I greet you most cordially in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ during this month of the Rosary. I thank you very much for giving hope to these orphans and being Christ to the poor.
SITUATION OF THE PROJECT
I can confidently say that the project is doing very well. The method we are using is of breeding and multiplying piglets at our Demonstration site and distributing them to the Orphans and disadvantaged children.
Their parents / guardians or relatives are sensitized about the goals and objectives of this project. They are also equipped with skills of looking after piglets.
Both the children and their guardians are given the knowledge of looking after piglets, but the project is aimed at benefiting the children directly. We do regular monitoring of these projects in the homes of the children.
At the moment 138 children have benefited from the project.
At the demonstration site, the Banana plantation is doing well. We also teach these children to apply the wastes from Piggery to the crops, i.e., Organic farming. This is very good and it saves us from the many disadvantages of artificial chemicals.
CONCRETE BENEFITS OF THE INDIVIDUAL CHILDREN
Already some children have realized fruits of the project. Their pigs have grown and produced 6-10 piglets each.
When I visited them, I had deep interest in finding out how they used or planed to use the money. I was very happy to note that, they had given priority to acquisition of, school uniform, scholastic materials (books, pens, mathematical sets) some had, for the first time bought shoes.
The children of late Masanyu and Bunihizi touched my heart when they exclaimed with joy that they have, for the first time, been able to acquire school uniform. They also were able to buy mattresses.
Long live “Be a Christ to the Poor Foundation”. These helpless children have been given a hope. Each piglet is sold at $13 – $15 USD. i.e (20,000 – 30,000 UGX) depending on size and quality.
CHALLENGES
- The number of orphans increases every day. Those who need the assistance are more than we can help.
- Some children do not de-warm the animals regularly due to lack of drugs.
- Some children get animal feeds with difficulty.
- The pigsty at the demonstration site needs some repairs because the big pigs eat the bricks gradually.
- Feeds have become very expensive (38,000 UGX per bag).
- Payment of the worker at the piggery demonstration site is expensive.
FUTURE PLANS AND PROSPECTIVES
- We are preparing meetings and training workshops for the children and their guardians.
- We shall make more regular inspection and monitoring of the children’s homes and projects.
- We are planning to include more children in the group of beneficiaries.
- I am organizing a training workshop on organic farming and pig raring for the Orphan children of Buseesa Parish.
URGENT NEEDS FOR THE PROJECT
| CODE | ITEM/ACTIVITY | QUANTITY | COST | AMOUNT |
| 1 | Feeds (with transport) | 30 | 38,000 | 1,140,000 |
| 2 | Payment of the worker | 7 months | 280,000 | |
| 3 | Drugs | 50,000 | ||
| 4 | Repair of the pigsty | 200,000 | ||
| 5 | Training workshop in Buseesa (transport & facilitation) | 150,000 | ||
| GRAND TOTAL | 1,820,000 |
I thank you very much and wish you God’s blessings in all your plans and work.
Sincerely yours,
Rev. Fr. Bingi Anthony Atwook