WOW, WOW, WOW we’ve done it!!! We have raised enough to complete the latrines at St James! What an enormous relief (in more ways than one!), and so amazing!

I wrote in my last newsletter that I had been invited into Lower Park School here in Poynton to take part in their Harvest Festival and to supervise a coin trail around the corridors in aid of their friends in Uganda, which was sure to help towards the latrines. Well today was the day. The Harvest Festival was led by Key Stage 2 children and was centred round what harvests mean in different places around the world. They sang wonderful harvest songs which I was happy to join in with and after I gave a short talk about St James and the way the children harvest rice up to their waist in paddy fields, we finished with the Jambo, of course! At the end of the Harvest Festival I was presented with several lots of money from different groups of children or individual families so I was feeling very grateful even before we started the coin trail!

The children were so excited placing their offerings along the corridors which stretched the full length of the school and back again! Tonight I had a message from Mrs Gallagher the teacher in charge of the event and she gave me the amazing news that the school had collected a total of £530 which along with other donations that have come in since I wrote to you last has taken us above what we need to finish building the latrines. This is such a relief and means while I’m out in Uganda they will be completed which will allow the children to return to school in February the beginning of the next school year. Absolutely wonderful!

So I should find out what the Schools Management Committee mean about me ‘commissioning’ the latrines!!

I want to thank every one of you for your help! Any surplus money will be put towards completing Joy Clinic which has been put on hold while we replaced the latrines. You cannot run a clinic without facilities being available for the patients.

I’m almost packed and will be leaving Poynton at 3 am on Thursday for my flight out to Uganda. I cant wait to tell them the good news and to see the money put into action.

I will be keeping in touch while I am away via the website so do send me messages as I do appreciate them!

Asante sana from all the children at St James to all their friends here in the UK. Love to you all.

GREAT NEWS & THANK YOU!

Dear Friends

Since I wrote the previous newsletter on 28^th September when I was asking for your support to finish the latrines so that the children of Nakakabala can look forward to going back to school, I have raised another £500 made up from a donation from the Hazel Grove Rotary Club after I gave a talk to them, and kind individuals. Tennis club friends, friendly neighbours and friends further afield. So THANK YOU to you all! This was enough to pay for the corrugated metal roofs which have now been put on! Also the slope up to the latrines for the disabled students has been put in place. See the photos below. So only another £600 needed so that we can buy and install the doors and complete the finishing touches, plaster and paint etc. so the latrines will be ready in time for the new school year in February. The family made me laugh when they suggested I ‘commission’ the latrines while I am with them this time! Not sure how I do that!!!

I have been invited into Lower Park School here in Poynton on Monday to take part in their Harvest festival and to supervise a coin trail around the corridors in aid of their friends in Uganda, which is sure to help towards the latrines. Also I think my choir friends might donate towards the cause too when I sing with them on Tuesday. In addition to these I have a mum from Vernon Primary calling this evening to do some Christmas shopping from the items I bring back from Uganda so hopefully she will find what she is looking for! You are welcome to come and browse too! Just message me on here.

Are you able to help me in some way please? I hope you don’t mind me asking you once again!

I have booked my flights to Uganda leaving next Thursday 20^th October and returning on 8^th November. So coming up very soon and only a short trip this time as there aren’t the children at St James to teach. Also I cannot stay at St James as his family say James is not reliable – keeps disappearing and doing things out of character which is very worrying! I fear the sickness, Toxoplasmosis, has left him with a form of mental illness, maybe the start of dementia. I will spend as much time with James as I can to assess his mental health as much as I am able as I have no medical knowledge. In my last blog I spoke about James having gone back to part time teaching but I’m afraid there is bad news on that too as he had a fall and has injured his knee and elbow. Poor James!

During my stay I will be working with the family and Schools Management Committee to put plans in place for the future of a St James without James, which is so sad. We also need to help promote the school again as the local people have become very superstitious of the school because of James’ sickness. So many adults still lack the education and understanding about mental illness or in fact any illness. For instance I have a young friend, only 25, who has epileptic-like fits and when one occurs most local people run away from him so he gets terribly injured, and even believe their food will be poisoned if his attack happens near their cooking pots!

I hope having me visit St James will give the locals confidence in the school again and start registering their children for the new year. Only time will tell. All I can do is to go on supporting St James by completing the latrines so that the District Education Officer passes the school as fit to open again in February.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Love and best wishes to you from me and from all those children who have been helping for the last eight years since we started to build St James!

I am also selling my Happy St James Christmas cards once again if you would like to purchase some packs. I will give you the information in the following blog.

Dear Friends

Thanks to those of you who have been keeping in touch with me over the last few difficult months at St James, I really appreciate your interest and support. The news this month isn’t as good as I had hoped it would be either as James continues to be quite debilitated since his terrible sickness, though he has returned to part-time teaching. The new Schools Management Committee who I am in regular contact with, are doing a great job keeping the school turning over with the few children we have at the moment, as well as planning what is the best road to take for the future of the school. As you probably know James has always been a ‘one man band’ not being good at delegating responsibilities! Since we opened the school in 2008 he has been the head, a teacher, teacher trainer, father figure to the orphans, planned the physical development of the school, looked after the animal projects and growing crops to help feed the children! OK he had lots of help but he was the one to organise everything and now he cannot cope, which is really not surprising!

