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Pilgrim's Agriculture and Environment Programs reports progress in several projects involving environmentally friendly cooking stoves, and their adoption on a community level.  First, Beacon of Hope School now has new stoves, and they are a major improvement!  Until last semester, all cooking was done in huge pots balanced on rocks encircling a wood fire. Can you imagine cooking a large pot of boiling porridge this way? (See before and after photos below)  The food in the pots is a cornmeal mush called posho that is a staple of the Ugandan diet. The installation of four institutional-size energy efficient cooking stoves is complete, and they are now in use and cookin' away. The stoves use considerably less fuel - 3 tons of wood during the last 3-month term instead of the usual 12 tons!  That lowered amount of wood for fuel makes a huge difference, over even a short time, in the deforestation that is taking place in Uganda.  Besides saving money, less time is spent in finding, purchasing and handling firewood.  Another very significant change these stoves bring is a health benefit, as they reduce the risk of upper respiratory infections for the kitchen workers.  No longer do they breathe in the wood smoke from the open fires. The new stoves have provided a good on-site demonstration for the students of an environmentally responsible and sustainable change that brings improvement in multiple areas.

These new kind of cookstoves can improve the way the average rural Ugandan cooks. Pilgrim will be distributing 20,000 very efficient cookstoves, called rocket stoves, to the members of the farmer cooperatives we work with and their surrounding communities. Pilgrim will also provide trainings in the advantages and use of these carbon zero stoves.

The Agriculture and Environment Department already conducted a pilot training in the construction and utilization of a variant of these efficient cook stoves, also called Lorenna stoves, in partnership with the Center for Research in Energy and Environmental Conservation (CREEC) affiliated with Makarere University. As these stoves are constructed of locally available materials, each and every household that gets a stove will not just know how to use it but also how to construct it once the life-span of the first set is over.  These stoves have 1-pot or 2- pot capabilities, with removable loose fitting pots which sit in the round cavities accessible from the top surface. The thermal insulated walls are made of locally available inexpensive mud mixed with sawdust, pumice or any available agricultural waste. This insulation focuses most of the heat onto the bottom of the removable loose fitting pan that sits in the round cavity. The stoves are so efficient because the insulation focuses the heat from the wood fire to the bottom pan, and because so little of the heat is lost through the thick walls of the stove. Although most cooking in the region will still be done with wood, it can be done with greatly improved efficiency. Carbon dioxide emissions and smoke will considerably be reduced, and each individual's/household carbon foot print, and contribution to environmental degradation will be reduced.

Non-photo illustrations below from Ugandan Gov't publicationhttp://www.energyandminerals.go.ug/pdf/gtz/brochure_ee_rsdom.pdf  

 

Related Links: Beacon Of Hope Secondary School

Pilgrim's Agathos Relief and Aid Program completed the distribution of clothing, hundreds of yards of fabric, and musical keyboards donated to Pilgrim, and transported to Uganda courtesy of Thain Boatworks and Earthwise Ventures. Included were thousands of new clothing items from a Seattle, WA clothing distributor, dozens of musical keyboards given to Pilgrim, and numerous rolls of cotton flannel donated by World Concern in Edmonds WA.  

 Pilgrim Uganda's Director of Relief, William Denis Omara, organized and directed the multi-site distribution effort. Six staff from Pilgrim travelled with him to transport and give out the goods; they were assisted by volunteers at each distribution point or village. Targeted recipients for this distribution were the elderly, women with small children, pregnant women, the disabled, and most destitute of each area. The elderly in Ugandan society are often very needy if they have no living children to support them. Each beneficiary received two pieces of clothes; mothers received fabric for baby blankets and diapers, and elderly persons were given flannel fabric for bed sheets.

One distribution site was Namuwongo Revival Church, an inner city church pastored by Pastor Opio Wilson, located in Namuwongo, a large slum in Kampala. Clothing, mostly pants and shirts, and fabric yardages were handed out to the needy, amid much rejoicing (see photos).  These were timely "Christmas presents" to about 600 church members.

