Charity changes lives for the better

By pkeenor

SOMEWHERE high on a hillside just outside Kampala there stands a little corner of North Devon.

A seemingly strange statement to make when comparing the landscape of a beautiful but unforgiving African country with home, but that's before one dwells on the difference the people of North Devon have made to the small but significant community living in and around Kira Farm.

Because only when you witness close up the way in which money raised here in our own backyard has altered the course of dozens of lives do you appreciate that a little part of Africa will remain forever linked with this part of the world.

I was privileged to spend a week in Uganda with a team of visitors who wanted to discover more about what Amigos does with the money raised by its many supporters here. And after a truly life-changing experience, I can state with confidence that if you have ever donated so much as a penny to this wonderful charity then you can rest assured it was money well spent.

Led by Amigos founder Phil Pugsley, an inspirational figure who seems to grow two feet taller as he proudly shows off the work the charity is doing on the ground, Amigos is now into its eleventh year of work in Africa, with the guiding principle always rooted in Phil's ubiquitous sign-off on his e-mail messages: "For the children."

Uganda can be a brutal place amid the stunning beauty which adds all the more to the poignancy of the subsistence living I witnessed. Poverty is rife and it is estimated that half of the population of the country lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day.

That makes life especially difficult for many youngsters in a society where so many are left orphaned at such a young age. The country is one of the more enlightened in Africa when it comes to the message about AIDs prevention, but you can't turn back the effects of time and it is still a chilling statistic that some 4.1% of the people are HIV positive, even if that is down from a shocking 13% in the early 1990s.

For Phil, whose first visit to Africa was 12 years ago in neighbouring Tanzania, the plight of those youngsters was not something he was prepared to forget. He formed Amigos, together with his wife Ann, and set about rallying supporters in North Devon — and now beyond — to support the cause.

"I have a simple theory when it comes to children anywhere in the world," revealed Phil. "And that is that every child deserves the right to have food in their belly, a roof over their head, clean water and good health, education, love and safety."

And those are the guiding principles of Amigos, which during its existence has recognised the need to be innovative and flexible in the way it helps out in Africa. That meant a decision a few years ago to pull out of support for more 'institutionalised' assistance to orphans and to turn instead to the more vocational, practical work now being achieved at Kira.

At first just a series of verdant fields with not much in the way of buildings, the farm can now boast offices, dormitories for the girls, a school room, a kitchen, a headmistress' office and several large chicken sheds where the chicks which many people will remember stumping up to pay for in one of the charity's early fund-raising initiatives are reared before being sold on to benefit the farm.

Our visit to Uganda was timed to coincide with the official opening of Kira. Our party also included Devon pop singer Joss Stone, in Africa for a whistle-stop visit just before the launch of her new album and the guest of honour at the opening ceremony. Indeed, 22-year-old Joss set the seal on a day of celebration by unveiling a plaque marking her visit.

Earlier, she had spent time touring the farm's facilities, chatting with the girls and staff — and even finding the time to catch up with two youngsters from a local community who she personally sponsors, an area of Amigos' work which is growing in popularity.

And when one learns that for the cost of a pencil or a few pennies a day in school fees, a child can be educated, then it is obvious why such sponsorship becomes a popular option. Education is THE key to Uganda's future, in my opinion, and so to support more children through school will show the greatest long term benefit to a country which has all the natural resources and more to become a powerhouse of the region — but does need a helping hand from more affluent nations to get the ball rolling.

And if that smacks of colonialism then it wasn't meant that way. The Ugandans are a fiercely proud and independent people. Their determination and fortitude in the face of overwhelming challenges takes the breath away. Many will probably never know anything other than abject poverty in their lives. Yet if Amigos and its small but significant differences could be multiplied across the country then so much positive change could be achieved.

Joss Stone was the Pied Piper of the visit, trailed everywhere by the girls from Kira and also children from the local communities, fascinated to learn more about the special visit from these 'Mzungu' (the local, affectionate, purely descriptive term for 'white man') who had landed in their midst.

"What you guys are doing is amazing," Joss told them as she joined Phil to cut a cake to mark the opening. "Just keep on being who you are and doing all this good stuff because you are all just so inspirational."

Sprawling over 22.5 acres at the end of a bumpy dirt track a few miles outside the capital city, Kira is a truly inspirational place. From the humble beginnings of a few fields, the barest evidence of a water supply and some farm land which boasted lush growing conditions but very little in the way of proper farm management, Phil and his team have fashioned an iconic facility.

The rationale behind Kira is to provide a place of sanctuary for AIDs orphans, whose fate back home in their villages often doesn't bear thinking about once they lose their parents. At the beginning of May Amigos gave 18 pioneer disadvantaged students the chance to stay at the farm and be educated, not only in traditional 'school' skills, but also on topics like farming, cookery, business and personal development.

The intention is that the girls then eventually return to their villages, armed with their new skills — and hopefully a lot more confidence in themselves — to lead fuller, more rounded lives and to pass on their knowledge to those around them.

It was clear from our visit that the project has already been a phenomenal success. Smart, polite, bright and confident, the girls' demeanour no doubt hid the stories behind why they had found themselves at Kira, but that is to the credit of the local Amigos team and their caring, ordered philosophy. They truly are a second, new family to these girls — whose futures can be concentrated on with a more positive outlook.

From the moment our party arrived at the farm to be greeted by the girls smartly dressed in their school uniforms, singing a traditional African welcome song, it was clear that Kira is a place of happiness and love.

The girls were proud to show off their handiwork and the skills they had learned and the soundtrack to the day was definitely a lot of laughter!

As Phil pointed out, not only do the girls benefit directly from the 'Kira effect' so does the neighbouring community: an additional water pipe has been set up just outside the gates of the farm, solely for the use of nearby villagers, thus reducing the time that these locals have to spend on the ubiquitous trek with containers to stock up on one of life's staples. A sobering thought for anyone the next time the bill from South West Water lands and we have the ritual grumble.

And Kira is becoming a beacon for others in the local community too. Given its successes with crops and farming techniques, plus how to manage a smallholding, locals from the nearby village are now regularly making the trek to the farm to pick up knowledge and take it back to their own land.

"We have farmers now coming to ask us how we can get so many beans off a plant and then when they learn how we do it through good farming techniques they are amazed and able to apply that to their own work," explained Phil.

Phil is not standing still with plans either. Fresh from the success of the farms' first intake of orphans, the plan is now to have 32 residential students next year with a further eight day visitors from local communities.

"The need is so pressing that we want to expand what we do to take in more students as we feel we have the structure and the resources to do that," he explained. "It is a 'step up' from the numbers we have already but there is a confidence about the place that we can achieve this.

"And the more girls we can help the more help there will be back in their communities. It's been a novel experiment for us and we wanted to see how it worked but the signs are that it's been a real success and we want to develop it further."

And that's the key to Amigos' work. There are no quick fixes or projects which are not sustainable. Ugandans themselves are at the forefront of making the difference: their local knowledge and expertise is vital to ensure the precious money raised for the charity is not wasted.

But the work never stops, the demand for help never changes and the need for progress doesn't alter and so Amigos will remain forever in need of support from people here if it is to continue to try and make a difference in one of the continent's poorest countries — and ensure that little corner of North Devon shines out like a beacon in the Ugandan countryside.

You can find out more about Amigos' work and how to support the charity at www.amigos.org.uk/ or by telephoning 01271-3776 64 on Thursdays when volunteers man the charity's phoneline.

● In next week's Journal : a feature on the work Amigos is doing away from Kira Farm in communities in the north of Uganda, plus a look at the charity's future plans.