The school is officially opened

It is official - the school is open!

We have just had a great day of rejoicing, thanksgiving and celebration as the school was officially opened. It was a big day but went really well. Almost full attendance of pupils, lots of parents and people
have been involved in the process, about 160 people in all.

The day started early with Ron needing to pick up the caterers about 20 minutes away. It was then a matter of getting things ready - all the chairs from the classrooms moved to the tents, a bit of decorating and making sure everything was in place. Ron also had to go and collect the chickens (live of course) and the meat (fortunately already dead).

Tent is ready but nothing else!

Some children of course arrived early, or should I say very early, before 7.30 am. A lady I have come to known

Nearly ready - chairs in place, table decorated

came to help set up, and did a great job. Unfortunately, she had to go home, I don't think she had any food for the family until I gave her some. So hard to really comprehend. Of course there were other little interruptions to the preparations - a few visitors including an unexpected job interview, just to keep us on our toes! Rachel and Robert as usual were a great help.

The proceedings were meant to start at 11.00 and we even had the bus arrive early with parents and children, so we were off to a good start. The children then showed their parents the school.

Happy arrival!

Then, time for speeches and presentations. The P1s (or Preps as we know them) did a great job and were so fun of course, the P2s did a great job

P1s performing - nearly in order

Robert all dressed ready to go

with a poem and songs and the P3s also showed their talents. It was a great chance for telling the story of the school, thanking so many involved, thanking our family for their sacrifices and talking about how the education will be done. The main local authorities were there to celebrate. The Kakira town council is in full support of the work, for which we are thankful, and it was again expressed today.

Now that is one BIG pot of rice

Our pastor was able to pray for the school, another

Teacher Sarah showing off her lovely classroom

special thing. Robert Kafeero spoke well as the Special Guest Speaker, which of course you have to have. All in all, the formalities went really well, despite being desperately hot in the tent and blazing sunshine outside the tent.

The benches around the trees were made good use of as well!

Parents and friends lining up for food

The caterers were fantastic!

Happy children, showing off to parents

What a feat, they came with pots, plates, forks, we provided the food and firewood. Then, a wonderful meal. It really was nice, the meat was tender, the chicken cooked to perfection, fancy rice, irish (potatoes) cooked two ways and the obligatory soda made the meal complete.

Children all lined up, first wash hands, then food

It was also great to be able to interact with parents and so many of whom are becoming friends. We needed to elect a parent representative for our School Board of Management and this was achieved with three candidates. There were four but one of them doesn't yet have a child at the school!

Hope Builders team including us

Teacher Aidha with one of her students

We come away, continuing to be grateful to God for all He has done, His guidance, the strength He has provided and the provision of our needs. We are also

Our pastor praying a blessing on the school

so grateful as we really feel the backing of the families as well. This is really important and the support was real. A couple of parents spoke and it was great to hear them echo the importance of their role in the lives of their children. Here in Uganda the school and the parents can be very separate but we feel confident of the involvement of our parents. So, we are truly thankful and feel so blessed.

Ron giving a great speech

Moving along...too busy but happy

A few of the children enjoying their lunch under the tree

Two weeks since I wrote but not a minute to spare, well not many anyway. I will try to be brief as it is now getting late in the evening, the mosquitoes are biting, desperately need of a shower (the dust is horrific) and sleep is calling. Despite the best efforts for a rest we are not managing it so well. Today we had definitely planned to be quiet - well suffice to say after five hours of church (Ron preached both services), a brief lunch in town, we had three different groups of visitors and a trip to Hope Community before tea and devotions at the village.

Just a few (???) avocados on one of our many avocado trees

Our house with new paint - pity about mess on the verandah!

It is so good though to be doing what we are called to. There is variety in each day, opportunities that we cannot predict and movement towards what we believe God has called this place to be. We see God moving in the lives of people we are around but also the funny little things that happen. Like, going to a cafe and 'happening' to have my ipad (truth was we had no internet and I thought I might get a chance to catch emails) which I normally never take into town. At the counter there was another Aussie who works with United Nations and he wanted to pay in US $, the waiter (who I know a little) said at a particular rate. However, I had checked the day before and seen a big change (for its good) in the Ugandan shilling.

The good old Currency converter to the fore and the cafe was not undersold. Not that the guy wanted to, but had no idea of the exchange rate. Result, thankful to be in the right place, at the right time to look after in a small way Ugandan friends.

