Uganda Vegan Society Inspires School Children to Embrace Veganism

The Uganda Vegan Society has developed a vegan school lunch program targeting school going children as a way of introducing and creating awareness of plant-based meals.

The program dubbed "Vegan School lunch campaign" was introduced in Uganda and the whole of Africa by Thrive Africa to emphasize the need for protecting animal rights through adopting nutritious vegan dishes. 

Uganda Vegan Society has since took the campaign to various schools in Uganda and positive feedback has been reported including starting up backyard gardens in schools to facilitate vegan lunch. 

The month of November is well known as the "World Vegan Month" where animal rights activists spread the gospel about love and care for animals, the Uganda Vegan Society has as well participated. 

This, they did as they successfully rallied school children at Little Stars School in Kawempe to embrace veganism.. The vibrant school parade served as a platform for students to express their enthusiasm for plant-based living.

During the session, attention was given on the program's effectiveness in providing nutritious and eco-friendly meal options. 

Nabaasa Innocent, the Executive Director Uganda Vegan Society highlighted the significance of the vegan lifestyle, emphasizing its positive impact on health, the environment, and animal welfare. She underscored the importance of educating the younger generation about sustainable choices.

"The vegan school lunch program aims to instill healthy eating habits while contributing to a more sustainable and compassionate future." Nabaasa noted in an interview.

"The engagement of school children in adopting veganism not only promotes individual well-being but also contributes to building a more environmentally conscious and compassionate society. The discussion we've had with the students today is a significant step forward in fostering awareness and understanding of the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle among the youth." She emphasized.

The ED UVS Nabaasa Innocent talking to pupils at Kazo mixed primary school about the need for vegan based meals.

"As part of our participation in the Thrive Africa Vegan School Lunch campaign, We talked to pupils and teachers of little stars junior school about our campaign that focuses on eating vegan dishes during school lunch. We also sensitized them about the advantages vegan dishes have towards reduced animal cruelty, the environment and their health." Noted Clarah Twesigye, member, Vegan Society Uganda.

She added that, "We have previously visited this school, trained their cooks and pupils had a free vegan meal tasting session. The school management assured us that they’re considering going completely plant based during lunch."

The Headteacher, little stars junior school Ms. Nagadya Teo expressed gratitude for receiving the team from Uganda Vegan society and applauded them on extending the vegan school lunch program to her school.

"I want to appreciate the Uganda Vegan society for coming to our school and educating the learners about veganism, we hope they will take the message home and implement with the help of their parents."

Some of the fruit trees being grown by Kazo mixed primary school

"As a school, we hope to incorporate vegan meals in our lunch to give students a more balanced diet, we also hope to start a backyard farm in the near future to facilitate the process." Nagadya noted. 

A teacher shows off the greens garden the school started after being part of Uganda vegan society’s Vegan school lunch project.

The Thrive Africa Vegan school lunch campaign is currently being implemented in over 20 schools in Kampala and Wakiso, these schools include; BethelBuns P/s, Brilliant H/S, Crane Hill H/S, Divine H/s, Emmanuel collage Kazo, Gaddafi Integrated Academy, Happy hours p/s, Kawaala H/S, Kawempe Standard H/S, Kazo hill collage, Kazo Junior school, Kazo mixed P/S, Kazo SS, Kazo Summit P/S, Little stars p/s, Lugoba H/S, Praise Integrated H/S among others.

The project that’s in its first year has seen some of the schools start up fruits and vegetable gardens mainly as a strategy to completely go vegan with constant supply of affordable food from their own gardens.

Nabaasa Innocent the Executive Director says they are impressed that most schools have embraced the project.

"We were impressed to visit some of the schools where the Thrive Africa Vegan School Lunch campaign is being implemented and realize that within six months of the project, some schools have already set up school gardens, this shows how much influence we have as an organization." She said.

A photo of the pumpkin garden at Kazo mixed primary school. The school management says they will now utilize the pumpkins to make pumpkin soup replacing beef on Wednesday’s

"Many schools have land but it’s been utilized for growing less productive trees and just grass, whereas the trees and grass are good for the environment, we advised them to add more vegetables and fruits for the benefit of both the environment and school, which is what they did." Nabaasa added.

"Two teachers standards next to the maize, banana and cassava gardens during an inspection by Uganda vegan society team."

She also noted that, "Some of the schools that we visited have green vegetable gardens, fruit trees, pumpkin, tomatoes , matooke(bananas) and maize gardens, they thank Uganda vegan society for opening their eyes to sustainable supply of food."

Teacher at Kazo mixed school shows off a ripe tomato from their garden.

"This garden was started after Uganda vegan society’s visit, our school plans to go vegan completely, but we know this is achievable if we grow our own food, this will make it affordable and we are also conscious of how this food is grown to ensure the environment is well protected, we thank Uganda Vegan society for this initiative." one of the teacher said.