How did 115 orphaned kids find yourself on their first bus trip to a zoo to have a good time a real-world Bitcoin transaction 15 years in the past? It’s a query I discovered myself asking in disbelief as I coordinated their entrance on the Uganda Wildlife Training Centre — generally often called the Entebbe Zoo — on Bitcoin Pizza Day, Might 22. The morning solar was heat, and the air buzzed with pleasure and laughter. Youngsters who had not often strayed past their rural village in Bugiri, Uganda, had been now getting off buses, eyes huge on the expectation of giraffes and elephants. Many of those children had by no means even heard of a zoo earlier than, not to mention seen one. But right here they had been, grinning ear to ear after breakfast, able to have a good time a unusual Bitcoin vacation. How on Earth did we get right here?
As I watched these 115 kids — kids from the Orphans of Uganda Youngsters Middle — marvel at animals and luxuriate in their very first pizza occasion later that afternoon, I felt a swell of feelings in my chest. I noticed pleasure, surprise, and a way of belonging wash over children who’ve identified an excessive amount of hardship of their younger lives. For me, this wasn’t only a enjoyable day trip. It was the fruits of an unbelievable journey of hope, neighborhood, and innovation. Bitcoin Pizza Day commemorates the primary real-world Bitcoin transaction when, again in 2010, Lazlo famously purchased two pizzas for 10,000 BTC. For many Bitcoiners, it’s a lighthearted celebration. However for us in Uganda this yr, Pizza Day turned one thing deeply private — a day when an web fantasy reached into our world and made an actual distinction. Bitcoin paid for these pizzas the youngsters ate, sure. However it additionally paid for the buses, the zoo tickets, and the possibility for these orphans to depart their district for the primary time of their lives. It was, in each sense, the largest Bitcoin Pizza Day celebration ever seen.
The Highway to Bitcoin Pizza Day
Standing in that zoo, I couldn’t assist however mirror on the street that led us right here. Simply months earlier than this occasion, our workforce, led by Orphanage Director Isma, achieved one thing I as soon as thought almost unattainable. Feeding over 100 kids has all the time been our largest expense right here on the orphanage, and for the previous years, we’ve been experimenting with a brand new thought: What if we might do all of it with bitcoin? Sat by sat, we had been constructing a small Bitcoin financial system across the orphanage. In actual fact, by constantly honoring our commitments and displaying the usefulness of this unusual digital cash, we even earned the belief of our most necessary provider. I’m proud to say that our loyal meals provider, the lady who sells us bulk maize, beans, and different staples, now accepts bitcoin as fee. That was a large win for us. It meant we might purchase meals for the children immediately with the sats donated by beneficiant Bitcoiners worldwide, with out all the time having to transform to money. It meant our bitcoin might keep bitcoin from donor to dinner, closing the loop in our little round financial system.
That achievement didn’t occur in a single day. It was the results of months of training and relationship-building in our neighborhood. We knew that to actually assist these kids long run, we wanted greater than one-off donations; we wanted sustainability. So we set out bold objectives for ourselves: make the orphanage self-sustaining and combine bitcoin into day by day life in Bugiri.
We brainstormed concepts like beginning a poultry farm for eggs to enhance the youngsters’s vitamin and generate revenue, or buying stitching machines so the older children might study tailoring expertise, due to Bitcoin Dada girls in Uganda. Every initiative was geared toward empowering the orphans with instruments and information to ultimately handle themselves. And woven by way of all these plans was Bitcoin, the financial community that allowed a worldwide neighborhood of supporters to be a part of our native options. We needed the shopkeepers, market distributors, and faculty lecturers in our city to see the identical potential we noticed. If extra of our neighbors would commerce in bitcoin — if they might reserve it, spend it, and belief it — then the orphanage’s lifeline wouldn’t rely solely on distant donors. It might be rooted in the neighborhood, powered by the folks and companies proper right here at dwelling. Little by little, that’s precisely what is occurring. Our Bitcoin Kampala challenge has doubled down on outreach within the village, displaying anybody who listens how you can obtain a Bitcoin pockets, how you can make a Lightning fee, and why this expertise isn’t simply “web cash” however one thing that may change their lives. One after the other, new allies are approaching board. Our meals vendor was one; an area clinic that treats our children turned one other; the native engineering firm joined the liberty prepare, too. The circle of belief in Bitcoin is widening.
