RDF eNewsletter Issue 2

MESSAGE FROM THE TRUSTEES

RWENZORI RAINFOREST SPECIAL!

Welcome to the second edition of our eNewsletter. This month, we've got a special report on our conservation programme, bringing you up to date with our exciting community projects in the Rwenzori mountains, all made possible by your donations.

RDF volunteer Precious Lunga tells us all about her recent visit to the Rwenzoris and the time she spent there with the Ruboni community, the beneficiaries of a recent RDF grant to purchase 20 acres of rainforest. Trustee Esther Bertram speaks to the chair of the Ruboni Community Conservation and Development Programme, Patrick Bwabu, and fabulous fundraiser Richard Rode has all the details of his grueling trek through the Rwenzoris earlier this year.

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

ps If your contact details have changed, please let us know at www.rwenzori.org/database.htm

CONSERVATION UPDATE

IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY…

Precious

Last year the RDF helped the Ruboni Community Conservation and Development Programme (RCCDP) to purchase 20 acres of forest land bordering the Rwenzori National Park. The community aims to preserve this land as an area of untouched indigenous forest. Here RDF volunteer Precious Lunga updates the story and introduces Felex Kamalah, who has been instrumental in setting up the project.

Felex

During my first trip to Uganda, in January of this year, I had the pleasure of meeting Felex Kamalha, a representative of the RCCDP and our partner in the Forest Project, who told me all about the project. The idea was conceived by the RCCDP, who put in the work and organisational skills to secure the land while RDF provided the funding. The result of this partnership has been the purchase of 20 acres of land bordering the Rwenzori National Park to preserve its indigenous value while benefiting the community economically.
When the Rwenzori Mountains National Park and World Heritage site was formed, the forests within that region also became protected. However, over the years there has been increasing pressure from farmers and land owners in the areas bordering the park, leading to deforestation. This clearing of indigenous forest to make way for agriculture has led to diminishing returns as the soil lost its fertility with time. The communities living on the periphery of the national park looked for a way to preserve the area and use it as a source of sustainable income.

Now that the RCCDP own the land, they will be able to sustainably harvest seeds and other forest products such as honey and medicinal plants. Their aim is to acquire more land and provide tourist trails with local guides through the rainforest. A campsite has already been constructed to cater for these tourists, bringing in a further income for the community.

As the sun set over Lake Victoria and our conversation came to a close, Felex told me that the project, after just nine months of RDF involvement, is already reaping rewards. The area is safe from deforestation, more tourists are visiting - and spending money - and the seeds and honey should all begin to be harvested this year.

Do you want to visit the Ruboni Community? Stay at the campsite before you trek the Rwenzoris? or explore the RDF Forest Project?
Go to: www.rwenzori.org/conservation/conservation.htm for more information,
or visit the Ugandan Community Tourist Association (UCOTA): www.ucota.or.ug/tourism/ruboni.htm

A DAY IN THE LIFE ...

Patrick Bwabu is the chair of the RCCDP. RDF trustee Esther Bertram finds out more about him, the Community and his hopes for the future…..

1) I believe you have had a varied career before becoming Chairperson for the RCCDP - firstly being a Reverend and later a local politician - so why did you decide to stop being in politics?
I went on a study tour for eight days and I decided I wanted to take what I'd learned there and teach it to the community. This was in May 1998. I wanted to take this message direct to the people at the grassroots level and my job in politics didn't give me the time to do that. I encouraged people to organise themselves into small organisations and to share resources in order to encourage small income-generation projects.

2) We saw how hard you all work in the community - both on your own land and on the community projects - describe a typical day?
I wake up at 6am and dig in my shamba [small area of farmed land] for a couple of hours, then I go to the Community Home for 8am. I find out how all the projects are going and advise people on anything I can help with. After that I go to the campsite to check how work is progressing and to ensure that there is enough labour available. I often eat dinner at the campsite if we are having meetings or discussing the projects, so I get home quite late.

3) What are the main problems that you face?
We do not have our own transport and so we have to pay boda bodas (small motorbikes) and they are not always reliable. Communication is difficult, too. There is no reception for mobiles here, and we have to travel to Kasese (around 40 minutes away) to send emails. All the people working for the project are volunteers, so I'm always having to ask people for favours. There are also many young children whose parents have died and who can't afford education. I try to support them through school. It is my dream to gain some funding and be able make sure they are always at school - sometimes I cannot afford to send as many as I would like to.

4) What are you main aims for the future of the RCCDP?
In the shorter term, I hope that the community learns and continues to protect the local environment, and that the Forest Project continues to protect that land and becomes a self-sustaining business.

(The pictures on the right show Patrick and other community members in the Community Forest)

Would you like to find out more about the Ruboni Community and the Groups that it supports? Click the links below for more information:

* More about RCCDP groups * More about the RCCDP *

FUNDRAISING UPDATE

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN ...

In January 2006 Richard Rode trekked the Rwenzori Mountain circuit in just 10 days to raise over £2,300 for the RDF. He climbed three peaks including Mt Margherita, which at 5109m is the highest point in the Rwenzori Mountain range. Richard takes us through his fantastic journey, starting from his arrival in Uganda ...

