On November 5th and 6th all the Primary 7 children in Uganda take their leaving examination which is set by the Uganda National Examinations Board. This is, as Milton says, ‘a serious exam, not a mere test’. The children have to travel to a centre, in this case, serving 6 schools, where they stay under strict supervision for the two days – the government sends invigilators and security guards to ensure the children do not cheat. The papers are marked and results posted in February. A good pass permits access to secondary or technical education whilst those doing less well may be recommended to repeat year 7.
The parents of the 24 children taking the exam this year were invited to the school for the children’s leaving ceremony before the exam and also the parents of 28 children who will be joining the school in the nursery class after Christmas. The children performed some songs and dances, received certificates and joined their parents for a meal before planting flowers so their friends will remember their time at the school.
Thank you to everyone who responded to our Christmas appeal – thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and donors we have been able to send money to build goalposts on both a football and netball pitch, plus balls. We have also sent money to buy each sponsored child an additional set of clothes so they have something other than their uniform. Milton has a shopping trip planned taking all the children to market to ensure each finds appropriate clothes that fit! We are providing salt, sugar, soap and tea leaves for 42 older people and a community meal for 400 villagers. This far more than we have been able to do in previous years. It will be a very happy Christmas in Kyemula this year.
Quite often I come across news items and links about Uganda which may be of interest to our donors, sponsors and supporters. I thought a Facebook page might enable us to share this kind of information so that anyone interested can access it without me filling up your in-boxes with unwanted messages. We’ll see what reception it gets and how it develops – if you use Facebook, have a look. The page is ‘Hours of Human Happiness, 3H’.
We have also registered with smile.amazon.co.uk so if you shop online amazon will donate to 3H! Our registration is in our full, formal name – Hours of Human Happiness.
More progress has been made on the website and we have registered our domain name – 3huganda.org - hopefully the site will be live very soon. I hope the website will be a useful marketing tool so we can demonstrate the work we are doing to a wider audience and so attract more sponsors and donors. If you know anyone who would be interested in supporting a child in Kyemula please encourage them to contact us.
And thanks for your continued support throughout 2018.
Chris, Karen, Kieran and Laurence (3H trustees)