The Long Holiday

Uganda schools close from early December to the start of February. Much too long say many teachers because unlike UK there is no pay when you are not at work. The St Zoe's team thought that this closure could be a really great opportunity to redouble the work on refurbishment of the primary school and make it ready to the start of 2011. Because limited funds prevented us from having verandas and proper paved paths around the site there is a real problem during the rainy season. Everything gets covered in red mud and this gets onto the walls of the class rooms too.
With financial help from parishes in South Germany we  have been able to create a lot of paid work for teachers who will be showing us the results when we visit in February.

Verandas around the dormitories will be a great help

At Good Shepherd there has been great progress on the latest building which is a class room for year 6 but it will also have a meeting room for parent teaching events and a vocational skills room for the children.

Bob, Peter and Matt Houghton will be visiting from February 17th to 27th with other friends. We will be reviewing the progress on all these things and at the same time meeting with parents and local leaders to hear their views and make sure that what is being done is what is needed by the local people. Matt and a colleague will be reviewing the work on the sports fields and will also spend about 6 days running football coaching for the boys and girls.