Ruhanga Community Project/ Uganda Lodge update 2010
Dear friends/supporters,
Well the end of 2010 is almost here and thought i would put a short piece together about what we have achieved so far this year and the plans we have in place for the next.
We started 2010 with about 40 children in the school, who were mostly baby classes and ended the school year with a big parent day event with 145 children enrolled, plus about 30 others on the waiting lists for next term.
The parent day was a great success, with many local dignitaries coming to visit and speak, and it showed us how the surrounding village communities are now getting more involved and supporting the project. This has also be promoted by the fact that the water scheme that we have been planning for three years to bring water to the three local villages, school and the lodge has finally been agreed on and the local CBO (Community Based organisation) have now agreed to take ownership of the whole project and we can now just concentrate on raising the £15,000 needed to complete it.
The buildings at the school now comprise of 2 baby classes, a middle classroom, and a top class. Primary 1 and 2 are in the building stages now and we hope they will be completed by end of January 2011, funds permitting.
We have 5 full time teachers now in place at the school and a new headmaster, who has only been working for us for a few weeks before the end of term. We are hoping that he will be good for the school and help us to develop it more in the future.
At the Lodge the Craft workshops have been completed and we have started to teach tailoring and computing to a few adult students from the community. We hope that this will be developed and expanded more in the coming year.
We had a very successful day when the 250 mosquito nets that some of you helped to raise the funds for were distributed to the three local villages. We concentrated on the families with young children who attend our school and now hoping this will reduce the numbers of malaria cases each month.
All the other tools, books and equipment that we still have safely in storage from early fundraising donations, are waiting for future volunteers and the community to consider how best to make good use of them. We hope plans will develop that insure that they are used to their best potential and not just given on a whim and never seen again, we feel it is best sometimes to wait for the right opportunity to arise and then move forward slowly.
We hope to be launching a charity page for the water scheme fundraising target in the new year and we are hoping that you will be able to support us in this new challenge and promising plan. This will greatly benefit so many village families as well as our own students at the school.
All money that any of you can raise or friends and future volunteers donate will go directly towards both the upgrading and completion of our classrooms or the Gravity water scheme. This is the main focus for 2011
For anyone planning a return trip or for new volunteers to Uganda Lodge – good news is that through our charity “Let Them help themselves out of Poverty” we can now get highly discounted, flexible flights that allow us extra luggage allowances with BA and some other airlines – contact us for more details.
We are also considering organising a fully escorted 2-3 week group tour starting mid February. The total cost for flights, transfers, all food and accommodation plus a 3 day safari, and a trip out to the nearby hot springs and a country market, would be approx £1,000. There would be many opportunities to mix with the local community and explore the nearby villages, as well as helping out in the school with our adorable young students
We hope that this has updated you a little on what has been happening, if you want to know more remember to check us out on the website
www.supportugandalodge.com. This includes the water scheme plans, sponsor a child and information on volunteer holidays
Finally a big thankyou from Dennis Aheirwe and all the villages Ruhanga for your past and anticipated future support.
Have a happy 2011