Teso Safe Motherhood, a sister nonprofit in Teso, NE Uganda, assists pregnant women and new mothers in the Teso region.  The many rolls of cotton flannel given to that organization will in turn be divided to give out to new mothers for their babies' needs.

Many rolls of fabric were given to the Beacon of Hope Medical Center for various uses such as sheets and nursing needs. The students at Beacon of Hope College received fabric yardage to make bed sheets. The majority of students at the College are completely sponsored by Pilgrim, so this fabric donation helped keep supply costs down. 

The final distribution sites were the vulnerable population of Amotom IDP (internally displaced person) Camp in the Amuria subdistrict, and the village of Kapelebyong, also in Amuria. Local government officials assisted William Omara's staff with the identification of the most needy, assembling people, and distribution.  Notice the large but orderly crowds gathering to line up for clothing and fabric in the photos.

The final kinds of items distributed were piano keyboards. As Pilgrim works with local churches, finding eager takers for these keyboards was not difficult.

Pilgrim's distributions activities of food and other things to the most needy occur when significant amounts donations are given, and often in cooperation with other organizations.  A special thanks to Thain Boats and Earthwise for their generous gift of shipping these goods for Pilgrim.

Related Links: Beacon Of Hope Secondary School, Beacon Medical Centre

Nancy Olsten, a language arts teacher from West Auburn High School, and strong advocate for Pilgrim, initiated a letter exchange program between her classes at the high school and BoH. Her initial idea was to expose her students to situations in Africa, sensitizing them to their counterparts in other countries and life situations. The students had been studying Global Issues, led by Tom Parsons, the Social studies teacher at the school, reading A Long Way Gone and discussed colonialism and other issues raised by the book. They had also studied the history of the Lord's Resistance Army and learned the background of many of the students to whom they would write.

For the initial mailing to Beacon of Hope, Nancy's seniors made a video introducing themselves and their school; this had footage of each of Nancy's students, and some of their classes and a tour of the school. The first packet of letters was sent over in October, carried by Calvin Echodu. Several of the language arts teachers at BoH engaged their classes in the exchange, and that first packet of letters was answered by about 30 Ugandan students. Two entire rounds of letters have taken place, with students responding personally to one or more students.

Nancy took some of the art work from the Ugandan letters to post on bulletin boards in the halls in Auburn; this provoked questions and interest among other teachers. Now there is interest in a fund raising effort at the school, and possibly involvement with the Auburn Rotary.

Calvin visited Nancy's class in May to speak to them about his experiences growing up in the conflict in NE Uganda. The Auburn class had a second packet of letters ready for him, as well as a special drum they had constructed a drum as a gift for the BoH students. Fashioned out of a section of large diameter PVC pipe, it was covered with a stretched leather, then signed by all the class.

Nancy hopes to continue this project next year with her classes, and is hoping that teacher s at BoH will also continue the project.

Related Links: Beacon Of Hope Secondary School

In mid-June, Pilgrim partnered with the Trauma Studies Center in New York (part of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy) to bring the trauma counseling and training to Soroti. Rosemary Masters, Betsy McConnell, Paula Gellis, Barbara Rachlin, Rachel Goldsmith, and Judith Friedman all traveled from New York to share their knowledge. For several of them this was their second or third visit to Uganda to train counselors and those who work with traumatized individuals. The fifty conference attendees included social workers, teachers, pastors, prison guards, and people from various other professions. Several Pilgrim counselors attended and several Americans associated with International Teams. I am working on a business project in Kampala, and was able to attend as a special guest of Pilgrim, as I am interested in trauma counseling.

The topic this year was Restoration and Renewal, focusing on background and techniques in counseling trauma victims. The region of Teso has experienced traumatizing circumstances for the past decades. The LRA abducted many children and killed many people. The Karamajong, a pastoralist neighboring people group, have raided their cattle for many years, impoverishing the farmers. And in the last few years the people of Teso have seen floods and famine. The need for trauma counselors is great.

