Learn a little bit more about the farmer’s community that Faith Angels is involved with!

Thank you very much for keep supporting Faith Angels Ministry, from Uganda!
As a return to your valuable support, we would like to share with you this month’s Newsletter from the organization that we hope you’d enjoy!

This month we are going to explain to you in detail another project that Faith Angels is involved in within their community, and to learn a bit about languages in Uganda.

 

 

 

Learn a little bit more about the farmer’s community that Faith Angels is involved with!

 

It is known already that even though the main priority of Faith Angels is education, they are involved in many community projects. They donate food, support orphanages, and also support farmers of their community. Today we will learn a bit more about what they are doing and how they are supporting agriculture.
Agriculture is the profession of 70% of the population in Uganda. This means that more than half of the population that is currently working, works as a farmer. There are available government support programs for those cultivating on a large scale. However, receiving this support depends on where the community of farmers is located. Those living in remote areas don’t have access to this support and are in a very vulnerable position.
In Andrew’s community, there were some farmers struggling with the lack of funds. So, in 2018, Andrew (the founder of Faith Angels) had an idea. To unify the farmers and to make them work together as a group in the community. Before this, the farmers grow crops as individuals and never collaborated with each other. That is why this idea came with the purpose of promoting unity and collaboration between them.

The farmer’s community is mainly formed by women and men that are 18 years or older, due to children are encouraged to go to school. There are members of different tribes but they all cultivate as a collective. There are no restrictions on gender or ethnicity. They all work together as one.
Due to the lack of funds, Faith Angels have been donating since the creation of the farmer’s groups seeds and capital to support their development and after the creation of the farmer’s group, the stipend that every farmer receives is between 80 and 150 USD per month. Right now, they are also able to cultivate beans and potatoes and collect honey. Even though still there is a need to improve, there is a plan to start raising poultry, pigs, and sheep rearing.
This idea didn’t come only to support the farmers but also to integrate the Batwa’s in the community. In the previous month’s article, we already learned that the Batwa’s are a nomad community that was expelled from the forests a few decades ago but hasn’t fully integrated into society. Faith Angel’s plan was to integrate the Batwa’s into the farmer’s community to teach them how to make a living and to learn from other tribes how to integrate into society.
The plan of Faith Angels is to keep working to develop agriculture on a large scale so there could be a good income for everyone and is only with your help possible to keep developing this project and all the ones that Faith Angels are supporting. From Airfunding we wish them luck and would like to say thank you for your support. Your contribution is creating a big impact in many people’s lives!

Languages in Uganda
Uganda is a multilingual country. Forty-three of its living languages fall into four main families—Bantu, Nilotic, and Central Sudanic—with another two languages in the Kuliak family. Of these, 41 are indigenous and 2 are non-indigenous.
Right now, English, inherited from the colonial period, and Swahili are the official languages; the latter was added in 2005. There is also a Ugandan Sign Language.
Between all these languages there is one called Rukiga. This language is the one spoken by the members of Faith Angels. Kiga (also called Rukiga, Ruchiga, or Chiga) is a Great Lakes Bantu language of the Kiga people (Bakiga). It was first written in the second half of the 19th century. Kiga is largely spoken in the ancient Kigezi region which includes about 5 districts, namely; Rubanda, Rukiga, Kabale, Kanungu, and some parts of Rukungiri. As of 2021, Kiga is spoken natively by about 1.3 million people in Uganda.

Andrew, the founder of Faith Angels Ministry , has translated for the Airfunding team and the supporters some words in his native language: Rukiga.

In the charter below, you can take a look at how to say some basic expressions in Rukiga, in case you visit the community one day or in case you join the next Streaming!

If it feels a bit hard, don’t worry! English is still the official language of the country and is taught in all the schools so they should be able to understand you when you speak in English! But, who knows, maybe in the next Streaming, you will be able to practice and use a bit of Rukiga with the natives! Wouldn’t be bad right?

Remember that you can directly follow updates from Faith Angels Ministry in the Supporters Community in Facebook. Don’t forget to join the community if you haven’t done it yet, by clicking on the following link!