TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
kateregga-d's Blog
kateregga-d's Blog


Tree planting: a learning experience
Related to country: Uganda

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Tree planting: a learning experience

Abstract
During the last century, the world lost over 80% of its original forests. Every day an area of forest size of a football pitch is being destroyed, about 2000 trees are cut down per minute. As youth leaders and teachers we need to instill a culture of resource conservation among young people, involve them in tree planting activities where they can about trees.

As forests are being cut to get land for farming and fuel i.e. charcoal for cooking, forest ecosystem is being destroyed where all other ecosystem depend. The only way to preserve our ecosystem, tree planting should be done in areas where trees are cut to also avoid desertification.
All stakeholder should take participate especially young people in schools, who may do it for fun and learn at the same time. This learning can be as follows;
· Types of trees
Students can learn about the different types of tree there is i.e. eucalyptus, pine, and cedar e.t.c.
· Gestation period
They can learn how long they take to reach maturity i.e. some take 70-200 years like Dalbergia Melanoxylon known as Black wood.
· Landscape suitability
They will know which tree can best grow in a given landscape i.e. there are two types of eucalyptus , one can grow well in dry lands and the other in wetlands, so if they are interchanged the later will drain the soil if planted in a dry land which is environmentally degrading.
1. Eucalyptus grandis does well in wetlands.

2. Eucalyptus Camaidulensis does well in dry lands
· Herbal trees
Students should know that some trees are of medical value, it is very important they preserve them like Mango tree e.t.c
· Pest or Vector control trees
They are certain trees that repel pests and vectors these trees if planted in our compounds can chase away mosquitoes, snakes like Nim trees.
· Fruit trees
Students will learn that certain trees provide fruits which can be consumed like guavas, mangoes, Jackfruit e.t.c. which can reduce famine.
· Trees with cultural values
There are some trees that are of cultural value like Bark cloth trees, these trees where used by Baganda people long ago to make Bark cloth. This bark cloth is worn at traditional ceremonies and used to wrap corpses before they are buried to date. Such cultures need to be preserved as we protect the cutting and encourage the planting of such trees.

References
1. CHUWA: the man Behind Blackwood project, www.africaconservation.org/guardian
2. Plant for the planet campaign, www.unep.org/children_youth/campaign
3. The sustainable forestry Handbook, S. Higman, S. Bass, N. Judd, J. Mayers and R. Nussbaum, 2000, Earth Scan

November 21, 2007 | 5:21 AM Comments  0 comments

Tags:


REVERSE THE SPREAD OF HIV/AIDS:TARGITING YOUTH.

