In a couple of my previous blogs, I mentioned the importance of language in development work and international research. Whether this be introductions or using the correct terminology, the language we use to tell stories is powerful. I continue to reflect on the importance of language as I will shortly head back to the United States and get the inevitable question: So, how was Uganda?

It is easy to slip into an individual story narrative when asked this question, using singular language such as “I” and “me.” Yet, it was really those who accepted me into their community and shared their story that made this fellowship an impactful experience.

There is the story that Rachel and I shared. I bought either pineapple or watermelon from Rachel’s stand every week. Whenever I bought some fruit, Rachel would slip more watermelon into the bag with a smile and say, “this is for you.” Every time I passed her stand driving to the field or walking to the market, she would wave and say, “Hi sister!” Rachel was one of my first connections I made outside of those affiliated with Field of Hope. She made me feel at home in the Lira community.

Then there is the story of Barba. Barba is a young farmer from the Kwania district. On my second to last visit, she brought her maize to show me her harvest. She smiled proudly with her maize in front of her recently harvested field. She explained that before receiving agricultural extension training, when she harvested, she would just throw her maize wherever it landed, and it would get dirty. Although she’s learned many things from the training, she is most especially proud of how clean her maize is now that she knows how to properly harvest.

I met Reverend Tom multiple times through Leyi Naa project monitoring visits. His garden was the first one I visited in Uganda, and every time I visited, he taught me more about the crops in his garden. At our last monitoring visits, he gave me a fist bump instead of shaking hands as he explained he had just finished working in the garden. He described his hands as “farmer hands,” warming my heart as it reminded me of my own father who also has the identifiable farmer hands.

Then there is the story I share with Joseph and Agnes, who were so patient with me and encouraged my growth. At each training, Joseph would encourage me to lead the introduction, but he really was the important part of every training. He selflessly shared his knowledge with me and each group we visited.

When I leave Uganda, I return with countless stories of those who accepted me into their community. This experience shaped who I am as a social science researcher and global citizen. I am grateful that Field of Hope continues to invest in young people who seek global experiences. This appreciation extends to those who donate and invest their own resources into supporting Field of Hope. It is bittersweet to see my time in Uganda close, but I leave confident that Field of Hope will continue to positively impact the agricultural community in Uganda.

Meikah Dado, Fellow ’24

The past two weeks have been nothing more than fulfilling and impactful. These past weeks I have challenged myself in facilitating 163 Ugandan Agriculture Educators who will impact 57,913 students across the country. The Field of Hope team and I have assisted each other in planting a seed of hope, dignity, resilience, and passion in each of the cultural teachers. These teachers traveled from across the county to gather in the northern and southern districts to network, learn, and grow personally and professionally.

With teachers full of excitement to learn how they can better their teaching skills and knowledge to best serve their students. This training allowed Field of Hope to plant a seed within our Level 1 teachers and helped us water the seeds we have previously planted in our Level 2 teachers. These seeds that have been planted will grow over time and will bear many fruits which teacher and students will benefit from.

The Bible teaches us in Genesis 26:12 that the seeds we sew shall prosper because the lord has blessed us. I believe this same goes for these seeds that we have sewed during teacher training. Field of Hope planted 163 seeds within 2 weeks in agriculture teachers. Metaphorically, these seeds will become long-term fruit-bearing plants that will bear nutritious fruits. These nutritious fruits will feed knowledge and skills into students who enter these Ugandan agriculture teachers’ classrooms. With much encouragement, these teachers will create a massive impact on students’ lives. These students will impact others–from classmates to those entering the direct workforce, to becoming the next generation of business and industry leaders.

The impact that Field of Hope’s Teacher Training has is tremendous. From a staff perspective, this teacher training opened my eyes to the love, care, and willingness each teacher here in Uganda has for their classrooms. Their willingness has inspired me to be “all in” for creating change and impact in everyday life. I hope to take the love, care, and willingness that each of these teachers has back home to the ones I serve.

Hunter Lee Adkins, Fellow ’24

Within two weeks, Field of Hope trained 162 agricultural education teachers at their annual teacher training. Teachers were able to leave each day with new or more in-depth teaching skills, while also sharing some incredible local food throughout the day. The Field of Hope teacher training is structured with level one being the first year a teacher attended teacher training and level two including ones attending for the second year. With the support of Vivayic, Field of Hope creates an effective professional development opportunity for Uganda’s agricultural educators. Not only are they able to attend the training, but also leave with teacher guide’s and supplements to have agricultural education curriculum in their classroom for secondary one through three.

