: Kira Farm Training Centre :
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Work
your garden – you’ll end up with plenty of food;
Play and party – you’ll end up with an empty plate.
Proverbs 28 – 19 (The Message) |
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Kira Farm is our planned vocational training centre for
young people, now taking shape about 12 miles north of Kampala, in
the Guyaza area. Alongside a comprehensive farming syllabus we will
also be offering training in life skills. This is because many young
Ugandan orphans have missed out on normal family life, have little
understanding of basic health, hygiene, nutrition and the simple tasks
of everyday life. We aim to build confidence, honesty and faithfulness
into these young lives so that they will become upright, trustworthy
and self-reliant citizens as they return to their various communities. |
The Site
After viewing a number of sites, Amigos secured an area of 22.5-acres
of prime farmland in the Guyaza region in mid-2004. Since then,
under the guidance of our Project Manager, Patrick Okonye, the
access route has been purchased. Fencing is complete and all the
land is now cleared, tree stumps removed and termite hills flattened
and treated. |
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Buildings have been constructed, the first comprising
a large secure store for tools, cement etc., a guard house and office,
and the second a small toilet block (pit latrine).
Four of the planned eight 25m x 50m fish lakes have been dug with
one of our two streams diverted to keep fresh water feeding them.
The lakes have been stocked with around 8000 tilapia and catfish
(a delicacy in Africa). Tilapia takes around 10 months to mature
and the stocking of lakes will be staggered to give a constant
harvest of fresh fish around the year. Not only can we begin to
train a generation in the skills of fish farming, but we can also
implement a feeding programme from this highly nutritious source.
We are also looking to sell into the local market so that each
lake will become totally self-funding. |
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Six large poultry houses have
been built and stocked with parent layers and broiler chickens. The
incubation of one-day-old chicks will help the self-sustaining concept
of Kira. It’s hoped
that we can build our own hatchery to develop selling chickens into
the growing Ugandan market as well as gifting returning (trained)
orphans with small rural poultry projects. |
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Electricity has been brought overland
and installed. The creation of our own healthy, fresh, clean water
supply by digging a well and setting up a pumping station is also
up and running. Each building will eventually have its own water
tank gathering rainwater from its roofs.
To see a video (38.8 Mb - about 3 mins to
download!) of the well being dug, please click the well picture.
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eMi (Engineering
Ministries International) have helped plan the whole site, making
sure that each facility is positioned in the right area: these
range from farm buildings and vocational workshops to students' and teachers' accommodation.
It will eventually include a guesthouse for visitors to spend time
and share their practical skills and knowledge with the trainees.
We hope to have the training centre sufficiently completed to begin
taking a small number of students in 2008. |
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Bricks are dug
straight from the clay soil and are incredibly tough after baking.
They cost about 2p each, cement cost £7 per bag! A skilled
bricklayer and labourer earn about £3.50 between them per
day. We will need thousands of bricks to complete Kira, so for
an on-going donation of just a few pounds a month you can make
a huge difference to the building of this unique facility. |
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| With your help, this is what we have achieved so far: |
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- purchased the 22.5 acre farm site
- had the site surveyed and the project designed by eMi (Engineering
Ministries International)
- developed and graded an entrance road
- installed electricity
- dug a well to deliver 2,000 litres of clean water per hour
- built six large chicken houses, a pit latrine, guardhouse and
store
- a pit latrine
- a guardhouse
- a store
- excavated and stocked four large fish lakes 20m by 40m
- widened the stream throughout the whole property to protect against
flooding,
- cleared and fenced all boundaries
- planted fruit trees and crops.
- built a headmasters house
- built student accommodation
- built girls toilet/washrooms
All this has been done completely by hand, using skilled Ugandan
labour and materials, employing local villagers whenever possible.
We really do need your help. Please click
here.
To get Kira functioning with the first phase of 20 students we
will need to raise around £20,000 over the next 12 months.
We need to complete this important phase in order to start
training orphans and other needy young Ugandans in 2008. We
will need to raise a further £70,000 in building costs to get
Kira running at full capacity of 60+ students per year.
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You may never know the results that
come from your actions, but if you do nothing there will be no result!
Gandhi
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