Youth make up 60% of the population in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. So there are A LOT of young people who are coming into their own, looking for purpose and meaning. And one group who’s done an incredible job doing just that are the Nakivale Rotaractors.
The Nakivale Rotaract Club is a service-oriented youth group that meets together once per week, dreaming up ideas (big and small) for how to give back to the community. All refugees themselves, they know well the obstacles that their peers face – and they have brilliant ideas for how to overcome them.
A lot of their ideas center around how to get a little extra income – like so many young people around the world, having some pocket cash to try new things, or maybe even start your own business, is an exciting prospect. But instead of mowing lawns or working at a coffee shop, these youngsters were thinking of a way to add value in this refugee camp context – chickens!
“Poultry rearing is a profitable livelihood initiative, more people should do it!” said one Rotaractor. “We want to get more chicks for our poultry project, so that we can expand and bring more youth into the club.”
So for Day 40, we gave this idea a boost. We helped the club purchase 200 more little chicks. adding them to their already established poultry project.
The poultry project is a place where youth in Nakivale can learn how to keep chickens, how to make a chicken coop profitable, and how to save for their future. This trifecta of learning helps young people focus on something productive – and dream bigger.
