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8 forms of capital active hope agroecology agroforestry alder buckthorn Amazon anxiety apples arthritis autumn Autumn equinox back yard beans Bec Hellouin beech tree bees beneficial berries biochar biodigester biodiversity blackberries blackthorn book review brain brassica cage budget build building campesino capital card deck Celtic festivals change changes chemical-free chickens christmas circular clay pot cleansers cleansing milks climate change climate chaos climate emergency climate grief climate solutions climbers climbing cob comfrey community Community Nature Network community projects compost compost teas connection consciousness conservation container cooking coppice coppicing cordial cosmology courgettes crafts crisis crop protection Cross Quarter Festival cultural emergence culture cut flowers cycles degraded design diary diversity DIY do it yourself dryland earth care earth's cycles Earth's energy ecoculture economics ecopoetry ecosystem ecosystem restoration camps ecosystems edges edible edible flowers education efficiency elder elderflowers elements elixir energy equinox ethics face mask fair shares Fairtrade farming feedback feminine ferns figs film firewood floristry flower essence flower garden flowers food food forest food garden footbath forage foraging forest garden forest gardening forests fruit fruit leather fruit trees funding fungi future future care gardening gardens garlic gift economy gin Give Nature a voice Glennie Kindred global poverty glut grapes green space greenhouse grief groundcover grow grow food grow your own growing guilds habitat habits handcream harvest harvests hawthorn hazel hazelnut healing shrubs healing trees health healthy soil heart health hedgerow hedging herbal herbal remedies herbal teas herbalist herbs holistic holistic planned grazing home homeless homemade wine homestead hope Hugelkultur humanure hummus hungry gap IBC tanks Imbolc incense increase yields Indigenous inexpensive influence inspiration International Womens Day jam keyline kingfisher kitchen garden lacto-fermentation Lammas land landscape landscapes life lifestyle limeflowers livelihood livestock living labs logs Looby Macnamara lotion low cost low-impact Lush Spring Prize macerations Manda Scott Mangwende Orphan Care Trust market garden market gardening marmalade marshmallow mass heater meadowsweet medicinal microbes microfarm Midwest Permaculture mimic mindset mitigation money Morag Gamble moringa Mother Earth movement mulch multifunctional mushrooms native plants natural natural building natural fertiliser natural skincare natural swimming pool nature nature connection nitrogen no dig no waste no-dig north-facing novel November nutrition nuts observe oca October off-grid oil cleansing orchard orchards organic organic flowers organic gardening outdoor shower oven oxymel oyster pallets pasture-fed patterns people people care peoplecare perennials permaculture permaculture design permaculture magazine award permaculture projects permaculutre permayouth pesto pests philippines pine tree pips pizza oven plant profile plants pollinators pollution polyculture polycultures positive change preserving principles propagating protection pruning prunings psycho-spiritual awareness psychospiritual transformation rainforest rainwater raspberries recipe recipes reduce reed beds regeneration regenerative regenerative agriculture relative location relative matter remedy renewable renewable energy resilient resources restoration reuse revolution rhythms rootstock rootstocks roundhouse roundwood runner beans sage salad salads salve Samhain schools Scotland scotts pine seasonal seasons seeds selfcare Sepp Holzer september septic tanks sewage treatment shade shamanism sheet mulching shrubs skincare sloes slugs small solutions small-scale smallholding social justice soil health solar solutions sowing spiritual spring squash stacking functions stock-free straw straw bale summer support sustainable Sweet Bay syntropic systems temperate terraces thistles thrutopia timber timber framing tincture tonic toolkit tools transformation trees upcycle urban urban gardening veg garden vegan veganic vermicomposting vinegar visionaries walnuts waste water water cleansing watering weeds wellbeing wetland wild edges wild food wild garlic wildflower wildlife wine recipes wings winter winter greens winter salads wood stove woodburner woodland woodland management woodlands world is possible worms yarrow year round year-round food yield young people youth zai pits zone 00 zoning

