If you’re interested in intersectional activism that considers and supports human and nonhuman people, I’m thrilled to put the Podrska Foundation on your radar.
I first met the founder of the Podrska Foundation, Dash Meizler, during my Uganda travels in 2019. After spending time with Dash in Kampala, I quickly got caught up to speed on some of the ways in which the organization empowers their local community. You can listen to our first podcast episode together here where we break down all of the roles that the Podrsaka Foundation plays in full detail.
On their website they state: “We are a vegan foundation dedicated to an ethics of care for both human and non-human lives in Uganda. Through programs such as child welfare initiatives, teenage counseling, women empowerment, early education for children and women, and plant-based food distribution, we foster impoverished orphans, children, youth, and single-mothers. Each of our programs also encourages participants to make choices informed by compassion for non-human animals.”
What a force of change!The work that they do encompasses a large number of needs in their immediate circle and is now focused on creating sustainable and long-lasting solutions. During my time spent with Dash and the foundation in Uganda I was lucky enough to see their work in action, making solid and measurable changes in their community.
Their next big project is what we’re turning our attention to now, and is what I sat down with Dash to discuss in our second podcast episode together. The topic of our discussion was Project Grow, an “innovative project that aims to enable some of the poorest people in Uganda to learn environmentally and ethically sustainable plant-based ways of living in harmony with nature.” How will they do that, you ask? Well, Dash stepped up to fill us in.
Dash says: “Project Grow will provide the knowledge and resources to enable participants to make informed choices as to whether or not to adopt an environmentally and ethically sustainable vegan lifestyle. Specifically, participants will be given the knowledge and the means to recycle their organic waste into usable compost, grow nutritious food at home, and potentially create a modest income through the sale of surplus crops.” Not only will the project encourage participants to sell their excess veggies, but it will also be teaching them how to grow mushrooms for income purposes as well.
I asked Dash how they will pick the participants for the program, and he informed me that the program will launch with 10 families, being those who are in the most need of resources. “Residents of Kiwunya face many challenges. There are high illiteracy rates, poor housing conditions, overcrowding, water logging and poor sanitation. Many residents have health issues. As several are without work, they live in extreme poverty.”
The Podrska Foundation has thought long and hard on how they can make the impact of this project long-lasting and already has a team in place to teach the beneficiaries the necessary skills to compost their waste, start their own gardens on raised beds, and grow mushrooms to sell. The project is aiming to launch on International Poverty Eradication Day, October 17th. They have set their fundraising goal to $3,752.22 to help them purchase the physical materials necessary to begin and pay the growing specialists who will be leading the teaching part of the program.
If you would like to support Project Grow, please donate here. If you are as excited about this project as I am, but are not able to donate right now, please share this article and our newest podcast episode to spread the word!
