ideas needed for Morgan

[Aaron Wissner]

Hello!  I hope your July is going well thus far!  :-)

Here near Middleville it has been very hot, although we've had some rain.  Thankfully, we've been able to harvest a few items from the garden, especially zucchini, some stevia leaves, and a few tomatoes although more are on the way.  A lot of other things are coming up soon, including, most excitingly, about 100 potato plants... although they need another month or two :-)

As you may or may not know, ever since the 1983-1985 famine in Ethiopia, I've always wanted to be able to do something real to help the people in greatest need.  Along the way, of course, I've also been interested in environmental protection, biodiversity enrichment, simple(r) living, re-localism, perma-culture, compassion towards animals, social justice, etc.  But, I've never forgotten my original interest, and perhaps greatest one, of helping the most needy of the world

So this email is to family and friends.

I'm looking for ideas on how to help out my new friend, Morgan, who is trying to be a farmer, with his neighbors.  They are all "poor", as in, no income whatsoever

At the moment, they need a hoe for weeding the field, a sprayer to apply some organic grass herbicide, some seeds for planting, and if possible, a calf or cow for the purpose of getting dung to fertilize their bananas.   They're trying to replace the pit latrine "building", which is currently wood, but they are making some bricks out of mud to build a nicer one on the same spot, which is a good location due to it being a bit on a hill or rise.  Finally, their big goal, is to save up some money to renew the lease on the land where they have their filed

Compared to the garden at our house, we have it incredibly easy.  Morgan is trying to grow food, but on a much larger scale, and with much less... almost nothing.  Just to water the field, they have to go to the pond on the back of the property with "jerry cans" (watering cans) and go back and forth for a good portion of the day to the 7 hectare farm (about 17 acres)

So, Morgan is open to help.  I sent him $25 back in May, and another $25 in June, to help out getting some seeds and things, but he's still in need of more help.  I sent the funds using MoneyGram, which is the best way to send money there

To tell you a little bit about Morgan, he contacted me via Facebook back in May (or April maybe) and we started chatting, and we've had long chats on instant message, and more recently via video calls, where he's shown me the farm, and his house (shack/shed) where he lives with his grandmother and apparently one other child.  Morgan is 20, single, no kids... trying to decide between studying medicine or agriculture

The farm is leased by him and the neighbors as part of a cooperative... .  About 50? or 100?, I don't recall, people, including mostly children, depend on the field. If I recall correctly, they currently have tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, avocado, and that huge fruit "jackfruit".  They also are growing some coffee, and have some fish in a pond in the back of the property (small ones) and I think I saw a chicken or two running around

The house does not have water, or electricity, although they have a small solar panel to charge Morgan's phone, and a battery to run a LED light and a radio.  I imagine that cooking is by wood fire, but I haven't asked yet

I'm looking for ideas, and Morgan is looking for any kind person who might be willing to help out, even with twenty dollars... or ten dollars... or five... or whatever, either directly to him, or through me, (or through Local Future)...  "for the price of a cup of coffee", I think, is the refrain in this sort of invitation

And, I don't really want to ask, I can't say it is my sort of thing to do this, and I know many are just trying to make ends meet right now with the virus and uncertainty about a number of things... but I've been chatting with Morgan for a couple months now... he's a real person, very kind and generous and hopeful and determined... and I promised to tell me friends about his story, and his openness to receive help, and so I'm attempting to fulfill that promise

What are your ideas?

How might I (or we) help out Morgan?

What do you think?

I hope you and those you love and care for are well.  Thank you for reading, and thanks in advance for any ideas or help you might be willing to give

Thanks in advance!

Aaron

P.S.  Here's a bit more information on Morgan:

Buyinza Morgan,

near Kasanda in Uganda

0°31'44.0"N 31°50'08.7"E  or 0.528891, 31.835756

https://goo.gl/maps/osYn3hy6cqF46JRz9

https://www.facebook.com/buyinza.morgan.3 

WhatsApp -- +256704564751

[Aaron L. Wissner]

Hello all!  Wow, September is half-way gone already, so I just wanted to send a quick update on a couple-three things:

1. Buyinza Morgan, the young Ugandan co-op farmer who contacted me in the spring, continues to do well.  A couple donors came forward to help him meet the farming needs of the co-op he belongs to.  It appears that with the funds, he purchased a number of hoe blades, a backpack sprayer, most of a cow (primarily for the dung for fertilizer), and a shelter for the cow... all thanks to the donations.

Buyinza did have a few rough experiences over the past couple of months, including having his phone stolen, getting sick and needing a night in the hospital, and going to an agriculture conference in Kampala where young people's questions did not appear to be valued; but he's been in high spirits for the past few weeks.

Today, he tried to have a video call with me, to show off the co-op's tomato plants from this crop (all round and green at the moment); unfortunately, the call video call dropped :-(  He also has maize and bananas still growing, along with some other things, I imagine.

I have quite a few photos and video clips of him working the "garden", but they're all in "WhatsApp", so not super easy to paste into an email, since "WhatsApp" apparently does not have a web interface

2. Nicole Foss, as you might have noticed, futurist Nicole and I have been making YouTube videos about strengthening community bonds in light of economic and political uncertainties.  Our most recent video will be live on YouTube tomorrow (Saturday 9/19).  Here is the playlist of all the videos that have been made under the Local Future title this year:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu9390d_J5Mc_uhHsQyi9cedYi4oaAC21

If you open the link and scroll down to the bottom of the list, you'll see that Nicole and I have had guests on the calls including suburban permaculturists Shani Graham and Tim Darby; Stephanie Rearick on local currency and mutual credit clearing; and Daryl Taylor on fire (forest fires, etc.)  All of these are interesting, and are recorded basically as podcasts (no visuals), and very conversational.  I'll give a heads up that Nico

3.  Reading/Writing - On a personal side, I've been doing some writing and reading recently.  

I'm currently working my way through reading David Graeber's book "Debt: The First 5,000 Years" after recently finishing Malcolm Gladwell's "Strangers".  I really enjoyed Strangers, and it relates quite directly to some of the ongoing issues that are coming up daily in the popular news.  "Debt" is very interesting as well, because it focuses on the idea that money originated from a way to account for debt, centuries before any physical money, like coins, came into use.  Another one that is on my "to read" list is Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari; a great summary of which can be found in his TED style talks on YouTube.

I've been working on two other creative projects as well.  The first is a chapter book intended to help the everyday person learn about food, money, credit and debt.  I'm hoping David's book, along with some of the work that Steve Keen has been doing, will help me develop some more ideas for that one.

The second, a potential novel or script tentatively called "Sync", a science based romance story, sort of reminiscent of films "The Vow", "The Theory of Everything" and "Somewhere in Time".  For this project, I spent a portion of the day today researching coma and persistent vegetative state (since that is the status of one of the lead characters and since coma is rarely accurately depicted in literature); and, earlier last week, just brushing up on effective plots to keep readers engaged.  :-)

If you have the time and inclination, I invite you to drop a line in this direction.  :-)  We all yearn for real feelings of connection, and this 2020 seems to be a great year to reach out to others. :-)  Since I am taking a l-o-n-g break from Face*book, so you won't find me there, but this email or WhatsApp (269 487 6952) are great ways to connect with me :-)

My best wishes to you, and a special thanks to those anonymous donors who helped to make Buyinza's hopes into reality. :-)

Cheers,

-- Aaron :-)