THE FIGHT AGAINST LOCUSTS IN AFRICA

Following up on the story of locusts in Africa.

One of the commonest stories in the whole world (especially in Africa) is of the deadly locusts that have invaded the continent with Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Eritrea and most recently, Tanzania and Uganda affected most. The story of locusts however started with many especially the local citizens doubting about the possible effects of having the locusts in their areas. In fact, many thought it was a simple challenge that could not leave any big effect. However, the stories which started as simple stories later on turned into seriously bad news as the locusts infested some of the areas referred to and devoured everything as their culture is.

We are so grateful to the governments of the affected countries for the quick responses they gave to the threat for the good of their citizens. We are also grateful to the various organizations especially the United Nations (FAO), The Africa Solidarity Trust Fund, Action Against Hunger, Self Help Africa and several others which have put a lot of effort to support the fight against the threat through conducting research in regard to the threat, spreading information about the threat, funding fight against the threat, helping the affected homes and through several other ways they have assisted.

These deadly insects invaded East Africa in the early February of this year (2020) and as it is their habit, they ate every crop in every area they passed or settled for any day. It is on record that locusts are the worst crop pests that can leave no crop at all if they invade any area. This means that all areas where locusts passed or settled shall face a big challenge of famine, drought and desertification. It is therefore important that everyone responsible takes action to support the affected areas not only in the process of fighting the locusts but also in supporting lives of the affected people.

Read More

Locust swarm: UN warns of food crisis in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Somalia

The East African region could be on the verge of a food crisis if huge swarms of locusts devouring crops and pasture are not brought under control, a top UN official has told the BBC.

The five: things you need to know about locusts

The insects have been swarming across East Africa in numbers not seen for decades – and the phenomenon may be more common in the future

SCIENCE

A plague of locusts has descended on East Africa. Climate change may be to blame.

Human activity has made an ocean circulation pattern misbehave—triggering a weird confluence of events that has caused the infestations.

The Terrifying Science Behind the Locust Plagues of Africa

With hundreds of billions of locusts tearing through farmland, it’s the worst outbreak to strike the region in decades.

Locusts are actually special kinds of grasshoppers known for their gregariousness, and not in a good way. Around 20 species of the 7,000 known grasshopper varieties transform into what’s known as a gregarious phenotype, which means their bodies actually change as they socialize into swarms. Normally solitarious (a word that locust biologists made up, by the way), they change color and grow bigger muscles as they gather into massive clouds, rolling across landscapes and devastating crops. “They have this sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde switch,” says Arianne Cease, director of the Global Locust Initiative at Arizona State University.(The kind of desert locust currently plaguing East Africa is in fact named for this tendency to socialize: Schistocerca gregaria.)

Swarms of up to 80 Million Locusts Decimating Crops In East Africa, Threatening Food Security For 13 Million People

Uganda approves $1.8m in efforts to fight locust invasion

The Minister of State for animal husbandry, Aggrey Bagiire, said Tuesday that 200 motorised pumps, 300 knapsack spray pumps, and 10,000 litres of chemical spray have been deployed so far. Government has deployed 2,000 soldiers to push back the locusts.

What is Patriotism?

What is Patriotism?

Click this link to get the Oxford definition and pronunciation of "patriotism"

Click here to get the Wikipedia definition of "patriotism"

Get pronunciation of "patriotism" here.

What is CONEPA?

 

COMMUNITY NETWORK FOR

 

 EDUCATION & PATRIOTISM

 

 ADVANCEMENT - CONEPA (UGANDA)

Routes to the World we Deserve 
+256782697824   /   +256701434263

Introduction

CONEPA is a non-for-profit Non-Governmental Organization / Community Project comprising of activists with interest in fields of education, patriotism and community development. We are currently working online and planning to start physical operations in Lwengo District (Uganda), by August, 2020.

Foundation

CONEPA was founded by Tumusiime Johnious, a citizen of Kalagala B LC 1, Kalagala Parish, Malongo Sub-country, Lwengo District.

Vision statement

A transformed and self–reliant society whose members are patriotic and united to serve and support Uganda

Mission statement

To help all children to attain a full and target–centered education by creating awareness of the dangers of being uneducated or half–educated.

Target One

To eliminate school drop–outs at primary and secondary levels.

Target Two

To help the public to know and understand its constitutional duties and obligations towards nation- building.

Philosophy

A united, patriotic and well educated society shall never fail but rather grow stronger and be successful for millenniums.

Motto

Routes to the World we Deserve

Aims and Objectives

1. To mobilize and encourage parents and childcare givers to provide their children with full and quality education.

2. To encourage school-going children to stay in school and study with purpose.

3. To help school-going children to overcome challenges that may cut-short their education opportunities.

4. To guide children to discover and to deal with their personal challenges and weaknesses positively.

5. To advocate for equality and equity in child consideration in families and schools.

6. To fight against child labour, early marriages, forced marriage and all other forms of child abuse.

7. To encourage children to be disciplined both in homes and school.

8. To mobilized and encourage communities to exhaustively perform all their duties and responsibilities in the process of child-rearing and in fight against child abuse.

9. To encourage schools and families to teach patriotism life skills and values to their children.

10. To take part in all forms of research conducted with the aim of improving children’s living standards or quality and quantity of the living standards of the education children receive and patriotism.

11. To mobilize the community, children and all other stake holders to safeguard and make good use of public resources.

Core Values

a) Patriotism

b) Transparency

c) Responsibility

d) Accountability

e) Professionalism

Activities and Services

As CONEPA we exist to offer the following services to both local and international communities.

(i) Counseling and Guidance services

Ø In Schools and Educational institutions;

Ø In Families;

Ø To Individuals.

(ii) Civic Education / Public Sensitisations on matters of;

Ø Domestic violence;

Ø Civilisation;

Ø Disease prevention;

Ø Child-rearing, among others.

(iii) Career Guidance Services

Ø In Schools and Educational institutions;

Ø In Families;

Ø To Individuals.

(iv) Producing and Publishing literature on patriotism, education and community development.

Please note that services to the international communities as referred to here shall only be online until we grow big enough to employ staff outside Uganda.

Performance of the Activities

(i) In performance of our duties as CONEPA, we basically target to help individuals and groups of young people to live in a conducive environment as children and later as patriotically responsible adult citizens.

(ii) Therefore, as CONEPA we are always there to actively, directly and indirectly respond to all matters in the environment of the children that may directly or indirectly affect them today or in the future.

(iii) In order to attain this as CONEPA we target all children in our capacity and their environments in all aspects possible.