Thank you to Peter Keller for his presentation on the Aid Africa project during our weekly meeting last month. Peter is the executive director for the Aid Africa project.
Aid Africa
Aid Africa works to save lives and rebuild sustainable communities to create a hopeful future for the rural poor in Africa. Some of the things that they do include distributing efficient cooking stoves, digging wells as well as repairing wells, planting trees that are used to make food and firewood, HIV & Malaria testing, and distributing birthing kits to pregnant women.
How COVID-19 Impacted Aid Efforts
Peter Keller spoke about the COVID-19 lockdown measures that took place in Uganda. These closed businesses, banned public transportation, and imposed a strict curfew of 7 pm. The local police enforced these strict guidelines daily. These measures stopped most of the Aid Africa projects that were planned. With closed stores and transportation halted, the needs for aid services were bigger than ever.
Aid Africa was able to keep paying staff and repair well systems that needed fixing. During this time 40,000 trees were able to be distributed that in the future will produce fruit to feed the families.
Future Plans – Wood Stoves
There is a big need for new stoves in rural Uganda. The current way that they cook their food is by open flame in the home, creating harsh smoke that is unhealthy to breathe. The World Health Organization estimates that over 4 million deaths are caused by unhealthy smoke from cooking fires each year.
The stoves that they provide require ⅓ the firewood, limiting the amount of time and energy it takes to gather firewood. The new stoves produce ¼ the amount of smoke, and cut the cooking time down by 50%. All of these efforts improve the health, wellness, and financial elements of the families.
If you are interested in helping with Aid Africa, going on a tour trip, or simply learning more about the project, watch the full video of our meeting here. For more updates about the happenings in our local and global community, check out our other blogs, or browse our YouTube channel. You can also click here to donate.