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Di and Chris are organising an evening with a curry supper and the chance to buy a whole range of postcards/cards all individually and uniquely created by a number of volunteers- mostly children from the three Ugandan schools the Trust is supporting, but also by friends from around the world-Scotland, Wales, England, Australia, Singapore, Finland,New Zealand, France and Canada. We have also persuaded a few established artists to donate pieces of their work which will be auctioned during the evening. All money raised will go to the Uganda Schools Trust
We hope you will come and join us and please bring a couple of friends to make it a good social evening Entry tickets to include the supper with a glass of French wine, will be provided for a suggested donation of £10 per head.  If you think you might be able to come along e mail Di  at diane.ellis@gmail.com. so that we might have some idea of numbers for the catering.Crads and Curries takes place on 30 October at the Scout Hut, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.( A map will be sent with tickets.)

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UK visit 08/10/2010
 
Balinda Richardson the Deputy Head at Kyebambe has secured his visa to visit U and we are looking forward to welcoming him in Banchory, Aberdeenshire where he will visit  Banchory Academy and observe educational methods and management in a Scottish School. Funding has generously been provided By Senergy who have an office in Banchory He arrives on Wednesday 8th September.
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New book store at Glorious Preparatory School
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Book store showing some of the books purchase fro Glorious by the TRUST
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The new improved school badge
These are the latest pictures sent to us by Ben Muhindo
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London 10K 07/19/2010
 
Jessica completed the run in 1 hour 20 minutes and would like her sponsorship money to go to supporting a girl at Kyebambe for the next year.
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British 10K 07/08/2010
 
Jessica Madeley, daughter of one of our trustees is running in the British 10K in London on Sunday 11 July in aid of Kyebambe School and in memory of her mum who taught there in the 1970s. If you would like to sponsor her, send donations to Uganda Schools Trust, c/o Machar, Arbeadie Road, Banchory AB31 5XA. You can boost your donation by downloading a gift Aid form from the donations page on this website
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Members of the Scolty Centre in Banchory present a cheque to Elizabeth. They raised the money by offering their services for car washing
Senergy who donated a PC and Projector to Kyebambe have given an additional sum to purchase a screen.
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Visit to Uganda February 2010
by Liz and Sandy Riddell and Anne Harrison on behalf of Uganda Schools Trust

 The money we had raised so far has been put to good use during this visit.

  At Kyebambe Girls Secondary School we met the Headmistress,Jane Tumusimirwa,  the Deputy, Balinda Richardson and many members of staff. We also met all the girls we are currently sponsoring. We were able to take on an additional five girls, making fifteen in total, and guarantee payment of their fees until they leave school.
  One of these girls, Joan, was going to be sponsored by the Bishop of Kabarole and he had taken her to the school to pay her fees for the first term on the very morning he was killed in a car accident.
  Another girl, Cecilia, was at home in her village facing the prospect of having to abandon her education as her unemployed peasant father had no income (there are no benefits in Uganda) – a message reached him to travel to the school – he accompanied her to the school and broke down in tears when he heard she would have her fees paid. This girl in particular had achieved excellent results in Senior One and it would have been a great shame and huge waste of talent for her to have had to drop out.

Sadly we also learned that on of the girls we had been helping,Kitinisa Gorret had died of liver disease at the end of October.
  Helping such girls is a drop in the ocean but hopefully each drop makes some contribution to the whole – at least that is what we believe.

  In addition to helping girls with fees we spent two million shillings (around £700) on science books. Science subjects are a real problem in Ugandan schools. With a lack of resources for the necessary laboratory refurbishments and maintenance and expertise and equipment shortages plus the huge class sizes, practical work is virtually impossible to undertake. The pictures in the gallery show how poorly resourced laboratories are. These inadequacies have a huge knock-on effect on the country’s skills base.

  We have made a promise – depending on further fund raising – to donate specifically to provide funds for gas canisters, a screen and other essential practical equipment for science experiments. Uganda needs scientists to develop its agricultural, engineering and technical sectors and become a self-sustaining economy.


  At Buheesi Secondary School where one of our members had donated a large sum for the construction of a laboratory, we found some improvements. A further classroom block had been built with government money. Pressure on places is growing at an almost unsustainable pace. The school is in a fairly remote rural location and it is the only secondary school serving eleven feeder primary schools, each with an average roll of 600 children. Even with new buildings, capacity will struggle to match demand and aspirations. Although “O” level results have improved overall, most are not in the higher grades. I was particularly struck by the poor English results. The 80% pass rate concealed many low grades, what would be Ds and Es at GCSE here in the UK

We spoke to the “Head of English”, Juliet – in fact she’s the only English teacher in the school, a young and recently trained appointee. She teaches all the English to all seven classes in the school with one book on average shared between ten students. We decided to place an immediate order for more books and she gave us a list and we ordered books totalling £950.  At least in S1 (the first class) students will have one language textbook between two. The library at the school is no more than a couple of shelves crammed in a room no bigger than a cupboard. This could well be the focus for our next fund raising drive.

