Ngoni Safaris Uganda Ltd and Justo Mendoza are organizing this fundraiser.
Justo visited Uganda Last year under our company Ngoni safaris Uganda ltd and because of the hospitality we offered to him he ended up being part of Ngoni safaris family. On his visit to Uganda he liked the Batwa people and their culture so much.
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This is a message from Justo
“The crisis of COVID-19 has gripped the world like no other pandemic of the last century. This is truly a global issue, with the virus spreading indiscriminate of flags and borders. As some of you may know, I went to Uganda last year and spent some time with the indigenous Batwa people. The Batwa rely heavily on tourism dollars, and one of the unforeseen circumstances that has unfolded from the spread of COVID-19 is the complete halt in tourism. Without this extra income, the community has struggled to carry on, with food security being the largest problem. The region is currently in the planting phase of their agricultural season, so it will be months until a good harvest, and while the government provides rations of grain and sorghum, the amounts have proven to be meagre at best.
To cope, community members have resorted to skipping meals. Anybody who has ever experienced the struggle of food insecurity knows what it’s like to go to sleep with that cavernous feeling, grasping to sleep as an escape, only to wake up, still hungry. Jessica, a matriarch and stalwart of the community, has recently passed due to starvation. She wanted to make sure the others could eat.
I’m coming to you to look inwards and think about what community means. It’s 2020. We are living in globalization. We are only as strong as our weakest parts. Just like this virus has disseminated throughout every continent on earth, I am asking that you too share your wealth and privilege. This crisis has us shaken and confined to our homes, but it also provides an opportunity to connect on levels we’ve never thought of prior. Whatever it is you can offer, will go a long way in making sure this amazing community can continue
I’ll leave you with a cut from John Donne’s “Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Seuerall Steps in my Sickness”
No man is an island entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were,
As well as any manor of thy friend’s,
Or of thine own were.
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.”
