Chris Bishop took this picture at the opening of Good Shepherd Special Needs School in Fort Portal on February 2009. The hat belonged to his son William who get the kids really laughing.

We were visiting some farmers to learn a bit about Pig Farming and whether we could start this at the schools. This little girl was the daughter of the farmer. But the highlight of the visit was to see the start up of the biogas plant which creates methane from the toilet waste at our Mubende School. We call it cooking by Poo.

We have featured her on this years Gift Cards

The 2006 visit brought nearly all the Charity Trustees to visit all the schools. Lots of development at Mubende but one of the highlights for the four children who came with us was the big Netball and Football Matches at Mubende. And to top it all James (Bob Blundell's Grandson) scored the winning Goal.

Peter's first visit was in 2003 and at this stage our Mubende school has been open for about 18 months. There were about 200 children compared with over 400 today and building were still being completed. About two thirds of the children are boarders and this picture shows the typical timetable for the children. The day is very full from 6.00 am just before daybreak and continues to 8.30 with lots of breaks but lots of work too. The children are all fed at the school and school inspection each morning is very thorough.

Our Mubende school has no mains water or electricity and we have had to rely on getting all the water for drinking, cooking and washing from a muddy pond about half a mile from the school. All water has to be boiled and this needs lots of wood and leads to destroying forests. Altogether a pretty serious issue. Seeing this resulted in our first big fund raiser in memory of Bob Bishop and helped us to fund rain water harvesting schemes at the two primary schools. We were also greatly helped by several UK Charities too.

After 4 years of just sponsoring some children Fr. John Kyazze had the vision that we might be able to do a great deal more and help the villagers to build their own school and educate not just 15 but over 100. Little did we know that by 2009 we would be helping to educate over 800 and with lots of ideas for growing even more as we move into secondary and vocational skills.

This picture shows the start of the building works at Mubende.

This jungle is the site of our Mubende school. We have over 70 acres and the site clearance involved all teh villagers and parents for many weeks. Much of the work of building the school was done by parents and villagers and that way there is a great deal of community ownership and engagement.

The picture show Fr. John Jyazze overlooking the wilderness.

Early discussion about sponsoring some Ugandan children. Could some parishioners at St Mary's Marple Bridge (near Stockport) help to fund the education of 15 orphans who live in avillage called Kagoma near to Mubende?

We said yes.

Most of the early supporters are still helping.