A GREAT DEAL OF CONCERN WAS RAISED AFTER THE War that there was so much malnutrition among babies in Uganda, due to ignorance about Nutrition. So it was decided to set up the Farm Diet Scheme at Gayaza where the girls could learn in practice how to grow and preparefood that was nourishing. We had the land and on 15 February 1957 (the day after my arrival) a herd of cattle walked from Namutamba and became the first source of fresh milk in the school. Meanwhile Pamela Goode had come out under CMS to start the farm and with a great deal of practical help from Joseph Hutchinson, Director of the Namulong Cotton Research Station the land was cleared and ploughedand planted. At the School’s Jubilee in 1955, this was celebrated with a huge pageant. Once it was established, the staff also had dietetians, Miss Sebaduka and, during her absence for further training in UK, Miss Morton, who made sure that the diet in the DR corresponded to the teaching being given. During the long school holiday, the farmer and dietitian would visit upcountry homes of some of the girls and help the girls to persuade their parents to adopt new methods of farming and diet. In times of political unrest this had to be discontinued, but was very valuable in the early 60’s.

In 1961 the first exotic, Guernsey, cows arrived from Kenya and the herd was developed with artificial insemination after that. We usually had 20 to 30 in the herd and the bulls were slaughtered for big occasions, especially at Christmas. The piggery was less successful – disease and food shortages were the main problems. We survived more than one outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, too! When Pamela Goode left, her place was taken by Barbara Marsden, and Miss Sebaduka duly returned from UK and spent the rest of her working life at Gayaza. When School Certificate began, Agricultural Biology was taught, but later we offered both Biology and Agriculture separately. Management of the farm was handed to locally trained Ugandans, who had the benefit of the expertise of the Agriculture graduates on the staff. (Not all the farm managers were of the same quality).

Farming had been on the curriculum from 1905, and one group of girls were always down in the banana gardens or milking the cows or feeding the ducks etc… during the Housework hour before breakfast. Every girl was required to bring a hoe and a peeling knife to school. We were duly horrified when the majority of the Kampala entrants brought brand new hoe blades with no handles and equally shiny knives. They clearly thought someone else was going to use them!

The size of the farm was never big enough to feed the school, and we often had difficulty in persuading government authorities that our need for Aid was as great as that of other schools. It was never the aim of the farm to become self supporting. It was an educational tool, and presumably still is, though the gradual urbanisation of the girls’ homes no doubt makes that difficult.