Or, the family who we have been able to give a sponsorship to their son. They also have a son who is very disabled and unable to walk, talk and thumps his head a lot. You know that this is making a difference to them, having someone who can help a little. Acting as God's hands. They appreciate so much and yet it is so hard. The father gains as much work as he can find. The mother has to care for the child and the other children! Have they made bad choices - no! Yet, by giving them something they want God to bless us. We are so thankful for the blessings of God, but so much want the people to know it is not us - we are only obedient to the call. 

Another group under a different tree with the P1 teacher

The school environment is moving along. There are beautiful benches around three of the bigger trees and are thoroughly enjoyed during the hot sunny days that we are experiencing at the moment. The pupil population has remained at 66, which is good. A wonderful time each day is when the bus arrives, the children run to be the first to greet me. I then shake each hand and say good morning. It truly is great fun and also very important in so many ways, not least teaching the children to greet in English.  I have had opportunities to teach different classes and that has been interesting and good too. It certainly

Removing stumps - hard work by a man who comes to help in exchange for sponsored children

helps in seeing that the ideas will work (even if they don't understand me!) and that things can change. Just tonight I was reminded of the need for change. A girl from the Village of Hope who is not at our school, was showing me her work. She is trying so, so hard but cannot read and has trouble with English. Yet, when there was a pattern to follow she would get the correct answer but obviously had not idea as she had bananas playing football!! So much to do.

The process of registration is moving along. We have overcome attempts for bribes and are well on the

A new inground water tank with Alex. Ron has guttered the kitchen ready for this

 

way to having the required documents. A trip is planned first thing tomorrow to pick up some letters and then to go to the Ministry.

Hoping for a great day next Saturday (in case I don't post again until after that) for the official opening of the school. Only 50 kg of rice needed! Again, an opportunity to share God's love with the people of the community and to explain more about being a Christian school. The LCIII (who I think is called the Mayor) is very keen to come. Children are excited and items are being prepared.

The official entry - it now has pillars on either side, name coming

Sorry for the bits and pieces but wanted to make sure an update happened.

Time flies and things are progressing

Two weeks of Jinja Christian School operation and the numbers have now climbed to 65. Not bad for

Assembly Week 2

only three classes. Students (though primary should be called pupils here) are learning, teachers are learning and teaching and Ron and I are working to make it happen as smoothly as possible. A rat and a snake have been killed. We have survived outages of both power and water. So thankful for the tank when there was literally no water for 36 hours, it kept the toilets clean and main needs met.

P1 classroom

Ron has worked hard and completed the kitchen roof in addition to the toilet. He has also made shelves for storage in a number of places, installed security solar lights and even planted some garden beds. On the other hand I have mainly been seeing naughty children, continuing enrolling pupils, giving advice to teachers and making teaching resources. We now even have a photocopier that works most of the time,

P2 classroom - few less in here! The floor got a lot worse than this!

sometimes it for an unknown reason will manage to change the direction of the page, mid stream!

We have had little time for much more than the school but did host some visitors briefly during the week. They unfortunately timed their visit for when the rain came (which obviously implies mud) and there was no water! However, they managed and hopefully gained a bit of an insight into the different projects in the area.

What the toilet looked like a week ago

The toilet and kitchen now!

Close up of the building with the gardens

The classrooms from a little distance

The snake minus its head

The rat on the bedroom floor

And still another view of the classroom and offices are the left end part

Ron building shelves for the resource room

I am not going to write much as it is late and without power my computer does not go so well. Consequently I am perched with it near the solar power point! We are incredibly thankful for the way things are going. Aware that God is looking after us and that this is His work.  

A few thoughts from the first day

 This post is mainly so that I remember the first day that Jinja Christian School opened! We started well, alarm set in time, breakfast nearly eaten and the first children arrive, only an hour early. Obviously excited children from the Village of Hope, dropped off by older students on their way to High School. It started from there, coffee not even finished and it was go go go. The blackboards needed to have a dusting, there hadn't been time yesterday. Ron needed to attach a few more toilet roll holders and fill the water supplying barrels for the toilets. Then, parents came in droves. Assembly started at 8 but one teacher couldn't be present because a parent needed help registering their child (just happened to be the man who sells us mattresses in town!). It was not chaos but definitely chaotic. People jumping queues, people wanting uniforms, people registering...

