The community and benefice churches are supporting a link with Uganda led by Paul Sutton from Milton Street.
Lake Mburo Resettlement Scheme in Uganda is an extremely rural but beautiful part of ‘the pearl of Africa’ which is equatorial Uganda. It’s people are largely Bahima (cattle keepers) and are extremely gentle and caring with an extremely strong sense of community. The local Church of Uganda church is attended by pretty much everyone and has a significant role to play beyond the spiritual, in terms of healing scars from past conflict, public health messaging, education and community cohesion.
They need some vital support which the government and NGOs are not in a position to provide and this largely revolves around the schools in the 4 key villages and the children of the communities who have almost nothing, except and exuberance of spirit and joy and hope for the future.
Many of these children walk for 8 miles (some over 10) or more to school each way for a 8am start and have to carry their own food and water. They often can’t afford school fees (schooling is part public/private funded) although the annual cost of schooling is £10 and rarely have exercise books or pens. A child will wait to answer a question in class until ‘the’ pen is shared between 4 or 5 or more children, if they have an exercise book to answer in.
The communities we have started assisting are
Kanyayeru (400 pupils)
Akaku (300 pupils)
Rwamuranda (413 pupils)
Akayanja (390 pupils)
History
During the National Resistance Army's{NRA) war against the former Obote government, the people of the infamous Luwero Triangle suffered badly, partly as a result of their support for the NRA. By the end of the war the people had lost most of their cattle, many people had been killed, and their society badly disrupted~ To assist these people and thank them for their support during the war, the NRA government resettled the Bahima community from Luwero to their current location in Kanyaryeru. The refugees began arriving in 1986 though the-main settlement occurred in March 1987.
Our support and progress so far
We have had a number of evening and fund raising events so far and these have raised just over £4k so far. This is a fantastic achievement and I would like to thank everyone who has supported either by volunteering and helping at the events we have had or generously contributed, or both.
We have already managed to provide 5 functioning water tanks and over 50 four seater desks.
Water
During the two long dry seasons water is crucial. Currently the staff and children must fetch and drink water from a water hole or small dam a few kilometres into ‘the bush’. The importance of boiling water is understood however the practicalities of boiling water for this number of children mean that water is rarely boiled. Indeed, even the teachers struggle to buy charcoal or paraffin to boil their own water because they are often not paid, obviously this creates illness.
We still need to purchase and more water tanks for these communities and the school called Rwamuranda really needs an underground tank provided which will cost around £1,800 to complete.
We hope to be able to provide more water tanks and teaching materials and exercise books etc for these communities and every penny donated, goes directly to support their needs.
If you would like to support this project and donate, please contact Stephanie Lewis-Grey (Benefice Administrator)
- Email: benefice.administrator@berwickchurch.org.uk
- 01323 811136