Our Movement of life project in Uganda continues to go from strength to strength. Launched in 2015, the project involves teaching children about nutrition and Cellular Medicine in the classroom, setting up fruit and vegetable gardens in schools, and reaching out to local communities. With a total of 50 schools now participating, and more than 12,000 fruit trees planted, the project is directly benefiting the lives of over 100,000 Ugandan people. As we illustrate in the examples shown below, inspiring children through providing them with science-based health education has enormous potential to change lives.
Paying school fees by growing pineapples
Atukwasize Daniel is 9 years old and a student at Kyonyo Primary school in Rwampara District, south-western Uganda. A member of the School Health Parliament club at his school, he recently learned about the need to consume sufficient vitamin C in his daily diet to prevent heart disease and other health problems from occurring.
Realizing the importance of what he had learned, he decided to grow some pineapples in the garden at his home to improve his family’s intake of vitamin C. He collected pineapple suckers (small plantlets that grow between the leaves of mature pineapples) from around his local neighborhood, and soon established a 50-plant pineapple garden.
When Atukwasize Daniel’s father saw the results of his son’s work, he decided to help him expand the garden. Impressively, it now contains over 10,000 pineapple plants. As a result, selling pineapples is earning the family more than $50 a week. This has enabled Atukwasize Daniel’s parents to pay the school fees for all 5 of their children.
Transforming the lives of a family with tomatoes, passion fruit, and beehives
Amanya Emmanuel is a 10-year-old student attending Light Junior School in the Isingiro District of Western Uganda. After being a member of his School Health Parliament club for just 2 months, he was already growing 500 tomato plants and 50 passion fruit plants at his home. He soon also set up an apiary consisting of 9 beehives.
In future, in addition to helping feed his family and improving their health, Amanya Emmanuel is planning to grow and sell sufficient produce to help support them financially. He is also planning to start breeding pigs. While still only 10 years old, he is already well on his way to transforming the lives of his entire family.
Paying school fees by growing passion fruit
Namuga Shanura attends Bishop Stuart Demo Primary School, in south-western Uganda. Like other schools in Uganda that are taking part in our Movement of Life project, Bishop Stuart Demo is an enthusiastic supporter of the ‘End Heart Disease: Plant a Fruit Tree’ campaign, which teaches people how the primary cause of cardiovascular disease is an insufficient intake of vitamin C.
An orphan, Namuga Shanura lives with her uncle in the Kakoba Division of Mbarara Municipality. With his help she has set up a large passion fruit garden at their home. She originally started with just fifty-four seedlings, which were donated to her by members of the School Health Parliament club at her school. Taking part in School Health Parliament activities has taught her that passion fruit is a good source of vitamin C.
Prior to helping her set up the passion fruit garden, Namuga Shanura’s uncle was having difficulty raising the necessary money to pay her school fees. Today, however, thanks to what they learned through our Movement of Life project, the garden earns enough money to pay the fees and enable her to attend school.
If you are inspired by these stories, please consider making a donation to help us expand our lifechanging work in Uganda and other developing countries.