Chilli Children Trust
The Chilli Children Trust support a community based project in South West Uganda for disabled and orphaned children and their families. One of the ways they do this is by teaching them how to grow bird eye chilli as a form of income generation.
There are currently 2,050 families with either orphaned or disabled children who grow chilli with support and advice from the Children's Project's chilli field extension officers. They grade, weigh and transport the chillies back to the Project's chilli store by truck, and then, at the end of the growing season, ship up to Kampala for export.
The majority of the sale money from the exporter goes to back to the growers, the rest goes towards the chilli truck's fuel and tyre repairs.
Growers are encouraged to spend their income on school fees first then school materials, metal roofing, medicine, etc. Families who are helped by the project, whether at surgical camps, deaf school eduction and so on, are encouraged to grow chilli in order to pay for some of the extra things these children need e.g. repairs to wheelchairs, transport to and from the deaf school, transport to our clinics.
During the first season of 2009, the farmers collectively grew and dried 2.75 tonnes of chilli to be taken to Kampala for sale. The exporters were very pleased with the crop and claimed it to be the best quality chilli produced in all of Uganda!
The Project needs money for durable plastic sheeting, hoes hessian sacks salary of the Project workers motorbike repairs, insurance and petrol.
Visit the Chilli Children Trust website