Feel Good Friday - Boomu Women's Group

We're spending another Feel Good Friday in Africa, but this week we're moving from Malawi to Uganda. The journey goes so much faster on the internet than it does on the bus - believe me, I've done it. 

Weaving baskets and nursing babies.

When I was in Uganda in 2007, I had the pleasure of staying in Kigaragara with the Boomu Women's Group.  The group has around 40 members from the villages of Kihaguzi and Kigaragara who are all subsistence farmers, meaning that most food that is grown is for domestic consumption and what is left is taken to the market.

In 1999, there was little produce left over to sell so the women´s group was formed with the aim of reducing poverty and malnutrition, and providing an income for the members to be able to pay their children´s school fees. What began as a craft group selling baskets has evolved into a wonderful community tourism project, with accommodation in traditional bandas, a restaurant, unique guided tours and a well-tended garden.

The famous Edna!

I went on the community and cooking tours with Edna Biabili, one of the founding members of the group.  She has great knowledge of the surrounding nature, knows all her neighbors and interprets while you chat with them, and she can dig cassava out of the ground and chop down banana leaves faster than anyone I know!

Every nest is full of birds and
this is only part of the tree!

The number of birds that nest in the trees (and the constant chirping) is unbelievable for someone whose avian sightings consist mainly of seagulls eating sourdough bread bowls at Fisherman's Wharf.  Fortunately, like you and me, they sleep at night. The accommodations are basic, clean and safe - and it's kind of cool to say you slept in a banda.  Next stop, yurt.
 

The banda is inviting, no?

Boomu is supported by the Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA), a national group that aims to involve local people in the planning, decision-making and implementation of tourism development activities. This form of tourism assures that as many of the benefits as possible stay in the local community.


You can watch a short video I made about my visit - and yes, the name of the Spanish volunteer in the video translates to Black Sea in English.

Whether you stay with them in Uganda, buy a basket online or just experience a warm fuzzy feeling inside - I wanted you to know about the Boomu Women's Group.  Happy Friday!

Latest Video: Africa Takes Action!

I've been invited to speak to the Alameda Rotary Club on Tuesday, September 8th.

As part of my presentation tomorrow, I'll show two videos. The first documenting my Habitat trip to Madagascar:

The second, a new compilation titled "Africa Takes Action" highlights the work being done by a variety of small groups throughout Africa. Some of you will recognize the abbreviated stories of the Boomu Women's Group in Uganda, the flip flop group in Kenya and the Mazingira Monkey Man.

A new piece in the mix is the Bulugha Farm School in Cintsa, South Africa, which is supported in part by donations from visitors to Buccaneers Backpackers. The school has 193 students but only 3 classrooms and 3 toilets. Every week, the students present a concert and in return visitors are asked to provide a donation which supports a feeding scheme that enables the students to have two meals a day.

So check the videos out and wish me luck!

Video Recap

Last week I went back to my former employer for a visit and a lunchtime video show.  It was great to see people again and wonderful to be able to share my adventures them.  Many people wanted to know where to learn more about the people we saw and where to see the movies again.

As promised... below is a recap of the movies we saw and links to the corresponding websites. The easiest way to find the movies themselves (and save me hours of uploading time) is by going to the Hey Miss K Channel on YouTube.  You can also become a subscriber so that you'll be notified any time I post something new and exciting!

The only video you won't find is the Habitat Madagascar video... right now that one is 19 minutes and too long to put on YouTube unless I cut it in two - which I have yet to do.

Boomu Women's Group

A group in Uganda that promotes community tourism (stay with locals, tour the neighborhood, learn how to cook local food) as a way to raise money for projects that benefit the entire community. 

  

UniquEco Designs

A business in Kenya focused on turning flip flops into art, it's a win-win-win.  Local people earn a sustainable income working here, used flip flops are taken off the beaches and helping clean up the environment, you and I can buy all sorts of groovy items in the name of making the world a better place.

Mazingira Monkey Project

A man in Tanzania who works with his wife to clean up their town.  He collects plastic bags from the streets and (after washing and disinfecting them) then uses them to stuff toy animals he and his wife sew at home.  Although he sometimes doesn't sell enough animals to support his family, he still buys food and clothes for homeless children who he asks to help him collect the bags.

If you're interested in ordering toys from him... your best bet (for those of you who work together) is to coordinate one big order, collect the cash and send it to him via Western Union. You can make your arrangements by emailing him and you can feel free to copy me on that email to help smooth it all out.

