​Creating food in abundance for the whole community using permaculture — PIOU in Obongi, Uganda

Hello fellow Permies!
​Colin here! Bonny (my dog 🐾) and I are now settled in Obongi District, Northern Uganda, alongside the beautiful Kochi River. After a long journey, God’s guidance brought us here, where we’ve been warmly welcomed by the local community and granted permits to be the local permies!
​Together with our local team and community members, we are building God’s Gift - Permaculture Institute of Obongi, Uganda (PIOU) starting on 25 acres of pristine virgin land.
​Our Motto & Core Directive
​"Creating food in abundance for the whole community using permaculture."
​Where We Are & The Landscape
​Site Size: 25 acres to start with!
​GPS Coordinates: 3°22'05.61"N, 31°33'01.06"E
​Location: Obongi District, Northern Uganda
​The River: The Kochi River flows right along our boundary line on its way to the White Nile corridor!
​Feel free to pop our coordinates into Google Earth or satellite maps to check out our land and river corridor. Sitting next to the river in a tropical wet-and-dry climate, protecting our riparian zone, trapping rainwater, building shade, and reviving soil biology are at the center of everything we do.
​What We Are Working On & Teaching
​Our goal is to build a living sanctuary, demonstration farm, and learning hub that serves the surrounding villages and refugees in our area through hands-on practice:
​Integrated Animal Husbandry & Silvopasture: Animals are central to what we do! We're integrating livestock into our syntropic food forest systems for rotational grazing, biological weed/pest control, and fast soil biological activation.
​Community Waste Management & Resource Recovery: Turning local waste into real soil fertility through organic upcycling, composting, biochar, and greywater systems.
​Syntropic Agriculture & Agroforestry: High-density biomass planting, successional agroforestry, and multi-strata crop guilds tailored to our local tropical conditions.
​Water Harvesting & River Care: Contour swales, rain capture, and stream-bank protection to hold moisture deep in the ground.
​Community Empowerment & Training: Teaching local farmers, families, and kids practical permaculture and regenerative skills so everyone can grow abundance.
​Looking for Partners, Supporters & Friends
​We are doing this step by step, working for God and building His kingdom as a real-world alternative. We’d love to connect with fellow Permies from around the world:
​Practitioners & Mentors: If you have experience with tropical silvopasture, syntropic succession, waste upcycling, or East African river ecosystems, your advice is always welcome!
​Partners, Volunteers & Impact Supporters: If you want to get your hands dirty, collaborate, or help back our immediate foundation work (like drilling our solar-powered borehole and setting up infrastructure), please reach out.
​We share our daily work, visual updates, and on-the-ground progress on Instagram:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/permacultureobongi
​If you’d like to collaborate, share advice, or just say hi, please jump in and comment!
​Warm regards,
Colin Crawshaw & Bonny 🐾
God’s Gift – Permaculture Institute of Obongi, Uganda (PIOU)