History

In September 1981 a group of 6 Worcestershire farmers met at the home of David & Di Harper.  As friends they shared a concern at the dreadful news which was being televised night after night from Ethiopia where drought and political instability had combined to produce starvation, suffering and death on a catastrophic scale.

As farmers they were also all too aware that, here in Europe, plans were afoot to scale back food production because of over-supply.   These plans were put in to effect 10 years later and British farmers became obligated to withdraw 10% of their arable land from cereal production annually.

In the light of this paradox where, on the one hand, a dearth of basic cereals in one part of the world was in contrast to an excess in another part,  the Farmers Overseas Action Group of Worcestershire was formed (FOAG).   The group quickly expanded to 12 or so like-minded families and began meeting once every two months.  Various speakers from different aid agencies were invited to these meetings with the aim of enlarging our awareness of agricultural need beyond our own local horizons.

In early 1983 we hosted a Ugandan speaker who was temporarily living and studying in London.

He talked of how Uganda had suffered under the Amin years and how conditions had worsened following the restoration of Milton Obote to power in 1981.  He concluded his talk with a challenge to the group to consider visiting Uganda to see the desperate need for themselves.

In January 1984 David Harper and Malcolm Rankin responded to that challenge with a visit to Uganda where they discovered overwhelming need in every area.  It became obvious that mere ‘awareness’ was not enough – action was needed if FOAG was going to live up to its name.  And so began a gradual process of raising funds to support small-scale projects in Uganda – at first purely agricultural and, later, medical and educational.