KIBOGA, UGANDA: Residents of Nsala village in Lwamata sub-county, Kiboga district have struggled for many years to access clean water for drinking and agriculture due to persistent drought. The residents walk for long distances in search for water or purchase from suppliers for as high as Shs1,000 for a 20-litre jerrican.
This situation has always made the local population lose time that would have been used in other productive activities such as farming or business, says Patrick Mugywanya, the LC I chairperson of Nsala village.
“It is usually tough here when it comes to access to water. People spend a lot of money to just have access to clean water,” he said.
However, the more than 2,700,000 residents in three villages including Nsala could soon be relieved as three Israel linked organisations, Bilu, an international non-governmental organisation, SBC, a construction company and Mashav, Israel’s official international development cooperation program partners with the local community and the government to
Bilu Uganda Chief Executive Officer Dr. Shay Pintov, said the new facility expected to cost US$5million will enable the local population access clean water at low cost and thus creating a lot of time to engage in other productive activities.
“Some of the water will be used to develop a food security farm. This means introducing unique plants or species of plants that can survive in a dry ecosystem. For example, we are starting to teach the community to start to make bee hives because there’s a possibility to have plenty of beehives and having beehives have two advantages – improving the harvesting because they help in pollination and additional income for the community through selling honey,” he said during the project launch on July.11.
Dr. Pintov said the organisation and the partners intend to train the community on bee keeping as well as honey purification to access markets.
He said the organisation, which is also involved in promoting education and health in the communities, plans to expand and serve other areas including Kyankwanzi and Hoima.
Godfrey Ssebulime, the head of production in Kiboga district said the local admiration is honored to host the project as it will boost food production and incomes.
Amos Muriisa, the spokesperson for SBC, now constructing Kabaale airport in Hoima, said the construction company has come out to support Bilu Uganda to implement its objective since they share the same vision of improving people’s lives.
“We are going to continue supporting until the community is satisfied,” he said.
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