FARNHAM’S two Rotary clubs were “delighted” to learn Alison Hall was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours for services to victims of war in northern Uganda.

Alison is the founder of Guildford-based charity Seeds for Development, one of the organisations to receive funds raised by the Rotary clubs.

Seeds for Development’s mission is to kick poverty out of northern Uganda through education, empowerment and farming.

The area suffered a brutal war from 1986 to 2006 between the Ugandan army and the Lord’s Resistance Army. Children were reportedly stolen to be child soldiers and sex slaves, and almost two million people were forced into camps, some for nearly 20 years.

Alison heard about the plight of these farmers at a conference in 2007 and set up the charity.

For the first six years, Seeds for Development focused on helping farmers move from subsistence to commercial farming by lending them seeds.

After more than 2,500 farmers received seeds, the focus shifted to building resilient and sustainable communities through education, empowerment and farming. Today, the charity works with six remote village communities, supports more than 500 farming families, pays ten teachers, five cooks and ensures 670 nursery school children have a big cup of porridge every day.

Money raised by the two Rotary clubs, of Farnham and of Farnham Weyside, will fund the development of a school in the northern village of Putuke, which currently operates out of two huts made of wood and straw.