One of the ways in making Nyenga Children’s Home self-sufficient is through fish farming. Fish farming yields fish, which can be eaten at the children’s home, but the fish can also be sold and hence be a source of income.

Fish farming in Uganda looks quite different from that in Norway. Here there are ponds being dug out in fields, which are then filled with water. The ponds need water supply of some kind, but can be quite far from a lake or the ocean! The ponds at Nyenga are approximately 1 meter deep. There are Tilapia and some Cat fish in two of the ponds, and only Cat fish in the last pond.

Cissy, who is responsible for the fish farming at Nyenga Children’s Home, did sampling of the fish a couple of weeks ago. She got help from the boys who normally work in the farming department at the children’s home. They brought fishing nets and jumped into the ponds. There is yarn lined over the ponds to keep birds from entering the ponds. The boys and Cissy drew the fishing net through the ponds, while they had to bend under the yarn.

The team caught quite a number of Tilapia and one Cat fish. Even though the Cat fish is larger in size, it has a tendency to dig itself into the mud or swim around the net. The joy of catching this one Cat fish was therefore great!

All the fish that was caught was weighed and a mean weight was calculated. Since the last weighing scale was broken they used a Norwegian kitchen weighing scale. Cissy was pleased with the effort done during the day and the fish had grown like she had expected. Some of the Tilapia that was caught was brought to the children’s home and eaten as snacks!