At that time, Okot was planning ways to expand his garden and farming skills. He grows rice and groundnuts, two of the most successful crops grown in his area of Uganda. His major challenges have been lack of access to quality seeds and the need for knowledge about improved practices for growing specific crops.
In 2012, Okot joined a group in his community that was being formed in conjunction with an awareness building workshop facilitated by DNU. Helater participated in a food-for-work program that focused on rebuilding and reopening the roads to his village. With the UGX 420,000 (US$195) in food vouchers he received for his family’s work, Okot purchased 150 kg of rice seed and 200 kg of groundnut seeds.
Okot and his spouse have been able to send their children back to school and are making bricks to build a permanent home in the village.
World Renew’s food-for-work programs focus community members on self-identified projects that provide them with an incentive to improve their community.
Okot’s family used 10 kg of the groundnuts for home consumption and then planted four acres ground-nuts with 140 kg of seed in the second planting season of 2012. Unfortunately, elephants destroyed most of his garden that year because of its close proximity to Murchison Falls National Park. However, he did manage to harvest 3,200 kg of groundnuts despite the destruction of his fields. His rice harvest was also good and provided enough food for his family to eat as well as save some for the next planting season.
Okot says, “I sold 2,900 kg of groundnuts to pay my son’s tuition fees at Gulu University and my daughters’ tuition at secondary school.” The family kept 300 kg of groundnut seed for second planting season in 2013.
Okot and family, World Renew’s involvement with the DNU through food-for-work programs and community organizing was a turning point in their lives. The family expanded their farming activities from one acre to four.
Okot and his spouse have been able to send their children back to school and are making bricks to build a house in the village. He has plans to construct a permanent house from the bricks he will make after selling his next of harvest groundnuts and rice. During the second planting season in 2013, Okot opened four acres of land for groundnuts and has already planted six acres of rice.
