Kamokya boy grows vegetables for school fees

KAMPALA, UGANDA | THE INDEPENDENT | In Kamokya, Alvin Bossa is watering vertical gardens where he grows green leafy vegetables in the backyard of his father’s house.

The twelve-year-old boy is set to go back to school for the second term of the school calendar. His school fees and pocket money are already sorted, he says. This is thanks to the constant flow of customers seeking to buy different types of vegetables and spices.

Uganda Radio Network bumped into Bossa accidentally. Dressed in blue sportswear, he was running from the football pitch just at the right moment to water the crops. He climbs the ladder with a green watering can to reach the vegetables hanging above his height.

He is specific on where in the pots he should pour the water. Passersby call him musomesa (teacher) because some farmers come here to learn one or two skills about farming. Bossa is eager to reach more Ugandans with this skill. He especially wants to reach the urban poor, who make up almost half of the capital’s population.

In a country where fewer young people are engaging in farming and where school gardens are vanishing, Bossa is determined to prove wrong those who tend to believe that farming is for the elderly.

“You cannot do something when you don’t have interest, but for us, we have. For us, we got a company that gives money, and we construct gardens like the one you are seeing behind me. That is where I get my school fees from,” he said.

“But what you have to consider is land and capital. But because we are in an urban area, we chose to utilize that small space provided by my father. With capital, Plan gave us seeds and seed money to start off,” he added.

He says that with determination and proper management of such gardens, one can supplement one’s income.

“There is money in farming. Because here, in the morning, I can get about five thousand shillings from the tea spices only,” he said.

Bossa’s potted plants are arranged in raising steps so that water being sprinkled on the plants placed above can drop on the plants placed below. Ensuring the wastage of the water is in this urban setting.

He is part of the ECHO youth group supported by Plan International. The organization helps them to set up green gardens. The plants are grown in plastic bottles that are normally discarded in waste bins.

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