As you know from my previous newsletters we have also had the problem of the lack of latrines after a big tree demolished the school block last November. Only a few children have attended the school this year as they have been able to use ‘my’ personal latrine. These children are all the oldest pupils who take their National Leavers Exams in November hopefully progressing to Secondary Schools next year so it has been crucial for them to continue with their studies. In some ways the lack of children has lightened the load for the SMC but the sooner we are able to open the school once again the better for all those children not receiving an education at the moment.

We needed £5500 to install a block of septic tank latrines and with your help we have raised £4400 which is amazing. The latest donations came from the Stockport Lamplighters Rotary who had already given a donation towards the building of Joy Clinic at St James and from a dear elderly friend of mine who has always been a dedicated follower and supporter of St James!

The work on the latrine block is progressing well and is at the roofing stage. I don’t have any up-to-date photos only those from when the building work started which are included in the last post. The original plan has been slightly changed to make the toilets for the disabled children separate so they have more privacy.

My challenge now is to raise the remaining £1100 as soon as I possibly can. I am going out to Uganda next month so it would be amazing if I could take sufficient funds and have the latrines completed while I am there. If not hopefully to finish them by the beginning of February which is the start of the Uganda school year when we could welcome the children of Nakakabala village back to St James.

Please get in touch if you can help me by making a donation if you are able. Thank you for your continued support for me and St James as none of what has happened at the school will have happened without you!

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Dear friends,

Firstly thank you for all your thoughts and prayers for James’ recovery back to good health. He is gradually getting there. His family report that he is ‘better and better every day’. It’s been a very difficult time for everyone but this news is a big relief. We are still uncertain that James will ever return to running the school more or less single handed and none of us would want that now, but hopefully he will captain the ship again in the not too distant future. It has been a good, though very hard, opportunity for the newly formed School Management Committee to take on the many and varied responsibilities of all that is needed to keep the school functioning. It is a big challenge but one that the members of the SMC are determined to succeed in.

Thanks to all of you who have been helping towards building the new latrine block at St James. I have received donations from many individuals, from Vernon Primary School here in Poynton and Cheadle Heath PS in Stockport. I’m awaiting cheques from Lower Park PS in Poynton and Marton and District CE (Aided) Primary School in Congleton who have also been raising money. I recently spoke to a lovely group of ladies at All Saints Church in Cheadle Hulme and received a donation from them too. Earlier in the year I enjoyed an evening with Poynton Rotary who were very generous both with buying my crafts and with their donation.

My doggy clients have also been bringing in some much needed cash so woof woof to Gonzo, Bess, Harry, Bob, Isla and Boris!

Many of you have also ‘bought’ my Ugandan crafts to help with the fund raising. The toys, paintings, baskets, jewellery and bags have been favourites! So gradually the funds for completing the latrines are coming in. I am so grateful to you all and so are the children and staff at St James because without the latrines so many of our children are not getting an education at the moment.

Because of your support we have made fantastic progress. The St James Schools Management Committee reported that the engineer had had a lot of difficulty at the start trying to find a suitable sighting for the latrines firstly because the fresh water source had to be protected from contamination and then they kept hitting rock when they tried to dig the deep pits! As you will see by the photos below the building is now taking shape and will soon be at the roofing stage.

The good news about the new latrines is that they will be permanent as they are septic tanks not the traditional pit latrines that needed regular filling in and re-siting. These will be emptied and the composted remains used to fertilise the land! So glad that there will be no more need to dig new pits every couple of years with the expense that incurred. It’s a very good investment for St James and of course much better for the children, especially the disabled pupils as we are to have two separate latrines with extra supports for their use too.

Unfortunately I still need to raise more money to complete the latrine block which I am hoping will be ready for the start of the new school year February 2017 so that we will be able to welcome back those children who have had to go to other schools or more likely have not been going to school at all this year! Please continue to support me to help St James as I cannot do any of it without YOU!

I will be at the Vernon Primary School Summer Fair this Saturday 2^nd July between12pm and 3pm, to raise awareness of the needs for urgent funds for the latrines and of course I will have all my Ugandan crafts with me so please come along and say hi if you are in or around Poynton.

Other ways you can help:

1 – Take a look at all the items from Uganda and see if there is anything that you fancy for yourself or as gifts for others, including my home-made birthday and Christmas cards showing those lovely happy children’s faces! I’ll put the information on my next blog so you can take a look!

2 – Invite me to be Speaker if you belong to one of the many groups in and around Poynton district.

3 – If you have a pet needing to be looked after for a few hours or a few days, I’m willing in exchange for a donation, if we like each other (I mean your pet and me!) and I’m available!

4 – Sponsor an animal or desk for the school and receive a photo of your animal or named desk.

5 – Make a cash donation in cash, cheque or bank transfer.

6 – Organise your own fund raising activity for St James which I will happily attend if it is local.

THANK YOU!