AID UGANDA

By Ken Goyer

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

What I intend to do (see below)

Mostly, don’t forget about these people.

They are in Darkest Africa. They desperately need our help and support.

Dear Friends, Earlier this year I went to Uganda to teach stove building with the Rotary Club International. While in Uganda I became aware of the situation with internally displaced refugee camps. I spent my last week in Uganda working in several of these camps. I would like to tell you about my experiences there and what I would like to do in the near future.

Uganda has 1.6 million internally displaced refugees. These are not refugees from the Sudan or the Congo. They are Ugandan citizens who have had their possessions stolen, their homes and villages destroyed, and their loved ones kidnapped or killed. They have fled to the safety of these refugee camps, which have been informally and spontaneously organized on church or public land as safe havens, so they have some modicum of protection and some chance of survival. Their life in the refugee camps is very tenuous. While some have huts, many refugees live under plastic tarps provided by relief organizations. But thousands have no plastic or other roof. The World Food Program tries to feed these people but food is in very short supply (I calculated that each person might get about 400 calories per day). Many churches and other relief organizations are doing the best they can to help this situation. But the situation is very grim.

Imagine 10,000 people living on 20 acres.

Life in the Camps

Ugandans have fled to these camps to escape the terror of the Lord’s Resistance Army. About twenty six camps are now located around the city of Lira. There have been as many as fifty eight camps but these have been consolidated so the Ugandan army can better protect them. About 600,000 people live in these camps. More camps are centered around the city of Gulu. Altogether in Uganda there are 1,600,000 internally displaced people.

Kids don’t look like this unless they are starving.

This baby did starve to death

If you think living in a refugee camp is difficult try being handicapped and living in a refugee camp

WHAT I INTEND TO DO

Ken Goyer

What I do best is to make and to teach the making of energy efficient wood cooking stoves.

These stoves are desperately needed in the camps. Cooking fuel is extremely scarce. People are digging and drying roots for fuel to cook their food.

Working with Aprovecho Research Center in Cottage Grove, Oregon, I have spent the last four years learning to make the best and the cheapest biomass cook stoves. Now I propose to make 10,000 of these stoves in the refugee camps around Lira, Uganda. I need to raise $20,000 to do this.

The Rocket Stove

The principles of the Rocket Stove were construed at the Aprovecho Research Center by Dr. Larry Winiarski. The original Rocket Stoves were made from tin cans and later sheet metal but they did not endure the extremely high temperatures of the organized combustion present in this stove. The development of light weight insulating ceramics made the stove practical and the six brick design has made the stove easy and cheap to mass produce.

The stove is constructed of six trapezoidal shaped bricks which stand on end and are then wired together. The fuel is placed on a shelf in a hole in the front of the stove. This allows air to pass underneath and mix with the wood in an extremely hot combustion chamber. This way, much more of the wood is properly burned making the stove more efficient and less polluting.

This stove should now be surrounded by mud to make it safer and more stable.

More than 60,000 bricks will have to be made for 10,000 stoves

Proposal to build 10,000 stoves in Lira Refugee camps for $20,000

By Ken Goyer

Aprovecho Research Center

December 25, 2004

Six hundred thousand internally displaced refugees near Lira, in Uganda are desperate for fuel to cook their meager rations of food. The Rocket Stove will save one half of the fuel consumed by the open fire, now used for cooking. The Rocket Stove will be a tremendous asset to them. With Mathew Langol, of All Nations Christian Care, we have, so far, made and tested several hundred stoves. These stoves are highly considered and well received by the refugees.

Now I intend to make 10,000 more stoves. I plan to personally go to Lira and supervise this project. Working with Mathew Langol, brick makers and refugees we hope to make these stoves mostly from local materials, on site, starting in several refugee camps. Of course, some materials and supplies will have to be purchased for this task. I will go as an unpaid volunteer for this project and I expect other first world workers will volunteer their time also. But it is fair and just to pay local people for their efforts at the prevailing wage. A good ballpark guess is that the cost will be about $2 per stove so we need to raise about $20,000. There is an economy of scale involved with making these stoves.

Also I would like to challenge some organization (or individual) to buy 10,000 pots, delivered to Lira. These pots could be the standard 7 liter United Nations refugee pot. Many refugees don’t even have a decent pot to cook in. With standardized pots we can make standardized skirts and pot supports which will increase the efficiency of the stove even more. The first priority, however, is the stove.

