A Busy Summer

Wow! Such a lot has happened over the summer

The Girls Club

Abawaala Kumwanjo (Girls First) only started at the beginning of April (less than 6 months ago). Already the girls have benefited from courses in cooking, sewing and craft making as well as being given greater access to sport. It has also enabled our colleagues to bring in outside experts to help in the field of counselling and guidance. These people talked to the girls on such matters as healthcare and personal hygiene. For the long-term, their session with the teaching staff, designed to motivate the pupils to become decent and responsible people, may be even more important as the programme can be continued internally.

Introduction to cookery – Bringing in the water

Although we received a couple of dedicated donations to help with this new club, the bulk of the funding has come from our associate membership scheme. If you have not joined so far, please think about doing so. We only ask a minimum of £5  a year for this, but if we receive enough subscriptions, they will help to do so much more.

Learning to make chips

Beyond the Girls Club

These things alone are enough to raise the spirits, but more generous dedicated donations have enabled us to take important  strides in helping girls in need.

An introduction to sewing

Craft making

A counselling and guidance session

Reusable Sanitary Towels

First of all one of our supporters, who knew that part of the membership income was being used to buy sanitary  towels to help girls who might otherwise have dropped out of school to  continue their education, proposed the idea of making our own reusable ones.

Training at the secondary school

We investigated the possibilities, discovered that trainers were available in Kampala, costed the programmes for both secondary and primary schools, and then our generous supporter offered to fund the projects at both sites. A wonderful gesture.

Training the younger girls

The training sessions have already been held and with the help of the trainers more than 200 pads were produced for the benefit of the girls. The next challenge is to develop the programme further for long-term benefits.

 

The Little Angels Orphanage

At the same time, we were able to make a start in resurrecting the fortunes of the children’s home/orphanage at Bubebbere. We have always been proud to support this, but never had the funds to play a central role. Sadly things had gone seriously downhill and the facility was on the verge of closure. A licence needed to be purchased to operate and a warden/social worker employed.

At the orphanage – a small step forward

We discussed the problem with the Ssenyonga family and reached a working solution for getting things going again. They would see to the licence and employment side and we would find the money to buy beds, bedding and mosquito nets, as well as meeting the ongoing cost of feeding the girls.

Ten youngsters are already benefiting from the initiative, and once again generous supporters  provided the necessary funds. There is plenty of space in the building to house more children and the need is there.

Once the money becomes available!

 

A Farming Development

This is a separate project from our desire to drive forward girls’ needs, even though they will be integral to this programme. The plan is to use 3 acres of land to plant such basics as maize, cassava, bananas and beans to help feed the children who will themselves be involved in working the land. An added bonus for the community is that labourers have to be employed to develop the farm.

Helping with the new farming project

Our Congratulations go our Co-ordinator in Uganda, James Ssenyonga and his wife, Shammah, on the birth of their first son, Jaiden.

Welcome Jaiden with the new dad

Keith Mills,

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