One ROOTS Africa member hopes to travel to Uganda
With a mission to “combat hunger and poverty in Africa by connecting academic institutions and experts in the US to farming communities in Africa,” one ROOTS Africa member, sophomore Delina Peter hopes to join ROOTS Africa on its next mission to Uganda.
Peter, a business management major with a minor in international development and conflict management, is currently on a quest to raise $2,000 to join her teammates in Uganda to implement several aid projects dedicated to alleviating poverty and food insecurity.
Peter found out about the organization in 2018 during UMD’s “First Look Fair.” With an interest in the environment, she knew she wanted to help their mission to combat poverty in Africa through sustainable agriculture.
“I love how ROOTS focuses on trying to solve the root of problems such as taking the agriculture approach to food insecurity,” she said.
According to their website, ROOTS Africa is a student-led organization “focused on re-igniting passion and profitability surrounding agriculture for youth in Africa as well as helping to teach and implement sustainable agricultural technologies and practices.”
During the group’s first trip in 2017, the group teamed up with a partner school in Liberia, Liberia International Christian College (LICC.) UMD’s ROOTS calls LICC on a weekly basis to get an idea of what the school is struggling with.
Anna Glenn, faculty advisor of LICC’s chapter of ROOTS and alumna of the University of Maryland, believes that the joint partnership between the schools allows for a mutually beneficial relationship filled with open dialogue and collaboration to help reach concrete solutions.
“A partnership such as the one proposed with ROOTS would allow for our Liberian students’ voices to be heard while at the same time having the perspectives of the UMD students incorporated in to challenge and encourage our LICC students to think about more diverse solutions to the challenges faced in their communities,” Glenn said.
ROOTS has presented the school with virtual presentations about the importance of soil health and agricultural innovations. Through this, they hope the students will learn how to take care of their agricultural community and benefit from the natural resources in their daily lives.
Another project the ROOTS team has dedicated time to creating gardens at LICC and hopefully at other high schools in the community. This hands-on approach teaches students how to create a sustainable environment, thus benefiting Liberian farmers and others passionate about agriculture
When ROOTS travels to Uganda, they want to implement its tried and true projects, as well as some new ones.
“When we travel to Uganda this summer we will be bringing the tiny books with us to deliver, as well as also providing farmer outreach training. We also will be providing leadership workshops as well and establishing a relationship with our soon to be partners in Uganda,” Peter said.
These books are apart of their “Tiny Book” project, which allowed them to send out over 500 agricultural textbooks and handbooks. The books included information about agricultural topics most useful to the West African climate.
Ronald David Myers, an agricultural extension educator with the University of Maryland, is also the faculty advisor of ROOTS. He says the group is made up of about 45 students from a variety of majors.
“From the School of Public Health to the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, it is interesting to see all of the different schools reflected in the students,”Myers said.
“I love how ROOTS focuses on trying to solve the root of problems such as taking the agriculture approach to food insecurity,” Peter said.