My very own belief in Bitcoin had been cemented by one notably pressing second. I’ll always remember the day I actually noticed the ability of this expertise once more past my private life. One morning not way back, the orphanage’s meals retailer was empty — we had no meals left to cook dinner for the youngsters’s lunch. The same old funding we relied on was delayed, and native shops wouldn’t give us any extra on credit score. In desperation, Isma and I reached out to a buddy in South America. I instructed him about our scenario, and he didn’t hesitate. He despatched a $60 bitcoin donation the world over to Isma instantly. Inside seconds, the transaction popped up on Isma’s cellphone — confirmed. He walked into our now Bitcoin meals vendor’s store that very morning, confirmed the shopkeeper the bitcoin his pockets, and he labored out a fast change with the intention to pay for simply sufficient maize and beans for lunch. By 1:00 p.m., the youngsters had been consuming a scorching meal. There have been no banks concerned, no remittance workplaces open (it was a Sunday, in spite of everything), no ready till the following day for funds to clear. Simply hungry children at an orphanage in Uganda and a caring buddy in South America linked by this borderless cash. That day, bitcoin actually put meals on empty plates within the nick of time. I usually assume again to how miraculous it felt. For the primary time, I had a device that might summon assist from wherever on the planet, simply once we wanted it essentially the most.
In actual fact, the very first bitcoin donations I’d ever acquired personally had gotten me to the largest Bitcoin convention in Europe inside a month; nonetheless, this lunch meal paid immediately was far more wonderful than something I’d ever identified about Bitcoin. From day one, Bitcoin proved its price to me not in concept, however in particular person: Hungry kids eat due to it?! After that, I used to be satisfied that this expertise was extra than simply an thought for wealthy traders or tech lovers. It was a lifeline for the forgotten ones in society — like our children out in Bugiri, a lot of whom had been orphaned by illness or tragedy and had no one however us to look after them. Bitcoin was serving to us maintain them alive and wholesome.
It nonetheless amazes me how an unlikely sequence of occasions introduced us so far. Reality be instructed, I by no means set out intentionally to be a part of a “Bitcoin orphanage challenge” till a Machankura Ugandan consultant named Satstacker linked me with the orphanage. A few years in the past, I used to be only a Bitcoiner in Kampala, operating a bit of instructional meetup underneath the moniker Gorilla Sats. I used to be impressed by locations like El Zonte in El Salvador (the well-known “Bitcoin Seashore”) and comparable initiatives in South Africa and Brazil. My purpose after attending BTC Prague in 2023 was to spark a Bitcoin round financial system someplace in Uganda — wherever. Who knew it will find yourself being in a rural orphanage?
Initially, I assumed Makerere College college students would possibly cleared the path — or entrepreneurs. I hosted talks, met fellow lovers, and dreamed large. However destiny complemented all of the above efforts within the type of a Twitter contact: I realized about this orphanage out within the Bugiri district that was struggling, and Isma, the caretaker, was inquisitive about Bitcoin. These had been real, trustworthy folks doing good work with virtually no sources. That they had heard that Bitcoin would possibly assist them obtain donations extra simply. So we linked. I taught them what I knew, helped arrange a Lightning pockets, taught them self-custody, and shared their story on-line. What occurred subsequent was past my expectations. Bitcoiners from all over the world — folks we’d by no means met — began sending assist. What began as a trickle of sats quickly grew right into a stream of affection and generosity from each nook of the globe. And the orphanage and now faculty employees, in flip, started to totally embrace this new device. They realized to safe seed phrases, make funds, and maintain information. They turned proud members of the Bitcoin neighborhood. Within the course of, 113 kids (now 115) inadvertently turned a few of the youngest members in a worldwide Bitcoin financial system. Not as a result of anybody pressured them to, however as a result of it merely labored for them. In a method, these children by chance demonstrated what voluntary Bitcoin adoption appears to be like like at its purest. That they had a necessity; Bitcoin stuffed it. It was so simple as that.
Africa Wants Bitcoin, and Bitcoin Wants Africa
Moments just like the zoo journey put into perspective why all of this issues. We frequently say that Bitcoin solves actual issues in Africa — issues like expensive remittances, lack of banking entry, corruption, and foreign money instability. I’ve seen that reality with my very own eyes. Right here in Uganda, if you happen to don’t have a nationwide ID to get entry to cell cash or if you happen to stay removed from a financial institution department, the standard monetary system shuts you out. However with nothing greater than a function cellphone (through Machankura) and an web connection (if on a smartphone), Bitcoin lets anybody take part within the financial system. Donations that may have taken days and hefty charges to reach through wire switch now attain us in minutes with pennies in charges. After we want building works, medical provides, faculty charges, or meals, Bitcoin is commonly the quickest and most clear option to get funds and pay for it. Africa wants Bitcoin as a result of it will possibly leapfrog numerous the infrastructural challenges which have held us again. It places energy immediately within the arms of the individuals who want it — whether or not it’s an orphanage in Uganda, refugees in a camp who can’t open financial institution accounts, or a ladies’s financial savings group searching for a option to retailer their hard-earned financial savings. It supplies another when native currencies collapse or when inflation eats away at financial savings. It creates the chance for a extra degree monetary taking part in subject.
