Update October 2020
Due to the circumstances surrounding the Coronavirus, it has taken a while since you received updates from us. But at the moment, we are working on all kinds of great projects that we would like to tell you about.
Help realizing the construction of our second bamboo house
In a few months, we are going to start with the construction of the second Bamboo Children’s house. But before we can start, we need your help!
Update #13: Progress, Partnerships and Products
It’s been another fruitful few weeks since the last update! Plenty of exciting developments to share with you…
Update #12: BVU Friends meeting, new projects, and milestones
The summer is over, and it’s time for another update! It may have been quiet on the website, but we definitely have not been idle in the past months. Here are some exciting developments.
Update #11: Social entrepreneurship, bamboo seedlings, and friendships
It has been a while since we updated you. That doesn’t mean nothing has happened. In fact, A LOT has happened. We are happy to share the latest news with you in a new update.
Update #10: World Water Day, new partnerships and a lot of plants
Henri is back from his visit to Uganda. He was invited by the Ministry of Water and Environment to join the “Uganda Water and Environment Week”. On behalf of Bamboo Village Uganda he spoke about the possibilities of bamboo to stop erosion, to filter water, to stabilize water levels and how it can be used as a sustainable material to build houses, furniture and other products. It was a very valuable visit and enabled us to expand our network with NGO’s, farmers, growers, architects and product developers.
During the Uganda Water and Environment Week, World Water Day took place on Friday, March 22nd. Worldwide there are still billions of people who lack access to safe water. The United Nations want to bring this number back to zero by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. In total there are 17 Sustainable Development Goals, access to safe water is number 6. Together the Sustainable Development Goals – or SDG’s – form the new global agenda to end poverty, inequality and climate change.
Next to the function of bamboo as a filter and stabilizer for water, Bamboo Village Uganda also contributes in other ways. In one of our previous updates we announced our partnership with FuturePump for efficient and eco-friendly irrigation. We will also provide water pumps for the village.
Planting bamboo
In the mean time, we obviously have our focus on the carbon compensation project. The counter almost hit 3,5 million kilos. That is a lot of bamboo! Luckily, 2500 mother stocks arrived to our growery that will be used for propagation. We aim to reach 1 million plants this year! In order to make this happen we also set up a partnership with a local grower, where the bamboo is already in a more mature stage. We purchase bamboo of approximately 5 meters, cut it up in 20 pieces and use those pieces to grow new plants. This way we have full control over both cost and the amount of plants that we can grow.
Next to the mother stock we can also share the exciting news that the very first bamboo plants have been planted in the field. What a special moment! Our founder Henri personally put the plant in the dirt, with all his love and joy.
New team members
There is so much work to be done and that is fantastic news. That means that more and more jobs become available. We expect to add a lot of new members to our team in the next couple of weeks. In this update we would like to introduce you to Mitch (operational manager), Steve (field worker), Samuel (field worker) and Maria (chef).
That’s it for now. We’ll be back with a new update next week!
Update #9: Bamboo propagation, toys and 3 million kilos of carbon
Oh boy, so much has happened again, we don’t even know where to start. Henri and Christina are back from their trip to Uganda (yes, the carbon emissions of their flights are compensated by our own program for those of you who wonder ;-)…). Here’s a brief summary of what happened during and shortly after their trip.
First bamboo plants at the propagation station
We have planted the first plants at the propagation station. If you have never heard of propogation, no worries. It simply means that we grow new bamboo plants by using the parent stock. This way, we don’t have to buy bamboo seedlings constantly, keeping these cost as low as possible.
Toys, toys, toys
When Henri and Christina traveled towards Uganda, they stuffed their suitcases to the limit with toys for the children in the Nakasongola district. Nothing gives a better feeling than making those little ones smile!
More than 3 million kilos of carbon
We have reached a milestone! We have passed the border of 3 million kilos of carbon emissions that will be compensated at Bamboo Village Uganda. Thanks to our wonderful friends of Fachjan, who compensated more than 1.5 million kilos we were able to make a giant step with the project. It’s awesome to see that more and more people and companies are joining the project. No matter if you buy 5 square meter of bamboo to compensate your city trip or if you offset the entire carbon footprint of your company, we are so grateful for your support. Together we can fight climate change AND poverty.
That’s it for now! If you have any questions about the project, don’t hesitate to leave your comment or to get in touch!
Update #8: Shadow hall, bamboo houses and an international meet-up
In our previous update, we shared the news that we would start working on a shadow hall. Shadow halls allow us to reduce the amount of light and heat on extremely sunny days, so the little bamboo plants won’t burn. And we have good news: the shadow hall is finished! We are excited to share the result with you:
Together with our sustainable irrigation system from Futurepump, our water tower and our greenhouse, we have all the tools we need to efficiently grow as much bamboo as possible.
International team meet-up
At the moment of writing this update, our team members Henri and Christina are traveling towards Uganda. They will meet up with our Ugandese team members to discuss the progress of the project and will create valuable connections with entrepreneurs and organizations in the area.
Bamboo house design
One of our goals is to use the bamboo that we grow to build sustainable houses for people of the Nakasongola district. Christina and Henri will have meetings with architects this week. Hopefully we can start drafting a first design soon. Needless to say, we’ll share a sneak peek as soon as possible!
That’s it for now. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram or Facebook for other updates.
Update #7: finishing the first greenhouse and water tower
We are back with a short update. And it’s a very happy one! We have finished the first greenhouse and water tower. We have worked really hard to finish everything in a fast and reliable way.
The greenhouse enables us to nurse the bamboo plants until they are big enough to be planted in the field. In the next couple of weeks, the greenhouse will be filled with new bamboo babies, we can’t wait to watch them grow!
Our water tower, needed for steady and sustainable water supply is also finished!
The next project we will sink our teeth in, is the shadow hall. We are making good progress here as well and should be able to update you shortly.
First customers
We are receiving a lot of messages from people interested in the project, which is so amazing. Remember that you can join us at any time. For as little as €5,34 you can already support us with 1m2 of bamboo! The more we are, the more bamboo we can plant to fight climate change. It’s also fantastic to see that the first curious neighbours and customers came to take a look at the project.
Bamboo Village Uganda was not only founded to battle global warming, we also aim to create sustainable and fair paid jobs. That is why the bamboo is partly used to create beautiful products, that we sell in our webshop, but also in and to the local community.
That’s it for now. We’ll be back soon!
Update #6: Sustainable irrigation with Futurepump
Our solar irrigation pump has arrived! Everything we do at Bamboo Village Uganda is done in the most sustainable way possible. That includes irrigation. Rather than depending on polluting (and costly) petrol and diesel pumps, we decided to partner up with Futurepump.
This irrigation pump is powered by 3 solar panels and allows us to pump up to 3,600 liters per hour. It saves an incredible amount of time compared to manual irrigation and is much cheaper and better for the environment than petrol or diesel powered pumps.
That’s it for now. We’ll be back soon with another update!
