Today I'm chatting with Bemeriki Bisimwa Dusabe, Founder and Director of Rwamwanja Rural Foundation in southwestern Uganda’s Rwamwanja refugee settlement: home to ≈92 thousand refugees, most fleeing a decades-long conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rwamwanja Rural Foundation (RRF) is a refugee-led non profit organisation, established to empower young people living with refugee status to fulfil their potential and transform their lives.

They do this via permaculture and mushroom farming.

RRF’s aim is “to ensure these communities can restore local ecosystems, increasing climate resilience and biodiversity, while benefiting from regenerative agriculture activities that improve access to nutritious food. It brings together permaculture, Indigenous farming techniques, local languages as well as modern, affordable and easily accessible digital technologies to enhance reach and overall impact.”

This conversation happened during a mushroom-fuelled Uganda-Kenya roadtrip in October 2023, before Bemeriki showed us his permaculture garden and upcoming learning centre. More details in a full article (with pics!) at this link here.

We discuss:

* The refugee experience, particularly for those with refugee status from DRC living in Uganda

* Permaculture practice and creating self-sustaining farming systems

* How oyster mushroom farming is helping to build self-sufficiency and resilience for people living with refugee status

* Why mushrooms work so well within the refugee context, for income generation and food security

* Grappling with identity and multi-nationalism as a person living in a new land with language and cultural differences

* Refugee as a status, not an identity, and integration with a host community

* And more.

Just a note: In this episode, we discuss themes that some might find distressing, such as the refugee experience, war crimes and child orphans.

Please consider supporting the work of Rwamwanja Rural Foundation by:

* Donation – Via Rwamwanja Rural Foundation’s website, you can donate towards a specific part of the foundation that interests you (e.g. transportation of waste materials to mushroom production site, or post-harvest handling and processing).

* Volunteering - Spend time contributing to build RRF’s permaculture learning centre and engaging in knowledge & skills exchange. Find out more by emailing info@rrfug.or or rwamwanjaruralfoundation@gmail.com .

Support, follow, engage and share the amazing work of Rwamwanja Rural Foundation:

* Reach out to Bemeriki on LinkedIn or Instagram

* Check out the Rwamwanja Rural Foundation LTD on YouTube channel

* Connect with Rwamwanja Rural Foundation on Facebook

Mush love

🍄❤️

Produced, hosted & edited by Jess Jorgensen / Sound recording by Michael Saal / Special thanks to Bemeriki Bisimwa Dusabe and the Rwamwanja Rural Foundation and Samantha Koches of Nourish All

Today I'm chatting with Janvier Hafasha, executive director and founder of the Hodari Foundation. Based in Uganda, Hodari helps refugees in Kyaka II refugee settlement to become self-sufficient. They do this by teaching people, mostly women, to grow and sell mushrooms.

Just a note: in this episode we discuss themes that some might find distressing, like the refugee experience, child orphans, sexual and gender-based violence, and suicide.

Please consider supporting Hodari Foundation, by volunteering in person or from afar. There are many ways to get involved!

Get involved: https://hodarifoundation.org/get-involved/ 

Listen on RunningWithMushrooms.com, or wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify | Apple podcasts | Amazon podcasts | Pocketcasts | TuneIn

This is a personal passion project - please consider rating or reviewing wherever you listen, it really helps! 🙏

Mush love, Jess

Check out www.runningwithmushrooms.com for a full article unpacking the context of this story, plus a transcript of this conversation.

“If mushrooms can grow from s**t, so can your insights!”

I’ve been featured on the very first episode of The Bento Club podcast, with Giulia Romanò of Field Notes. It’s all about mushrooms, and what market research can learn from mycology. In the chat, I share 3 lessons from the mushrooms that can inspire better insights — from how to tackle polarising topics at the intersection of legal and illegal to embracing the fact that insights must sometimes grow from s**t. Expect a chuckle or 3 to add a shine to your day!

Listen to The Bento Club on Spotify | Amazon Music | Apple podcasts

Don’t forget to like/share/review/follow The Bento Club! During each episode, the brilliant Giulia Romanò of Field Notes is connecting with the brightest and most interesting minds in the market research and tech industry, getting their top three tips. The Bento Club is on a mission to deliver a collection of easily digestible, bite-sized nuggets of wisdom over time — a real feast for your intellectual appetite 🍱

Mush love! 🍄❤️