Ansiima Casinga Rolande, FOLONA, Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda
Exploring the intersection of permaculture, education, empowerment, and technology to create stronger and more sustainable communities
Meet Ansiima Casinga Rolande, “Rolande”, a 21-year old permaculture, health, and nutrition educator, trainer and activist living in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in southern Uganda. She is the founder of FOLONA (“FOr the LOve of NAture”), a community-based organization established in 2022. I highlighted her younger brother Josby on Day 47 of this series.
Rolande and her family hail from North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). DRC has been in a constant state of armed conflict and war since 1996. Over 6 million people have been killed, more than 7 million are internally displaced, and 1 million have escaped the country as refugees. The conflict is the bloodiest since World War II and has been called “Africa’s World War”. North Kivu, in particular, has been in a state of protracted conflict with dozens of armed groups clashing, fighting and committing human rights abuses since at least 2004.
The family left DRC at the end of 2017 to seek safety at the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. At the time, Rolande was just 15.
Life before coming to the camp was different but challenging. In the beginning, at Nakivale, everything was new and different. I didn't have any friends, I didn’t know anyone, I had to figure out how to live in this new live. We needed to find ways of sustaining ourselves.
As the eldest child, Rolande found herself responsible for many things. She tried to work as much as she could early on to help the family make ends meet.
We started by selling fruits in the evening in the market. We would stand with a basin and fruits and vegetables inside. We had purchased the produce from a Ugandan market that is part of the Settlement but primarily inhabited by Ugandans.
Over time, she saw that some people were able to find and sustain jobs like teaching in schools, interpreting for UNHCR or working for nonprofit organizations.
I was curious. How did they get those jobs? First people said I needed to study English and have a Certificate.
Rolande already knew English and it turned out the Certificate requirement wasn’t true, but she studied and obtained one anyway. After school, she attended English classes from 4 to 6 pm and then at 6 pm she would sell fruits and greens on the roadside.
A few months into her English courses, her teachers recognized her advanced proficiency and gave her an opportunity to be a primary and nursery school teacher. She was 16 at that time. While she wasn’t paid, some of her siblings were able to receive free education in exchange for her service.
Education & Networking Opens New Doors
Rolande left her teaching at the primary school; the timing wasn't working out and she realized that going to school would unlock opportunities.
She enrolled in a school of entrepreneurship and business called Opportunigee. Opportunigee is a project incubator, an entrepreneurship hub & a free-learning space for Nakivale refugees based on life coaching and business mentoring.
While studying with Opportunigee, she got a research job for a company called NewLab. According to their website, NewLab is a company that “mobilizes startups, industry leaders, governments, and investors to accelerate tangible progress against the world’s most pressing challenges in energy, mobility, and materials.” They were doing an assessment prior to building model homes in Nakivale. Rolande was tasked with documenting the daily life of a refugee. She would go from village to village (Nakivale is made up of 79 villages) asking families about housing needs, education, normal life, jobs, opportunities. food, gardening.
The job with New Life brought her face to face with the multitude of challenges facing her fellow refugees as they struggled to live a life of dignity. She started to wonder what could she do as an individual to help? She was determined to do something. But what?
While on her quest for ideas of how to make a difference, Rolande found and connected with Morag Gamble of the Permaculture Education Institute and Ethos Foundation. Rolande earned a scholarship to learn permaculture online through PEI which she then supplemented with practical training alonside Bemeriki Bisimwa Dusabe of Rwamwanja Rural Foundation. Under his tutelage, she gained valuable experience working in different refugee settlement environments.
Following her permaculture practicum, Rolande’s journey continued with several other volunteer and education opportunities including with WeEmpowerHER, a menstrual health advocacy organization, and YICE Uganda (Youth Initiative for Community Empowerment) from 2022-2023. She also received a scholarship to attend Strategia Netherlands, a humanitarian school, where she earned a Diploma in Food Security and Nutrition in Humanitarian Emergencies and a Diploma in Nutrition.
