"Green meals" help 170 kids in Uganda study

Dear friends,

Our pupils in the final year are preparing for their national exams. This is the first milestone in their formal education. The educational system here in Uganda is highly competitive and the results of the exams will to a large extend determine in what secondary school you will be admitted and if you will get a government sponsorship. Over the last years our school has done quite well and although high marks are not the only thing in life, I do understand their anxiety. Good results are also a big boost for our teachers, for them it is a clear proof of the quality of the school. Wherever they apply for a position, one of the first questions will be “how many first grades did you school have last year?”

We also put a lot of effort in the development of social, physical and creative skills and we are very happy with the support with get from abroad for this. This year Rixt, our teacher from Dronten, who works with us every year for a whole month, introduced how to make bracelets from paper beats. Children are very enthusiastic even more so because the bracelets are sold to school kids in the Netherlands. In the first term our children made bands for almost 250 $. Half of the money is for them and the other half is used for a special activity at school.

Rixt also brought sports outfit she got from a school in the Netherlands. Amazing what is thrown away! Our kids were so proud to play their first ‘official’ match. Of course we can do without and we would definitely not spend the money on transport but if a visitor brings them along for free, why not.

A second visitor was Peter from Switzerland; he brought us all kind of toys that stimulate the development of children. The kids simply loved it. Development of the whole child, it gradually takes shape in our school. Have a look at the pictures I uploaded.

Last but not least, Rixt has also been very busy getting the pre-primary class started. We have a try-out this term, but with the start of next school year, we will hopefully have 35 children of roughly five years old who will get a special year that will help them to get ready for the first class. Many of the children we get in primary one lack back skills and knowledge. Their fine motoric skills are poorly developed what makes learning how to write extra difficult. Others do not have the basic concepts like in front, behind, few, many, tall, short etc. Rixt has developed a special one year program to learn them all this and much more. I’ll keep you posted and in the coming months I will change our project on the global giving site. We have realized our kitchen and we now want to give you a new opportunity to help disadvantaged children in Kayunga to get quality education. I hope you will keep supporting us.

Warm regards,

Theo