Our days were packed with learning activities and other opportunities to learn from each other. My time in teacher training was with the level two participants. Olivia, Joseph, Agnes, and I went over content such as creating teaching philosophies, teaching methodologies, starting an agricultural club, strategies for creating an inclusive classroom, and more. Additionally, the teachers learned from each other and created connections to other teachers throughout the country. Though I was most impressed with how these teachers took time from their short break between terms to come together and share ideas to take back to their classroom. Nobody required these teachers to come, yet they had the intrinsic motivation to take advantage of this professional development opportunity.

On the last day of teacher training, we would have the level two teachers share their teaching philosophy. The philosophies demonstrated how these teachers care for their students and expressed their value in creating an empowering learning environment for each student. Each philosophy was filled with statements such as, “I believe every student belongs in agriculture” or “I will use experiential learning to engage my learners in agriculture.” We all grew as educators within those two weeks by sharing ideas and our motivations. As a result, I am certain the impact of the Field of Hope teacher training will positively impact the lives of agricultural students in Uganda.

Meikah Dado, Fellow ’24

Throughout my time here in Uganda, one of my main tasks has been developing a teachers’ guide for agriculture clubs in Secondary Schools. This guide consists of precise steps for beginning an agriculture club for teachers. Our main goal with this guide is to ensure ease and accessibility for teachers to create a successful agriculture club. It consists of the correct steps to take in planning, development, and seeking approval from admiration, a club constitution, fundraiser ideas, and leadership activities to build students’ skills. This document has been a working progress. To do this, we have conducted research to ensure we fit into Ugandan classrooms, teachers can easily underhand and comprehend, and retaining teacher and student feedback to ensure we are best serving the students and teachers of Uganda.

One of our first schools to implement our agriculture club guide is St. Gracious Secondary School. The teachers and students at St. Gracious took the risk of developing a new agriculture club from the bottom up using our guide. We are proud to share they have been successful and off to an extraordinary start!

Meet the first elected leaders of Field of Hope’s Agriculture Leadership Club! This group of enthusiastic leaders attends St. Gracious Secondary School. They embody the definition of being true leaders. They are willing to serve others, take risks, and uphold the core strengths and values a leader needs to succeed. When I first sat down with this group of talented students; I immediately could tell they had the qualities of successful leaders and upheld the qualities they needed. I could get they were Ready!

The excitement radiated in our small group discussion, with elite conversations that sparked new passions of growth– for their new agriculture club, their members, and themselves. These student leaders were Ready and Set! Set with a plan full of determination and ambition. All they have left to do is Serve!

With an ongoing Inspiring Student in Agriculture Project (ISIA), these students are prone to success. They have a prosperous poultry project where students gain hands-on learning experiences in rearing poultry, slaughtering, and preparing for consumption. These students have an entrepreneurial mindset of service to others. St. Gracious Secondary Agriculture Leadership Club Leaders work passionately to ensure great quality poultry is served to their customers who purchase their goods.

With true service, a heart of passion, and the willingness to take risks; the student leaders of St. Gracious Agriculture Leadership Club are destined for success. Seeing a group of students work extremely hard to chase a dream and create a path for themselves and others to follow is thrilling.

Hunter Lee Adkins, Fellow ’24

In 2022, Field of Hope partnered with another nonprofit, Her Mighty Hands, to provide video-based extension services for women smallholder farmers. This year, Her Mighty Hands had their third growing season deploying 30 phones to women farmers groups. Essentially, my job is to evaluate this program and the effectiveness of video-based agricultural extension on a variety of variables. This fellowship allowed me to be in Uganda for three months to work with Field of Hope on other efforts and conduct this data collection. Conducting research in an international environment comes with numerous learning opportunities, yet communicating international development programs and my research has always been a challenge for me. This blog is an attempt to consolidate reflections on my education and experiences into three important considerations for those interested in international development or international research:

