Lake Victoria had been the home
of bustling water ferry traffic that connected Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. But
over recent decades, the ferryboats aged and the traffic dwindled. South
Africa-born shipbuilder Robert Smith has set out to bring the traffic back. In
2008, Smith, who lives in the United States, registered EarthWise Ferries
Uganda Ltd. to create a profitable lake transportation system. His goals were
to employ local builders to construct fast, safe and environmentally
responsible ferries that would efficiently move people and goods throughout the
Lake Victoria region. He aimed to bring in additional business to the local
communities on the lake by boosting tourism.
In 2010, EarthWise was awarded
$100,000 from the African Diaspora Marketplace competition sponsored by the
U.S. Agency for International Development and the Western Union Company.
EarthWise was one of 14 African business ventures to receive an award that year
out of more than 700 entries. In May 2011, EarthWise launched its first ferry,
the MV Amani, connecting Kampala with the SseSe Islands in Lake Victoria. (In
Swahili, Amani means peace.) Today, an estimated 1,600 people move from
Kampala, Uganda, to Mwanza, Tanzania, daily. In the coming weeks, EarthWise
expects to launch a second ferry. Like the first, it will be a two-level vessel
outfitted with a state-of-the-art global positioning navigational system and
sophisticated communication equipment to keep it on course and aware of safety
issues relevant to passengers and crew.
"The ferries will restore
and create a vibrant economic corridor that will in turn create jobs and uplift
the poor," Esenu said. "The focus of EarthWise Ferries Uganda is to
rebuild infrastructure," Smith said. "By rebuilding water
transportation, we hope to energize rebuilding of the rail sector, as one
depends on the other in moving goods across the lake."
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