The last year has seen much activity at RDF. We would like to welcome our new chair of the coordination committee, Tinka John, who has been influential in a number of community-based organisations in Kabarole District. More information on Tinka and his activities in the next newsletter. We must also give our everlasting thanks to Reverend Agabus Baguma for his sterling job as chair and his support and commitment to the RDF over the last fourteen years. We have also just moved offices to Malibo Road in Fort Portal, which provides a better working environment for our staff and a larger more visible office.

Our two schools projects are nearing completion. At Kaboyo we are putting the finishing touches to the library, fitting the window and door frames and students will be able to use the building before term ends. Rubona (where we are renovating three classrooms) had a setback in September when a storm ripped the roof off the remaining school structure and the students were forced to use the unfinished classrooms we were renovating. Building work resumed once term ended and the school is seeking assistance from the local community to repair the roof damage.

In conservation, the Ruboni community have made the forest project a success and we have entered into the next phase, which involves the purchase of more land and preparing the eco-tourism trails and marketing for the campsite, which now has solar power and running water. The next step is training local guides and passing on knowledge about the indigenous species.

In this edition we have more information about our employees Rogers Sabiiti and Gorretti Bagaaya, what their aspirations and hopes are and what it is actually like working for the Rwenzori Development Foundation. We have an update on the sustainable farming course sponsored by the RDF, and there is important information about a special project which we really need your help with.

Read on to find out more…

Amanda, Dylan, Esther,
Kate, Richard & Lotte.

Before joining RDF, I worked with a private engineering firm and non-governmental organisation, as a manager in charge of technical operations, and I also worked with an organisation called TOERUP (The Organisation for the Emancipation of the Rural Poor), where I identified local communities in need of safe water and sanitation. It meant a lot to me to be working with local communities.

Working for RDF brings my administrative, engineering, project monitoring and reporting skills together. I find it very exciting. It's helping me to advance in my own life, but helping the rural poor to attain better livelihoods remains my ultimate objective. I work towards creating an emancipated, poverty-free and self-sustaining society.

I meet all kinds of people with very different ideologies, which means displaying a high level of maturity, using all my interpersonal skills and having a pro-active attitude towards work. All this along with my research, monitoring and reporting to many trustees in the UK a thousand miles away makes my work even more interesting and lively.

o
oooooooRogers in the RDF Office ooooooooooRogers, Gorretti and Rev. Agabus

Each day at RDF is different. I pray and have breakfast by 7am and get to the office by 8am, but after that nothing is routine. My research and monitoring work involves a lot of travelling to projects and meeting many people; the biggest challenge sometimes is that we do not have our own means of transport - but we always manage to get by with public transport.

I would like to see RDF becoming one of the leading development players in the Rwenzori region. In the next five years I'd like to work with a humanitarian organisation, pursue further studies in the UK or the US, or work abroad. I hope to build a home for myself and start a company in 10 years.

As regards this Summer newsletter, I might not have much to contribute, other than to inform you that I completed my degree in business management (specialising in accounting) this April, as portrayed by the attached photos - one is on my graduation day and the other was taken at home while revising for my last papers.

On that note, I don't hesitate to encourage an African woman never to give up, for I have managed to make it and I am already a mother of three at the age of 39.

POWER STRUGGLE: CAN YOU HELP?

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni is currently pursuing plans to destroy many of Uganda's last few rainforests to grow palm oil and sugar cane crops. Uganda has long been facing a deforestation crisis; forests covered 20 per cent of Uganda 40 years ago; now they cover just seven per cent. This has had a devastating ecological impact. Deforestation has been directly responsible for declining levels of waters in Lake Victoria and the river Nile, resulting in a scarcity of drinking water and reduction in hydroelectric energy production.

We have one small office in Fort Portal in southwestern Uganda, with two part-time employees: our research and monitoring officer, Rogers Sabiiti, and our bookkeeper, Gorretti Bagaaya. The lack of power is one of the biggest problems our staff face. They currently use a local internet café which has its own generator, but when the power is out (often for several days) it is very difficult to get any work done.

We want to research and develop using solar power to provide reasonably priced and sustainable power for the office, so our staff are able to do their work properly and without interruption. If we gain independent internet access we also hope to generate income by sharing this facility with partners and friends in the area.

We need your help! Do you know about solar power, or would you like to get involved with something worthwhile and empowering? If you are interested in this project or know someone who might be, please get in touch! For further information, contact Amanda@rwenzori.org