Assembly - not all there but a lovely start

Assembly was a highlight of the day for me, though we certainly started with less then than we had later in the day! It was lovely to hear the children led by a fellow pupil in the national anthem and then the Lusoga anthem, though after that I was called away to Headmistress duties!
Fortunately, the teachers knew what to do
and they finished off the assembly and started their classes which seemed to go well. The latest addition, Sarah, seems so ideal as she relates with the little ones, firmly but lovingly. The puzzles were a big hit for the afternoon with the younger ones who stayed. Lucy managed well, though I suspect she might be a bit tired, with making porridge for break and rice and gnut sauce for lunch. I enjoyed the lunch but Ron opted for the left over zucchini fritters.

Other than interviewing parents and children, trying endless uniforms on children (home made uniforms have no size tags!), I also became the first aid officer. We had a young boy who the teacher brought to me who was decidedly unwell, probably malaria. So, he went to the office for his father to be called. It was difficult to make contact with the father and so I went searching for a cool washer and cold water for him and a Panadol. I return to find that he is not there. I ask and no one knows, fortunately I am becoming adept and knowing the children and so knew who I was looking for and went in search of him. I came back to the office after an unsuccessful search and no one else knowing where he was. Then a boda turned up to pick up the pupil. We(note not just me) thought, incorrectly as it turned out, that the people that had been contacted must have sent a boda! So, I sent the male teacher to the only other place I knew of, the toilets. Yes, he was there, so after a drink and a pat down with cold cloth and a Panadol, onto the boda he went. Only to discover, when the same boda came back, that we had sent the wrong one on the boda. However, the pupil was safely back at his house. A good lesson to learn on the first day!

P3 class in action at the start of the day - it grew!

At one point today I mused about the differences. There are people coming from a distance to send their children to this school because they believe it will be good educationally, we pray it will. They can catch a boda to come and bring the child, they can pay the fees and will benefit from the school being good. Then, there is a lady I have known since 2011, and she has just had to pick up her child from people because the carer has died. She has no money, is HIV positive, and not particularly well and cannot work even if she could find it. In fact, in registering her child she could not sign properly and asked to make a fingerprint mark with the ink pad. What a joy that this child will get an education, alongside other much better off children, and each day get a good meal. We are so thankful to people who are sponsoring children for the school.

We still had no money so that was a bit of a problem as the sweaters and stockings, as jumpers and socks are called, needed to be picked up. So, Ron had one unsuccessful trip to town and then had to go again and get money the expensive way. Never mind, we just want the money to come through.

I worked with Florence, our bursar plus everything else, to get a route for the bus to take. Then, 3.30

The bus!

arrived, teachers dismissed their  pupils and the bus was meant to be there. Oops, some communication got missed along the way so the bus driver did not know he was meant to be at the school. But, no problem, the 'new' Jinja Christian School bus arrived (don't know anyone who wants to sponsor the school bus do you?) It looks great and after some discussion and

Waiting for the bus to be organised

clarification, not in English, the route was finalized and the children and bus were on their way.


The day however was not done as there were still more parents coming to enrol or check things out. Some fees to be paid, etc. I also met with the teachers briefly. Had to laugh at one teacher. She was taking some work home and said that she would do that instead of sleeping! Not sure what the teachers would think if they knew the workload in Australia! However, really happy about her commitment.

Well, the first day is over, we feel truly blessed to have had such a good start. We now have 47 enrolled students, privilege and responsibility! Not bad for a school of three classes! Thankful because God is at work and making this possible.

About time for lots of photos

Winnie and Jane happy to help out, great girls and do a fantastic job.

All hands on deck with muscles tensed - they did move it a long way

 Sorry about the order of photos and the mixture, just wanted to get some up and without lots of text it made placing them difficult. Hopefully the captions will help. With more time I might even fix this post up!

Our guard, wanting a 'good' photo, works as a labourer by day and guards at night!

Toilet block with water and roof

School building from bottom as of 3rd February

A new student showing off her new uniform

Exciting event this week - electricity and this is how it is done.

Australia Day celebrations in Kampala

Teachers - Aidha and Moses

Ron on the roof of the toilet block building it. No OH&S!

Finishing off the verandah - only a few days to go!

Temporary kitchen! Elizabeth helping out when Lucy was away

Ronnie, lead builder, with a window frame ready for putting in.

Nicholas coming to help get it looking good