1. Good intentions are not enough. Development work and development research are complex and there is no one size fits all approach. When conducting research with human populations, the Institutional Review Board, must approve the entire research process to ensure it is culturally appropriate and ethical. After a year of prior desk research, this process took over eight months to complete to have two IRB applications approved. This process of ethical research takes time and goes beyond promising good intentions. The topic of good intentions also applies to the programs themselves. Good intentions in international development programs can still have harmful, unintended consequences. A good example of this is the well-known story of the play pump (see resource below).
2. Language is incredibly important. The threat of a single-story narrative about a person or country can be damaging in a variety of ways. What I write and what I say should represent how my participants would write and say their own stories. This also includes understanding and using appropriate terminology, such as using avoiding “third world” when referring to low-income and lower-middle income countries.
3. Continue to be vulnerable and question. I have learned through my mistakes and through being pro-active in informing myself to avoid mistakes. As I finish my education and move into my career, I continue to challenge myself to question the intentions of international development and the undeniable power dynamics at play. Therefore, I also challenge you to join me in being pro-active in learning and being open to feedback to ultimately be better global citizens.

Finding resources that challenge our worldview is a great start to help us grow. I used a variety of resources and experiences to shape these three considerations. I encourage you to read, listen, and watch the available resources listed below to craft your own considerations. These resources and blog do not reflect the views and opinions of Field of Hope and Her Mighty Hands.

State of the Planet: The PlayPump: What Went Wrong?

NPR: Memo to People of Earth: ‘Third World’ is an Offensive Term

TED Talk: The Danger of a Single Story

Tiny Sparks Podcast: On a Mission to Make White People Uncomfortable

Tiny Sparks Podcast: What Can We Do about the White Savior Complex?

NGO Story Telling: Informed Consent and Ethics in Nonprofit Storytelling

EDI Global: Navigating Ethics of Field Research in International Development

Meikah Dado, Fellow ’24

Within the maize training manual created by the Ugandan Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, it states that within Uganda, it is estimated up to 40% of maize harvest is lost between the field and the market. This means for every 20 bags, at least eight bags of potential food or income for the farming household is gone. This happens for a variety of reasons, including harvesting too early or too late, improper storage, pests, etc. Consequently, at the end of the growing season, Field of Hope focuses their final trainings for the women’s groups on harvest practices and how to manage crops when they leave the field.

July marked the beginning of harvest season. I have traveled with Joseph, Agnes, and Robina to present harvest and post-harvest trainings to seven different groups. A trend I’ve noticed within each group is as soon as Joseph or Robina finishes writing the agenda on a tearsheet, almost every member is pulling out their notebooks to start taking notes. They keep their notebooks out for the remainder of the training as they learn about the agricultural techniques to use in their business. This action of notetaking reminds me of one of Field of Hope’s core values: dedication.

Field of Hope describes their core value of dedication as a “long-term commitment to providing and supporting sustainable solutions.” Being in Uganda for over six weeks has shown the dedication of Field of Hope staff and the women’s groups to sustainable agricultural solutions. Field of Hope is committed to providing opportunities for the members of groups to learn and supports them from beginning to end of the growing season. The members are dedicated to learning and implementing what they’ve learned in order to have long-term solutions in increasing their agricultural productivity and preventing the 40% loss.

I’ve seen this dedication in other aspects of Field of Hope as well. Outside of trainings, I had the opportunity to visit students and see their dedication to learning about career possibilities in the agricultural industry. At one visit, they showed us their two cows they obtained through the Inspiring Students in Agriculture Grant. The group of agriculture club leaders explained to us how they use their free time between classes to care for the cattle and are thrilled to soon welcome two calves to learn more about youngstock in cattle production.

Additionally, this past week, we began working on the urban garden at the Field of Hope office! The urban garden is an opportunity for us to practice what is taught during the training and be dedicated to furthering our own growth in agricultural practices. Such as Joseph and Robina teaching me that mixing some charcoal in the garden bed can help balance the soil pH. These examples from the field to the classroom, to the urban garden demonstrate farmers, students, and Field of Hope’s dedication to Ugandan agriculture.  Meikah Dado, Fellow ’24

My morning had an early start with a four-hour drive, followed by learning about organic fertilizers in a room of 50+ high school girls. If you would’ve told me this was what I’d be doing at the age of 23, I probably would’ve thought you were being ridiculous and laughed it off. But here I am, doing this very thing and I stinkin’ love it.

The Field of Hope team was traveling to Jinja to conduct evaluations on the teachers that we partner with, in order to see how well they are adapting to and implementing our teaching approach. Don’t know exactly what that is? Let me fill you in really quick.

