This is an edited, html version of the report written by Kakooza Hannington in January 2012 immediately after his visit. [Bracketed material like this was inserted by Alec Johnson; spelling corrections and formatting changes were also made.]
ST. Augustine's community love program (SACL) is a community based organization (C.B.O) located in Nebbi district, it was started in 2004 by three young men, namely
SACL was started with the dream of accomplishing the following;
Along the way some people who started with them either passed on or left because of other commitments i.e. many were missionary workers and their kind of work requires them to be sent in different areas to serve. But am told that they have not forgotten all about (SACL) as they have kept in touch with them all the time. Currently the team is structured like how it appears.
BOARD
CHAIRMAN - Cwinyaai Lawrence
VICE CHAIRMAN - Ocaki Samuel
TREASURER - Tabu Gilbert
SECRETARY - Anywarach Joshua
COORDINATOR - Onencan William
MEMBERS - Father Olar Ronald
- Pastor Oludot Emmanuel
- Pastor Pimer Richard
- Ocuna Denis [manager of Paidha FM radio station]
HEAD OF PROGRAMMES
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT - Kisa Harry Francis
FOOD PROVISION/ AGRICULTURE - Jungiera Gilbert
EDUCATION - Okethi Vundha
MEDICAL CARE - Onencan William
SHELTER - Othembi Emmanuel
COMMUNITY MEMBERS
CHAIRMAN - Oromgiu Nicholas
VICE CHAIRMAN - Oliya Matyasi
SECRETARY - Ongur Theodore
TREASURER - Karombo Florence
MOBILISER - Ocowun Stephen
MEMBERS - Jungiera Donasiano
- Ongei Bonefansio
- Owingo Dominick
This team would make sure that they came up with ideas that would sustain (SACL). And the following measures were taken in terms of income generating activities to realize the dream.
In order for this to run properly, the coordinator had to appoint program heads after observing them to know their capabilities so this group was chosen as shown on the structure paper.
(SACL) is divided in three different communities namely;
But because most of the income generating activities takes place in Erussi, I concentrated more there; I was given a tour around these projects by the acting as coordinator [Onencan William]. This can be best explained in the roles of each of head programmes plus the video clips that I shot while I was there.
HEADS OF PROGRAMMES IN SACL Mr. Jungiera Gilbert (Production: food and agriculture) Mr. Kisa Harry Francis (Psycho social support) Mr. Onencan William (medical services) Mr. Othembi Emmanuel (Shelter) Mr. Okethi Vunda (Education) [MEMBER OF SACL EXECUTIVE BOARD:] Mr. Nicholas (Chairman of SACL executive board)
Agricultural Production
Mr. Gilbert Jungiera the head of production was supposed to make sure that the community improves on the food security. He also sighted some problems that he faces while carrying out his work which included;
- There's a problem of acquiring farm inputs for example good seeds.
- Distribution of goats to households is slow because the production of the goats is still low due to the small number of goats currently SACL has.
- SACL had planned to get 3000kgs of Irish potato seeds, but because of shortage of funds, SACL was only able to get 1500kgs of Irish potato seeds.
Proposals made by Mr. Gilbert Jungiera so as to improve on production in SACL
- The need to build a store for the produce.
- Planting more trees
- He wants to introduce fish farming.
- More modified food seeds are needed.
Shelter
Mr. Othembi Emmanuel (shelter)
He is assigned a duty of undertaking the issues at hand as far as shelter is concerned as highlighted below;
- Identify problems in rural needy households.
- Laying of bricks, contributing poles etc for shelter.
- He also made some proposals so as to make his work more effective.
- He says in future there is need to build houses with iron sheets for the members because the grass thatched houses are also expensive to build yet they can burn any time.
- They need more money so as to meet the demand of housing in the community.
Medical care
Mr. Onencan William (medical care)
He is assigned the following duties as started below;
- Assesses, identifies the kind of sickness.
- Mobilizes the people in the community to get treatment.
- Sensitizes the people in the community and also encourages them to reach out for government programmes especially on malaria and HIV/AIDS.
- He also encourages the community to try and live in a clean environment, i.e. by slashing their compounds and also drinking boiled water.
Problems that Mr.Onencan William normally encounters
- Health centers are normally very far from the communities.
- Some drugs of essential use are very expensive
- Lack of enough mosquito nets hence malaria being very rampant.
- Aids patients also travel very far, as far as Arua district to access the ARV's
Here are some of the proposals that were made by Mr. Onen William to effect his role in SACL.
- There is need for more clinics to be put in place so as ease on the long distances that patients incur as they move to access medical services.
- The need to improve more home care.
Psycho-social support
The roles of Kisa Harry Francis(Psycho- social support)
- Mr. Kisa Francis normally carries out counseling trips which are mainly aimed at the needy household that requires it at that particular time.
- They normally move in a group of six to visit these communities.
- They also hold fellows once in a while.
