Richard has just returned from a visit to Ongutoi Health Centre and the project Water Collection for Sustainability to visit the orchard and review in preparation for a Global Grant with Rotary Club of Kampala South, District 9213 as Host Club and Rotary Club of Newmarket, District 7070 as the International Club. The status of the water collection and orchard are showing excellent progress. Richard is ready to talk to your Rotary Club. If you would like any additional information or have a presentation for your club, please contact Rtn Richard Mewhinney, Rotary Club of Newmarket at 416-418-6646 or by email at rmewhinney@rogers.com. Here is Richard's Update.....
I have just returned from a visit to Ongutoi Health Centre and the project Water Collection for Sustainability. During COVID-19, as with many other aspects of life some things changed and no trips to Uganda were possible. However, numerous targets were achieved, not least of which was the completion of the water collection platform and the trees continued to grow and mature. It was fortunate that we had a full year to train staff between November 2018 and December 2019 and establish a routine and communication process.
However, as with many things resulting from COVID it also became necessary for the Canadian NGO/Mission to transfer Ongutoi Health Centre to an indigenous operating partner in April 2022. While this was always the objective, we had hoped it may have happened after everything had been completed. While this caused a brief setback with new staff entering and some old staff leaving, there was a successful knowledge transfer and in my two trips in 2022, new staff were quickly brought in sync with the operation of the water system and care for the orchard.
With the progress made and things operating well, we returned to Ongutoi in November 2023 to visit the orchard and review in preparation for a Global Grant with Rotary Club of Kampala South, District 9213 as Host Club and Rotary Club of Newmarket, District 7070 as the International Club. The status of the water collection and orchard are showing excellent progress.
After encouraging the Managers on Ongutoi Health Centre to have staff attend the Orchard in Sereri to meet with Robert Ogallo that is approximately 1.5 hours from Ongutoi with the objective to learn more about markets. Robert also developed his orchard through making mistakes that he freely shares to help teach about the care of a commercial orange orchard to develop a good marketable crop.
The team from Ongutoi made the investment of time and money to visit on November 11, 2023. When meeting with Staff on November 13, they spoke extremely highly on how useful the day was and are already taking actions on developing relationship with the markets they thought were impossible. To that end, Josephine, the orchard manager has already arranged a meeting with the Soroti fruit processing plant to register Ongutoi to sell fruit to the factory. That will open the market that provides the highest price for the produce.
The management of Ongutoi Health Centre have also initiated a plan to establish a Grafting nursery for orange trees in the first quarter of 2024. The Assistant Manage of the orchard is knowledgeable in the grafting process. The plan is to graft 300 trees and once ready for final planting, they will be selecting 20 families in the community and provide each family with 20 trees by end of April 2024. After the first distribution they will continue until all families have been served so the entire community will benefit with food and economically. The stipulation we have made is that when each family is given the trees, the family will also be educated in small scall irrigation methods to aid the trees survival and maximize production. The name we give this program is One Village One Crop.
The trees in the photo are the ones planted exactly 3 years ago in November 2018. When we completed our visit, we requested the opportunity to purchase some oranges. The staff picked the oranges from 3 trees and the weight we carried back was 160 Kg and the trees are still maturing.
Now we turn our attention the completing the application for the Global Grant to expand the water collection, storage and irrigation systems. Once completed we will be servicing in excess of 2,500 orange trees to generate revenue supporting the project and primarily affordable health care at Ongutoi Health Centre.
The project will entail;
Construction of the water collection platform, cistern with a volume of just over 1.3 million litres
Solar Power for pumps,
Irrigation installation for an additional 600-700 trees and
Connecting a small low volume bore hole and the cisterns of this expansion and the existing pilot for water balancing and creating a hybrid water system utilizing rain-water as the primary water source
While we are still in the process of a final budget review due to inflation, it is anticipated the budget will be in the range of $280,000 to $310,000 USD.
We thank the many clubs in District 7070 who have so generously donated or committed funds to date and look forward to sharing a more detailed presentation to clubs that are interested. At present based upon current exchange rates we have raised approximately $100,000 USD.
If you would like any additional information or have a presentation for your club, please contact Rtn Richard Mewhinney, Rotary Club of Newmarket at 416-418-6646 or by email at rmewhinney@rogers.com.