Village of the Needy, Haba-na-Haba partner to end food wastage in Busoga

Iganga, (UG):- Village of the Needy Uganda (VON Uganda) has called upon people in the market to join them in the campaign to end food wastage in food markets by donating yet-to-be wasted food to the organization for supply in babies’ homes and other places sheltering needy people.

This is part of the campaign of ‘Say no to food wastage’ being conducted by the organization.

While collecting some food items from food markets in Iganga town on Monday, the Patron of VON Uganda who is also among the co-founders of the organization Hajji Walubi Abubakar says their foundation in partnership with Haba Ha Haba collected yet-to-be wasted food from Iganga central market and Abbey Mukwaya market in Iganga town and later donated the food to the needy communities.

The organization, in partnership with Haba Na Haba, managed to collect food estimated to 1000kg from Iganga Central Market which they later distributed to needy children at Faith Babies’ Home in Kasokoso Iganga town, Whispers of Love in Lwerera village, Nawaningi Sub County in Iganga district and other needy communities.

Hajji Walubi extended his thanks to the food vendors in Abbey Mukwaya and Iganga Central Market for the good heart exhibited and lauded them for their continued support, before encouraging them to continue donating towards the campaign whenever the need arises. He also appealed to citizens of Iganga to join them and ‘say no to food wastage’, a campaign that is aimed at ending hunger in local communities.

“Why would you leave Egg plants to get rotten when they can be used to feed the needy, give us those eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet bananas, among other food items and we take it to the needy children out there and we believe that God will bless you for that,” Hajji Walubi said before pledging their commitment to support the needy.

Mr Grace Kaziba of Faith Babies Home says they always receive young children almost on a daily basis, from Mama Police and local leaders through the probations office and that their major challenge is feeding them.

Some of these children are neglected and dumped on streets, dropped and retrieved from pit latrines, abandoned in bus terminals, hospitals and other places.

“We receive many young children and most of them are brought in bad condition but we treat them and provide them with care. We are mostly overwhelmed by the necessity of feeding them, so if Von Uganda comes in to assist us with food, we have to thank them so much and also ask God to bless those who give us food through them. We thank all market vendors for standing with these young souls,” Grace Kaziba said.

Obbo Yusuf, co-founder of VON Uganda says in these trying moments when everyone is struggling financially, many people sleep hungry since hunger has hit many homes in villages in Iganga and around Iganga district.

He said the campaign has been prioritized in the marketplaces since they are the major areas with wasted food.

“Food is the first necessity of life and without food people die. To end the cases related to hunger, VON Uganda and Haba Na Haba have embarked on a good drive or campaign aimed at collecting food for the needy people and this drive is conducted in marketplaces where food always gets wasted. The food we collect weekly is donated to the needy homes, whose daily cry is food scarcity and nothing else,” Mr Obbo Yusuf said.

Village of the Needy (VON Uganda) is a local community organization which is helping to fight hunger among needy communities of the Iganga district and Busoga Sub-region at large while Haba Na Haba are passionate hunger heroes who aim at alleviating hunger across Uganda in strengthening local communities through working with passionate people who aims at making a difference in communities. They also establish community food banks to deal with overwhelming hunger cases in communities.