Kitgum is Spiralweb's first active AnchorPoint — the place where the ecological kernel first touches ground. Work here is led by Akena Patrick and Kitgum village elders, grounded in trust and relationship built over time. It is not a project delivered to a community. It is a community leading its own stewardship, with Spiralweb as structural support.
The project is highly welcome and with whole heart. They have accepted to give the 10m² and more plots of land for the project. Each and every member is very willing and ready to give a plot of land so that each household is having a Food Forest Farm.
Syntropicagroforestry establishing food forest plots around a community borehole, with green corridors connecting household plots. Each plot is spiral-based — radiating outward from a central canopy tree, layer by layer, building soil, water retention, food yield, and wildlife habitat simultaneously.
Schools are involved from the start. Children manage ground cover and flowers. Elders supervise tree and shrub placement. Everyone logs observations. The forest is also a classroom and a living dataset.
The first formal engagement meeting took place on 9 January 2026, with Lars A. Engberg joining online from Denmark. The following decisions were made by the community:
Land plots near the borehole confirmed. Planting to begin in January provided seedlings and materials are available. Nursery beds to be prepared and managed by community members. Soil layering, cloning, and grafting agreed as cultivation methods. Borehole water to supplement during dry spells.
Need for fencing using barbed wire and wood poles to protect against stray animals. Request for training on grafting of fruit plants — mangoes and oranges specifically. Proposal for grassroots leaders to support management alongside Akena as Lead Steward.
Each 10m² plot follows a spiral design radiating outward from a central Moringa tree. Each layer serves a different ecological function and is tended by different community members.
Moringa oleifera · nitrogen fixer · shade · leaves for mulch · tended by elders
Hibiscus (pollinator support) · Beans and legumes (nitrogen fixers, climbers) · Cassava (soil protector, edible mid-layer)
Sweet potato (dense soil cover, edible tubers) · Vetiver grass (erosion control, edge protection)
Marigold · Sunflower · interspersed along spiral · tended by children
Gliricidia · Leucaena · Native grasses · wildlife corridors and micro-habitats · mini-paths maintained for biodiversity
Principles that emerged from the Kitgum initiative — in English and Acholi (Luo).
A resilience infrastructure plan exists for Kitgum covering solar-powered WiFi at three community hotspots — hub, school, and clinic/market — maintained by local Network Guardians. This layer supports field documentation, observation logging, and communication with the wider Spiralweb network. Implementation follows field activation and community readiness.
Elir · 10m² pixel plots · bioregion-adjusted capacity band. Support flows directly to the field without administrative overhead. Public support activation deferred until structure is confirmed.
Spiralweb publishes only what it can hold with care. This page will grow as field notes, observation logs, and documentation are verified and ready to share.
Kitgum serves as a reference, not a rigid model, for other bioregions.