Ugandan Students Turn Waste to Wealth

Students holding vegetables from the school garden.By Melissa KyeyuneAug 30 2019 (IPS) Namugongo is a lush, forested community in central Uganda where tall trees are home to colourful birds and noisy monkeys. The community has a tragic place in history: on 3 June 1886, 22 Ugandan Christian converts were publicly executed, on the orders of King Mwanga II of the Buganda Kingdom, in an attempt to ward off the influence of colonial powers with whom the Christians were associated. The converts were elevated to sainthood by Pope Paul VI in 1964. Ugandans today see those converts as martyrs. They commemorate every 3 June, Martyrs Day, with weeklong celebrations that attract thousands of visitors from around the country. During the week celebrants discard tons of waste, including plastic bottles, food and sewage, often throwing them into open channels, where they are likely to be transported by heavy rains into the premises of St. Kizito High School on the outskirts of the village. Melissa KyeyuneWaste to wealth But the students of St. Kizito have come up with ways to collect that waste and transform it into wealth. They use the silt they collect to create and maintain the school’s pavers, and they create arts and crafts from the plastic straws and bottles, which they then sell. The students also turn biowaste into organic fertilizer for the school gardens, where they learn to grow mushrooms, onions and cabbage, and they use dried briquettes made from biowaste as fuel to cook sc...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Development & Aid Economy & Trade Environment Featured Food & Agriculture Global Headlines Health Inequity Natural Resources Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news