This April
Awamu, an N16 based social enterprise set
up by Hackney born Emma Scullion,
have launched an International
Sunflower Growing Challenge. Awamu (meaning 'together' in L'uganda) works
with women in the slums of Kampala, Uganda, to ensure that orphaned and
vulnerable children in their communities are cared for and can go to school.
Lack
of food means that many of the children they work with go to school hungry, but
you can you help them breakdown the barriers that stand in the way children
getting the education that is vital to their future by growing sunflowers.
Inspire your children about
the world around them
Awamu have created a free
Sunflower activity pack
that you can download and share with your children to
support their learning and inspire them about the world around them. This is a global sunflower challenge with
families and children of all ages, from all around the world joining in
including the children you'll be helping in Kampala. You
take part by claiming your awamu sunflower seeds when you make a
contribution to their ‘Vegetable garden project’.
All the
money they raise will buy soil, seeds, tools and training so the women Awamu
work with can build gardens and learn how to grow healthy, nutritious food for
the children in their care.
But hold on a minute (I hear you
say), I thought awamu was about education for children... why are
vegetable gardens so vital?
The simple fact is, hungry children can't learn. Sadly, many of the families Awamu work with
live on less than 50p a day, most of the children are lucky if they get one
meal a day. Typically that meal will be a bowl of maize porridge, which
contains little nutritional value.
Lack of food means most of the children they
work with go to school hungry, so they're trying to break down the barriers
that stand in the way of children getting an education.
As the kids live in an urban slum area there
is little very little space available for growing food, no good topsoil and a
lot of contamination from open drains. They've already piloted the first phase of gardening
project in November 2014. They built 60 raised-bed vegetable gardens with mum's
like Grace and it's having a huge impact on their
health, education and income.
They were so impressed at the impact the
gardens have had that we want to roll them out to other families in desperate
need and also create a few extra gardens that we can use to help children like
Jamila and Butambala (pictured below) in emergency situations.
Emma took this photo when she went to visit them at their home after hearing that their father had been hospitalised again and they were living alone. Their father has HIV and spends long periods of time in hospital, and with no other relatives to help, the children are left to fend for themselves.
The women Awamu work with are their only
safety net in the community, they visit the children regularly to make sure
they are well, are going to school - extra gardens would mean that we had food
to help children like Jamila and her brother.
By taking part you're helping to ensure they
don't go to school hungry which means they can concentrate in class... so
sunflowers really change children’s lives! So
get your green fingers into action, claim your sunflower seeds to start growing
now.
The
rules
Once
you have your seeds planted please keep Awamu updated on the progress of your
flowers by posting your photos and updates on their facebook page or using the hash
tag #awamugrowoff on instagram and twitter – they'll reweet and share your
progress with everyone else taking part.
The
final measuring day will be September 11th. Two winners will be
announced: tallest sunflower and widest face sunflower. Please
send a final full-length photo clearly showing the height or width of the
sunflower against a measuring tape. The winner will be announced on September
25th!
Good Luck.
To visit Awamu's website click HERE
Awamu is a registered cic no. 7818944.
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