Planned Charlene’s Project Development in Uganda during 2015 

P7 Exam Results 2014

It was so encouraging to hear the outcomes from the P7 exams at both Hidden Treasure and Kahara.

Wonderful news from Pastor Eugene at Hidden Treasure Primary School “Good news! All our P7 candidate students 2014, passed very well. 4 with grade one and 11 with grade two. All of them have highly qualified for senior secondary education. A great blessing for the community”

 Shoes for the children at Hidden Treasure

The P7 results for Kahara Primary School too are very impressive and show excellent progression. The pass rates this year have been exceptionally good, with all 21 of P7 pupils passing their P7 Leaving exams in 2014. 15 of these pupils achieved a Division II result. Enrollment has risen by 28% and attendance rates have been consistently high which is a great encouragement.

 Children working in Kahara

2015 School Year has started

At Hidden Treasure the new boys latrines are completed, Becky who helps with the Sponsorship has got married, mattresses have been delivered and Christmas gifts gone to all the staff and children – this included new shoes for the children. 100 children continue in the Sponsorship Programme and all the children continue to be fed in school daily.

At Kahara the community hall and teacher accommodation was completed after the summer team visit. The kitchen has also been completed. We have commissioned staff training for Head Teacher Bernard and Aaron one of the other teachers. The maize sheller is bringing in a little income for the school and we hope to purchase a maize grinder soon. The first 25 children within the sponsorship scheme at Kahara have been linked with sponsors. Victoria, the school Chairperson, has reported back that the Mamma Packs have been all distributed to pregnant women and to date all deliveries have been successful with no maternal or baby losses. So encouraging and we are hoping to replenish her supplies as soon as possible. (women have to provide Mamma Packs at delivery – many previously could not afford to do so with increase in risks of infection to mother and baby)

Kahara 2012

Inside new Community Hall at Kahara

Kilwara Primary School

The building and development work is commencing on Kilwara Primary School, not far from Kahara and will be completed over 2-3 years thanks to the money raised at the Big Festive Fry. This will be the third Charlene’s Project school and we are excited with its proximity to Kahara Primary School as it allows further community development, collaboration between schools and progress towards long term education goals.

 Kilwara 2014

Teacher Training

We have commissioned collaborative work with the teachers from Kahara, Kilwara and 3 other neighbouring schools in the local vicinity of Kahara and Kilwara Primary schools with the hope that good practice will be shared and retention to P7 (especially of girls) will increase right across the Kahara/Kilwara community. We still hope and pray that eventually there might be a secondary school for the children of that community.

 Teacher Training at Kahara

“Kahara School has achieved quite some development over the years. We recently got a community hall, teachers houses and the school kitchen is now under construction.  

The community hall has been able to host weddings for community members, community youth forum for the sub county and the village health team seminars, these were activities that could never be held in our community. Through the activities we have been able to charge some money for maintaining the hall. 

As a school we are also privileged to have the hall, we usually use the hall for special assembly especially when we have visitors who need to address the children. We now have a room for meeting away from the harsh weather, of rain and sunshine, and dust. 

The hall has ensured that we also benefit from other government programmes like the health seminars other than walking long distances to public halls. The store within the hall ensures that we keep our things safely like the books, food stuff and play materials. 

When we are having exams we usually use the hall which is spacious and easy for monitoring and supervising the pupils.”                                          Bernard Surungai (Head Teacher at Kahara)

Container to Kahara/Kilwara

We are planning to send a container with medical and educational equipment to Kahara during 2015.This will allow our desire to support the local community around primary health needs and the Dikka health centre that serves the local communities of Kahara and Kilwara.

 Bringing supplies to Health Centre

 Rebecca delivering health promotional programme to community in Kahara

Acholi Quarter Beads Project

The girls in the Acholi Quarter Beads Project have received the Sewing Machines we purchased for them and training will start soon so that they are able to make sanitary pads and other materials to sell locally. They will also be able to supply our schools with these materials that are so badly needed. We have organised training of the girls in the project around a successful Savings and Loans Programme which will run over 5 weekends shortly.

These wonderful girls cannot raise fees for secondary education and have to drop out of school. We are working with Youth Sport Uganda to sponsor some of these girls to get them through their secondary school education. If you would like to sponsor one of the girls please contact Janice. The cost is £25 per month. 

 Girls of Acholi Quarter with sewing machines

Uganda Summer Teams

A lot of people have been asking about the plans for summer visits this year. With all that is happening in Uganda as outlined above we have decided not to send a team during the summer of 2015. I know this is disappointing for many who had hoped to go back during 2015 with Charlene’s Project but we feel this year this is the right decision. We will update you on all the Uganda developments this year and look forward to being with our friends in Uganda again as soon as possible.

Watch out for Charlene’s Project 2015 Plans – Part 2