Motueka man helping out in Uganda community

August 23rd, 2012

Summit Motueka real estate agent Simon Thomas is spending three months in Uganda working on a community development programme and is writing a blog of his experiences, urging help for the people he is serving.

Simon has been in Uganda for about three weeks now, and has been writing a very readable, informative and amusing online diary of his activities there. It is loosely titled 'Our Man in Kampala - an Appeal from our Appealing Man' and can be viewed at simthomas.wordpress.com.

In his summary and appeal for help, he says the project is called MTCEA (Multi-Purpose Community Empowerment Association). So far it only exists in the area around the town of Iganga, just north of Lake Victoria in Eastern Uganda.

"It was set up in 1986 to help the community with adult literacy and farming development," he writes. "It’s done a great job, from what I can see. Recently it’s been funded by a group of English farmers called Farmers Overseas Action Group (FOAG), [which] has valiantly raised funds for the project, through a partial loan scheme, to buy a pair of oxen and a plough for each of 153 farming groups.

"The effect on farmers’ lives has been extraordinary. Around 1500 farming families so far have been lifted out of subsistence farming on half an acre or so with a hand-hoe, to growing high quality maize, rice and cotton on 5-10 acres each.

"No longer do they have to sell ALL their crop to pay their rent; now they have some for their OWN family to eat, plus a little cash surplus to buy clothes, medical care and pay the obligatory school fees.

"It’s so good. I’ve now visited 25 groups and they say, typically with their hands pressed hard to their hearts – they are happier.

"That’s been fine for the farmers, but the maintenance and expansion of the project continues to rely wholly on the people here on the ground, the team of five at MTCEA, the office premises which they rent and buy power for, the ageing motorbike they rely on to visit the farming groups, and the goodness of their hearts.

"One of them gets a small salary from FOAG, much of which has to be spent on such essential operational costs. The office is dilapidated. I’m already helping to give it a makeover (think Gordon Ramsey but on a rather more limited budget) but it needs so much more to keep this initiative alive.

"A little goes so far here. The cost of your latté would feed a large family for a week. My goal is to collect enough money to provide MTCEA with some essential and meaningful resources for a year, by which time some of the loans they’ve made to farmers will be paid back to alleviate their short-fall.

NZ$5,000 will pay for the other four small salaries ($800 a year each), the rent and power for the office, transport costs (petrol, occasional hire of second motorbike, maintenance), stationery (they can’t even afford to print 200 newsletters twice a year) and clean drinking water for staff and students.

"NZ$10,000 will do all that, plus buy a second, more reliable motorbike and some more modern laptops that will endure the frequent and irregular power cuts which beset Uganda. Crucially, it will provide internet access for the office to bring them into at least the 20th century.

"The office houses a computer 'training centre' with five ageing and unreliable PCs which provide a small but important income stream. This would be enhanced significantly if internet was available to students. All this will enable the project to expand and reduce further that 42% of the impoverished rural communities. I know it will help so much.

He says that "with the cost of five or 10, or even 20 lattés, I guarantee that 100% of your contribution will go straight to MTCEA and will be fully accounted for".

Simon has opened a bank account at National Bank (Nelson, NZ) in the name of “Simon Thomas Uganda Aid”. Its number is . With a donation, "please include your name so MTCEA can thank you – and a challenge – a one word message of support in the payment reference!"

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