After this I decided I had gotten enough experience in nutrition, permaculture, apprenticeship, and working for other organizations, that I was equipped with enough knowledge to start acting.
That action was the founding of the community-based organization, FOLONA.
For the Love of Nature (FoLoNa)
By the end of 2021, Rolande and seven of her colleagues with whom she had been working in Nakivale started to offer programs, ultimately registering FOLONA in 2022. FOLONA’s activities are wide reaching and include:
Basic Nutrition Training: Educating the community on the importance of nutrition and healthy eating. Knowledge gained through these sessions empowers individuals to make informed choices about their diet and lifestyle.
Women's Reproductive Training: An essential program designed to address and educate women on reproductive health, ensuring they have the knowledge and resources to make autonomous decisions about their bodies.
Arts: the arts are a powerful tool for expressing and sharing the message with a wider community; a group of teen artists generate beautiful art and make money to support their families
Permaculture for Children: Through creative and interactive courses, children learn about permaculture principles and the importance of living in harmony with nature. This program cultivates a sense of responsibility towards the environment from a young age.
Reusable Hygienic Sanitary Pads Making: A vital initiative that promotes women's health and hygiene while addressing environmental pollution by providing a sustainable alternative to disposable pads.
Cooking Sessions: These sessions not only teach the art of cooking but also emphasize the use of nutritious, locally-grown produce. It’s a step towards self-reliance and promoting health through diet.
Practical Climate-Smart Agriculture: Engages community members in modern agricultural practices that are resilient to climate change. This program is designed to ensure food security and sustainability.
This visually stunning and informative video produced by Ethos Foundation is full of footage of the FOLONA team in action and interviews with Rolande.
Ethos Foundation continues to help FOLONA. It is our mother organization. They trained me and my team. Through their charity, we receive support for FOLONA’s projects.
Rolande’s dream is to grow a big team that can continue work even if she is not there and to scale up activities to empower more people. She also wants to be able to provide stipends to FOLONA members; currently they all volunteer their time but need income to feed themselves and their families.
FOLONA is a volunteer effort for Rolande and her team but she also works at the education center called Full Circle Learning Uganda where she is a trainer on food, climate, nutrition.
The Making of a ChangeMaker
As I’ve done with all of the ChangeMaker interviewers, I asked Rolande what motivated her to take the path of service? Her answer was short, genuine, and needed no further explanation:
“It hurt and hurts to learn what people are going through that is inhumane.”
She wants life to be easier for others, to help them find their way through difficulties, and to live a dignified life.
Even if you have everything, you don't enjoy it knowing someone else outside is missing everything you have. You are not any better. You can be in their place someday and you will need to be helped out too.
For now, she doesn't see any other better way to live than to work in this sector. Maybe it will be different in the future, she says. But for now, she doesn't plan on doing anything different or leaving.
Instead she is leaning in and trying to grow FOLONA even more. She has built an extensive network of connections but says it’s still not enough. In fact, she was just in South Africa attending a summit for youth active in climate change.
It was for youths from different countries in Africa, hosted by the BeVisioneers, the Mercedes Benz fellowship. It was an amazing journey. I met with other youth like me and a lot of connections and conversations emerged.
Her personal dream is to get a scholarship to go to University and continue her studies. She would like to continue exploring opportunities in the humanitarian world and to find solutions to integrate technology and agriculture to make life easier for local farmers.
Rolande’s Personal ChangeMaker is…Morag Gamble
Morag met me when I was still trying to find my way. I didn't know many things, not even how many things worked, but she saw big things in me and gave me the chance. She didn't need any degrees or experiences. She is an Angel. She believed in me and helped me light the fire within me.
Where in the World is Rolande?
A prime example and powerful illustration of the kind of hope that can change the world into a better, safer, healthier, more compassionate place. Thanks for telling this story and getting it out to a larger audience.