At Kampala airport, I met my driver Tembo, the man who would take me to the Rwenzoris and back across many pothole-ridden dirt roads (as well as a few fine tarmac routes!).

The first few days were spent in the Queen Elizabeth National Park, viewing some incredible wildlife on the savannah and water channels. I stayed in a rather luxurious lodge at Mweya. The game is building up after the slaughter by previous groups of militias. The local population was also terrorised during this time: Tembo's sister and two brothers were killed.

Our trek started from the Mubuku Valley, flowing from the Rwenzoris, snowbound, deeply forested and with astonishing lush vegetation. Eustus, the local guide from the Mountaineering Services and four porters carried the main gear.

The ten-day circular trek uses hut accommodation, restored from the days of the now defunct Ugandan Alpine Club, it's basic accomodation but still very welcome at the end of a hard day! We climbed from the Mubuku Valley at 1000m, through the Bujuku Valley to Mount Margherita, which stands at 5109m. The lower reaches are cultivated with bananas, cassava, millett, beans, sweet potatoes and coffee - all local dietary staples. These give way to Montane forests at 2000m to 3000m, then giant bamboo, heathers and lobelia higher up, interlaced with hypericum, alchemmilias and senecios, to name just a few. The lichens, mosses and liverworts are surreal in their density. Primates can be heard lower down as well as many colourful birds - the Rwenzori turaco was especially vocal.

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We cooked on charcoal fires. I ate fish, rice, pasta, porridge, dried fruit, and oatmeal biscuits, along with lots of hot tea. The porters have beef, cassava and boiled banana. The peaks of Speke and Margherita are snowbound, icy and rocky. The altitude makes you breathless, and your heart feels like it is beating out of your chest. It was cold and often very wet, with very slow walking between tree roots, rocks, bog and swollen rivers. But these difficulties are tempered by the most sublime scenery all around - lakes, white peaks, astonishing vegetation.

The peaks went well - our descent from Speke was especially fast thanks to a blizzard! The circular descent was the wettest I have ever been but we got through. One porter lost all his gear after falling while wading through a swollen river, but he got out okay. After a week I took a day to rest by Lake Kitandara. By this time I was exhausted, feeling the effects of 6-11 hours a day walking, constantly having to watch where you're going.

Eustus was a tower of strength, he helped me so many times, with fording rivers and climbing roped sections across glacier fields with crampons and ice axes. I fell once, banging my head, but was okay as I had a mountaineering helmet on. The underfoot conditions were often icy, on sheer rock with very few toeholds.

At the end of the trek, after ten gruelling days, we returned to the hospitality of the Ruboni campsite. Here we were able to relax and enjoy each other's company: I realised once again what a good team we were.

I felt enormously honoured and privileged to meet, get to know and socialise with local Ugandans. I was made to feel so welcome. By going around with Ugandans, it helped me to see their country from their perspective, warts and all. The fundraising is up to £2,300 - way past its target - and a great credit to all my friends and family and their generosity. I know that this money will be wisely used by the RDF and local Ugandans.

I had a life-changing trip, and the experience will keep rippling through my life.

Richard also visited some of our other projects in Uganda.
Read his full trip report and check out the details of his trip using the links below:

* More about Richard's Ugandan Trip * See Richard's Climb Challenge pages*

ooRogersooooooooooooGorretti	RDF Ugandan Office - new arrivals ... We would like to welcome two new staff members at the RDF office in Fort Portal, Uganda: Sabb Rogers, our new Monitoring and Evaluation officer, and Gorretti Baagaya the RDF bookkeeper. Welcome to both of you!
	100 years of the Rwenzori Mountain trail 2006 is the centenary year of the first scientific expedition into the Rwenzori range, led by Italian mountaineer Luigi Amedeo, Duke of Abruzzi. This was an amazing exploration that set the standard in ecological analysis of the mountains and made the beautiful and diverse "mountains of the moon" a focus for the world. Throughout 2006 there will be celebrations in Italy and Uganda to mark the event. Are you interested in following in the footsteps of the Duke of Abruzzi? Take a look here: www.rwenzoriabruzzi.com to find out more about the region and the climb.
	The RDF wants YOU! Do you feel that you have the skills and ideas to contribute to a small, energetic charity? We are looking for an innovative person with fundraising experience to help drive our funding strategy forward. We're looking for a long-term volunteer to take on our fundraising work and eventually become part of our team of trustees. You need enthusiasm, time to spare and a plenty of energy to make things happen. Interested? There are more details on our website, at www.rwenzori.org/about/fundraiser.htm
	Volunteer drinks RDF trustees and volunteers meet on the second Tuesday of every month. Please come along if you'd like to get involved with producing newsletters, fundraising or organising events- we would love to meet you. Contact info@rwenzori.org for more information. The next meetings will be held at our usual venue: Torts, on High Holborn in central London: www.torts.co.uk on 11 July and 8 August at 6.30pm.