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HUGS

2009

We made a group visit in February because several supporters were very keen to see what was happening. St Zoe's once again was in the top 4 schools in the region. St Kizito's had entered the examination system for the first time with good results. Although we had only really committed to start building our first secondary school last June the team had moved ahead with great energy. The site had been cleared and large trees had been removed. January started with 30 children starting in Secondary 1 and 2 and with 5 teachers full time. We are using some Primary School classrooms until our first buildings are completed in May.

At Fort Portal we had the official opening of Good Shepherd School at Fort Portal with a large number of people attending. It was a great occasion but Uganda speeches of about 3 hours do rather go on a bit.

We now have over 800 children at the 3 schools and when the secondary school is fully operational in about 4 years time this will rise to over 1000.

Latest News September 2009

Good Shepherd starts the new term with 46 children, a good farm, lots of animals, a pick up truck for renting and 8 teachers.

St Zoes first Secondary classromm is nearly finished, the refurbishment of the Primary School is starting, we are buying 7 acres of land to extend our farm and planning the vocational institute.

2008

Our Mubende school for the 5th time was in the top 5 out of nearly 500 schools in the region. Our Makenke school entered the examination system for the first time and the results were very encouraging. The schools have grown again and there are now over 780 children attend. Peter, John Francis and Andrew reviewed all the projects in June to evaluate progress, see what is needed, discuss things with the villagers, parents, teachers and community leaders. A Plan for the next 4 years has been developed and is covered elsewhere. Bio gas is now being used near Mubende to both provide heat for cooking and also site lighting. This will reduce the need for charcoal and save cutting down so many trees in the future. The bio gas plant uses all the waste from the site toilets and is very effective with no smell. The waste products are used in fertilising the site and the school farm. We aim to be a leader in eco friendly technology and do our bit to save the planet.

2007

Fresh water catchment and storage systems have now been built at both schools which should have a real health benefit to both                        children and teachers.  670 children now at the two schools. Work started on photo voltaic power supply thanks to the generosity of many but especially the Allen and Nesta Ferguson Foundation. The Charity regular sponsors are now over 120.

2006

The first Water Harvesting scheme in the school near Mubende was completed thanks to the Bishop family and also the the                              Allan and Nesta  Ferguson  Charity for helping to make this possible. The second scheme at our school at Gayzzza near Kampala was                started.  There  are pictures of these projects on this site. It was also possible to create a water reservoir thanks to the 'loan' of a bulldozer            which was really supposed to be building a road nearby. 

 A very generous Los Angeles benefactor paid for a Church to be built at our Gayazza school and we were able to fund the building of             several  more classrooms.  A German Parish was able to pay for the building of a third dormitory building at Mubende and we were able                  to  fund teachers  accommodation. Up to  now  teachers have had to live and to sleep in the classrooms which is very unsatisfactory.

2003

Hugs became a registered charity and this galvanized more action to raise funds to make the project move further and faster. The decision            was taken in  February 2003 to adopt a second primary school near Kampala which had 150 children and really needed some support.

The decision was taken that to help child health it was really important to provide fresh water. There is no mains water  or electricity                     in the villages.

2001

The school opened with about a dozen children. It grew rapidly and over the next 19 months had gone up to 150 children. The school farm          grew the maize and the cassava, the local villagers provided the milk and the fruit. And setting up a dormitory building allowed us to have            boarders whose parents had jobs in the city (Kampala).  The fees they paid allowed us to take some of the very poorest children free of             charge.

1999

The land had been purchased and the villagers had started. They made the bricks from the red clay of western Uganda. They built the             school.  They made the  desks and he benches from the forest which had to be cleared to build the school. Teachers were recruited. The               school was becoming a reality.

1997

Follow up discussion to see how the children were doing at school. The idea emerged that with a little more we could buy 70 acres of              land and the villagers could build their own school. It took 30 seconds to decide 'yes lets do it'.

1995

Chinese takeaway discussion in Marple near Stockport on how to help to fund 15 young children who wanted to go to school in their              village  in Uganda.   Local friends chipped in and in 4 weeks we raised enough to pay all their costs.