The six facilitators presented the material using different teaching methods. The first day of sessions was devoted to how trauma affects the brain and what symptoms to recognize. The next day dealt with teaching certain skills to stabilize a trauma victim. The last day focused on how to care for oneself as the counselor to prevent burnout. Each day the facilitators presented an act featuring a counselor and a client who they had counseled so that the attendees could learn principles of counseling thru critiquing. The counselor would give a short background story of the client leaving out specific information to protect the identity. Then they would play that client as someone else played the counselor. I don’t know which I learned more from; the American counselors presenting the material, or the Ugandans who lived this work for many years. The stories they recounted of different clients astounded me -the things child soldiers went thru, child rape, or even just normal life to these people. Each day's teaching sessions began with singing cultural songs in Ateso and Swahili and some dancing, and great worship times.

By the end everyone learned and found the material helpful, especially the way in which it was presented. The counselors from the Trauma Studies Center presented at a level available to everyone while covering an impressively large topic. Each day breaks included morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea so that everyone could socialize and learn from each other outside the class as it were. The last day everyone stayed for a feast and one last time to mingle and eat excellent Ugandan food together.

Related Links: Trauma Treatment Program, Beacon Medical Centre

 

Child Soldier Drama Team from Pilgrim on Vimeo.

 

This powerful video, produced and donated to Pilgrim by Tricia Manning-Smith and her husband Paul, won 2 top awards from the prestigious National Telly Awards.  These Awards honor outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions and online film and videos.

 

Related Links: Beacon Of Hope Secondary School

Dear friends,
The school is alive again as students are reporting for Term ll at Soroti Municipal Secondary School (aka Beacon of Hope College.) Most of the students reported this week. The recruiting process for incoming sponsored Senior 1's (7th grade) was completed over the school break and 26 of the 40 have reported. The remaining 14 have a few more days to report before those on the waiting list will be called to fill their places.
The criterion for accepting sponsorship is based on poverty/need of family, orphan status (single or double orphan) and their scores on the Primary 7 national exams. Primary 7 is the last grade of primary school before entering secondary. Student application forms were collected in specific areas of this Teso region and from these applications students were selected t fill a specific number of positions assigned to each specific area.
All students, even those sponsored by the school, are required to bring certain things. Students come with a metal box that locks with a padlock, mattress (foam), basin (for washing clothes and bathing), jerican (jug to carry water), plate and cup and maybe a spoon. When they report, their box is checked by the matron or warden, and all their street clothes are given back to the parents to take home as only school uniforms are allowed at school.
Some of these new students come from far in the bush and are overwhelmed with the city. One girl traveled alone with her belongings from quite a distance away. She didn't know Soroti but found another student to help her walk downtown for the necessary school requirements. What a brave girl!
I had a father and his daughter come to my office to pay for the uniform. As he saw me, he quickly motioned for his daughter to join him. He asked his daughter to translate our conversation and we struggled to understand each other. I don't know anything about this family but was touched when the father opened a plastic bag and counted out 110 coins (each worth about 25 cents) to pay for his daughter's uniform needs. I imagine how proud he was both to have his daughter qualify for sponsorship and in his ability to pay the additional requirements for admittance.
I have been getting to know students as I help them through the registration process. I have been told that for some of these students, I am the first white person they have interacted with so it takes time for them to be comfortable with me and understand my American English. I find a smile is the same in any language!

Related Links: Beacon Of Hope Secondary School

In May we have been busy weeding and watching the crops grow. The rains have been very good and the crops have benefitted greatly. Harvest of the sunflowers may begin in late June. The maize harvest will begin shortly after that.

There have been many happenings at school since my last update. Let me share a few.

The soccer team went to the quarter finals in the Soroti area soccer competi¬tion. It was an eight day competition with our boys playing daily at the soccer fields which are just down the road. Meanwhile, at school, students are dis¬tracted awaiting game time to cheer our team on to victory. It's basically a lost week to academics in all the schools in the area. The school is proud of our team!

