Ali Tebandeke, Permaculture Initiative Uganda
Following in his Forebears Footsteps and Promoting Permaculture Practices
Meet 35-year old
from Uganda. He is a permaculture expert, trainer, and practitioner. He is the Founder and Director of Permaculture Initiative Uganda and its offshoot Butambala Permaculture Learning Center Hub. He is also the co-founder of the Permaculture Research Institute of Uganda and the founder of the Nateete International Cities of Peace.Ali grew up in Nateete, on the outskirts of Kampala in central Uganda, but moved to Butambala (60 km southwest of Kampala) in 2017. Butambala is the homeland of his great-grandfather who was named Champion Farmer in 1935!
There in Butambala, Ali resides with his parents and siblings. His homestead also hosts the Butambala Permaculture Learning Center Hub, a 1-acre permaculture demonstration site and training farm. The Hub has become an active center for permaculture learning, sharing, inspiration, and community that has not only impacted people locally but also across Africa and worldwide.
In terms of community building, it’s really interesting that my work is attracting people across the world to what is happening here in Uganda. I’m really humbled.
Butambala Permaculture Learning Center Hub
The aim of the Hub is to grow native plants, save seeds, and educate the community, but particularly youth and the vulnerable in permaculture practices. The Hub is home to chicken coops, an underground water well, a subterranean irrigation system, rainwater catchement and water harvesting systems, as well as a vetiver nursery (vetiver is a hardy grass; read on for more details). In addition to the vetiver, the farm grows daikon, radish, and other vegetables known for improving soil.
That’s not all. As a result of Ali’s community-oriented work, he has helped establish village savings and loan groups and teaching gardens at local schools.
On the horizon, Ali sees opportunities for growth and expansion. Ali plans to purchase an adjacent acre to the Hub to grow the site, add an educational facility, and plant more demonstration gardens.
How Ali approaches his work is just as important as what he actually does.
I always promote an entrepreneurial mindset by involving farmers to grow their own first and then care about the environment. I also coach and mentor the kids who come to learn on the farm so they grow up as conscious people. I’m also committed to encouraging people of all races to work harmoniously.
Credit for the above aerial drone video of the Butambala Hub: Rainer Macke, Jutta Christiane Velten, DJ Najib and Prod Moyes. Thanks to Ali Tebandeke for giving me perimission to share here.
Permaculture Design Certificate Trainings (PDCs)
The Hub is also where Ali hosts his PDCs which he has been running since 2022 when he first trained a number of refugees from Nakivale Refugee Settlement and elsewhere including refugees from Burundi. Ali also hosts guest trainers who teach alongside him in the PDC like American permaculture expert and trainer Cristy Abbott of Wild Harvested.
Ali will be hosting a Permaculture Design Certificate at the Hub September 8-19, 2024. Details are forthcoming. As is most often the case with PDCs, there will be an opportunity for people to sponsor participants.
Permaculture can impact a lot of lives of people positively, conserve the environment, and create a sense of abundance.
Vetiver - Soil Stabilizer, Climate Change Adaptive and Source of Income Generation
The Hub is also home to a vetiver nursery. Vetiver has many uses in agriculture and soil conservation but can also help small farmers generate income. Ali explains:
We are finding other functions for these elements; vetiver has a market in Uganda so while it is not a mainstream commercial product it is beneficial for small scale farmers. People distill oil from vetiver roots to make essential oils. It’s an opportunity for farmers to receive some income.
In a recent social media post, Ali explans how he is using vetiver for soil conservation, pollution control and slope stabilization. “The vetiver program was launched 3 years ago through our Seed Packets for every student and community member.”
Vetiver holds the soil firmly, stabilizes the soil, and reduces erosion. Vetiver has other uses. It can be used to feed animals.
So long as the animals are raised on vetiver from a young age, they get used to it so that during the dry season you can feed them vetiver. Vetiver also has household and craft applications such as roofs, brooms, and other items.
Following in his Great-Grandfather’s (and Grandmother’s) Foosteps
I asked Ali how it was that a youth from the Kampala outskirts like him, became interested in permaculture. He answered in part by calling back to the legacy of his great grandfather, Mubambala Mustafa, who was awarded Champion Farmer for Butambala in 1935 during the colonial days of Uganda. Even though his great grandfather’s gardens were banana and cocoa and other cash crops, Ali says they were regenerative and integrative.
It’s amazing that I’m following the route of my ancestors. Really awesome. I’m walking through their footsteps. If they had not started this, where would I have been in terms of taking responsibility for the earth and organic nutritious food? I like to crack a joke, that I have spent almost 90 years in agriculture, from 1935 until now.
It’s not far from the truth. Ali - after completing his PDC in 2017 - received the “We Farm UK Champion Farmer” award in 2018, almost 90 years after his great-grandfather.
Ali also attributes his love for gardening, food, and nutrition to his grandmother.
