Karamoja.org's goals are very simple
1. Use technology and new cloud services to expand the reach and opportunity for all in Karamoja and then help the groups export value added services to the world.
2. Implement and then export Common Sense Capacity Building to all of Africa.
3. Honor the legacy of Paul Sherwen, while empowering the people of the region.
4. Help the people protect the beauty of the region.
5. Help the people protect the heritage and culture of the region.
6. Help create opportunity for all the people with new skills and services.
Vision
Our vision is simple, Karamoja, will, Lead Africa Forward. When we came to the region, it was after the cattle wars and guns were being taken away. There were literally no roads, no electricity and no real economy to speak of. What was there were incredible people, an incredible culture spread across a land of incredible beauty. Immediately Paul and I knew that this was our home and this was the one place in all of Africa where the greatest change would happen.
Karamoja.org is about helping all in the region gain access to opportunity, a better life, jobs and hope for their future and that of their culture. We live in a globally connected internet world and the expansion of internet cloud technology positioned properly gives developing communities like Karamoja an incredible lift up and advantage. Our track record in business, in starting and growing globaly successful grassroots organizations plus the business's that we helped start in Karamoja, place us in a very unique position and one where we feel we can help all to achieve thier goals.
8 years ago when we and the Bicycles for Humanity team brought 4,500 bicycles to Karamoja, as the cattle wars were ending, we knew that this was one of the truly incredible places on earth. What struck us most was the incredible beauty of the region and it's people and how important we felt it was to help them protect their culture and heritage.
At that time, there were no roads in the region, no electricity and few business's operating, but you could feel change happening. We and the people of the region knew that from this point forward, Karamoja would , Lead Africa Forward . This was a big dream and an even bigger goal, but today, we are well on our way to helping make this happen.
High value efficient models win, scale and with the internet reaching all corners of the planet, mobile technology coming down in price and increasing in power, we knew that the opportunity was there to protect the culture, empower the people and build new and exciting business's, while empowering the people to lead.
The 4500 bicycles became many successful and growing Bicycle Empowerment Centres. We followed that with the rollout of the iEmpowerment, free education for all, program across the region, allowing all access to better education and opportunity. Next we helped Kara-Tunga a cultural tour and arts company grow, and then, the Tour of Karamoja, Being from the technology world, we knew that a bicycle and a smart phone were gamechangers and so we founded Cloud Empowerment to deliver solutions globally empowering tens of millions of the world's poorest with better access to education, healthcare and opporunity. We are most proud of the fact that Cloud Empowerment is a Karamojong Company founded by local Karamojong.
Where everyone saw failure and marginalized people, Paul and I saw incredible opportunity and talent, with a work ethic and a skill set unmatched in Uganda or Africa. We all understand the term Capacity Building, we just added Common Sense in front of that and our creative model of development took hold and has become incredibly successful.
Our goal is simple, to help show the world what is possible and to empower the people of Karamoja, to, Lead Africa Forward, bringing their skills and services to all globally. Common Sense models do work and at Karamoja.org, we are incorporating all we have learned , deploying a new model of Common Sense Community Development that engages all who call Karamoja home and all who care about the region, it's people and the incredible opportunities to do good and to build business in partnership with the local people.
In December of 2019, our friend Paul Sherwen passed away, but his memory will never be forgotten. Giz, Alfred, I and the expanding team around Karamoja.org hope to keep Paul's memory alive through carrying on the work he believed in so passionatly.
This is only the start, success breeds success and our vision at Karamoja.org and that of our partners is to bring this unique and powerful brand of grassroots community to the world. Everyone who wants to be a part of this journey is welcome, to find out more, please contact pat@karamoja.org