A problem at Buheesi and hundreds of schools like it is hunger. Children do not expect to pay fees – their parents are poor. No school meals are provided: a small rickety mud canteen provides snacks for those who can pay. Many children go all day without food, having walked many miles to school in the morning and facing a similar return journey before eating anything. Helping here could be our next challenge.


Glorious Preparatory School gave us a wonderful welcome. It serves a poor area of displaced people from one of Uganda’s minority tribes, the Bakonjo. They are people from the mountainous area on the Congo border and were displaced some years ago by rebel activity. The school has done well since our last visit in 2009, with a rapidly increasing role. There is still no water on the compound – all water for washing and drinking has to be carried in plastic jerry cans. We have committed money to connect the school to mains water supply and provide proper latrines with locking doors.
 
The school now has two teaching blocks, one a temporary wooden building, for six classes, two nursery and four primary classes. These are basic structures with bamboo curtain dividers. Several pupils are severely disabled, both physically and mentally, but they mix well in ordinary classes but need more specialist attention. Any cash we can now raise for this school is desperately needed to build proper dividing walls and a more substantial structure and to provide more books. It is also hoped to acquire an adjacent plot to develop and area for organised sport. We committed money from existing funds to provide text and reading books but many more are needed to give each child a chance.
 
All in all, the visit revealed in stark detail the challenges Uganda faces to meet the needs of its aspiring and deserving young generation. Some may despair at the enormity of the task. We look at the smaller picture and believe that every pound raised can make a small transformation in the life of an individual child, a family and a school community.

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Laptops 03/11/2010
 
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Lillian Kazigati, a Kyebambe 'Old Girl' receives one of the Laptops donated by Senergy to Uganda Schools Trust. Lillian is studying Literature at Makerere University in Kampala and is planning to become a Primary School Teacher.
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Senergy has given us another two lap tops which we will take out to Fort Portal when we go out to Uganda next week. As yet we have not decided the best use for them but we will discuss that with the schools.
Our plan to bring Balinda Richardson to Scotland with Senergy's support will not be easy to fulfil. For his Visa application we have already provided three letters of support guaranteeing his travel and accommodation here in Scotland, but Richard informs us that in addition he is required to provide his host's bank statements for the last six months, a utility bill, a photo copy of the host's passport, mortgage payments or tenancy agreement, pay slips and proof that he is acceptable to the immigration authorities. How does any one ever get into this country? When we are in Kampala we hope to sort this out as far as possible but typically the work is outsourced to a commercial organisation and is not handled directly by the British Embassy.

The late Cunison Rankin, a stalwart of the Scottish National Party and  Elizabeth's uncle  requested that donations at his funeral be divided equally between the Saltire Society and the Uganda Schools Trust. As Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond who spoke at the funeral said, "This demonstrates Cunnie's  commitment to  his nationalism and his internationalism." The Trust is very grateful for his support.
  
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The Trust has sent 5.8 million Ugandan Shillings (£2000) to "Glorious" to purchase books and to assist in the payment of teachers' salaries for the past term. Ben Muhindo has been able to buy a large number of books across the curriculum to aid teaching and learning for his ever growing school population.

Anne Harrison, Elizabeth and Sandy Riddell are heading out to Uganda on 12th February and are looking forward to meeting all our friends at Kyebambe, Buheesi and Glorious. We will be meeting them to discuss their needs and to distribute funds from UST appropriately. We will also meet the girls we sponsor and look to see if we can support some new girls. We are also looking at the possibility of funding training of science teachers at Buheesi to try to improve student attainment.

Diane and Chris have had the idea of a post card sale as a fund raiser.The idea, if you haven't heard of it , is to persuade a number of people to paint, draw, colour or in anyway decorate a post card, which then forms part of an exhibition where the cards are sold. We will take cards with us to Uganda and get as many students and staff as possible to contribute. There a sure to be talented artists there and they will be contributing to their own support. Anyone reading this blog who feels they could contribute post cards can find a contact address elsewhere on this web site. Diane and Chris will hold the sale later in the year when we have a suitable number of exhibits.


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