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It takes a Global Village: Local non-profit helps Uganda
By Colleen Young
On April 10, 2013
Buffalo State can help save one life at a time, even if the people they're helping are on the
other side of the world.
Global African Village, a local non-profit, has information and pictures on display in Butler
Library throughout April.
Founded in 2007, Global African Village works to support those suffering from poverty,
natural disasters and deficient infrastructure. It has experienced rapid growth since
then, and it has been able to complete many micro-projects in eastern Uganda, including
providing medicine to people with no access to health care, repairing wells, building simple
bridges, purchasing school supplies for students, securing college tuition for a young
woman and converting an old home into a child care center called Joe's Playhouse.
"We work in a small area of Uganda, specifically with the Bagishu tribe," said Sharon Green,
co-founder, corresponding secretary and public relations.
"This area is isolated and not on many radar screens. It's two hours from the closest city...
Distance is a problem because they don't have paved roads, transportation or money to get
them to the closest city."
Director Sebastian Wanzama-Piro, who now lives in Toronto, is from the Bagishu tribe and
goes back to help them once a year. He knows their needs and has a lot of respect with local
leaders, so he can find out what they truly need help with.
Throughout the year, the organization raises funds for projects in Uganda, completed
annually. It is not a top-down organization. The Bagishu people are active stakeholders in
the projects and help decide what is needed.
The organization focuses on assisting the people in three areas - health and medicine,
education and community development - and four projects: child care, health care,
infrastructure improvement and small-business development.
"We are pleased to be able to assist people who have very little and who live in a very
isolated area," Green said. "Many people in other parts of the world don't even know they
exist, and the things that we take for granted... are not available to these people, so we help
them to be self-sufficient."
Global African Village is run solely by volunteers and doesn't have a paid staff or office, so
their operating expenses are slim to none. That way, almost all of the funds they raise go
directly toward helping the Bagishu people.
The humanitarians leading Global African Village aren't waiting for the world to change.
They're taking action now to assist those especially affected by poverty - the sick, the
hungry, the very young and the elderly people in eastern Uganda.
They're able to partner up with local volunteers, groups and schools to help the people of
Uganda reach their full potential. Along the way, they've partnered up with schools and
local volunteers and groups like Canisius College Enactus, run by economics professor
Patricia Hutton, Ph.D.
"The Bagishu people live on subsistence farming, though they have inadequate farm tools,
seeds, soil exhaustion, culture, illiteracy, and poor diets," Hutton said.
Her group uses entrepreneurial action to promote community growth and works to help
the Bagishu tribe support itself.
"In 2010, Canisius Enactus developed an economic development program, called Buusale
Kamani meaning "Friendship is Strength," Hutton said. "It... resulted in a 10 percent
increase in enrollment at the village school, an expansion on a carpenter's workshop and a
better home for his family, ... increased crop production and income for a farmer, provided
an investment in livestock, livestock resale, and more grazing land."
Many of the people of Uganda make a small income, if any. Canisius Enactus and Global
African Village addressed this with a sustainable enterprise.
"We determined that a community fish farm could provide income and improve local diets,"
Hutton said. "The waste from this pond could be put to good use as crop fertilizer. We
funded the construction of the fish pond, which sustains 700-1,000 tilapia and catfish for
community consumption."
Hand-in-hand with this and other groups, Global African Village encourages people to
count their blessings by sharing resources and enlightening others.
"As a human race, we are intertwined. So, together, we can save one life at a time,"
Wanzama-Piro said.
Colleen Young can be reached by email at young.record@live.com.
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