News from Uganda 🇺🇬, some good, some bad. The good – Over half of the desks have been built and several more have been sponsored. I just need a few more of you to donate towards the remainder at £20 each please. Innocent has had difficulty finding trees suitable for the other desks but today I had this message from him:

“The rainy season is on here and people have planted a lot, so it has been quite hard to find a tree in free space that even if we cut it there are no plants to destroy . But thank God today we got two trees to cut and I have paid for them, soon I will be organising to cut them for timber which is the timber we shall be using for the desks”.

I’m also pleased to say that I have received sponsorship for 5 out of the 6 blackboards to equip the six new classrooms, each costing just £10. So almost there with those too!

Now the bad news – Covid is still spreading in Uganda and the government issued a statement saying “lockdown of schools remains until some essential workers including health workers, security personnel, teachers, and those over 45 years old, are vaccinated”.

Then added: “Schools should remain closed until sufficient vaccination of the eligible population of children aged 12 to 18 years old has taken place.” That’s many many millions of people still to be vaccinated before the children can go back to school and from what I hear there is no where near enough vaccines coming into the country!

Online learning is available in the more affluent schools where children have laptops. But, of course, these are in the minority, and not the schools and children we support! So the great majority of children in Uganda are going without any education at all which puts them at a great disadvantage to their richer peers. Many children are also at risk of being forced to work as families are pushed towards extreme poverty, and there are reports about increasing numbers of teenage girls being drawn into sex work to help their families make ends meet and buy everyday goods including food and sanitary pads.

I’m making sure that the families of the two children we sponsor are ok. I wish there was more we could do.

However it is a wonderful thought that when Good Luck Junior School eventually opens, the children will have six new classrooms furnished with desks and blackboards, plus a brand new block of latrines. So different to when I first went to the school early last year, shortly before the pandemic hit the world! Together you and I, and of course Innocent, will have made such a difference!

Please get in touch if you can help with the last few desks and the one remaining blackboard.

Thank you! 🤗

Ibrahim, the head teacher managed to get a few children who live very local to sit at the desks for the photos.