Dear Friends
The children at St James have returned for the second term of the school year and James tells me all is going well. He has just registered the older children for their National Leavers exams which they will sit in November, all hoping to qualify for secondary school. This year there are 30 candidates which is great news but brings with it a challenge of how to pay for their registration to the government. Only 13 of the candidates pay the 27,000 fee, the other 17 make small contributions in food etc. Finding the money is always a challenge for James and I often wonder how he manages it! One thing he won’t have to pay for is ‘sitting’ fee or transport as St James is now a Registered Exam Centre so hopefully several other schools will pay to use our facilities!

Children wait in line to get the school emblem put on their new uniforms

St James new uniform, sunshine yellow!
St James has a new uniform! James was getting comments from some of the parents that their children ‘disappeared’ in the chocolate brown uniform which I do agree with as often in my photos they were almost one colour! James and the PTA have chosen sunshine yellow to replace the dark brown. The girls wear a yellow dress with a khaki collar and the boys a yellow shirt with khaki collar and shorts. The dress and shirt have the school emblem printed on them. I must admit they look very good and very sunny! I have made this photo into birthday cards to sell for St James!
New desks in the new classrooms! The children love the new desks in their new classrooms that many of you helped to provide! For just £20 you can sponsor a desk too and have your name or
the name of a friend or loved one painted on it just like the one in the photo!
Ceiling, solar and paint for Hambridge Hall!
The school authorities have told James that we need to put the ceiling in the four classrooms plus paint it before the children sit their exams in November. This is a bit of a challenge as the
ceiling alone will cost over 6million UGX (approx. £1500) which doesn’t sound a lot but it is in
Uganda and is a lot for us to raise! We will plod on, brick by brick & hopefully succeed!

Very noisy without a ceiling!
Progress on Joy Clinic. Below is the latest photo of Joy Clinic. The walls of the treatment and delivery rooms are up and recently the roof went on. I learnt recently that Joys father was a doctor and when he saw her struggling to help the Nakakabala community, delivering babies in the tiny home where she and James lived with their six children, his greatest wish was for a clinic to be built. Lets hope he is looking down and seeing what is happening now! The photo is of Joy as a midwife. Everyone misses her so much!

The outer shell of the two small consulting rooms are complete.
We are still a long way from completing Joy Clinic with lots of fund raising still to do but once again we are receiving help …………Geminy Maw, a 26 year old from Macclesfield, who found us funds for the borehole last year, has taken on a challenge to cycle solo to ‘Berlin and Back on a Bike’ to raise awareness and money for Joy Clinic. Her motto is ‘Spreading Smiles Across the Miles’ and with her smile she certainly does that!