Newsletter issue 33 - Nogamu

Patrick Ssegujja
My dream was to see NOGAMU
come into existence.
I worked as a trainer for organic
farming since the 90’s. My experience
and the love for my country pushed
me to think of a way of helping
Ugandans feed healthy. I believe you
are what you eat.
We were a number of trainers for
organic farming working in different
areas but we would meet for training
and sometimes bump into each other
while on the move. It all started as
a by-the-way in course of talking
about our work and before we knew
it, we realized that it was a brilliant
and urgent idea. Out of that simple
roadside discussion, we agreed to
meet and talk about coming together
to promote organic farming and
promoting eating organic food.
It was at this point that messages were
sent to about 13 people informing
them of the meeting whose agenda
was basically on how to come
together and become one voice for
organic agriculture
Many people were contacted about
this initiative thought it was not
something that could work for this
country. However, I had the zeal to
AT THE FOUNDING STAGES
achieve this dream because I would
leave my paying job and go for
something that had no immediate
returns.
Not all the 13 people turned up for
this first meeting. I remember the first
serious meeting occurred in 1999 in
Nsambya at Kulika Charitable Trust
and in this meeting we were about 6
people. Other subsequent meetings
followed, and in one of the meetings,
we had to come up with the name of
the organization and other documents.
Our interest was the name “Organic
and Agriculture”.
It was after a number of suggestions
that we came-up with NOGAMU
and we realized that this abbreviation
means” to pick from the farm”. It was
a perfect name for the organization
though some people were associating
it to a political party because of the
word “movement.
To suppress relating the organization
to a political party, in creating
awareness, we emphasized the
abbreviation rather than the full name
of the organization.
The first days of NOGAMU required
a lot of patience and sacrifice because
we did not have a budget for any
activity. Each of us had to give in
time and money to go for the meeting
where he or she would not expect an
allowance or transport refund.
By the time of inauguration, we were
7 people. “I recall that the first funding
was only sufficient for printing flyers
and hiring the hall where the launch
took place.
We later got funding from HIVOS
and DED which supported the first
activities like opening up offices,
recruiting staff and also opening a
shop for organic products.
Many of us (founders) as we had
planned during the start of the
organization left it for other people
with fresh ideas to get on board.
We started with a budget of less than
sh 40 million but today, NOGAMU
is managing a budget of millions of
shillings and is still on track in terms
of its objectives
My desire is to hear that government
has passed a policy that promotes
organic farming.
12 Nogamu at Ten Years