BUHANGA THULIBAGHUMA WOMEN’S GROUP - MOTHER GIVER NURSERY
Buhanga Thulibaghuma Women’s Group is a grassroots Kyarumba community organization in the beautiful Rwenzori Mountain region of Western Uganda. Founded in 2009, the women's group serves a community of 152 households with a population of 1200 people. The women focus their efforts on helping women, children, and the sick or infirm. There are 115 school children attending Mother Giver Nursery School.
The Buhanga Thulibaghuma Women are in agreement with the Humanist Values of Bizoha, and our Founding Director, Bwambale Robert, has agreed to help with conducting inspections of the work done at Mother Giver with any donations received, as well as to help spread the understanding of Secular Humanism to them in the Buhanga area.
Victorina Kabugho is the Chairperson of the group. We asked her about the members of her group, and she told us that they are comprised of women who are willing to contribute in any way to the group, are of sound mind, and have knowledge or can materially promote the group and its projects.
“They are women who love themselves, and love and respect other people.”
THEIR MISSION
To challenge and empower community members to get involved in social development activities for a poverty-free and healthy community.
OBJECTIVES
- To improve the economic status of the community members through involvement in savings, credit, and life skills development.
- To promote and develop sustainable agriculture through improved methods of farming, apiculture (beekeeping) and animal husbandry.
- To promote health, sanitation and environmental protection within the community.
- To promote children’s education and functional adult literacy.
current needs
The entire area spends more than 3-4hrs daily seeking safe drinking water. The children walk 3 or 4 kilometers to an unprotected well full of pathogens, and there is not always water available for the children to bathe and wash clothes. Diseases children get due to dirty water include diarrhea, scabies, cholera, typhoid fever, and worm infections
At individual level, children at Mother Giver Nursery generally come from poor families. In fact more than 90% of the children come to school bare footed. It is common that children come to school without scholastic materials such as pencils, books, and uniforms.
The women have requested assistance with the following items:
· Extension of tapped water to Mother Giver Nursery School
A classroom in the Immunization Clinic building, with benches for some of the children to sit on. Many of the children sit only on stones.
· Harvesting rainwater into tanks at school
· Construction of 3 classrooms
· School desks for the children
· A library and equipping it with books
· A washroom for menstruating girls
· A better kitchen to prepare porridge
· A school clinic in which to treat children when they fall sick (medic, medicines & supplies) [Please note we already have a donor to fund the Clinic!]
· A wheat huller machine and wheat milling machine for the cooperative that provides porridge at school
“Twelve women and children made a ten mile walk to talk to me for fifteen minutes. I can tell you that the women are a wonderful group. Victorina Kabugho is a good and sincere person.””
Please see our Donate page if you would like to help the Buhanga Thulibahuma Women and their Mother Giver projects. Please continue reading below the photograph to hear about what the women have already accomplished!
Looking down into the valley from the Mother Giver site in Buhanga. The area is high in the hills and reachable only by hiking or motorbike. The area is quite lovely, as are the people.
ACHIEVEMENTS
- Establishment of a nursery school with local funds in the name of Mother Giver Nursery.The school has baby class, middle class, Primary 1,2 ,3 and 4.
- Construction of an immunization center at Buhanga Hill where children are immunized against killer diseases like measles and tetanus among others. The immunisation center was constructed with support of the Dutch Albert Schweitzer Foundation (NASF) in March 2011. Mothers from the whole village are using it to immunize their children and at same time it works as classrooms for the nursery school. Other classrooms are held in a mud and stick classroom that needs replacing.
- Buhahanga Thulibaghuma Women’s Group has started a community credit association. Members meet weekly to save and lend money among themselves and it is testing lending to non members.
- Members are also doing sustainable farming. Currently they are farming wheat collectively. Sixty percent of the wheat is used to feed children and the surplus is sold off to get income.