Teens go to Uganda to help build irrigation system

By Amelia Varni
Teens in the newsroom

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Some teens go on family vacations during summertime. Some teens work to earn money during the summer. Some teens rehearse for musicals.

Last summer, a group of local teens worked together to volunteer in Uganda. Five girls and seven guys spent 19 days in Africa. They began their trip by flying to Rwanda and then driving across the border to Kabale, Uganda.

Gianna Gallo, a senior at Modesto High School, explained her experience: "What we did was we, as part of the Plant a Seed Foundation, went to Uganda, Africa, and put in an irrigation system at Kabale Trinity College's farm."

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Plant a Seed Foundation also built a college in Uganda a few years ago.

"I know that a lot of students who attend the school are sponsored by people in Modesto," Gianna said.

Modesto Junior College student Cami Denlinger has gone to Uganda three times with the foundation and helped build the school. "I had the privilege of traveling with my dad, Darin Denlinger, on all three trips, which has been very special for the both of us," she said.

Cami's latest trip was to work on Project Irrigation at Kabale Trinity College, a secondary Christian school that offers a high school-equivalent education for students ages 14 to 20. KTC houses and feeds more than 75 percent of its students. Recently, the school bought a farm, which grows food to supplement the students' diets and to teach the students about agriculture. The students normally eat three meals a day of beans and "poshu," the kind of corn cows are fed in the United States.

"I've had quite a few chances to eat poshu, and let me tell you, any diversification is welcome!" Cami said.

The farm has a water-supply problem during the dry season. This is a common problem for farmers in that area because they do not have irrigation systems common in California's San Joaquin Valley.

"Our goal on this trip was to help install an irrigation system so that the farm could operate at its highest potential all year long," Cami said.

In addition to Gallo and Denlinger, the students who helped build the system were Vicki Nyberg and Leah Layman, both of Big Valley Christian High School, home-school student Levi Heinrich and Kayla Laymen of MJC. They installed storage tanks on the farm in addition to installing a secondary line in the farm for simple irrigation.

"It was a lot of work because we didn't have the equipment or material we are used to, we had to improvise to get it all together," Cami said. "But in the end, we did get the system up and operating, which in and of itself is a huge success!"

Amelia Varni is a senior at Central Catholic High School and a member of The Bee's Teens in the Newsroom journalism program.