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