Vision Tobin Farmers; Empowering women

Greetings lovely people,

My name is Tara Saltzman. I'm asking you to help support my friend Sarah Nasinza sustain her exceptional organization. She is a founder of "Vision Tobin Farmers Association" which provides a vital means of self-sufficiency through farming for her community in Uganda, particularly for women and girls. I had the pleasure of meeting Sarah and her family among many others during my visit to their beautiful, rural village of Nabugoya in Mbale District Eastern Uganda just 4 months before the COVID pandemic shut down the world as knew it.

The remarkable people of Nabugoye are a community of indigenous Muslims, Christians, and Jewish people living and working together in often harsh and oppressed conditions. Poverty is profound and opportunity, especially for women and girls, is significantly limited if available at all.

Despite the obvious challenges, in 2019, Sarah and a group of women initiated the Tobin Women Onion Farmers Association for the express purpose of providing a means of self sufficiency and advancement for the most marginalized members of their community, particularly the women and girls in the male dominated culture.

They formed an executive board, created a proposal, pooled resources, called on the expertise and experience of farmers within their community (such as Sarah), purchased seeds and began planting on a small parcel of land. The Tobin Farmers determined best and first course of action was to plant onions and peppers which had already proven to be a successful crop in the region. Optimism was high and strong.

As of December 2023, among devastating set backs including alternating periods of flooding and draught, hunger, death of community members and lack of funds, Sarah's "Vision" has also experienced triumphs and progress including finally becoming an officially certified independent community entity, a bureaucratically laborious and expensive journey.

Now known as the Vision Tobin Farmers, Sarah's organization has been in communication with Africa Development Promise in hopes of establishing a partnership offering fiscal sponsorship in March 2024. At this time, I'm seeking to help provide the financial resources to keep the farm sustainable during the current growing season.

Uganda does not currently support GoFundMe (in fact, no country in Africa yet supports GoFundMe). I am honored by the trust they have bestowed on me and look forward to the opportunity, if it should come to pass, where I can return in person to see the farm flourishing. I am in awe of their resilience and integrity and invite you to join me.

With love and gratitude,

Tara