Werribee South’s farming expertise is going global.
Christopher Ochaya has travelled to Werribee South’s farming community from Gulu, in northern Uganda, to gain farming skills and knowledge to take home.
In the three-month program, sponsored by Werribee Rotary Club, Mr Ochaya will work at a poultry farm, vegetable farm, nursery, goat farm, pig farm and cattle farm.
LT’s Egg Farm owner and Werribee Rotary Club member Brian Ahmed said the aim was to teach Mr Ochaya the basics of food production so he can take his newly acquired skills back to his community to train people who have been affected by war for 20 years.
“They have been living in camps for the past 16 years, relying on aid from non-government organisations,” Mr Ahmed said. “They now have a generation of people who do not know how to produce food and survive.”
Mr Ochaya said it wasn’t just the farm production that interested him.
“I hope to learn the history of farming and the families behind the farms and how they grew from humble beginnings,” he said.
“It is important to me to learn the stories behind these farms, as it is what I need to bring back to my community – that it will take hard work for us to get to a level where we can start producing food to sustain our families.
“[Since the war], we have lost all our knowledge, motivation, understanding and concept of how to produce food and look after ourselves. All the aid has now been removed and the people have been left to their own resources. This is why I need to learn the basics of farming – so I can teach these skills when I return.”
