Under our DIY Community projects, today we bring you one of our groups “The creative teens” who have started a project on “Prevention of violence against children and adolescents.” through this initiative, these youths will sensitize and support their communities in issues related to this cause.
The Do It Yourself community projects were initiated after lock down and closure of schools due to COVID19 pandemic to keep youth from school active and also be useful to their communities.
In our community projects, One of the DIY community members are creating a demo garden in the middle of a real estate to teach others skills of farming and growing garden for business. The 12 youths last week had to prepare their garden after the training in practical agriculture where they are to apply life skills. They intend to grow vegetables that are commonly needed in the estate because they are sure of the market, but at the same time open to train others the skills and to the general community.
At DIY why, we focus on solving a problem but also extend the skill to the community members.
We are continuing to keep our beneficiaries connected. DIY team will be on radios that reach out to all students in the 20 schools we work with. The programs will run on two radio stations. One will be running every Thursday 9am to 10am on SUCCESS 104.9 FM, a wakiso district based radio station. And another program will be on SAUTI 10.5 FM every Sunday at noon to 1pm , a kayunga based Radio. As we keep distance during this time of COVID-19, our mentors will continue training on radio waves. For some of the programs we shall be live on our social media platforms where you can also catch up with these interesting life changing topics.
Arayo Cathy is one of the DIY new mentors at komo learning centre, she went through orientation towards becoming a mentor. a number of sessions were taught to her with other 12 mentors, for Cathy it was not a seek of understanding the mentor-ship role, in DIY but also utilizing the knowledge to reflect on her life. lets hear how she is gained from the sessions personally and how she is applying the skills during this time of COVID-19.
Cathy : “I sat down and thought of what I can do during this lockdown of COVID-19, since am not even sure when this will end since the numbers of COVID-19 are increasing and people dying in other countries everyday. Then I talked to my landlord if he could help me get apiece of land where I can rent. So I was lucky he helped me and we went out to start looking for the piece of land which I got at 70,000 for full year, But before I thought of agriculture I had a lot of things on my mind which I could do during this lock down as follows, paper bags making, door mats, chapati business and bagiya making. But I had to sit down and make a list of things I was interested in, then I arranged them with the most preferred on top and least preferred on the bottom. And I conducted a SWOT analysis of each of them. Assessing the strength, I have , my weakness in running it, opportunities that enable me to succeed and the potential threats that may determine it’s success. After the SWOT analysis, I eliminated everything that had very high weakness and threats most especially if the threats are uncountable or expensive to control. So I ended up choosing to start cultivating crops. Because I think this is most profitable in the long -run and self sustaining when you get used to it. And it will help provide food for home consumption which I believe will enable me to overcome food insecurity if this pandemic of (COVID-19) continues for sometime”.
That is how DIY project transforms every one in the family.
Besides of all what is happening as a result of COVID-19, Komo Learning Center DIY Team both in Uganda and outside Uganda is still on duty to insure that students and teachers can be engaged. That’s why in DIY sessions, ICT is one skill that is being embraced to make students acquire. Because we believe where man can’t reach in such a moment, Technology is a major factor to make work flow. Thanks to the internet and online platforms that makes this happened.
In this time of Covid-19, you will realize that much is going on in homes and offices, Since we have you students at home, we believe you have enough time to get some stuff needed made by you in this period with the skills you already have from our sessions.
You can also teach some other people at home. Follow the links below to make your own sanitizer and also your own home made face mask.
At Mpoma Satelite School, one of the small projects that students did in their means is to create their own key holders. staying in boarding school means keeping your keys safe. With help of our creative mentors, this was possible and every one can keep is or her key safe. Starting small projects with hands on motivates young people to be more creative and think critically. More big projects are under way this year 2020.
When we asked this question in one of our sessions with the DIY participants, the answers we got were interesting and defining the meaning of working together as a team with a combination of participants, mentors, project officers, teachers, head teachers , directors of studies, the community (school) , komo learning center, the ministry of education , policy makers and of course our supporters to implement this project. From the photos you can realize the amazing answers to this question from some of our participants. At Komo we still say “WE NEED EACH OTHER”.
Do It Yourself Club 