HORUWO’s Emergency Relief Work for Landslide Victims

Women affected by the Kasese Landslides with their emergency relief items received from HORUWO.

As climate change related catastrophes have increased in frequency and severity, we have received outreach from many of our partners asking us to provide essential aid to their communities. Rockflower is not set up to provide emergency humanitarian relief, our mandate is to provide early stage investment for social enterprises and community based organizations improving the lives of women and girls on the global margins. However, as was the case during COVID, partnership is an ongoing responsibility and one that requires a listening and attentive ear during times of crisis. For that reason, we have been working to put together an emergency fund, supported by our Monthly Gardener donations to address these crises.

In September, we sent $800 to HORUWO in the Kasese District of Western Uganda to provide emergency assistance to those displaced by catastrophic landslides. Climate change in sub-Saharan Africa has led to intensified temperature extremes, precipitation anomalies, and natural disasters that have left millions of people injured, homeless, or food insecure, and has caused serious economic damage. HORUWO’s Director, Biira Juliet, recently sent us an update on the use of the relief funds they received. 

She told us, “People have lost their lives, homes and farms/gardens destroyed and have less to eat, especially poor women with children or pregnant women who are vulnerable to these changes…All people who were affected and are currently living in the camp needed help. We were overwhelmed by the situation of women, especially those who are pregnant and those with kids.”

HORUWO used the money that was largely funded by our Gardeners, to help 40 teenage and elderly women and girls in the Kasika Village who are living in disaster camps. They purchased corn flour, soap, wash basins and sanitary pads to distribute. 10 elderly women received 10kg of corn flour each, and 30 teenage girls each received 2 packs of sanitary pads, one basin and one bar of soap each. These acts of intervention may seem small, but to those women at that moment, receiving hygiene items and corn flour meant that they were one step closer to having their basic needs met and could focus more of their energy on recovering and moving forward from this disaster.

Rockflower is committed to continuing our mission of providing early stage investment to social enterprises and community based organizations improving the lives of women and girls, and we are also committed to providing much needed support during times of dire need. In September we launched our campaign, 100 Gardeners in 100 Days, in which we hope to sign up 100 new Monthly Gardeners so that we can be sure that there is a stream of income available when disasters strike. If 100 people sign up for just $25 a month, that will be an extra $2,500 a month and $30,000 a year, which will add significantly to our emergency fund. These climate related disasters are only going to increase and the needs will be even greater. Whilst we continue to support and fund those whose innovations are providing much needed climate adaptation, we must also find a way to offer support in intervening moments of critical need. 

What To Do in a Pandemic: Send More Cash and More Love

Before the global pandemic struck, we were spending a lot of time working on a plan to scale Rockflower. We need to meet the demand of our existing partners and the increasing number of new applications we receive weekly. The world needs system-wide change in the next decade, not just to survive but to thrive and Rockflower’s role is to get more money into the hands of those with the vision and fortitude to make this happen. 

As an organization based in the United States, where the grave impact of the spread of COVID-19 is growing by the day, we have been on stay-at-home orders since mid-March. Banks are closed to in-person transactions, which presents a difficulty as many of the countries we work in require a physical presence to wire money. 

It is easy to get distracted during this moment, but you have to focus on what is being asked of you – what’s in your line of sight? 

We have reached out to all 34 of our current partners to get a sense of the challenges in their communities and to determine how best we can help.

The responses vary greatly in terms of government restrictions and mandatory lockdowns, but one sentiment comes through loud and clear. Those grassroots women’s organizations working at the furthest margins need something very basic - cash. 

With strict and sudden lockdowns in place, the ability to access food and medicine is becoming critical and those whose daily lives were already extremely difficult to navigate now have the added threat of this virus. 

Rockflower has set up an Emergency Fund to send small amounts of money via Western Union directly into the hands of our partners so that they can get what they need and utilize additional resources over the coming weeks. 

We firmly believe you can hold two ideas at the same time. We continue to work on our ambitious plan to scale up Rockflower, while at the same time knowing that putting money directly into the hands of those who need it right now is exactly why we call our philosophy, Radical Idealism, Practically Realized. 

Beginning tomorrow and continuing over the next few weeks, we will release a series of partner stories detailing their innovative and resilient approaches to this crisis. 

We will be participating in #GivingTuesdayNow to raise money for our Emergency Fund. Our fundraising campaign is ongoing but will officially launch on May 5 and run through May 10, Mother’s Day (US).