Buluuta, Uganda

Why Buluuta?

Buluuta is a village near Mafubira where Lufafa was born. Lufafa works with the community of Buluuta to find innovative ways for them to overcome poverty and become self-sufficient. Challenges that Buluuta residents face include: a lack of living-wage job opportunities; difficulty in finding and keeping a qualified school teacher; contaminated or hard to reach water; unstable weather conditions resulting in damaged crops and a lack of fresh produce; and, a lack of access to healthcare (the nearest hospital is 30km away and most do not have access to transportation).

In August of 2017, LCM’s founders spoke to nearly 60 women in Buluuta to learn more about their difficulties, goals, and plans for the future. From that meeting, LCM created a plan to encourage sustainable community development and create an improved quality of life in Buluuta. Moving forward, LCM will be: identifying leaders within the community; establishing a Village Savings and Loan Assistance (VSLA) program to help community members save money, start businesses, and prepare for emergencies; opening a vocational school; training community members in agricultural and animal husbandry practices; building livestock shelters; identifying new ways to access clean water; and, establishing transportation options.

To date, LCM has provided the community with two cows, one bull, and ten chickens, offering them a way to independently feed their families and earn an income.

Buluuta is about 3 hours from Jinja

During our visit to Buluuta the women identified their challenges, strengths, and ways to move forward:

 

Challenges:

  • They have no jobs
  • Since they have no jobs they are unable to pay school fees
  • Children are not in school
  • The market, crops, and produce is not stable
  • Sometimes weather, drought, bad transports, and pests are their challenges.
  • Widows are facing hard times because they have no way to support their families.
  • They have no access to clean water. They use the swamp or lake Victoria for water.
  • Pregnant women have a hard time getting to a health facility for delivery.
  • Women are dying because of the distance to the health facility. The closest is 30 km away and there are no certified health people there.
  • Children are dropping out of school because they are unable to pay tuition.
  • Animal keeping is a challenge because the people keep their animals in their hut with them. This is bad for their health.
  • Single mothers are struggling because they are sub-renting and they can not use the land for agriculture. – Many of the women are single or widows.
  • The women only have primary schools and that is a major problem.

Ways Forward:

 

  • Starting a vocational school
  • Having capital – Agriculture and Animals – not just money
  • Develop businesses and other ways to pay for school fees
  • Animal/poultry shelters and keeping (sustainability)
  • Access to clean water (water well)
  • Transportation for pregnant women
  • Agriculture, market, crops – grow maize and rice, and other items

Thank you to our generous donors for providing solar lights to the women in Buluuta.

Lord's Compassion Ministry
info@lordscompassionministry.org

Uganda Mailing Address:
Lord’s Compassion Ministry
Lufafa Emmanuel
PO BOX 1509
Jinja town, Uganda
East Africa
Postal Code 256

US Mailing Address:

Lord’s Compassion Ministry
14100 Walsingham Rd. Ste 36 #40
Largo, FL 33774

Phone number: 1 – 727- 269-8916

EIN 81-4853869