Students return, food security projects continue. Join us today!

[Martin Becktell]

Dear Friends,

How are you doing? I hope these joyful schoolgirls will brighten your day!



This was March 10th. After a very long forced lockdown, some children are back in school with a few more arriving each Monday. Above, 6th grade girls Tibiri Jane (holding the jerry can), Mulongo Sharon (looking at the camera), and Namulondo Priscilla get water for bathing and washing at the primary school rainwater tank. The photo below came just today. On Saturday mornings the children help water the gardens and weed and gather debris to be placed on the compost pile:



There are many, many rewards to helping these children, a big one being the smiles and joyful exuberance!


But there are many challenges also that still need to be overcome. 



The biggest challenge I have seen in 3.5 years of watching and helping has been food availability. Even if there is a small amount of money coming in from tuition, this money is not enough at the time that it is needed to buy enough food (meaning at the beginning of the term when students arrive, or when food is available, or when it is priced reasonably.) Below: Arriving boarding students are setting up their bunks:

We have planted vegetables and some few seedlings, sweet potatoes and cassava, but we wish to go further in experimenting with animal-rearing projects to continue to address the problem of food availability/security. Students can't learn if their stomachs are empty! And we believe that our farm can be an example to our neighbors so that together we can fight malnutrition, which is common in Uganda.

On March 7, Joachim and Stelio were able to obtain these feeders and waterers for a broiler chickens project:



At the very least we shall learn from this project and have some chickens to eat for Easter/Pascha! But there are more projects we would like to undertake in order to find the best one or combination that will truly address the food needs. For example, keeping rabbits in hutches or keeping pastured chickens in "chicken tractors," which are mobile cages allowing the chickens to be moved around the pasture, keeping the chickens healthy and fertilizing the ground. For these cages we need lumber and perhaps a bamboo plantation for growing our own construction material. We also seek continued training from successful farmers of these animals and others, including dairy cows. The expenses for all these items are yet to be determined.



Above: Mukasa Mu-awiya, a farmer in Nakaseke District, whose farm is maybe a 5 or 6 hour drive away, has been very successful with rabbits and he offers training. And here my daughter Edith and I are constructing our own rabbit cage:



Please set up a recurring donation today at EcoMercy.org to help with these projects and others! As a reminder, 100% of your donations go to our projects at St. John Chrysostom School in Uganda to bless the children with food, education, and especially, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here are the pineapples coming along:



Knowing that we've "got their back," the Lunagula's can thereby move forward in hope, living life at the higher energy level necessary to continue to develop the school and farm, trusting that miscellaneous expenses, such as internet data fees, watering cans and car repairs will be covered in addition to the projects we are funding. And I trust that we as donors are encouraged also, knowing that God has our back! Jesus sees the cross that you carry in your own personal life and he enables you to carry it.



For our operations we are mostly relying on Stelio (below left), an experience builder, and Joachim. Here they are visiting a stand of bamboo owned by someone in Kamuli District.

I commend Joachim and Stelio for their continued progress. Since December 26th, they have planted seedlings and vegetables, fixed the secondary school latrines, constructed a utility/animal shelter, and have started keeping the aforementioned broiler chickens, again, for the sake of Christ, without a salary.

Here was the original idea for a utility shelter (received February 4):

And here it is now nearly completed:



Here's one side of the secondary school latrine before repairs



and after:



Here is my father in Christ, Stephen, getting help from an auto body specialist. His car had numerous problems including certain gaps and cracks that filled the interior with dust.





Looking better now:



Facilities projects:

Please also continue to help us to finish constructing the school facilities and to establish the permaculture systems which can lead to the self-sustainability of this school. Here are our current projects:

1. A detached kitchen for the secondary school. Thus our cook and our food supplies can be sheltered from the rain. Smoke will be funnelled outside the kitchen via a stove pipe, preventing harm to the lungs. Having a dedicated kitchen also allows space for more types of food to be prepared. Ugandans frequently suffer from ulcers most likely caused by eating only one meal per day consisting of just starch. They could benefit from fermented foods, which take space to prepare.
 


The total cost of the kitchen will be 11,690,000 shillings or about $3300.

2. Electrification! An engineer and surveyor came to meet with my father Stephen (see photo below), explaining that power poles may reach Nakyaka as soon as April. It will cost 2,750,000 ($770) to connect our school buildings.



3. A gated entrance to the school for safety and beauty. This budget may need updating, since it is a bit old:



The cost listed in this particular budget is 7,514,000 shillings or about $2100.

All three projects above come to $6,170. We have just about $70 in our ministry account. And if we request $2000 for training and animal rearing projects, we shall need approximately $8100.

Please donate generously, if you are able, or share our posts on Facebook and tell your friends! You can make a recurring or one-time donation at EcoMercy.org or by sending a check to 97992 Hall Way, Harbor, Oregon 97415. Uganda and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa have had the highest birth rates in the world. So I can't imagine a more pro-life way to give than by helping children in Uganda. The time to help Uganda for the sake of the Gospel is now.

If you would like to have one of these patches below, just request it with your donation and I will send it to you. I'm trying to figure out a way to attach them to a refrigerator magnet.



Thank you for reading! Again, please join us today!

A blessed day to you,

Martin Becktell
Director, EcoMercy International
541-698-6832

ecomer...@gmail.com