Help me defy that centuries-old rule which maintains that people like us aren’t legit enough to be at the helm of ending extreme poverty, or to be in charge of transforming their own communities.
As I have already mentioned, where I live, poverty is simply intense.
For me personally, just recently in 2015 when the UN Global Goals were being launched, I was still finding it very hard to simply get what to eat, and things had been that way for me since my years of childhood.
But the reason I chose not to sit back, is the understanding that nearly every household in my region lives in extreme poverty.
I also thought the coming of the Global Goals somehow meant a poverty-free world was now possible, and that people like us were now in the company of the rest of humanity.
So, I have spent the last 7 years with only one goal: using the period 2015 – 2030 both to turn my own life around, and to contribute to a lasting, self sustainable path from poverty in my region.
My goal was to ensure that, come 2030, things shouldn’t really be the same. And clearly, that is still my goal even today.
I wouldn’t want to be trapped in the same life of hunger and chronic poverty even in 2030, and I wouldn’t want to sit and watch the cycle of poverty in my region go unchanged even ten years later.
Help me ensure just that:
Help me use my remaining time on earth to bring change in a rather impoverished remote rural part of the planet where there is simply nothing that is happening to end extreme poverty.
Specifically, I am asking you to help me create only one lasting solution to stem the unending cycle of poverty in my region.
My intended solution is: a fully-fledged agro-processing plant that shall both reverse poverty and create jobs in our region, by creating new market linkages for rural poor farmers, and linking our produce with agri-value chains — like bakeries and confectioneries; bottling companies and breweries; paperboard industries and textiles, etc.
I have described this plant in more detail both in this fundraiser, and also in a campaign where I was appealing to Gen Z to lend me a voice.
There is also a description of this plant on my nonprofit website.
Funding needs:
As shown on the above links, we will install a specific portion of this plant once the money I have raised is at intervals of $240k; $620k; $1m and $15m. That is, we will begin developing this plant once I only raise $240k, and complete it once I have raised $15m in total.
Therefore, $15m is what I am seeking for this plant altogether.
Nonetheless, given a) the scale of poverty in our region, and b) the fact that our plant shall be required to provide all our target rural poor farmers with initial inputs (considering their social-economic status) to enable them participate in this work successfully, I believe $45m is what will do the best work.
I have described in more detail what I would do differently, if I raised $45m, here.
An abridged description of how $45 would do a better job, is here.
I would be very humbled if you could help me use my remaining time on earth to reign in the yoke of poverty in my region.
Looking for specific ways to help?
1). See the ‘Support Us’ page on my nonprofit website.
2). Visit my current fundraiser, and see the phrase ‘How You Can Help’.
What I am already doing on extreme poverty?
Currently, my nonprofit, the UCF, is running a project that aims to move rural poor farmers in Kamuli & Buyende (in eastern Uganda) from poverty, through income generation from white sorghum. And sure, we have no funding for this work, but we are doing what we can.
You can learn about this project here. Below are a few videos of me visiting some of the farmers who are taking part in this work in the first planting season of 2022. These videos were all taken in June/July:
Lastly, here are a few photos of those farmers who are taking part in this project in the first planting season of 2022 (March – July):
