Thank you to everyone for your continued support.  

Charity trustees have been busy ensuring the funds we receive make a real difference to vulnerable children.

CHARITY CHANGES

The most important news is that Peter Mount, the inspirational founder of HUGS stepped down as Chair earlier this year and now resigned as a Trustee.  For the first time, we are without his brilliant ability to network and boundless energy and drive to help vulnerable people. We have an enormous debt of gratitude to his skills and tenacity.  I hope you will join us in wishing him all the best, please email him if you have chance. 

Richard Bircher, the new HUGS Chair, and has appointed three new Trustees, Jessica Williams, (a senior NHS manager with a keen interest in international social injustice), Carmel Dowling (Politics University Student and our social media expert) and Emma Stapleton (Manchester based, ENT Surgeon).

PROJECT UPDATES

The Big Uganda Cycle Ride has raised ALL the money for the completion of St Frances de Sales School. Sebastian, the programme director is so grateful to everyone’s generosity.  Thank you. The school will open in February, and the first intake will be at least 50 children with special needs. Over 500 people played a role in raising funds. Its incredible. We have other bids ‘in the pipeline’ to help with teaching equipment costs. 

Work on the girls dormitory at Little Shepherd School is progressing very well. Here is the latest picture.

Uganda school children, who are in a final year class are back at school.  Our sponsored Midwife and Medical Students have returned to study after COVID lockdown, and will be qualifying in 3 month’s time. HUGS donated additional school fees, to help these pupils, as many schools had used previously paid fees to keep their businesses afloat and helping teachers with no income. Thank you for everyone who helped identify the pupils who were most in need.

HUGS was able to make a donation of £3000 to the Lira Babies Home. This is such an amazing place where abandoned babies are taken in, loved and fed until adoptive families are found. The Director of the home, Sister Demmy, who has become a friend of many HUGS visitors, has also retired.  She leaves a legacy of 100s of children, who have bright futures, when she and her team reached out to them at the darkest of times. 

FUTURE PLANS

There are two projects ‘On the Horizon’.

Emma and Richard met Ronald Kamoga from an organisation called CEFOVID (over zoom) which works in the Kosovo slum in Kampala. He is a really inspirational man. He has a register of 65 primary school aged children who are not enrolled in school because of crushing poverty.  HUGS trustees have decided to join with him to see how many children we can help into education for the start of the next school year (February 2021). It costs £200 to educate a child for a year (this includes buying a pair of shoes and socks, school bag, pencils and breakfast and lunch for 30 weeks of the year).  So little, which can make such a difference. If anyone would like to help with fund raising for this project, please contact Richard on hugstrustees@gmail.com

And finally, HUGS is getting ‘Crafty for Christmas’. We have 20 kind offers of handmade items to auction to raise funds.  Beautiful crafted gifts to help cheer up, what is likely to be a difficult Christmas for many people.  We will let you know how you can help with this fund-raising effort next month.

The Big Uganda Cycle Ride has been an enormous success. Our Target was to cycle 6480 miles (From Manchester to Kampala.. virtually) and raise £20,000.  Instead, fuelled by our amazing team of 'over-achievers' we travelled 11,000 miles and raised £33,000.

There is still time to donate if you'd like to help, as this campaign will run until December.

The money raised is to be spent on our new Special Needs School, 'St Francis de Sale'.  The school will primarily be for children with hearing and sight problems, but also those with associated disabilities.  The school is well under construction, and this week, the roof was completed.

The school is a quadrangle design. It's all on one level and safe.  The initial build is for children who are starting school, many of whom may be above normal nursery age (as many children with disabilities are never enrolled in schools).  Over the next few years we will be adding a kitchen, classes for older children and teacher accommodation.

This is an exciting new project, and one which will be a joy to assist over the next few years.

We are working closely with an NGO called the Jinja Organisation of Parents of Disabled Children. They will own the school, and ensure its self sufficiency (something we insist on, for all our projects).  So far their management of the project has been excellent. They are committed, aware of costs and creative.

This is going to be an amazing school.

Here is a short video, giving thanks to everyone who has helped us on this amazing journey.

THE BIG UGANDA CYCLE RIDE FINISHING LINE