Amigos Worldwide

Amigos Worldwide

Founded	2000
Founder	Phil Pugsley
Location	Barnstaple, North Devon
Area served	Uganda
Website	www.amigos.org.uk

Amigos Worldwide is a development charity based in Barnstaple, North Devon. Its Ugandan base is just outside the capital, Kampala. Amigos supports Ugandans to work their way out of poverty with dignity. Through an integrated approach involving education, vocational training, conservation farming, and clean water, thousands of Ugandans every year are lifting themselves out of poverty.

The charity's vision is for every person in Uganda to be thriving; the charity's mission is to create lasting solutions to poverty and hunger in Uganda.

Amigos' Works

Amigos works through churches in rural communities delivering training in conservation farming, vocational skills, providing child sponsorship, and access to clean water. Amigos has been operating in Uganda since 2000.

Amigos was conceived after three friends visited Tanzania in 1997 and were struck by the level of poverty. Three years later Amigos was born and focused, initially, on educating AIDS orphans in Uganda. Slowly the vision grew into a fully integrated program which now supports Ugandan communities to work their way out of poverty.

Rural Community Development

Conservation Farming

Amigos works with local communities, providing three years of training in environmentally friendly farming techniques to increase crop yields. The charity works with the local community to provide resources where appropriate, such as tools, seeds, and livestock.

Water

Amigos constructs boreholes, shallow wells, rainwater harvesting tanks, BioSand filters, and provides training in sanitation, hygiene, and combating open defecation. In 2018, Amigos had enabled 24,517 individuals to receive clean water.

Business Skills

Amigos delivers practical workshops covering areas such as savings, financial management, marketing, risk management, and credit management.

Bicycles

Amigos’ 2017 Christmas Appeal successfully raised over £20,000 to purchase bicycles for farmers. Working with the UK bicycle charity Re-Cycle, Amigos trained young people in bike assembly and mechanics at the residential base, Kira Farm Development Centre. In 2018, a total of 200 bikes were assembled by students at Kira Farm Development Centre and distributed on a lease-to-own basis in Gulu and Lira.

Child Sponsorship

This innovative, short-term program improves food, income, health, and access to clean water for the whole family. The program is delivered through local churches and provides the orphaned child with a school uniform, academic materials, and a school dinner. In addition, caregivers receive training in conservation farming and business skills. This proven approach ensures the household has enough to eat, a surplus to sell, and income to set up small businesses and pay school fees.

Once a caregiver has been trained by Amigos, their average annual income increases from £335 to £1670.

Within three to four years the caregiver will have the finances to keep all their children in school, which means they don't need to rely on charity and Amigos can move on and help more children.

Appeals

In 2019, Amigos partnered with builders’ merchants company RGB to donate old tools to be transported to Kira Farm Development Centre to train the trainees.

Kira Farm Development Centre

Kira Farm Development Centre is set on 22 acres of land. The site is located approximately 30 kilometres north of Kampala in Gayaza. It is a place where the broken are made whole, the bruised are healed, and the hopeless find faith. Kira Farm is a catalyst for change—emotional, material, and physical.

One Year Course

Every year, Kira Farm takes in 40 young people, many of whom have been orphaned and burdened by the horrors of war, HIV, and hunger. At Kira Farm, they are enveloped in love, strengthened, and encouraged until they are in a position to learn.

During the one-year course at Kira Farm, students acquire vocational skills alongside new conservation farming techniques. Upon completion of the course, the students also acquire the tools they need, such as a sewing machine or a carpentry kit, to set themselves up in business.

Throughout the year, the trainees complete courses in character development, conflict resolution, biblical discipleship, health and hygiene, and nutrition.

Vocational Training includes:

• Tailoring
• Hairdressing
• Carpentry
• Construction
• Bike repairs
• Conservation farming (or Farming God's way)
• Business
• Gender equality
• Conflict resolution
• Health and hygiene

Innovative Projects

Students at Kira Farm Development Centre are trained to make and invest in simple technology that would have impact.

• Tippy taps—handwashing devices made from local materials. A small hole is drilled in the lid of a jerry can and tipped using a stick and rope activated by the foot, making it hygienic.
• Energy-saving stoves—students are trained in building energy-efficient mud stoves that use 50% less wood than a traditional three-stone fire.
• Solar lamps.
• Reusable sanitary towels—the tailoring students produce reusable sanitary towels that have a lifespan of three years.
• Plastic bottle construction—re-using plastic bottles in construction.

The development centre is also available for visitors as accommodation. It provides a variety of accommodation ranging from single occupancy, family lodges with self-catering facilities, to unique eco-lodges for larger groups.

Partners

Corporate Partners

These are mostly based in Barnstaple, such as Philip J Milton and Company PLC and Toptown Printers.

English singer-songwriter and actress Joss Stone has been to Uganda twice with Amigos.

Saltrock, the clothing company, has also been involved with Amigos and has donated clothes for the charity to sell in raising funds.

Charity Partners

Amigos has teamed up with charity partners Alongsiders, Farming God's Way, Re-Cycle, Tools with a Mission, and Work Aid.

School Trips

Since 2010, Amigos has built a reputation for running innovative tailor-made trips to Kira Farm Development Centre in Uganda. In recent years, the charity has specialized in secondary school educational trips. Visitors are given exposure to the projects in action. Schools involved are primarily North Devon based, including:

• Braunton Academy
• Pilton Community College, Barnstaple
• The Park Community School, Barnstaple
• South Molton Community College
• Hockerill College

In 2015, a tree was planted in Kira Farm in memory of a Park School teacher, 'Miss Bluett', who was a dedicated supporter of the charity.

References

This article "Amigos Worldwide" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Amigos Worldwide. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---