Habitat for Humanity - Global Village Program

Global Village is a 2 week volunteer program that brings people from around the world together to build houses with those in need.  The GV team (that's you) works with local people to build the house(s) and has the pleasure of experiencing a country and a culture in a much different way than passing through as a tourist.

Una and I lead trips every two years or so, and while there's nothing planned right now - I would encourage you to go to Habitat's site to see what current trips are available and/or let me know you want to be on our early bird notification list so you'll know when we'll be leading another trip.

Thanks for your interest in these projects and these people.  They rock and so do you.

Que Sera, Sera

Hey All,

Well... the monkey man and I didn't win the film contest but by jove - we were in it!  

The film got a good reception and the entire event was a fun time.  There were some great films that made it into the finals and I am thrilled that I was among them.  One of my favorites was the winner in both the comedy category and the overall winner for the night and you can view it here:  The Job

What next for me?  Essentially to keep on truckin'.  

I've got much more footage from Africa to edit and get online (much more I tell you).  Two new videos on the Boomu Women's Group in Uganda and the flip flop recycling company in Kenya can be found here:  Miss K on YouTube

Meanwhile, I'm getting back in the swing of improv - and will let you know if I become part of a regular gig as that is the goal - AND I just took a job as a tour guide.  Not any tour guide, mind you.  I will be leading Segway tours in San Francisco!  No, I haven't ever ridden a Segway before and yes, they will give us some training.

The job should start around mid-May which gives me time to brush up on my history of all things San Francisco - but mostly things you can see from Fisherman's Wharf, Aquatic Park and Crissy Field.

So - keep checking in on the blog or on YouTube to see more videos from Africa and when you're ready to roll along the streets of San Francisco, give me a shout!

Miss K

Boomu Women's Group

Hi All,

I recently stayed at the Boomu Women's Group, in Kigaragara, Uganda to learn more about this community based tourism group and the lives of rural Ugandans. The group was formed in 1999, by Enda Byabali with the aim of fighting poverty in the area by creating economic and social development through raising the incomes of their members.

I'll be putting together a promotional video for Boomu and UCOTA (the Ugandan Community Tourism Association) to use upon my return to the US.

If you're in Uganda, I encourage you to stay at Boomu. The accommodations are some of the most comfortable I've had on my trip so far, the trees are FILLED (!) with weaver birds and their nests, the food is as fresh as the backyard and Edna will gladly teach you all about the surrounding community. Stay for a few days and learn about the local community or stay for a few weeks and volunteer your time.

If you're not planning a trip to Uganda, plan a trip to the website and shop for some crafts. You will be making a direct contribution to support this community that is working to support itself! And for goodness sakes, let them know that you learned about Boomu from Kristian at HeyMissK!

Lastly, please leave any comments about this program here so the people from UCOTA and Boomu can see them too!

Information About the Boomu Women's Group (from their website)

All our members are subsistence farmers meaning that most food that is grown is for domestic consumption and what is left is taken to the market. However in order to raise incomes, some families increase the amount they take to the market leaving themselves hungry. Income from farming, due to the low amount produced and lack of access to markets, rarely cover all the expenses people have: education costs such as secondary school fees, textbooks, and uniforms, soap, paraffin, clothes once a year and occasionally meat. For our members’ there are few alternate livelihoods in particular for women so the group was formed to provide another income stream through weaving baskets.

As the number of baskets sold is very variable, we decided to diversify our activities by setting up a small tourism project. The group brought land in the village of Kigaragara, next to Murchison Falls National Park, using 15% of the income from baskets towards this project. We built accommodation in 2004 with assistance from UCOTA (Ugandan Community Tourism Association). and received further seed funding in 2006 to furnish the bandas.

The objective for this tourism project is for it to be a participatory experience: for our group, the local community and for the visitor. The surrounding community has been involved in the development of the project and would be happy to have people visiting them, seeing their everyday life and their needs such as education that our project is trying to address. Our chairperson will be delighted to share with you everything she knows about local life, history, culture, traditions and the issues that affect us. This means visitors will directly engage with the recipients of their tourism spend and can see exactly what the impact of their stay will be.

As well as bringing economic and social development directly to our members and the local communities - plans include a nursery school for the community - we also wish to create economic development indirectly. We hope that if the project becomes successful we can inspire other people to come together and also work towards economic and social development.