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Field Lessons

In Uganda, One Farmer Turns His Home into a Story of Resilience in a Changing Climate

We’ve partnered with disabled filmmakers globally to document how climate change is impacting people with disabilities in their communities. This is our first report from Uganda. It was edited by Aki Gaythwaite.

Steven Bukaya, a 57-year-old livestock farmer in Uganda, is navigating the dual pressures of disability and climate change. As rising temperatures dry up vital grasses and drive up feed costs, he struggles to keep his pigs and cattle nourished. Government support programs, he says, often ignore the needs of farmers with disabilities. Yet Bukaya is determined to adapt. He hopes to upgrade to hybrid animals that are more resilient to heat and drought and acquire a motorized tuk-tuk to replace his bicycle so he can access markets more easily. “When you’re a person with a disability and you rear animals, your home becomes a school to other people,” says Bukaya. “They always refer to you that if a disability person can rear animals, how about we?” His vision is to expand his farm into a sustainable, commercial venture – one that proves inclusion and adaptation can go hand in hand.

Watch an audio-described version of this video.

Photo of Christine Oliver Dhikusooka.

Filmmaker: Christine Oliver Dhikusooka

Christine Oliver Dhikusooka is a 48-year-old Catholic Ugandan, married with four children. She is a woman with a physical disability resulting from polio at age four. She holds an accounting diploma from Makerere Perfect Accountancy Centre in Kampala. Dhikusooka is the executive director of One Voice Heard 4 Disability Uganda (OVH4DU), a disability rights activist for women with disabilities in Uganda, and a policymaker in local government, representing women with disabilities. She serves as treasurer of the Council for Persons with Disabilities in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jinja.