Field of Hope has partnered with Vivayic to develop an interactive secondary agricultural education curriculum to get students PUMPED UP about learning and pursuing careers in agriculture. This method contrasts the traditional teaching practices in Uganda, which typically rely solely on theory and memorization. Teachers are trained and equipped using our guidebooks, which then enables them to implement various new techniques to inspire students, such as an engaging interest approach, experiential learning, group projects, etc. In order to ensure the trained methods are being used, Field of Hope conducts teacher-evaluations, where we sit in on agriculture classes to give encouragement and growth feedback to the instructor. In a nutshell, that explains the nature of our trip to Jinja.

Our first stop for evaluations was with Timothy at Iganga Secondary School. Unlike any class I’d seen here before, these girls were HYPED UP about what they were learning. You know when a teacher asks a question and crickets…. Yeah, this wasn’t the case. Almost every student was actively participating, answering questions, repeating what the teacher had said, and just genuinely having fun in the classroom, which is exactly what we love to see!

The lesson included an outdoor demonstration on composting and organic fertilizers, which as you can imagine, got the girls even more excited. As we were walking out, I asked one of them, “Are you this excited about all your classes or is this one your favorite?”

She responded that this was, in fact, her favorite of them all, to which I asked, “Why?”

The young girl said something along the line of “Because I can take what I learn here and be successful at home.”

YES! She got it. Her statement got me so fired up that I wanted to do a little happy dance – but I didn’t, because you’ve gotta play it cool around high schoolers, am I right? Ehhh, who am I kidding, that’s never stopped me before!

This student’s response is precisely why Field of Hope does what it does. THIS is what it’s all about. Why? Because 65.6% of Uganda’s population relies on agriculture in order to provide for their families, yet 66% of households are faced with inadequate food consumption. There is so much room for growth and improvement within the agriculture sector, but kids need to be taught that this CAN be a sustainable and profitable way to live.

And it all starts in the classroom.

How is someone expected to be interested in a subject that they’ve had to do for as long as they can remember, especially when it’s taught in a mundane and “Quick, copy these notes down” type of way. But if agriculture instructors are passionate about teaching it in a way that develops critical thinking, this results in students gaining an increased understanding of modern technologies, acquiring practical agriculture skills, and learning value addition techniques.

And then, it all starts to change.

Slowly, but surely.

Students become aware of the potential to provide for themselves, their family, and their country as their classroom demonstrations translate into successful agriculture businesses down the line.

To see students with this much energy and passion in a class that has recently adapted the FOH guidebook and teaching style, is nothing short of remarkable. I can’t make this stuff up, just look at the joy on their faces!! I believe that Field of Hope IS making a difference in the lives of teachers, of students, of families, and of the entire country of Uganda. By utilizing agriculture development techniques, Field of Hope continues to break down the cycle of hunger and poverty.

                                                     This is what it’s all about.

This week the Field of Hope team has been busy busy busy with outreach trainings to the surrounding communities of Lira. On Thursday we went to Otino Waa, a local children’s village, to speak to farmers about agriscience practices. At the start of our meetings, we always begin with prayer, followed by personal introductions, which then segways into the training. On this day in particular, Nicholas (FOH staff) came over to Heather (the other fellow) and I, saying “I need you two to come up with a ten to fifteen minute speech to give these women before we start.” I froze. What?! I didn’t prepare for this! My type A personality was shaking in her boots, as I was completely caught off-guard by this request. Immediately I started rifling through memories, thoughts, experiences in the agriculture industry, ways that I related to this group of women, or really anything I could think of.

I know you know how I was feeling. Have you ever been looking for your wallet because somehow its gone MIA and you’re 97% convinced that it’s been stolen, but you look for it in fervent hope that the other 3% is actually what happened? So you dig through everything you have, searching through bags and under the seats in your car. Notta. Ok, ok don’t freak out yet. You make your way back to Target, thinking maybe it’s still sitting at the self-check-out. Still nothing. In a last ditch effort you drive back to Chick-Fil-A, making sure you didn’t leave it on the counter. Nope, not there. Panic, ok!! I’m allowed to panic now!

