Chris’s trip to meet up with everyone we are supporting in Uganda went really well – thanks in no small part to Diana who undertook a lot of the advance planning and was able to accompany him to his various visits and meetings. Here they both are with our sponsored students at Livingstone International University (L-R, Diana, Hilda, Sarah, Chris, Priscilla). 3H did not incur any costs as Chris’s trip was self funded
The children from Bunyanga Bright Primary were delighted to have visitors, after some local songs and dances, Chris was able to see how well the phonics teaching is going.
We have donated some tablets, with solar chargers, which have further phonics resources to develop this further.
Diana talked to the older girls about personal hygiene and sexual health as well as distributing more menstrual cups to help them attend school regularly even when they have their periods.
Before the pandemic we had received some generous donations of sports strips for the football and netball teams in Kyemula – which Chris was finally took out with him.
Chris was pleased to see the new buildings and development at Jackie School – while Milton and the headteacher shared their plans for further improvements.
Before the trip we had made contact with Jenga in Mbale who have a new project offering some support and expertise to local farmers. Chris introduced Milton and Joseph to the local contacts. Hopefully some of the Kyemula farmers will attend a ‘Farming God’s Way’ course and the charity’s coffee expert will discuss introducing this crop to the area around Namayili. For reasons we still don’t fully understand the farming project has so far worked well in Kyemula but much less well in Namayili. Our plan is now to extend the reach in Kyemula and wait for input from Evergreen Africa before we do anything more in Namayili. (The picture shows that the army worm is still causing problems in Kyemula)
The Manafwa river is still the major source of water for Namayili village. Also many of the children come to school from the far side of the river crossing on this rather inadequate bridge (the river isn’t in spate at the moment). As you can see Chris wasn’t keen to step further on to it! We will be discussing what can be done to improve the situation
This was our first opportunity to visit Namayili so Chris was pleased to meet some of the community.In Kyemula he observed that living conditions seem to have improved with more houses having metal roofs rather than banana leaves as hitherto.
Overall it would seem our support has made a difference. It was an intense couple of weeks – lots of quite arduous travel, in heat and frequent heavy rain but so good to catch up with our many contacts and local supporters. (Pictured is Republic Street, a major thoroughfare one afternoon during the visit)
Pictured below are Zeu and Sylvia, two of our first sponsored students. Zeu has now completed her MA and is looking for a lecturing post – possibly at LIU – while Sylvia is running a small farm – and has a son, Paul!
What is very clear is that the school sponsorships have made a huge difference and that our support for the farmers around Kyemula has also shown many benefits. We have decided that our Christmas Appeal will therefore be the same as last year’s. Milton told Chris that a number of the hoes need replacing as they have had such heavy use! £10 buys a farmer a hoe and a watering can – the basic tools each farmer needs
£20 buys a selection of maize, bean, cabbage and onion seeds – the basic foods in each garden
£50 buys a spray pump and fertiliser for a group of farmers to share
Email 3huganda@gmail.com to let me know where you would like me to send any gift certificates. You can donate via the website or make a bank transfer.
3H will also be funding Christmas meals for both schools and some gifts for the older people of soap, sugar, salt and tea.
