July 4, 2022

As June comes to an end, the end of the harvesting cycle – after months of waiting and many ups and downs – is now in sight! In past years, all of our Jajas would be completely done with harvesting by now. As we have been learning over the past 8 months, things are not

From the Director’s Garden: Three Sisters

The Three Sisters. I learned about them in one of my favorite books, Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. They have been the staple foods of the Americas for millennia: Corn, Bean, and Squash. Corn is the eldest sister. She is the first to break from the ground, growing tall and towards the sky. She

Oli Otya!

After two months of delayed rain, all of the jajas have finally planted their crops! In the past, steady rains would fall over the entire region at predictable times, but these days rain falls on one village while leaving the next one completely dry. 2 of our jajas, Margaret and Catherine, have been getting rain

From the Director’s Garden: Rocky Soil

I did not imagine gardening would mean literal sparks flying as I tilled the soil. Yet that is how it started. After seeing the jajas plant their crops in March, I decided I wanted to try gardening along with them. So one evening, well after the scorching heat of day I went out to dig.

Greetings from Mukono!

We’ve been looking forward to posting this update – today we are introducing the main characters of our film! These jajas stood out to us as individuals with deep knowledge and a love of storytelling. They see clearly the effects of climate change around them and have noticed the sharp difference between the past and

Newsletter #4

Happy February! With the new month comes 3 new updates! This month marks an exciting new phase in the project. After interviewing 30 jajas, we’ve selected 5 individuals/pairs to be the main characters of the documentary. These individuals will summarize what their peers have said and guide us through the next harvest season.  February is

Newsletter #3

Happy New Year! We’ve got a few exciting updates to start 2022: First, just before Christmas break we completed a short promo video for the documentary! You can watch it on our website by clicking here. We hope you’ll enjoy this sample of jajas’ voices, stories, and homes – as well as the beautiful Ugandan scenery. 

Newsletter #2

Wasuze Otya from Uganda! Just like that, our first 2 weeks of filming is a wrap! We have already learned so much from the Jajas!  One interesting detail that popped up in our interviews was the issue of plastic waste damaging soils and producing a huge amount of carbon emissions worldwide, so eliminating plastic waste

Newsletter #1

Hello from Uganda! Welcome to the Jajas for Justice newsletter! For those of you who don’t know, Jajas for Justice: Stories of Climate Change is an upcoming documentary on the climate crisis in Uganda. “Jaja” is the Ugandan word for Elder. In the film, we’re focusing on stories of elderly farmers. The title Jajas for