However the different aspect of this story is one thing I’ve come to consider simply as strongly: Bitcoin wants Africa. It wants the power, the tales, and the real-world use circumstances that our communities present — in locations like Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and past, Bitcoin isn’t simply an funding toy or a speculative asset — it’s a device of survival and empowerment. We’re stress-testing Bitcoin in essentially the most human methods. We’re discovering out the way it can feed kids, fund training, and construct companies from the bottom up. By doing so, we’re giving Bitcoin a goal far larger than worth charts and inflation hedges. We’re imbuing it with our values of neighborhood and solidarity. A buddy of mine, Fernando from the Praia Bitcoin challenge in Brazil, who has mentored me drastically, instructed me one thing that has caught in my thoughts. Seeing our work with the orphanage since 2023, he mentioned:
“That is essentially the most profitable utilization of Bitcoin to date. It’s beginning the peaceable revolution with over 100 forgotten ones.”
Coming from somebody midway the world over, who’s additionally combating to unfold Bitcoin for social good, that meant rather a lot. It jogged my memory that what we’re doing on this little nook of Uganda is a part of a a lot bigger story — a peaceable revolution uniting these whom the previous monetary system left behind.
Again on the zoo, I felt that revolution in my bones. I noticed it in the way in which the Kampala Bitcoin neighborhood members confirmed up en masse to assist these children — many volunteers traveled hours to be there, paying their very own method simply to share on this pleasure. I noticed it in how eagerly the youngsters shared pizza slices with our friends, as if to say thanks for being there. At that second, any limitations between “wealthy Bitcoiners,” if there have been any in attendance, and “poor orphans” melted away; we had been simply folks collectively, celebrating hope and risk. By the top of the day, we had gathered over 160 folks to have a good time and I knew this was a narrative price telling far past our borders. On Twitter, we’ve been documenting our journey from the beginning, and I’m thrilled to share {that a} quick documentary of this Bitcoin Pizza Day on the zoo is coming. It is going to seize the grins, the songs the youngsters sang, their expertise on the bus, and the sheer amazement on their faces assembly wildlife for the primary time. I invite you to observe Bitcoin Kampala on X (Twitter), on YouTube, and even on Nostr, so you’ll be able to see when the quick movie is launched and keep up to date on our subsequent chapters.
The buses have lengthy since left the zoo, carrying the youngsters again to Bugiri, however the influence of that day nonetheless lingers in our hearts. I’m penning this again in Kampala, reflecting on how far we’ve come. It’s exhausting to consider {that a} easy thought — utilizing bitcoin to assist these in want — would snowball right into a neighborhood and motion that’s altering lives. I take into consideration the long run rather a lot — about these children and what alternatives we are able to create for them as they develop up. There’s a lot extra to do. We wish to construct them a Bitcoin faculty the place they will really feel secure and beloved whereas buying a number of life expertise and studying about Bitcoin. We wish to develop our little Bitcoin financial system in order that by the point these kids are younger adults, they’ll have a thriving native market to take part in, one which understands and accepts the cash of the long run. We wish to present extra folks throughout Africa what is feasible when Bitcoin meets compassion.
As I wrap up my ideas, I return to that opening query and notice it isn’t so unattainable in spite of everything. How did 115 orphaned kids find yourself on a bus to the zoo on Bitcoin Pizza Day? They did it as a result of a whole lot of individuals — from Uganda to South America to Europe and past — determined to care. They did it as a result of a decentralized community allowed these caring folks to coordinate and contribute instantaneously. They did it as a result of when Bitcoin is guided by coronary heart, it will possibly obtain actually lovely issues. This expertise has left me deeply hopeful. If a handful of Bitcoin lovers and a struggling orphanage can be part of forces to by chance spark a “peaceable revolution” for over 100 forgotten kids, then what else is feasible? The mission we’re on is greater than bitcoin’s worth or any buzzwords; it’s about human dignity and connection.
Bitcoin has given all of us, however particularly these kids, an opportunity at a greater life. It’s given me a renewed goal. In flip, these kids have given Bitcoin a narrative that cuts by way of the noise and will get to its true essence. I consider that story is simply simply starting. In spite of everything, as we prefer to say in our Bitcoin in Africa Month-to-month Twitter Area: Africa wants Bitcoin, and Bitcoin wants Africa.
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This piece is an article featured within the newest Print version of Bitcoin Journal, The Lightning Situation. We’re sharing it right here to indicate the concepts explored all through the total problem.
