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SARA PERSEVERANCE, CHARACTER AND HOPE
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or 50 years INA has become ever more aware that the best solutions to big local problems come from the local communities themselves.
Eventually, it reached the point where the fields could support Sara alone, but not her family, an unimaginably difficult position to be in. Knowledge is empowerment What Sara needed was knowledge and someone willing to help her access it. International Needs Uganda (INUG) connected with Sara and offered her a place in an livelihood program to boost farmers’ knowledge and ability to problem- solve. Sara grasped the opportunity with both hands and, thanks to the local trainers, identified practical ways to adjust her agricultural practices to the conditions. She learned techniques to manage pests; how to enrich the land with organic fertiliser; ways to store grain so she could sell for better prices and other solutions developed for the ecosystem of the area. With those, her land produced a bumper crop. Sara sowed the money in more livestock, adding a cow, chickens and pigs to the farm. The chickens produced eggs to sell - which she did. The pig had six piglets, of which she sold five. Sara planted vegetable crops alongside her maize. These can be consistently sold to pay for her family’s medicines. The gift that keeps on growing Word spread quickly in the community through pre-existing farmers’ groups. Generously, Sara started to welcome visitors to her farm so she could share her knowledge and train as many people as possible. INA and International Needs Uganda trained local farmers in how to set up a Farmers Association, with a self-governed
committee with leaders elected by members of the pre-existing farmers groups. Sara is now the president of the Farmers Association. This wonderful group of farmers focuses one how they can work together to steward the resources of their region. Between them they found a way to rent a silo, so that grain could be stored there and sold at higher prices. Other members of the community have been invited to use the silo free of charge, so the whole region is being blessed. “It’s particularly encouraging that 60% of these highly motivated, active farmers are women, and some are elderly,” says International Needs Uganda CEO Justus Miwanda. “These are people traditionally overlooked, but their eagerness to learn and apply good practices is what’s changed the situation for them.” The knowledge that turned Sara’s life around is being shared widely with eagerness and efficiency, thanks to the network growing through the farmers association. Incredibly, all this has happened in just two years. The simple knowledge that changed the lives of a few farmers, then their families, then many others, has unlocked the hope of a happy future. The donors whose faith-filled gift funded Sara’s access to this priceless knowledge might not know it, but their gift is still changing a small corner of the world for the better.
Sara, a dedicated farmer from Uganda, had two key, inextricably linked challenges: • The land she farmed had become almost entirely unproductive: • Every major aspect of her life was
dependent on that land yielding enough for a large family to live on and sell.
What do you do when every problem in life seems to hit at once? This was Sara’s dilemma as the primary breadwinner of her family. When her crops began to fail, Sara was raising children and supporting elderly family members. Driven by worry, love and a sense of responsibility for them, Sara worked harder. The crops continued to decline. She worked longer. The situation continued to deteriorate. Similar problems plagued farmers around her. Maize crops were failing for many people nearby, creating enormous stress. Inflation was climbing. Sara could not buy essential medicines for her family without cash from selling produce - but selling her produce had become harder too. She was unable to store her harvest without cash flow. Without being able to store maize, Sara was forced to sell immediately, when the price was lowest. Pests attacked her precious plants. Climate change worsened the weather, creating more damage with little hope of an improvement.
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