Dear all, I hope you and your families are safe and well.
What as start to 2021 – straight back into lockdown!
Some of you will have had your first covid vaccination and can see the way forward. We’re planning to go to Uganda for November 2021 with a core team but will be open to others who wish to come in Nov 2022.
Last October the Primary School was reopened to year 7 pupils who sat their mock final year exams. They have to go away to an examination centre for their exams. You can just about make out the P7 children studying socially distanced in the main hall. The building was designed as one large space separated into classrooms with dividing partitions that fold back so it was easy to accommodate P7 as a temporary measure.
The Primary school started its new school year on Monday 18th January. Only P7 have returned. Their final exams will be in March. The mock results came out end of January. The nine pupils who sat were among the best in the area which has over four hundred candidates. The best of which was our Shivan Atuhaire who only has a Mother who’s a brick maker so lives with Pastor Geoffrey and his family.
Teachers often go without pay willingly putting the needs of the school first. We give thanks and praise to the hard work of the pupils (many of whom have missed the early years in education) and the teachers. Huge congratulations to them.
Almost all children have had no schooling since March 2020 and online learning isn’t an option here! See Government programme phased return.
To meet the Ministry of Education & Sports requirements for distancing, we have had to build two new classrooms.
Some of this has been carried out from rental income from one of the three houses I bought last year plus funding through Facebook fundraiser. We couldn’t have done this without the generosity of others.
The Education Authority imposed demands many schools were not able to meet. Some were forced into a position that they took out Government loans at high interest rates to meet the covid regulations but still have no students and therefore no fees coming in. They don’t know what to do. Many have rents on the land and property but no school fees coming in and consequently 600 Private Schools have closed down.
We have done extremely well to withstand the circumstances and continue to grow.
From humble beginnings we now have 100 Primary School pupils and 50 Nursery pupils.
Challenges and blessings
Primary 7 are preparing to do their final year exams in March and P6 return on Monday 1st March.
The current climate has meant that children are returning and their parents have failed even to by their exercise books. We’re not sure when the Nursery will open.
Teachers’ salaries and support staff come to 3,250,000UGX (approx. £700) a month and we’ve not been able to pay them.
Teachers have sacrificed wages for the sake of getting the school covid safe for children’s return
Over the years I’ve bought houses so all teachers and support staff have accommodation.
Now there’s no rent to pay which saves the school a lot.
We have no rent or loans which have caused other schools close although we still have a shortfall
of about £500 for the new classrooms.
Food and firewood will be higher this year because there are no school holidays with the phased return.
Photocopying and materials needed for copying exam papers etc. are costly.
We aim to get a laser printer.
We aim to acquire a Centre Number from the Uganda National Examination Board.
This will save the cost of P7 travelling to a Centre and accommodation etc. over 2/3 days
We can serve the schools in the area which will bring in an income.
As with everything there is a cost to this.
We aim to get a school vehicle so that we can collect fee paying children from schools that have closed.
We have 100 in Primary and can accommodate 150 pupils. If we had 50 fee paying children this would help balance the books.
The cost of a reliable people carrier would be about £3,000.
Your donations make a world of difference
There’s more but I don’t want to overwhelm you. Do I ever feel that this is all too much? Yes.
Could I give up on them? No. It’s challenging but life changing. It’s stretching but very satisfying.
It’s a great privilege to give these children, who have very little, a good education.
I will look back in years to come seeing these children having successful careers and positions of influence.
Whether they have leadership positions or make bricks, dressmakers or car mechanics, I trust they will be able to educate their own children and be free from a life of poverty.
This week the mother of three children in school has died leaving them orphaned. She’s been ill for a long time and wasn’t able to pay a penny to school.
We have many like this. We have 49 children who are orphaned or in such a situation.
Your donations make a world of difference. We totally rely on the generosity of others to get by.
An exceptional amount has achieved over the last year. We greatly appreciate the support we’ve received, your kindness and generosity, however, we critically need your help.
Perhaps sponsor one of the orphans?
If you feel able to set up a monthly standing order to the charity account that would be wonderful.
If not, would you please consider a donation? Maybe you have stuff to sell online or whatever, please think about what you could do to help.
Every Child Deserves a Better Future!
The Helen Margaret Owen Foundation Sort code 40-08-22 Account 91827731
Cheques payable to The Helen Margaret Owen Foundation
30 Huntsfield Close, Lymm, Cheshire, WA13 0SS.
