Kimi Restoration Campaign

Green Ambassadors Club together with Bees and Trees Uganda, YLEC, YesGlobalinitiative, Rotaract club of Nkumba stewards, TASO Mulago & others set out to make Kimi island a better place

Introduction

Kimi Island is a little Island in the Ugandan part of Victoria Lake. Having a surface area of less than 0.5 km² it is home to approximately 5500 inhabitants. Some boats provide some contact to the mainland, of which a ride takes 2–3 hours.

There are two camps on the island; Kimi Kachanga and Kimi Banga. The standard form of shelter on the island is characterized by a slum with shanty structures made of wood and iron sheets close to each other. The main source of income at the island is fishing, for the men, even though they spend most of their income on alcohol and sex, contributing to the rampant spread of HIV/AIDS. On the other hand, women engage in fish processing, food vending, bar waiting, prostitution and looking after their children.

The tragedy

On top of those – already harsh – conditions, a fire destroyed almost every structure on the island on 15th October, 2017. The fire is said to have started in the wee hours of the night while the locals were having their bed rest. The fishing community on the island lost everything.

With the people of the community unable to have the luxury of insurance and little support from the government; there was no way of making up for the losses made including the lives and the livelihood of the struggling community. In addition to that, the only clinic on the island that was serving the entire community was not spared. This clinic was rendering services to expectant mothers as well as the HIV/AIDS community. Many island locals had borrowed loans from the banks to facilitate their businesses whose fate had then been lost to the ground. All that was left was hope that the government and other good Samaritans could run to their rescue.

What will the raised funds be used for?

This December, the coming project will be aimed at improving the livelihoods of both women as well as differently-abled (disabled) inhabiting the island.

For the women inhabiting in the island, Green Ambassadors is providing alternative income generating activities, such as the production of organic soap, in order to prevent them from bouncing back to prostitution. Part of the funds raised by this fund raiser will be used for providing these woman with an "end of year"-package, including food, clothes & scholastic materials.

Part of the funds will also be used for financing workshops provisioned by Green Ambassadors, that aim at teaching the differently abled sustaining entrepreneurial activities suitable to ones capabilities. Examples of these activities include, self-sustaining gardening & financial literacy.

Lastly, the acquired funds will be used for establishing a medical camp serving as one of the few places where the inhabitans of Kimi island are able to receive medical attention.

Long term objectives of the Kimi Restoration Campaign

The Kimi Restoration Campaign aims to improve the overall livelihoods of the island inhabitants. The objectives are to

Various project and activities will contribute to achieving this. We aim to install a solar installation near the, currently empty, health clinic. These will power refrigerators needed for the storage of medicines and vaccines, enabling the island to provide more complete and faster accessible medical treatments. Additionally, we will distribute small autarkic solar lights to students and families. They will reduce the usage of unhealthy and dangerous petroleum lamps.

A second contribution vector to increasing the livelihoods on the island will be the provision of more restrooms. These will be placed near the health clinic and the schools. They will increase the overall hygiene.

Further aims are the provision of trees and the installation of a garden. For one, they increase the biodiversity on the island. Additionally, they will provide fruits and vegetables, reducing the total dependence on the main land.

We also aim to interact with the government to provide a nurse stationed at the health clinic.

All these changes have to be implemented in a lasting way. This shall be ensured by introducing a structure of assigned personnel by island inhabitants.