our most attentive readers might remember our article about the Reite Onen family of four children living in Herøy, who spent eight weeks in northern Uganda in the summer of 2017. The aim of their holiday was for the children to meet their dad’s family and experience his home country and culture. But there was also another reason that they made the journey:
“For many years, I have had a dream of helping with development in my home country. We would like to build a centre where young people can be trained in modern agricultural technology,” was what Moses said to the news site Vestlandsnytt at the time.
Now, he is seeing his dream become reality. The organisation, which has been named Acholi Youth Agricultural Development (AYAD), has already trained 40 students. 20 of these have received their own start-up kits and funding to get started with their own farms. At the moment, the remaining 20 still lack the money to begin, but they will receive this as soon as Moses and his partners are able to raise the funds, which Moses and his wife, Anita, often give out of their own pocket.
Learning to utilise resources
"The organisation exists to develop agriculture and fight poverty. Everyone living in Gulu, where the centre is located, has access to land, but they don’t know how to utilise it to make money,” Moses explains.
He runs the centre together with his relatives and others in the area. There, young people aged 17 to 27 learn a lot about cultivating land, and also about keeping livestock and bees. Each student knows what direction they would like to take during the course.
“Our goal is to train 65 people per term, so a total of 195 per year. When all of these have received microfinancing and begin to work, they have also committed to training five others in their local areas during one year. Our plan is to continue this project for at least five years,” says Moses.
The coffee from Uganda that we currently sell is proving to be very popular with its delicate but complex tasting notes. We have had a multitude of positive comments for the coffee and have enjoyed serving it at the fairs and tastings we have provided this month.