When I was 8 years old, I used to visit my grandmother’s garden; she had a garden throughout the 1980s and 90s before Nateete was urbanized. I used to stay with her. She grew cocoa, yams, sugar canes, and other vegetables. I grew up seeing all these things. Now in my adult age, I have revisited these skills and consciousness. That experience at a young age inspired my passion for permaculture. I’m so delighted and inspired to take care of the environment.
His passion for permaculture naturally intertwines with his care and compassion for the earth and the environment given the permaculture ethos of Earth Care. Urbanization in the surrounding formerly rural towns of Nateete is taking a toll on the environment and Ali wants to change that trend.
In my hometown of Nateete, I used to see a lot of trees. But times have changed. We’re not seeing the trees anymore. It inspires me to be a conscious about the environment as well as taking care of nature.
Discovering Permaculture
While Ali was not new to agriculture given his family background, he was new to permaculture and discovered it in the 2010’s via new friends on Facebook. One of his first contacts in that space was Ed Sears of the United Kindom who has been a Director on the Board of Plants For a Future since 2009 and had traveled to Uganda for six months in 1995.
Ed introduced Ali to
of Sector39 Permaculture Academy and and encouraged him to attend the 2017 PDC hosted by Sector39 in Uganda. Thanks to a sponsorship, Ali attended that PDC and has since become one of Steve’s most prolific and passionate trainers of permaculture in East Africa. So much so that Ali has trained hundreds if not thousands of practitioners and traveled to many places for permaculture projects and trainings including Johannesburg in South Africa, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Nairobi, Kibera and Bungoma in Kenya, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Seychelles, South Sudan, and Khartoum Egypt.After the 2017 PDC, Ali’s first project was to work with the Kampala Capital City Authority to reestablish all of the public garden planters that had previously been dismantled and abandoned. While the primary purpose was beautification, Ali used it as an opportunity to organize youth to make a change in the community as well as show off the resilience of ornamentals and even integrate some edible plants into the proejct. Following that he did a series of mini and larger projects, growing his experience and evolving his awareness of how permaculture can impact people, communities and the environment.
His first big permaculture project was interacting with refugees in 2018 in the Bidi Bidi Refugee Camp with Steve Jones and Sector39. Ali has continued to stay in touch with Steve and assist with trainings in Uganda.
Steve is an adventurous guy. Has been to Africa quite some time.I appreciate him, he is a good teacher. He lets you be who you want to be.
For more on Steve Jones, his memoir of traveling through Africa in the 90’s and reflections (and updates) on permaculture in Africa, visit his Substack Chimanimani.
Ali’s Big Dream… Rather, Dreams
Expand the Butambala Hub
Ali is eager to purchase another acre to grow the Hub from one acre to two. Doing so will allow him to expand his chicken coop project. He regularly gives out chickens to less privileged community members to help them kickstart chicken and egg enterprises to lift them out of poverty. His goal is to grow his already well-established and well-fenced chicken operation through additional investments in infrastructure and fencing so the chickens can be free-range and he can impact more households.
Integrate Permaculture into the Educational Curriculum
Ali dreams of integrating the permaculture curriculum into Uganda’s primary education curriculum. He believes that all children should be introduced to the concepts of permaculture at an early age.
Mixing Music with Permaculture
When Ali was a teenager in Nateete, music was his life. His passion for music hasn’t changed.
Back in the day, music was one of my favorite things. In the early days, in primary school, I used to be part of the school choir. While I wasn’t a lead singer, I had the voice. When I grew up, I fell in love with music. It's all good. Music makes life happy.
His passion for music grew to include working with like-minded activists to establish a music education program and small community studio in Nateete in 2017 called JamRock Studio. The aim of JamRock Uganda is to empower young people and encourage their talents. He still visits JamRock to help with programming.
As we were doing the interview for this article, Ali was actually in Nateete at JamRock Studio and gave me a brief tour. JamRock is a full recording studio that teaches youth piano, A/V skills, production. They also offer kickboxing for youth as well as arts and crafts. “We’re trying to boost the energy and the vibe.”
Ali dreams of combining these two passions - music and permaculture - some day soon.
I want to do a permaculture song. It would be a project; I’d write the words, see which words we can put in and see what kind of song we could make. I’d also like people to come to the Butambala farm to do music videos and celebrate permaculture.
Who is Ali’s ChangeMaker?
Ali points to Ed Sears as the person that inspires and changed his life.
I thank Ed Sears for having shared information and holistic opportunity of learning about Permaculture which is beyond growing food but a holistic approach that has improved my skills and communication thus inspiring more people. I do believe he is one of the souls that the world needs. - Ali Tebandeke
Where in the World is Ali?
Loved reading this and seeing Ali's growth and work. I imagine we will see great things from him in the coming years!
It's been a wonderful journey seeing Ali's growth, and watching his communities thrive.