COVID-19 Local Solutions
High Protein Porridge
Artemisia Annua
Student Scholarships
High Protein Porridge
In December 2020 Eco Mama’s Uganda leased 15 acres of land to embark on The Porridge Project with the hope of feeding almost 500 community members, many of whom are in poor health and are malnourished. Due to poverty, the Covid-19 pandemic and the inability to be mobile given the “stay in place” orders, we have watched the decline in our community’s health and the health of communities at large.
The Porridge Project is the pilot project of hopefully many to come. We have organically grown corn, millet, sorghum, cassava, ground nuts, sesame seeds, moringa and red and grain amaranth. We then harvested and processed these ingredients into a porridge flour. This high protein, immune boosting flour will feed our community one serving each day for one year.
With the success of this years growing season we have a surplus of flour to donate outside of our community and some to sell at fair market value to help us sustain our programs. We have been recognized for the positive impact we’re making by the Busoga Kingdom who has granted us an additional 10 acres of land to spread our charity work even further.
In addition to being able to feed our community and beyond for a full year with this current project, we have provided meaningful employment for at least 30 members, provided education and transferable skill training which is invaluable, have cushioned the community from the harsh prevailing conditions arising from Covid-19 that has caused further ill- health, abject poverty and despair. Also, we have notably improved the soil fertility in the leased land.
Artemisia Annua
Eco Mama's Uganda has been educating communities about cultivation and consumption of A. Annua to prevent and treat malaria in East Africa since 2009, though the herb itself (originally from Asia) has been used by indigenous peoples for thousands of years for its anti-viral and immune boosting properties.
Promising research in Europe and the US on AA and Covid-19
shows that a daily infusion of Artemisia Annua interferes with the virus' ability to replicate (thus terminating it), and it is effective against a whole range of variants.
In a time where vaccines are often inaccessible to the global south, this simple and accessible herbal medicine,
"could provide a cost-effective therapy to help stave off the rapid global spread of these variants", and the WHO is being implored to consider the overwhelming research from the experts
(M.S. Nair, Y. Huang, D.A. Fidock, M.J. Towler, P.J. Weathers).
We ourselves have seen the incredible effects of this herb on our own children and the difference it has made in our communities in East Africa, and welcome donor support for education, seeds, processing and distribution of this life-affirming herb.
Sources:
https://www.wpi.edu/news/early-research-finds-extracts-sweet-wormwood-plant-can-inhibit-covid-19-virus
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.08.459260v1
Student Scholarships
Every year generous donours support children in our community to attend school. While we understand that "school" in itself is one of the most prominent tools of ongoing colonization, it is also a place of safety, wellbeing, and hope for vulnerable children. Literacy is the mechanism by which liberation from poverty is often achieved in rural Africa, and scholarships offer students a safe place to focus attention while parents work.
This year, donors have taken it a step further, offering previously allocated scholarship funds to be sent to students families,
offering much-needed wage subsidy and income support while many are unable to work as a result of COVID-19.
There are many children and families in our community that still need support. Please contact us if you wish to sponsor a student or family on a sliding scale, with whatever capacity you have to offer support.