Last Sunday held a second Prayer and Fasting Day of this term with the theme "Enemies of the Cross". The teachings were wonderful and worship was full of passion. Can you picture 90 students in one classroom singing with everything within them?? My ears are still ringing!

On the other side...life on the ground...after a wind and rain storm, the pit la¬trine (outhouse) at school collapsed. Not good...quick action opened an old latrine that had been sealed. Relief. (No pun intended...)

For 8 days there was low voltage or no electricity so we depended on the generator for stable electricity for the photocopier and computer.

A fact of life at a private school is school fees. Most of the students are spon¬sored by donors but we do have a few private students. This far into the term, fees of private students should be paid in full. Another fact of life here is all students are required to have uniforms and compound wear. Again, this far into the term, all students should have purchased their uniforms. Last week, many students were not compliant and were sent home to get money for school fees and uniforms. Needless to say, the office became busy with parents paying fees.

Meanwhile, the white rats (purchased for national exam practicals last October) in the lab are reproducing, breakfast, lunch and supper are being pre¬pared, daily, a few students are treated for malaria, daily lunch hour worship continues encouraging students, chalk is being used up as lessons are taught, and teachers are preparing final exams. Life at school continues.

Pilgrim has many Aid & Relief Program events to report. William Omara, the Director of Aid & Relief has been arranging the distribution of emergency food relief in several districts in NE Teso, verifying situations where food is needed and distributing emergency food supplies. The food distributed is from the container of emergency food packets from Feed My Starving Children that was donated to Pilgrim. Another container of that same kind of food, enough to provide 270,864 meals, has arrived in Zimbabwe for distribution by Paula Leen's ministry in Murwira. Her feeding program covers four local schools where 1200 students get one healthy meal per day. She also cares for 36 orphans at her own orphanage and provides emergency food and medical transportation as well as a myriad of other social services to her surrounding community.

Pilgrim has another container is on the way, also donated by Feed my Starving Children, to Zimbabwe. Thanks to all who donated towards the transportation costs for these two containers of food.

Another area of Aid & Relief for which William Omara is responsible is the distribution of a containerof medical equipment and supplies. This container was donated in late 2009 to Pilgrim by Charity Services International / World Children's Fund, and is enough to supply many clinics. William is travelling through the Teso region visiting the clinics, assessing how the donated materials can help each individual clinic, and supplying what he can.

Related Links: Emergency Food Relief

This June Pilgrim will once again offer an important training opportunity to human service workers serving the Soroti, Uganda area. A team of experienced trauma therapists from the Trauma Studies Center (TSC), a division of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in New York City, will be training pastors, teachers, health care workers, first responders and others how to recognize and respond effectively to those suffering from psychological trauma. Pilgrim has several counselors trained in this specialized counseling  who work with the numerous Ugandans severely impacted by the combined effects of war, displacement and differing kinds of loss, and is eager to train more through this team's visit.

This is the third time the TSC has visited Soroti. The team will be visiting schools and government offices, as well as health centers and hospitals, to become better informed about the mental health needs of the Teso people. The week in Soroti will culminate in a 3-day conference sponsored by Pilgrim, titled "Restoration and Renewal." In addition to basic trauma therapy, sessions will focus on the fundamental principles of trauma counseling, and conclude with approaches to nurturing the community of care givers. The conference is for all locally involved with trauma therapy.

Prior to coming to Soroti, two members of the TSC team will be in Kampala, where they will offer training in specialized treatment techniques to members of the Uganda Counseling Association. Two members of the Pilgrim counseling staff will take part in this training.

Many of the students at Beacon of Hope College are healing from the wounds of abuse, war and abandonment, and are now thriving due to the extensive long-term therapy available through the counselors at Beacon Medical Center. Pilgrim's goals are to infuse the Gospel into modern accepted trauma therapy, to heal the wounds of trauma with a powerful Christian foundation, and provide more available therapy to the community at large.