THIS WAS ME. Except, in my mind. Frantically searching for words that would fill ten minutes of time, but seemingly coming up empty. Amidst the delusion of my two-minute internal frenzy, I’m not sure how many times it was repeated, but I remember saying “Nicholas, I don’t think I have anything.” Meanwhile, I thought to myself “Sam, you literally never stop talking. WHAT IS YOUR DEAL SISTER??” And then I stopped. Somewhere along my filtering of memories I landed on a phrase that God had taught me earlier this summer. Joyfully endure.

It comes from the verse, 2 Timothy 2:10 which says “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.” Let me give you some background, Paul is near death, writing from prison, and giving Timothy one final charge. Despite the persecution that Paul’s faced, he says with full confidence that the very thing that landed him in prison (preaching the Gospel) is the reason for why he endures. His purpose is set solely on Jesus and bringing salvation to others through the transforming work of the Gospel.

Paul’s words were powerful to me. As I read the verse over and over, “endure” stood out, almost as if it was bold and italicized. I decided to do a word study and found that when endure or hardship or suffering are mentioned in the bible, a lot of times they are associated with joy or blessing. Why was this? Is enduring a good thing? Because in my mind it wasn’t so much. Think about it. No one wants to struggle or undergo hardship or experience pain. Yet, James 1:2 says “consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” Joy in trials, hmmm. And Hebrews 12:2 says “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Wait, so you’re saying that it was joy for Jesus to experience pain and persecution and death? Precisely. Not joy in the sense of laughing really hard at a perfectly timed joke, but rather a purposeful, eternal joy that results only from obediently following the Father.

In that moment, I knew these were the only words I needed. These women, they didn’t want to hear some thrown together story. They wanted to hear truth. Regardless of the fact that I’m from America and they’re native to Uganda, we’ve all faced challenges even if they may look significantly different from one another. We’ve all had times when we’ve struggled, faced a roadblock, or felt underappreciated for our work. These women can relate all too well, as they tirelessly work in the fields, providing means for their family to survive, not being respected for the exhausting toil they put in day in and day out. But on this Thursday afternoon, God provided hope for them in the form of agriscience education so that their physical labor may be more fruitful. And not only that, but hope through the encouraging words of Paul. That we get to choose joy, despite less than desirable circumstances. We get to live with eternal gratefulness through blissful obedience to our good God. We get to joyfully endure.

~Sam Maloy

Interest approaches are commonly used at Field of Hope’s trainings to capture the participants attention and keep them engaged in the lessons. At one of the recent outreach trainings, the interest approach involved sticks. Geoffrey, our trainer had two volunteers come up to the front to participate in a demonstration. One participant received one stick while the other received a handful of sticks. Each person was instructed to try to break the sticks in half.

As expected, the person with only one stick was easily able to break it while the person with the bundle of sticks was unsuccessful. Although the demonstration was conducted in the local language (Luo), no translation was needed. The message was clear: we are stronger together.

Geoffrey was using this concept to emphasize the importance of people joining the Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) in order to work together to boost their savings and increase their purchasing power, but “stronger together” has been a reoccurring theme since I arrived in Uganda. For example, if I tried to coordinate the logistics and conduct the outreach trainings on my own, I would not be very successful. When I work with other team members, everything falls into place and we accomplish our tasks almost effortlessly. Each team member brings a unique set of strengths to the table that enable us to accomplish a variety of tasks. If one person faces an obstacle, another member is able to help fill in the gap to solve help the problem and execute the day’s activities with ease.

This theme reemerged earlier this week on our journey to another location to conduct an outreach training. On the way to this training, our car broke down. When a new car arrived, it did not have enough gas and could not start again. So, myself, another intern, and other team members began pushing the car back onto the road. We were successful together, but if I had tried to push the car back onto the road alone, we would still be there to this day.

The demonstration with the sticks at the outreach training is an important reminder that success is not an individual accomplishment. Instead, success only occurs when a team unites to work on a common goal and when each group member is passionate and motivated to reach that goal. While working with Field of Hope, there is no shortage of passion and motivation. Each member is exceptionally passionate about what they do whether that passion lies within leadership development, community outreach, or youth agricultural education. I am very thankful to be working alongside such passionate and caring people, and I am looking forward to what the next few weeks will bring for Field of Hope in the Pearl of Africa!

~Heather Meador, OSU MIAP, 2019 Fellow

(Photos courtesy of Sam Maloy)