Topics

8 forms of capital active hope agroecology agroforestry alder buckthorn Amazon anxiety apples arthritis autumn Autumn equinox back yard beans Bec Hellouin beech tree bees beneficial berries biochar biodigester biodiversity blackberries blackthorn book review brain brassica cage budget build building campesino capital card deck Celtic festivals change changes chemical-free chickens christmas circular clay pot cleansers cleansing milks climate change climate chaos climate emergency climate grief climate solutions climbers climbing cob comfrey community Community Nature Network community projects compost compost teas connection consciousness conservation container cooking coppice coppicing cordial cosmology courgettes crafts crisis crop protection Cross Quarter Festival cultural emergence culture cut flowers cycles degraded design diary diversity DIY do it yourself dryland earth care earth's cycles Earth's energy ecoculture economics ecopoetry ecosystem ecosystem restoration camps ecosystems edges edible edible flowers education efficiency elder elderflowers elements elixir energy equinox ethics face mask fair shares Fairtrade farming feedback feminine ferns figs film firewood floristry flower essence flower garden flowers food food forest food garden footbath forage foraging forest garden forest gardening forests fruit fruit leather fruit trees funding fungi future future care gardening gardens garlic gift economy gin Give Nature a voice Glennie Kindred global poverty glut grapes green space greenhouse grief groundcover grow grow food grow your own growing guilds habitat habits handcream harvest harvests hawthorn hazel hazelnut healing shrubs healing trees health healthy soil heart health hedgerow hedging herbal herbal remedies herbal teas herbalist herbs holistic holistic planned grazing home homeless homemade wine homestead hope Hugelkultur humanure hummus hungry gap IBC tanks Imbolc incense increase yields Indigenous inexpensive influence inspiration International Womens Day jam keyline kingfisher kitchen garden lacto-fermentation Lammas land landscape landscapes life lifestyle limeflowers livelihood livestock living labs logs Looby Macnamara lotion low cost low-impact Lush Spring Prize macerations Manda Scott Mangwende Orphan Care Trust market garden market gardening marmalade marshmallow mass heater meadowsweet medicinal microbes microfarm Midwest Permaculture mimic mindset mitigation money Morag Gamble moringa Mother Earth movement mulch multifunctional mushrooms native plants natural natural building natural fertiliser natural skincare natural swimming pool nature nature connection nitrogen no dig no waste no-dig north-facing novel November nutrition nuts observe oca October off-grid oil cleansing orchard orchards organic organic flowers organic gardening outdoor shower oven oxymel oyster pallets pasture-fed patterns people people care peoplecare perennials permaculture permaculture design permaculture magazine award permaculture projects permaculutre permayouth pesto pests philippines pine tree pips pizza oven plant profile plants pollinators pollution polyculture polycultures positive change preserving principles propagating protection pruning prunings psycho-spiritual awareness psychospiritual transformation rainforest rainwater raspberries recipe recipes reduce reed beds regeneration regenerative regenerative agriculture relative location relative matter remedy renewable renewable energy resilient resources restoration reuse revolution rhythms rootstock rootstocks roundhouse roundwood runner beans sage salad salads salve Samhain schools Scotland scotts pine seasonal seasons seeds selfcare Sepp Holzer september septic tanks sewage treatment shade shamanism sheet mulching shrubs skincare sloes slugs small solutions small-scale smallholding social justice soil health solar solutions sowing spiritual spring squash stacking functions stock-free straw straw bale summer support sustainable Sweet Bay syntropic systems temperate terraces thistles thrutopia timber timber framing tincture tonic toolkit tools transformation trees upcycle urban urban gardening veg garden vegan veganic vermicomposting vinegar visionaries walnuts waste water water cleansing watering weeds wellbeing wetland wild edges wild food wild garlic wildflower wildlife wine recipes wings winter winter greens winter salads wood stove woodburner woodland woodland management woodlands world is possible worms yarrow year round year-round food yield young people youth zai pits zone 00 zoning

Empowering Families to Support Street Children

S.A.L.V.E. International work with Ugandan families to create resilient livelihoods, helping to unite them with their children who have ended up on the street.

Life on the streets is tough.

You are constantly on the move and hustling to find a way to make money.

You are constantly hungry and looking for ways you can get food to eat.

You are constantly aware of people around you and looking for danger around every corner.

This is hard enough if you are an adult, but imagine being a child and having to find your own ways to survive.

Support and Love Via Education International (S.A.L.V.E.) is a Ugandan charity supporting children to be able to leave the streets. We exist to help street connected children and their families to access education and thrive.

