Our story
From huitlacoche to a community blessing
In June 2026 a fungus got into our community farm. We nearly threw the crop away. What happened next put our farm on the map, and started a community.
In June 2026 a fungus got into our community farm. We nearly threw the crop away. What happened next put our farm on the map, and started a community.
Thomas Turahe is 27 and runs Green Hills as a community farm: what grows here feeds the community first. He films almost every planting process and harvest, sharing his wins and losses with thousands of followers because he believes farmers learn fastest when they learn in public.
More than 9,000 people now follow along, from Uganda to the world.
"As long as there is life, there is hope."Thomas, on Instagram
Told in the order it happened, from the farm's own posts.
Thomas films grey, swollen growths on his maize and asks farmers online to name it. The reel reaches 40,000 likes and more than 7,000 comments.
Viewers in Mexico tell him it has a name, huitlacoche, and that at home it is a delicacy worth around $30. He had been about to throw it away."It was not a disease. It was gold."
Thomas cooks it, tastes it, and starts growing it on purpose. Huitlacoche now pays the farm's running costs.
With support from the new community, the land for a community home is cleared. Solid rock, big machines and long days.
Phase two begins: a bigger community house with land for training, meetings and goats. First the cement, bricks, sand and gravel have to reach the site.
The project buys scholastic materials for the community children who are currently enrolled in school.
Thomas is back in the field after a serious attack, and the farm is raising £8,254 to take the home from foundation to roof and run the farm's daily operations.
The story started in a small mud house with a tiny kitchen. It is why the new home matters.
Three jobs for one piece of land. Each one pays for the next.
Food for the people who live here, every week, from our own fields.
Young people learning that farming is a skill and a future, in the field and on the feed.
A safe, weatherproof home and an education for the orphans and vulnerable children we care for.
To the neighbours who dig with us, the Mexican family who taught us what we had, and everyone who prayed, gave or shared. Green Hills is run by Thomas in Uganda with Elizabeth, who hosts our fundraising in the UK.
Two ways to help right now.
£10 buys cement. £50 buys roofing sheets. £100 pays a mason for a week.
Donate on Crowdfunder ↗Books, pens and school materials for a child in our care. Get in touch to start.
Contact us to sponsor →