Dear friends the building of the classrooms and latrines at Good Luck Juniors is progressing very fast now. The only problem has been the cost of some of the materials as during Covid, and it coming up to the new financial year following the recent Ugandan elections, all prices have risen, including building materials. For instance the iron roof sheets are 5000 Ugandan Shillings per sheet more expensive than a year ago. 64 sheets are needed, 17 for the latrines and 47 for the classrooms. At an exchange rate of 4700 Ugx to the pound, 320,000 Ugx came to an additional £68. I wasn’t surprised at the increased cost as even basic food stuffs in Uganda have risen a lot during the pandemic making it very difficult for many Ugandan families who don’t get any help from their government, ever! According to my Ugandan friends many have gone hungry.

Innocent travelled around to seek out the prices but when he considered the increased transport cost he decided sticking local was the best bet.

Fortunately it hasn’t held up progress. As the foundation of the latrines was left to dry the construction of the three classroom block began with the poles being knocked into the ground. These will support the timber walls and the corrugated metal roof. Then the men continued with the latrines. The latest news from Innocent showed the brick walls going up around the latrines and the roof and the wooden walls of the classrooms starting.

I’m always amazed at the speed of progress but there has to be someone keeping an eye on the workers as it is well known that they take it a bit too easy given the chance! 🤣Thank goodness for Innocent who does such a good job as my project manager!

Thanks for helping me help this village school in Uganda. Your amazing support is what makes these things happen!

I will be in touch again soon. 😊

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The boar your donations bought was transported to the school on the back of Innocent’s motorbike with headteacher Ibrahim holding it across his knees! (No photo but I’m sure you can imagine the picture!) Looking at the video I think Mrs Pig has accepted Mr Pig, so let’s hope it won’t be too long before they produce a family of little piggies! Click on link to view video.

https://youtube.com/shorts/JTNyMnStGRQ?feature=share

Dear friends work has started on the building of the latrines and classrooms for Good Luck Junior School in Uganda 🇺🇬. As soon as I sent out the money you donated, (only 6 days ago!), Innocent, my project manager, started looking around for all the necessary materials. All would be sourced as locally as possible. No B&Q nearby!

Innocent hired a truck & driver and searched out wooden poles for the frames. Then, a tree for sale only 1km from the school, was sliced into suitable size timber for the classroom sides. The sand was from Lake Victoria, 30km from site and some from the swamps a bit nearer. Bricks for the latrines would have been made from clay mud dug, shaped and fired locally too, in the traditional way, providing a family with much needed income. Often the stones are broken up by children as young as five to earn money for food, medicine or school. In fact the young people we now support in school and uni used to do just that. One of my lasting memories is of Bosco sat on the ground outside his little home breaking stones to help his family. Bosco is now a nurse!

And yesterday Innocent messaged me with photos of the foundation for the pit latrines completed and left to dry before the concrete slab is laid in top. Your donations are certainly put to work without delay!

More news soon! Thank you 😊 again for your help.

https://youtube.com/shorts/JTNyMnStGRQ?feature=share

Click on the link below to view video

Dear friends, as you read in my recent birthday post, after having a wonderful garden celebration with my family and friends, I was also thrilled to be able to declare my 70th birthday appeal to build latrines for Good Luck Junior School in Uganda, a 💯% success. The full £700 was raised!

Amazingly, donations continued to arrive in the days that followed and I am extremely excited to report that,

in fact, I have now received double what I was hoping for! I am so, so grateful to everyone who has been so kind and generous. THANK YOU 😊!

In practical terms this means that not only can we build the latrines, buy the boar for the lonely sow 🤣 and a few desks so the children have somewhere comfortable to sit to have their lessons, but also we are able to finance the building of another block of three classrooms like the one Poynton Rotary Club donated last year! I can hardly believe it and can’t wait to tell my project manager Innocent, so he can give the good news to the head teacher Ibrahim and the teachers, who have been trying to do their job in such difficult circumstances, and having more space for the children will make such a big difference.

Dear friends, it seems that every time I ask for assistance with a project in Uganda, enough of you come up with the money I need to finance it! You are WONDERFUL!

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This support just inspires me to go on doing what I’ve been doing for almost 20 years, giving people there a little bit of much needed help, enjoying my involvement and loving my annual visits!Thank you so much! I can’t wait to get back to Uganda!

I’ll be back soon to give you a progress report!🤗

(To those of you who are new to my involvement in Uganda I want to mention that my trips to Uganda are completely self-financed. Every penny you donate goes to the projects.)

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