The basic stove is made from six, specially made, trapezoidal shaped, light weight bricks. These bricks are mass produced by brick makers from local clay, sawdust, and other materials. They form the combustion chamber of the Rocket Stove. These bricks can be surrounded with mud to form the very efficient Rocket Stove. Some metal pieces are required to finish the stove. These stoves have been designed and tested by the Aprovecho Research Center and clearly they will be of great benefit for the users.

If you can help with this project or would like more information please contact me. I am

Ken Goyer

285 Maple Street

Eugene, Oregon 97402

Telephone 541-689-7170

Email aiduganda@comcast.net

Wells – Water – And Sanitation

Imagine, thousands of families relying on one well for water. Barely enough water here to drink…. No bathing.

The Jinja Rotary Club

Water Catchment – Protected Springs

This man should be proud!

His goal was to see 100 of these protected springs built before the Rotary Club Centennial.

He is already working on the second hundred.

He is John Kirkwood, president of the Jinja Rotary Club.

Constructing this cement catchment and putting a perforated pipe underground

turns a mud hole into a source of clean potable water.

Schools

This is a rural school for 974 kids Jane, The Head Mistress of Bisiiro School. The Science Lesson

The Rotary Club of Jinja put on this new metal roof. The Jinja Rotary Club can use all of the metal sheets they can get for projects like this.

This is the headmaster of a school in a refugee camp.

He has a view of all 1,000 of his pupils. Notice the no frills, open air construction.

Unfortunately they also lack pencils, paper and books.

Education is valued in the camps. It is seen as an important path to improving life.

Lordsmead Vocational School

The Lordsmead “tribe” The wonderful kids of Lordsmead Vocational School near Jinja

This school was started and is supported by John Kirkwood.

Our Rotary Club International Stove training was held at Lordsmead Lordsmead students show their appreciation with a dance performance.

They sure can dance.

All Nations Christian Care

Mathew Langol of All Nations Christian Care talks with Walt Parrish of the

Fresno (California, U.S.A.) Rotary Club

Mathew is an individual who needs an entire website devoted to his good work.

He is dedicated to helping refugees. He works with All Nations Christian Care

in Lira. All Nations Christian Care is a non-sectarian, non-profit aid organization started by Bishop Tom Okello Ibrahim, pastor of All Nations Gospel Church. Bishop Tom recognized the overwhelming needs of the people and started ANCC so it would be non-sectarian.

Mathew is an engineer who came to our Rotary Club stove camp at Lordsmead Vocational School. He immediately recognized the value and the need of the Rocket Stoves in the refugee camps where cooking fuel is extremely scarce. He is also responsible for much of the technical work in the camps such as drilling wells and fixing pumps.

The Rachele Center

More than 1,600 abducted children have been repatriated since the Rachele Center was opened a year and a half ago.

Orphans

The first thing that becomes apparent when you start thinking about your surroundings in Uganda is that everyone you talk to is raising five to fifty children who are not theirs. It is very troubling to see young children living by their own devices, on the streets with no adult presence. The big culprit is aids. A whole generation of young adults have died leaving all of these (millions of) kids.

Luanga Mike also needs some metal sheets for his orphanage

Can You Help?

You can donate any amount of money. If we raise more than we need we will use it to help these refugees.   

          These people are thirsty, starving, and living without shelter.

We can give you a receipt from a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization if you need it for your taxes.

You can start your own project in Uganda.

      Almost anything you can imagine would be helpful.

                   If you belong to a church, work with your church group or with missionaries.

                   If you belong to a service organization, start a project with them.

                   If you have a particular interest, figure a way to teach or apply it.

                   Teach anything at any level.

                   Figure out a way to ship the food and goods that we waste and throw away to them.

                             They live in a landlocked country on the other side of the world. Shipping is a big problem.

Don’t forget these people!

                   See to it that our government doesn’t forget them.

                   See to it that the United Nations doesn’t overlook them.

                   Learn more about Uganda (and Africa) and teach others here what you have learned.

                             We are all very ignorant about the situation there.    

Contact me!

I am

Ken Goyer

285 Maple Street

Eugene, Oregon 97402

United States of America

Telephone 1-541-689-7170

Email  aiduganda@comcast.net