One week with

Fontes FoundationAs a part of a broader Corporate Social Responsibility strategy, Laboremus supports a

small development aid organization named Fontes Foundation. Their primary objective

is to unleash community potential by assisting disadvantaged people in Uganda with

drinking water and education initiatives. As Laboremus is established with a daughter

company in Uganda, it is natural to spend both time and money on local projects.

* Contributor to thousands of people in western Uganda

The people in the villages along the Kazinga

Channel suffer from extreme poverty. They

have to work hard to make ends meet and

they are continuously struggling for survival.

However, the population has rich access to

fishing resources, but this access is challenged

as they share territory with dangerous animals

such as crocodiles, hippos and water buffalos.

Traditionally, water has been carried

from the Kazinga Channel. This water is highly

contaminated by wild animals. The color of

the water is green and it looks like a soup.

As long as they have to get water directly

from the channel, the population suffer

from high mortality rates due to waterborne

diseases, in addition to the risk of being killed

by wild animals when fetching water. The

groundwater is salted so drilling wells for

drinking water is not a viable solution.

Safe water projects in KaseseThe installations Fontes have provided for five

different villages in Kasese in western Uganda

are based on the water from the channel. The

untreated water is pumped to a large tank,

where aluminium sulfate is added. This binds

to the sediments in the water and sinks them

When you see the importance of Fontes’ work with your own eyes, you can’t say no to help. It has such a big impact for the health of the population and for their lives

‘‘

to the bottom of the tank. The upper layer in

the tank – now clear water – is then pumped

through sand and charcoal filters, whereafter

chlorine is added. The clean water is stored in

tanks at the highest point in the village. From

these storage tanks, water is distributed to

one or more central tap towers where safe

water can be fetched.

The water projects are run after the

principles of help to self-help. All villages

have established water committees, and

Fontes are providing training for usage and

maintenance of the equipment. Fontes also

guide the committees about how to manage

the accounting. The water costs the end-

user 100 Uganda shillings (approx. 30 øre) for

each jerrycan (23 liters) of water. The money

covers the operating costs of the system, not

including capital investments.

Despite the inhabitants’ contributions

by paying for the water, there is a significant

need for further funding from volunteers

and donors to cover major upgrades and

refurbishments.

Solar panel rack to KazingaAs one of the contributors to Fontes, Laboremus

was invited to visit all the villages in Queen

Elizabeth National Park during Fontes’ ten

year anniversary trip. This journey gave us the

opportunity to participate in the water project

activities and to see how significant Laboremus’

contribution can be in rural areas such as this.

We were also able to watch the fascinating, but

dangerous wild animal life in the area.

In Kazinga we could watch a large number of hippos and water buffalos. It’s surprising to see how these people interact with the risk from wild animals as a part of everyday life

‘‘

In Kazinga (officially 450 inhabitants,

but probably closer to 700 inhabitants),

the equipment had been out of order

for three months. Lack of electric power

and one broken pump, prevented them

to use their installations. With the total

amount of 110 000 NOK as contributions

during Christmas, and with practical help

from Engineers without Borders, Fontes

Foundation were able to install a solar panel

rack during our stay in Queen Elizabeth

National Park. Compared to gasoline-

powered generators, a solar panel makes the

operations less expensive, increases the profit

and makes the project more sustainable.

We have seen wild animals every day. The hippos and the elephants are enormous – you can’t avoid being amazed by them. But at the end, the impressions from the human life are much stronger

‘‘

The celebration of Fontes’ ten year

anniversary took place in the same village.

A function was arranged, and there were

participants from all the five villages, in

addition to political leaders, donors and

Uganda Wildlife Authority. The people in

the village arranged the entertainment and

succeeded in gathering several hundreds of

people for the function. The gratitude which

was expressed to the Fontes staff confirmed

my belief in that Fontes Foundation are using

aid funds in an important and timely manner.

I am proud of my employer who has decided to fund the water projects. It would have been very depressing to see the success of the safe water installations being stalled by a lack of money

‘‘March 2015, Bente Aas Sjursen

FONTES FOUNDATION – WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY DO

• was founded in 2004 by the Koestler family

• is a small scale non-governmental aid organization

• has three basic areas of development aid:

– bringing safe water to the fishing villages in Queen Elizabeth National

Park in western Uganda

– youth development at Potentiam Youth Center in Kampala, Uganda

– education – fundraising for scholarships for people who have the

potential to bring back knowledge to the Ugandan society