“What can we do to fight poverty?”
For Christian, treasurer of the Youth Center at Oruchinga Refugee Settlement, this is a question he and the other young people he works with contemplate and act on all the time. And, he says, the answer isn’t straightforward. “Poverty isn’t just about money. It’s a big part, but it’s also about lack of peace and community.”
One of the ideas Christian and his friends at the Youth Center have to build peace is neighborhood volunteer days – where members of the group come together to do community works projects once a month. They do things like fix potholes in the road, plant trees and flowers – anything the community needs.
They’ve already gotten started, repairing a nearby road that was in terrible condition. But they want to do more, to expand to all of Oruchinga. “But the biggest challenge for us is the material,” said Cubaka, President of the center. “With more tools, we could do more.”
For Day 72, the idea was simple – get these young folks more tools.
The work that they’ll do with those tools extends beyond the simple doable acts of cleaning up streets and fixing roads. It sends a message to the refugee community, and to the local Ugandan community who live side by side with refugees.
“The purpose of community participation is to fight against discrimination, to bring people together, to be active and do something, and to fight against poverty,” said Christian. “We’re showing people here that we want to work and help.”
With supplies like new wheelbarrows, shovels, gloves, boots, and more, the group will be better equipped than ever to face these challenges.
“With more materials like these,” said Cubaka, “we can do it. We can go even week by week. We can go into villages and see what needs fixing. We can go together.”
“If some day in the future, we can be at the same level as those ones who got blessed, we’ll be ok,” said Christian. “That’s what we’re working toward.”