REVERSE THE SPREAD OF HIV/AIDS:TARGITING YOUTH.
Uganda has braked a severe and devastating epidemic of HIV infection and for almost a quarter of the century’s epidemic started on the shower of lake Victoria in Rakai district, the initial epic center of illness. There after ,HIV infection spread quickly ,initially in major urban areas and along highway
By 1986,HIV had reached all districts in the country ,resulting into what is classified as a generalized epidemic. HIV infection continued to spread relatively throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s and soon gave rise to aware of AIDS as more HIV infected people succumbed to opportunities infections arising from their suppressed immune systems.
Uganda has a much large proportion of its population in the younger age groups than in the elder age groups There are slightly more mal than female under age 20 and slightly lower percentages of male than female at ages of 20-39,53%of the total population of consisting children under age 15, 38% represents individuals aged 15-49 age, while 50 years and above accounts for only 96%. The age distribution reflects Ugandans high fertility that produces a large base of youth
The prevalence of HIV for the 15-24 age group is 36% , prevalence of women between 15-24 is 4% while men is 1% .Urban youth are more likely to be infection than those in rural areas to the following ratio 5% to 3%(table 8:10)Kampala has the highest prevalence ratio of 11.8% compared to other part of Uganda(Table 8.4) source HIV/AIDS Sero- behavioral survey.
Why are youth so vulnerable?
Through to Uganda the fact of HIV/AIDS is becoming younger and famine, vulnerable groups are much more prone to HIV infection due to globalization, poverty ,gender discrimination and lack of access to information and health services
· Globalization and poverty increase population migration within Uganda in search of better economic opportunities. The majority of migrant workers are younger people. isolated from main stream society and with HIV knowledge and few life skills, they are at risk of acquiring HIV as a result of unprotected casual sex.25.9% have used condom (source HIV/AIDS Sero- behavioral survey 2004-2005 ).
· Biological and social factors render girl and woman more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS .Research show that during unprotected sex , the risk of HIV infection is two to for times higher for woman than men.
· Entrenched gender biases often deprive girls of education ,as a result , girls and women have much less knowledge of HIV/AIDS than men. Also ,early marriage and gender violence increase the risk of HIV infection among them.
· Adolescents and young people are poorly informed about sexual, reproductive health and the consequence of unprotected sex.In the HIV sero-behavioural 2004-05 shows that 30% of young women 35% of young men have knowledge of HIV/AIDS and ways it can be transmitted.
· Access to essential health service is lacking in the country.
How to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Focusing HIV prevention on youth offer the greatest hope for containing the spread of HIV in Uganda. To be effective ,precaution effort should go hand in hand with treatment and care.
Enhancing Knowledge, skill and preventive services.
School are the best channel is for reaching the majority of teenagers and youth .merely incorporating information on HIV/AIDS in the curriculum, hemmer, is not sufficient. schools should be encouraged to promote a life-skills approach, which emphasis’s interactive teaching methods to encourage young people to face health risk and move responsible. such curricula has not yet been developed ,living the civil society organizations like youth watch to intervene.
There is on easy way to reach youth who are out of school, while work place HIV/AIDS education can be efficient way to reach some community based peer education would be more effective for targeting a large segment of youth .positive peer influence and the community approach engaging parents, teacher, health workers, village leaders and religious leaders can foster positive behavior among young people.
Life skills-based education in schools and community settings needs to be complemented by providing access to youth –friendly health services, including the availability of condoms, the prevision of voluntary and confidential HIV counseling and testing, and the treatment of sexually transmitted infections. youth friendly health services can b delivered through hospitals, clinics, community outreach services, schools, work place and youth centres.
Scaling up comprehensive services to those at risk.
In 2005 at the united nations general Assembly, governments reeled to move to wads providing universal access to HIV precaution ,treatment and care. To achieve this goal, it will necessary to expand these comprehensive services for the populations at risk .Countries that are targeting vulnerable group are containing the spread of HIV Uganda is not an exception.
Improving policy coherence.
Lack of policy coherence has been one of the major obstacles to scaling up HIV. precaution services for those most in need of them. To ensure the Effectiveness of HIV-prevention programmers, governments also need to reform legal and policy from ensures, including decriminalization of HIV related risk behavior. Where proactive and coherent policies do exist there is often gap between policies and implementation. Addressing this gap calls for wider engagement of ministries of health, social development and gender and other key actors that have not been part of the public health to respond to AIDS pandemic.
Closing the resource gap.
Comprehensive response to the AIDS pandemic in Uganda will require lots of money, most of it would come from bilateral donors, foundations and informational institutions.
To close the resource gap ,significantly increased international assistance would be needed particularly for the lower income and the least developed countries .Funding should be prioritized for programmers and services for vulnerable and marginalized groups, including youth most at risk.
Addressing rout causes of vulnerability.
Poverty a and gender discrimination are the root cases that endanger youth and other vulnerable groups with regard to the spread of HIV . Youth employment should be placed at the top of the nation agenda. Youth-oriented livelihood and income generation profits need to be developed to prevent young people from seeking survival in the sex industry eliminating gender discrimination that subjects young girls and women to health risks requires strong political will and the fill participation of the society in order to change culture and social norms as well as to do away with laws that perpetuate gender bias. It is crucial to build enabling environments for girls and women to fulfill their rights to sexual and reproductive health and to live a dignified life.
Way forward.
A lot needs to be done to reverse the spread of amongst youth ,youth –friendly services need to be developed to addresses the problem. They should be youth –led so that the target group relates to them easily as opposed to adult-led.” As the saying goes a problem shared is a problem half solved”.


by; Kateregga Dennis.
Executive director.
Youth Watch
Plot 580, Sekabaka Kintu Road, Lungujja, Rubaga
P.O.BOX 31001, Kampala
Tel: +256-772-882-019, +256-782-683-754
E-mail: watchyouth@yahoo.com
www.youthwatchuganda.com






December 20, 2006 | 3:13 AM Comments  0 comments

Tags:


Youth Watch-Childrens AIDS Fund ABY outreach
Related to country: Uganda


YOUTH WATCH-CHILDREN’S AIDS FUND
OUTREACH REPORT
18 - NOVERMBER - 2006
Contents Pg

Theme of the Day / objective..............................................................................3

Participant NGOs /parties..................................................................................5

