In Central Uganda, where Martyrs Day is commemorated on 3 June, the brutal and tragic history of this area is being turned around by St. Kizito Secondary School (named after one of the martyrs) students who are turning waste into wealth, not only for the school, but also to benefit the community and the village in which it is situated.
After missionaries were massacred as ordered by King Mwanga II of the Buganda Kingdom in an attempt to ward off the influence of colonial powers with whom the Christians were associated, Pope Paul VI sainted all those killed and since then this day had been celebrated
However, with thousands of people converging in the area to commemorate this, tons of waste is discarded during the celebration, most of it transported into the water and onto the premises of St Kizito High School.
But the students, instead of seeing their environment debased, started collecting the waste and turned it into eco-friendly pavers and various arts and crafts which are sold to provide an income for the school. Today, bio waste is turned into organic fertiliser for the school’s vegetable gardens where mushrooms, onions and cabbage are grown in abundance. Not to waste any discarded product, bio waste is also used to produce environmentally-friendly briquettes providing fuel to cook the daily 800 student meals. And with ingenious thinking, the school even addresses damaging deforestation as no firewood is needed anymore and no trees are cut down across this lush valley.
Students are taught how to make candles and soap, care for animals, landscape gardens and bake – all sustainable income-generating endeavours to ensure food shortage and poverty is addressed. Even when these students go home during holidays, they start food gardens and train up their families and friends to do the same. Many learners use the income they generate to pay their school fees. So successful are some that their produce is now bought by hotels across Uganda.
With a young and enterprising teacher, Brian Galabuzi, spearheading many projects since joining the school, his waste-to-energy non-profit business and food projects had equipped students, mostly from rural areas, to turn the future into a green future and stop the destruction of the beautiful African continent. Galabuzi obtained the assistance of many graduates to train St Kizito’s students in developing their own skills, reducing the harmful footprints of the past and ensuring the New Dawn would be GREEN.
