6:27 pm 3/3/16
Another year has brought us several changes.
We have now 2 staff members helping us out. One returned for his 1 1/2 year stay in Canada
and now Kamuli and Mbiko are well looked after. BUT we still have no staff member who lives
full time in the slum of Mbiko. So there will still be issues and situations beyond our control.
I also know that I hear a few rumors from teens there and many aren't so credible so until I verify
the info in GREAT DEPTH with a staff member I WON'T be passing the info to the child's sponsor.
We've seen several times where conflicting stories lead sponsors to go beyond their means to help a child and then have to drop the child if the burden becomes too big to handle.
Also as our kids get older we know now that its MANDATORY that They Must board in grades 7
and then Senior 4 (in High School) yes in Uganda there are 6 years of highschool not 4 like our
own countries.
Boarding fees of Senior students is typically $150-$200 + every term.
Plus an extra $100 for a mattress, sheets, blankets, towels, boarding uniforms, and
soap, sugar, snacks and any other things needed to live in dorms 9 months out of the year.
Many students share beds at home and most parents or guardians won't let a child take
a mattress to school they may even refuse a child to take a simple bucket or basin ($3)
used for bathing and laundry purposes. We also won't board any student under grade 7 level unless we can see proof that they are living in a unstable environment. The cost is usually too high to board a young child who will be missing years at home with family and that is very important.
But at this level of education (p7-highschool ) we DO expect parents especially those in Mbiko to contribute something to their own child. Mbiko is a slum just 7 miles outside of
the 2nd largest city of Jinja. It's not as rural as Kamuli a small village 1 hour from Jinja.
Jobs are few and most people farm in Kamuli but in Mbiko people can work by selling items at
local shops and they can find work as a maid or cook. Many parents sell vegetables and fruit for a living. Mbiko is full of prostitution and crime so many of our oldest students
have done poorly on their exams. Several failed and either moved on to other schools including trade. Or lost a sponsor due to lack of effort and are now their parents total responsibility and will likely be put in very low quality cheap schools. If they show little interest in learning its best to only
invest in those kids who truly are hard working students.
We also have a land purpose which is supposed to take place very soon. If we are lucky to one day build our own school we will know immediately if a child is skipping class or
putting forth no effort to study hard. Then the child can easily be dismissed. But now we have 130 kids in over 8 different schools in 3 cities and we have only 2 staff members with no ability to
pay anyone else nor have many who can be as honest, helpful and trustworthy as the 2 we
have now. If only we could clone them, haha.. So as you can see its not easy to find out
which kids are hard workers, which are special needs /slow learners , and which have simply lost interest until the year ends and we get reports showing whether or not they all passed to another grade. Now in closing I want to say Keep encouraging your kids.
Thanks again Sponsors for your efforts
Another year has brought us several changes.
We have now 2 staff members helping us out. One returned for his 1 1/2 year stay in Canada
and now Kamuli and Mbiko are well looked after. BUT we still have no staff member who lives
full time in the slum of Mbiko. So there will still be issues and situations beyond our control.
I also know that I hear a few rumors from teens there and many aren't so credible so until I verify
the info in GREAT DEPTH with a staff member I WON'T be passing the info to the child's sponsor.
We've seen several times where conflicting stories lead sponsors to go beyond their means to help a child and then have to drop the child if the burden becomes too big to handle.
Also as our kids get older we know now that its MANDATORY that They Must board in grades 7
and then Senior 4 (in High School) yes in Uganda there are 6 years of highschool not 4 like our
own countries.
Boarding fees of Senior students is typically $150-$200 + every term.
Plus an extra $100 for a mattress, sheets, blankets, towels, boarding uniforms, and
soap, sugar, snacks and any other things needed to live in dorms 9 months out of the year.
Many students share beds at home and most parents or guardians won't let a child take
a mattress to school they may even refuse a child to take a simple bucket or basin ($3)
used for bathing and laundry purposes. We also won't board any student under grade 7 level unless we can see proof that they are living in a unstable environment. The cost is usually too high to board a young child who will be missing years at home with family and that is very important.
But at this level of education (p7-highschool ) we DO expect parents especially those in Mbiko to contribute something to their own child. Mbiko is a slum just 7 miles outside of
the 2nd largest city of Jinja. It's not as rural as Kamuli a small village 1 hour from Jinja.
Jobs are few and most people farm in Kamuli but in Mbiko people can work by selling items at
local shops and they can find work as a maid or cook. Many parents sell vegetables and fruit for a living. Mbiko is full of prostitution and crime so many of our oldest students
have done poorly on their exams. Several failed and either moved on to other schools including trade. Or lost a sponsor due to lack of effort and are now their parents total responsibility and will likely be put in very low quality cheap schools. If they show little interest in learning its best to only
invest in those kids who truly are hard working students.
We also have a land purpose which is supposed to take place very soon. If we are lucky to one day build our own school we will know immediately if a child is skipping class or
putting forth no effort to study hard. Then the child can easily be dismissed. But now we have 130 kids in over 8 different schools in 3 cities and we have only 2 staff members with no ability to
pay anyone else nor have many who can be as honest, helpful and trustworthy as the 2 we
have now. If only we could clone them, haha.. So as you can see its not easy to find out
which kids are hard workers, which are special needs /slow learners , and which have simply lost interest until the year ends and we get reports showing whether or not they all passed to another grade. Now in closing I want to say Keep encouraging your kids.
Thanks again Sponsors for your efforts
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