*Nursery graduation 🎓at Good Luck Junior School!*

I wanted to share these wonderful videos before I say anything more as it felt so good to see the little school you helped to build and are now helping to keep open, celebrating!

*Innocent reports* (with a few comments from me in brackets). ‘The band lead the young graduates 🎓, teachers, parents and many locals (they love a party!), as they moved around the village advertising the school and inviting everyone to a meeting at the school. (I’m picturing this and smiling as I’ve witnessed and been caught up in these joyous processions several times!)

‘The pupils entertained the guests with song, dance and a special poem by the nursery graduates 🎓. Even the staff did some entertainment! There were speeches from chairmen of the four zones around and the head of security from the nearest town who promised to be by our side as we built GLJS. He also called upon the locals to support the school by bringing more pupils and meeting their responsibility.

‘They all asked me to pass on their sincere thanks to you for the great support. Head teacher Ibra in his speech also thanked me and madam Ann hambridge for good work well-done for GLJS. (Ann is my middle name!)

‘There was also fund raising for the construction of an office and a a kitchen. (At the moment the meals for the children are cooked out in the open making them vulnerable to whatever the weather throws at them and is very uncomfortable for the cook who is exposed to the strong sun for long hours.) 134,800 Ugx (£30) was collected on fund raising.

‘The cake was cut then the chief guest issued out certificates to the graduates 🎓. Then we had lunch. (The chief guest was a lecturer from the college Ibrahim attended.)

It sounds like it was a wonderful day for the school and hopefully will put more pupils on the register at GLJS especially those who have been denied an education so far.

More news soon.

Parents and other members of the community gather for the village celebration

The graduates 🎓perform a poem. (Very difficult to hear!)

Very short but shows the smart children better!

The Top Class of the Nursery receive their certificates

‘Even the staff gave entrainment, this was the cook’!

Notice members of the audience giving her the odd coin or two. I can remember being encouraged to join in one of these ceremonies and being given coins too! 🤣

[22/11/2022, 11:17:28] Gerry Hambridge: So far this has raised almost £300! Please consider signing up, it’s really easy and loads of shops and online companies qualify. Thanks Gerry

Hi there! Great news, we’ve been paid by easyfundraising! Thanks to everyone who’s helped make a BIG difference and please keep raising donations for us with all your Black Friday and Christmas shopping! If you’re not supporting us yet, it’s a free and easy way to help during these difficult times! Plus, for a limited time, once you’ve raised your first £10, easyfundraising will double it! Visit: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/geraldinehambridge/payments/6cd195?utm_medium=social&utm_source=whatsapp&utm_campaign=qp-nov-22&utm_term=Q3221&utm_content=socialshare

Thanks to those who have signed up. 🤗
I’ve been asked if there is a way to remember when you purchase an item to check if the retailer donates to easyfundraising, there is! Hubby Norman says – When you sign up to easyfundraising you can download the app to your device which will tell you if the online shop donates to easyfundraising which helps him remember! Easypeasy! Thanks again x😊

Good news! We are almost half way there! Yes, nearly half the funds needed to keep Good Luck Junior School open for one year have been donated! THANK YOU 😊

Dear friends, since I launched this challenge at the beginning of October, less than a month ago, I’ve had a wonderful response from many of you, with different ways you wanted to donate. Some of you have chosen a one off payment, others opting to have a monthly standing order and several asking to sponsor children or teachers for a specific period. Whichever way you’ve chosen, it is wonderful! THANK YOU 😊 Video and photos attached at end of post. Enjoy 😊

One friend has already received photos of the two children she’s sponsored who are the same age as her own grandchildren, Alice 9 and Theo 5. She tells me her grandchildren were thrilled to be connected to their knew friends Safina and Sadat, and loved the photos of their friends and the messages they sent to them. They are busy replying!

So, if my maths is correct, as of today 2/11/22, and using the recent 4421 UgSh to £1 exchange rate to show Ugandan Shillings, we have raised –

£1652 (7,303,492 UgSh) of the

£3393 (15,000,000 UgSh)

needed. But we still need £1741 to fund the school for the year. I have included the total of the standing orders in these figures.

The new Ugandan school year starts in January so we still have time to raise the remainder needed. If you have not done already please consider helping keep the school open. Thank you

Other news. As you know, with help from friends and additional funds raised by dog boarding, we also sponsor several young people in Uganda. The eldest of these Paul, is at uni in his last year of a clinical science and community health course. He and his fellow students are on their last placement before they sit the final exams in the new year. They and us were very shocked to hear some of them, including Paul, have been sent to a hospital in Fort Portal, towards the border with the Congo, where two medics recently died of Ebola, and numbers are increasing in the area! As you can imagine we are very worried about him and he admitted to being scared when he last messaged me. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Emma too, has a very important time ahead as he takes his Ugandan National Primary Leavers Exams next week, hoping the results will lead to promotion to secondary school which is not an automatic right in Uganda. It’s been a difficult couple of years for Emma and his classmates as they have missed a lot of schooling due to Covid. At least we have been able to sponsor him whereas some of his friends have been denied their place at the school because, with the enormous hike in the cost of living, their parents now can’t afford the fees. We wish Emma all the best for his exams next week.

My personal news is that although I’m still hoping to go out to Uganda spring next year, it will all depend on the situation with Ebola which unfortunately is spreading, and also on my knee replacement. My operation was actually due today but unfortunately it has been postponed because I have a too low salt count in my blood! Apparently it can cause problems with the healing process. I’ve been advised to eat more salt and drink less! So I’m a bit miserable at the moment as adding salt to my diet isn’t easy, and I have always had a big glass of water on the go so feeling rather thirsty! But, I have rediscovered eating celery sprinkled with salt which I always had as a child! I can hear my daughters now going ‘yuk’!! 🤣

I’m having another blood test mid November and hope the results show I’m going in the right direction. Otherwise I shall just have to eat more crisps!

Thank you for your continued interest and support. Please, if you can donate to help keep Good Luck Junior School open so the 126 children receive an education, a meal every day and the care and attention they deserve, then please get in touch. 🤗

Gerry x