In the year 2013, we started growing trees in Bujagala village, Kiboga District. We were met with vulnerable families that had been evicted from the National Forestry Authority (NFA) gazetted government land. The residents had lived on this land for more than 30 years and hence regarded it as nearly theirs.

The eviction meant that their livelihood was taken away from them and they now had to depend on the mercy of the leaseholders, who would allow them to grow their food crops in the areas that are not yet planted. As with the case of most of the lands surrounded by forests, monkeys are always the first beneficiaries of the crops. Women and children spend most of their time chasing these monkeys. This full-time activity affected school-going children and the would-be peaceful family settings. As well, also affected the quantity of the harvests from the maize, beans and other cultivated crops. Moreover, the men like in many illiterate homeless communities took to drinking shortly after the flowering of these crops, they would take deposits of the would-be sale amounts, risking the families to food scarcity and poverty. Indeed, by harvest time, most of the harvest is already sold and the money never reaches home, hence starvation.

We thus got into a deliberate effort to not only train these homeless vulnerable ladies in guided skills that would get alternative sources but also offer counselling services too. Alternative sources trained for women include  (baskets, mats, tailoring), food nutrition (by growing greens, and eggplants), motivation and attitude raising that would give them self-esteem in order for them to feel their worth. Later, we registered as a Community-Based Organization, Veronica Pacifiers;  which now prides itself on a membership of 50 women who are happy and look to a successful future that they can survive in with alternative skills.