- Once every month Mr. Kisa encourages the community to carry out some charity work e.g. cleaning of drainage, cleaning community roads etc.
- Mr. Kisa is also assigned a duty of leading preparations of community day celebrations that happens once at the end of every year. That is if Francis can allow it at that moment in time.
Short comings for Mr. Kisa Francis as a head of psycho- social support
- Some times when the weather is bad transportation to some of these communities becomes very difficult that is they are required to foot to some of these places.
- Lack of enough finances sometimes doesn't allow them to have community day celebrations.
- Lack of a public address system for easy mobilization of the communities.
- Some tools needed to do different work are expensive for example pangas, hoes and many others.
Because some of the terms mentioned above could be known or unknown to some people I moved on to inquire more information about them as I indicated in the video.
Fellowships;
I was told that normally they have a general gathering of all members of SACL in order to do the following;
Charity work;
- To come up with new ideas
- To review and assess the projects of SACL
- Also to have some spiritual moments that is to get time to pray together and normally this helps them to have hope in whatever SACL is trying to achieve.
In addition to this all people gather as SACL members and try to indentify areas in different communities that are need to be helped, then they also agree on the date when to carry out charity work.
Community day; I was told that once at the end of every year the members of SACL gather to celebrate the achievements made by SACL.
Education
MR.OKETA VUNDHA; ( In charge of Education)
He is assigned a duty of identifying the neediest children in the communities in terms of school fees, scholastic materials and uniforms.
I asked how Mr. Oketa Vundha is able to identify the kids that need help and below is how he replied;
He said since most of the families in the communities are known it's very easy to known the kids who go to school and those who don't go. In most cases it's the children who have lost both their parents (orphans); Reference video coverage.
Other children are bright but because of the high levels of poverty in the communities, some of the parents are unable take these kids to school hence SACL coming in to give in a helping hand.
The kind of Assistance that He normally seeks for;
He normally seeks for the following below;
- Food is the first priority for the children going to school.
- Scholastic materials that is uniforms, school bags, text and exercise books, school feed, sometimes SACL provides full portion of fees and a times they provide half, depending on the problem being faced by the children in these communities.
(Shelter)
On the question of how to organize people to build or re-thatch a house, this is how Mr. Othembi Emmanuel who is in charge of shelter had to say;
- Members of SACL have always to gather and contribute some little cash in hand and in kind.
- Members have to lay bricks as a group.
- Members have to do general community work.
(Agricuture)
Who is responsible for Agriculture?
Mr. Gilbert Jungiera is responsible for agriculture and is also responsible for all the agricultural initiatives.
Who owns the land on which the trees and other food crop that SACL grow?
Mr. Jungiera said the land is a gift from some members of SACL who give it freely, some give other land is rented from other places but for the trees it’s SACL that provides the land.
Who is Responsible for the goats?
Members of SACL decided that Mr. Okethi Vundha who is in charge of education takes care of the goats because he has wider knowledge about it and these goats majorly benefits members of SACL. There are 28 goats that have been given out. Mr. Oketh Vundha is taking care of 10 female goats, 2 male goats and 18 kids.
Where are seeds got from?
As it started earlier on SACL's friends and partners who normally donate seeds to SACL, these seeds are equally shared among the different SACL communities, said Mr. Gilbert Jungiera.
(Medical care)
Who provides medical care?
Mr. Onencan William who is in charge of medical care answered that he and his team will always identifies the sickness, mobilize people to go for HIV/AIDS testing , encourage people in the community to go for treatment especially malaria, polio etc.
Normally when SACL members get sick, they go to nearest Health centres in the village (VHT), health centre 2 which is government funded and health centre 3 which is privately owned where patients are to pay some money.
(Sponsorships)
How sponsorships are handled;
This was answered in general that if any sponsorship is received it will be disclosed by the heads of departments and then SACL members converge and plan on how to best use it and in most cases the sponsorship goes to the department that urgently needs help.
(Psycho-social support)
On the issue of psycho-social support;
Who is supposed to be counseled?
Mr. Kisa Francis who is in charge of psycho-social support answered that its normally the orphans, widows and people with HIV/ AIDs, that is normally the orphans are counseled on how not to loose hope since their parents died, they are told that they are loved just like some of the other kids who have parents.
People with AIDS are also counseled not to loose hope because some think they are going to die so soon, at times they abandon certain crucial things in life, others feel like committing suicide but because of the counseling given they gain some bit hope for the future.
A word from the chairman (Oromgiu Nicholas) of SACL as I concluded the meeting with the heads of programmes.
"Welcome, this programme has lasted for 8years, it now covers a large area and its aim is to uplift the young ones to become good elders for the future.
There was a time a visitor like you also came and we requested him to help us achieve our aims (education and health)
Lastly we pray that this programme should expand to other areas, the members are not as few as the ones you see today; only that others have been away by other issues. We request for support if possible and you should not forget St. Augustine".