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Wednesday, 7 December 2011

The Slow Food revolution: retro food is feeding Africa & saving the environment



At first glance the scale of the poverty, disease and environmental issues affecting Africa can seem overwhelming. Yet, often the solutions aren’t that complicated. For instance, by rediscovering traditional methods of producing food, people have begun to grow local varieties in a more sustainable way. It’s good for the environment, and it provides abundant nutritious food - that’s the key to the success of the worldwide Slow Food movement.

Network for Africa works with Slow Food in northern Uganda, where 22 years of war disrupted a once proud and prosperous agricultural community. Farmers were forced to abandon their fields for decades, living in squalid refugee camps. Gradually, the traditional knowledge passed down to each generation through practical experience was lost.

In Patongo, a rural community in northern Uganda, we will be celebrating Terra Madre Day on December 10th, along with hundreds of other Slow Food groups across the globe.

Terra Madre Day is  an opportunity to involve the community in learning about  the importance of safeguarding food biodiversity, at the same time as bringing taste education to adults and children, and connecting local producers with consumers.

Around the world Terra Madre Day will feature celebratory picnics, dinners, film screenings and concerts. The events aim to raise the profile of healthy and fairly-produced food, with excursions to visit Terra Madre producers, food tastings, campaigns and petitions on related issues and gatherings of local producers, cooks, youth and others.


PATONGO’S TERRA MADRE DAY
''Carama Wit Cam Acoli' ('Celebration of a variety of Acoli dishes')

Our partners in Patongo will be celebrating Terra Madre day by inviting elders, cultural and traditional leaders and local people to a community food party. The event is a chance to show people the importance of local, traditional crops, rediscovering valuable agricultural practices.


A group of women volunteers, some from our projects (the Ribbe Aye Teko women’s group and the Patongo Counselling Community Outreach Centre), will use traditional recipes using local produce  for the whole community to taste.

Girls, boys and men will be encouraged to watch and learn how to cook the Slow Food way. They will also learn about the benefits to the environment and to their personal well-being from growing local seeds and crop varieties, eating local food and using traditional recipes and methods. Awards will be given to the women who produce the most delicious dishes. 

The day’s events also include introducing the community to five demonstration gardens supported by Network for Africa. People will be encouraged to  learn about the crops and techniques used, thereby encouraging local pride and interest in their heritage of sustainable and traditional agriculture.

Watch this space for updates and photos of the day of celebrations!


Thursday, 1 December 2011

World AIDS Day - how Network for Africa is fighting AIDS

More than 33 million people worldwide are living with HIV. As we mark World AIDS Day, it is worth remembering the 25 million people who died as a result of the virus between 1981 and 2007.  That’s twice the population of London.

Countries in Africa have particularly suffered from HIV/AIDS. Uganda is an example. Until recently northern Uganda was gripped by a brutal conflict between the Lords’ Resistance Army and the Ugandan Defence Forces, lasting more than two decades.   The war decimated the healthcare system, and forced millions of people into extreme poverty, causing HIV to spread like wildfire, especially in the north.  During the war it was estimated that 11.9% of the population were HIV+ in northern Uganda – almost double the already high national average.

In Patongo, a small town in northern Uganda where Network for Africa works, the effects of AIDS are hard to avoid.  Young people in Patongo are especially at risk of contracting the virus, and the rates of infection show little sign of reducing.  People in the community are finding HIV diagnosis hard to cope with, often becoming depressed.  Many turn to alcohol, resulting in family conflict and even suicide.  The situation has become desperate for many.
But change can happen in Patongo.


Our network of Outreach Counsellors counsel and comfort vulnerable people who need HIV testing or who have already tested positive.  If people are reluctant to visit the health clinic for testing, our Outreach Counsellors visit them in their villages.  In some cases, their support has prevented suicide, and their involvement has strengthened community solidarity and reduced both the stigma and trauma associated with being diagnosed as HIV+. And most importantly, it encourages people to get tested, reassuring those who are HIV+ that they can live relatively normal lives.

Our Outreach Counsellors offer advice about hygiene so people can avoid opportunistic infections.  They can provide treated mosquito nets and training, and reduce the incidence of malaria, which debilitates people weakened by HIV.  They explain the importance of drinking clean water; they distribute condoms and talk about safe sex.


Our demonstration vegetable gardens will provide people with the skills and knowledge to grow the healthy food that is so badly needed by those taking anti-retroviral medication, and whose immune systems are depressed.  It can halt the negative cycle caused by lack of nourishment that leaves people too weak to cultivate crops.

These small interventions are chipping away at HIV’s stronghold in Patongo. People in Patongo, even those living with HIV, now have hope.

You can make a difference, too. Please consider giving to help support Network for Africa's projects. For example:
  • £4 ($6.50) could pay for a treated mosquito net.
  • £55 ($88) could pay for a bicycle for an Outreach Counsellor.
  • £50 ($80) a month could pay for 100 people to have HIV counselling each month.
Please donate here.