Facilitators.........................................................................................................6

Attendance.........................................................................................................7

Financial Accounts management Report...........................................................8

Evaluation Report..............................................................................................9
Chapter 1
Theme of the day
The theme of the day was ‘ABSTINENCE’ and its implications
(is abstinence applicable?)
Participants were supplied with pens and paper to document their arguments.
Then participants were arranged into simple grouping s of about 15 people each ,
where each group would choose some one to present their ideology later. After about two hours of discussion it was now time for each group to present their final ideology through their presenters. It was now time for presentations. Out of 6 groups , we had six presenters, three males and three females . they included ;
· Shamim Muhammed (Group B ) 100% Negative
· Akuma Marie (Group E) 70% positive and 30% Negative
· Namwanje Caroline (Group F) 60%Negative and40% positive
· Waiswa Alex (Group C) 70% Negative and 30% positive
· Kayongo Francis (GroupA) 70% Negative and30% positive
· Lwere John(Group D) 60% Positive and 40% Negative

Group A- presenter Kayongo Francis
Francis represented a relatively non educated side and presented in Luganda.70% of his argument was that abstinence is majorly had to maintain .He also summarized by acknowledging that it is the way to go.

Group B- Presenter Shamim Mohammed
Shamim represented a relatively literate group and presented in English. She 100% argued against the possibility to abstain, citing nature’s call ,procreation needs, among other factors.


Group C- presenter Alex Waiswa
Alex as well presented in English and 70% argued against abstinence applicability, citing procreation needs, exposure to westernized culture (mini skirts, tight jeans, skimpy blouses), among others. Alex however acknowledged that abstinence should be the way to go and cited some possibilities.


Group D- presenter Lwere John
John a well educated group and argued 60% in favor of abstinence ,citing self control as very important and most especially for men since they are the drivers of the situations. He also cited more awareness evident in today’s young people. However, he stressed that it is still difficult it abstain due it adopted life styles of near to nude fashions movies internet and low income levels that influence today’s young woman.



Group E- presenter Akuma Marie
Marie represented a well educated group too and presented in English like her previous counter parts .She 70% argued in favor of abstinence, though not eminently citing avenues of application as she mainly blamed men for constantly inducing sexuality on them and congruently making it hard for them to abstain .She however encouraged women to stick to their fashion styles and have self control as well as stick to their principles .

Group F- Namwanje Caroline.
Two Lady represented a semi-illiterate group even though she was a student from a near-by secondary school called Alliance standard secondary school. She argued both in favor of and against abstinence applicability, citing various factors that hinder abstinence, she said men are sex animals and have an unclassifiable sexual ego. secondly she said it is hard to stay away after having tested the first time one had sex.
Chapter 11
Participant NGOs/Parties.

There were two steering NGOs to this activity;
· Youth watch (Hosts)
· Children’s Aids Fund

The above two organizations joined hands and worked to the success of this activity.
And the other organization that took part was Lungujja community health caring organization (LUCOHECO).This organization sent representatives on invitation from youth watch to the activity and they gave their ideas whenever called upon.

Uganda Young Positives(UYP)
UYP contributed in such a way that the posters used for various messaging on the occasion were acquired from them .
Chapter 111

Facilitators.
The facilitators for the day were provided by children Aids Fund.
They were;
· Mrs. Edreda Bampata.
· Dr.Peter Kulaba
Chapter IV

The attendance to the outreach was big enough. We received 68 youths.
Females-25
Male-43
Chapter V

Evaluation report
Our targets included;
· Turn up of at least 100 youths
· Two Facilitators.
· Sensitization of the youth in attendance.
· Maximization of the funds set for the fulfillment of the outreach

Shortcomings
· Low turn up due to the rain (68 youths turned up)Tanta mounting to about 68% of the expected turn up.
· Some youths left before the sensitization official ending time.
· Never the less the youths were sensitized and acknowledged let alone appreciate the message and vowed in their own words to incur a change in their lives so as to adhere to the facilitators teachings. these young people also discovered youth watch as a useful resource that has extended a crucial service/facility to their door step since most of them were from around.





November 18, 2006 | 11:05 AM Comments  0 comments

Tags:




KATEREGGA DENNIS's Profile


Latest Posts
Tree planting: a...
REVERSE THE SPREAD OF...
Youth Watch-Childrens...

Monthly Archive
November 2006
December 2006
November 2007

Change Language


Filter By Type
Travel
Topics

Links
Youth Watch


4484 views
Important Disclaimer