Since S.A.L.V.E. began in 2008, we have supported more than 2,000 children living on the streets through our Street Outreach programme. We have provided temporary accommodation to over 520 children to help them transition away from the streets. We have resettled over 560 children who had been living on the streets back to loving families and continued to provide the counselling and support that allows them to flourish at home. We have supported 180 children to receive formal education and helped more than 240 families to set up small businesses to support themselves. We have also planted over 5,000 fruit trees and started an innovative Drug Rehabilitation programme.

Our Permaculture Programme

Our Permaculture project started in 2017 by creating a model learning farm at our 5 acre site to inspire the children and enable them to learn skills in sustainable horticulture. We grow trees, flowers, fruits and vegetables, illustrating how to zone land and work with its natural flows. By choosing a sloped, depleted soil site, we show how you can enhance and make different uses of land with contours and a robust recycling system improving the soil. Our site is solar and hydro powered and our water comes from our rainwater harvesting system. Our social enterprise makes environmentally friendly cooking briquettes from farming waste to combat deforestation. Our classrooms are even made of recycled plastic bottle bricks.

Many of the children we support have experienced trauma and have low self-confidence. We use permaculture to connect them to the environment around them and help them to find balance and harmony in the world again. The children love learning about permaculture and these skills are a great tool to help them reintegrate with their families. Being able to support their family with knowledge helps the children to feel valued and that they can contribute to their community.

“When I lived on the streets, I didn’t know when I might next eat. Now I like learning how to grow food and care for animals at S.A.L.V.E., so I don’t need to be hungry ever again.” Kendrick aged 14

We have also developed a Permaculture and Business skills training programme, supporting the children’s caregivers to learn and use permaculture skills to generate an income. We additionally help them to train members of their own communities across Uganda in key permaculture skills they have learnt. We have so far trained 1,039 people directly and a further 1,998 people have benefited from those skills, reaching 3,037 people in total.

Ensuring families that aren’t normally able to provide for themselves financially are now able to reduce economic inequality. A key part of our training is about giving back and sharing skills. Training others helps to solidify personal learning, as well as passing on vital knowledge to improve practice in their local area.

The Challenges of Growing in Uganda

Uganda has an equatorial climate with two main annual growing seasons. Due to a changing climate the rainy seasons are no longer distinct, which makes it hard for farmers since most agricultural outputs are rain fed. Intensive deforestation to provide farming land and cooking fuel is leading to increased soil erosion. Soil depletion due to mono-cropping and overuse of pesticides is also reducing yields.

More than half Uganda’s population is under the age of 16 and families are often large (the families we support have an average of seven people. Uganda has welcomed more than 1 million refugees and thus has a booming population needing to clear more farming land for survival.

In the future we hope to do more educative work around the dangers of deforestation and ways communities can help to support and replenish their local environment. 

Family members learning permaculture growing © S.A.L.V.E. International

Permaculture in Practice: Jenifer’s Story

Jenifer is mother to one child S.A.L.V.E. has resettled home. She lives in a one-roomed house with her four children. Sadly her husband passed away in 2020, during the lockdown, leaving her a single parent trying to survive the pandemic. Her husband had been the main breadwinner in the family, and they had done a little crop growing on their land for their own use, but had struggled a lot due to lack of tools and the unpredictable rainy seasons.

After attending the three day training on permaculture and business skills at our residential site, Jenifer was supported to map out her land and started growing.

A field full of full of intercropped maize and beans © S.A.L.V.E. International

She worked very hard and is delighted by her success. Members of the local community now come directly to buy her crops. The money from these sales is used to buy basic necessities at home like clothes and soap. She harvested 250kg of maize after her first season. Part of this was milled to make posho flour for her family and the rest was sold for a good profit. She was also supported to train 10 members of her community in the permaculture skills that she most valued, which they found very helpful.

Jennifer is proud and excited to further develop her farm and her learning. Her whole family is much healthier now they have a better diet. She is planning to exchange her next maize harvest for school fees so that all her children can go to school again.

“I feel more confident now in what I can do. I can look after both my land and my family through permaculture, which gives us hope for the future.” Jenifer

S.A.L.V.E. was shortlisted for the 2022 Permaculture Magazine Award. Learn more about their work at: www.salveinternational.org

Further Resources

Books

Cultural Emergence
by Looby Macnamara

Articles

Training the Next Generation in Earth Repair

Permaculture Tools for Local Food and Strengthening Community

About the Author

S.A.L.V.E. International was founded in February 2008 by Helen Bolton, Nicola Sansom and Mike Asiya.