It has always been our intention to widen the sphere of operation of 3H and we are delighted to announce that our trustees have agreed to support Chance Nabweya, a community organisation working in Namayili, a village near Mbale which is even more remote than Kyemula. Our contact is Terri Jones who contacted us looking for help from a registered charity working in the Mbale area – she got involved with the village through a teacher exchange project and is trying to support their fledgling school, the Bunyanga Bright Primary School.
I asked Terri to share basic information about the community and this is what she said ‘ Bunyanga Bright Primary School is situated in the village of Namayili, Bududa where the total population is approximately 243. 152 households make up the village. In Namayili the overall population is young. There are 43 children under the age of 5 and 81 children of primary school age. 52 children are between primary and working age. There are 17 people in the village who work and earn a wage. The rest of the population are a mixture of unemployed adults, disabled and elderly. A high proportion of households in Namayili are considered poor, having little or no income. Around 95 buildings in Namayili are considered inadequate.
Bunyanga Bright Primary, opened in February 2019 and currently has 141 pupils, with more expected to join. The pupils are from Namayili and the neighbouring villages. 15 pupils are currently contributing some or full fees towards their education. 4 pupils receive sponsorship from donors in the UK. This leaves around 120 pupils in need of financial assistance to pay for their education - a number of pupils are orphans.’
Terri’s contact in Namayili is Joseph Nataka, pictured here at the school. As you can see whilst one building is in reasonable shape the other needs attention. Terri and Joseph have identified a number of urgent needs,
· To improve the condition of the buildings - the roof leaks and the dirt flooring is infested with jiggers (most pupils are barefoot). Work also needs to be done on the school office and a kitchen space needs to be built. New latrines also need to be dug as a priority.
· To increase the number of pupil sponsors and provide school materials and uniforms for all pupils
· To increase funding to allow us to provide one main meal a day
· To increase the number of teachers and to be able to pay for qualified teachers
These sound very much like the priorities we had, and still have, in Kyemula. We very much hope that by working together we can make a difference to the lives of people in Namayili and improve the future for the pupils at Bunyanga Bright Primary. Terri will be leading on this project – you can view her webpage for the Chance Nabweya community foundation at www.chancenabweya.wixsite.com/chance or her facebook page at www.facebook.com/chancenabweya .