August Newsletter

The main harvest has taken place in Kyemula – the maize cobs have been transported to the village centre to be dried – Milton says the method of transportation depends where you are harvesting from – in some areas you carry them on your head, you could push sacks of them on a bicycle or hire a motorbike but where the fields are accessible you can join with colleagues and hire a truck.  This really illustrates how much better the local subsistence farmers are doing as this would have been unimaginable ten years ago! We will be purchasing maize direct from the farmers for school meals creating a virtuous circle in the village.

Beans have been planted for the second season and Milton reports that some are in flower already.

The children are on holiday for four weeks so we are running the Holiday Lunch Club again to provide a meal for those whose families struggle to provide food.

In the meantime, the university term has started at Livingstone International University and our Mbale based trustee, Diana has sent us the following report:

‘It’s the start of a new academic year at LIU. The new semester carries with it numerous dreams for the many returning students. Among them is a group of special young ladies whose education has been made possible by 3H. Of equal interest, is the plethora of young men and women who are stepping into the campus for the first time to start their university Journey.

Among the new students is Joyce Seela, the newest entrant into the 3H sponsorship program. Like the other girls, Joyce’s is a story of resilience. Joyce is from Mbulambuli, an area in Eastern Uganda prone to landslides and flooding. Sunday the 17^th most parts of Mbale experienced heavy downpour and as is the case in Mbulambuli, it was no different. In Joyce’s own words, she had to postpone her reporting to LIU from Monday to Tuesday to first help her family deal with Sunday’s aftermath of the heavy downpour.

However, Joyce has been handed a lifeline and while a majority of her peers were grappling with the aftermath of Sunday night heavy rains, Joyce was also preparing to join LIU

Joyce is glad to be among the lucky few who are able to join University. She is an outlier, a statistic that is not just unique to her village but across the country.

With this opportunity not only does she carry her own dreams but those of her entire family because she is the first person in her family to study at university.

She hopes that with her degree in Education, she will have a positive impact not just in her family but in her community in Mbalambuli.’

Pictured above are 3H sponsored students, left to right, Esther, Joyce, Peace and Godiva – Sarah missed the photocall!  It costs £1500 to support each student for a year. While we have some very generous benefactors who have been able to help us with this programme, we are aware that it’s a lot for anyone to donate so we would like to start a co-sponsorship programme, each student would be supported by four sponsors sponsor would pay £30 per month. Sponsors receive regular updates and twice yearly exam results. If you are interested, please email 3huganda@gmail.com.