That's Manchester TV Interview

Dr. Richard Bircher, husband of Trustee Joanna was interviewed with Peter on the Manchester TV Channel called That's Manchester back in August this year.

The video gives a good picture of what we are doing and focuses on the new Little Shepherd School which Richard and fellow Trustee Chris Bircher are fundraising to help. They are well over half way there.

The Link to the Video Interview is HERE

A sad reminder

We have told you a little about a disabled young man called Hillary Dan who we planned to support following the death of his mother who had breast cancer.

Hillary went home from University at be at the funeral of his mother and caught malaria. But to make matters worse it became cerebral malaria.

After several weeks in hospital Hillary died this morning.

It is another reminder of the vital role that mosquito nets can play in preventing this terrible illness which still kills about 480,000 people every year.

Over the years HUGS has provided mosquito nets to our Uganda schools but they don't last for ever!

We can buy them in Uganda for about £3 each. It is not a lot to save a life. If any supporters would like to help it would be welcome.

Look what you've done!

Dreams can come true and life can change for the better. 14 orphaned children living in very poor circumstances are celebrating moving from their run down accommodation into a brand new building. The children are cared for by Sister Theresa at the Good Shepherd School in Fort Portal.  When we visited the school we were aware of the plight of these children and felt we needed to help them. HUGS and Bury African Outreach (BAO) a charity run by Tom and Lydia joined forces and we are now really pleased to report that the new building has been completed to a very high standard at a cost of 30 thousand pounds. The building was officially opened on 22 July 2016.

The old accommodation

 Gabriel House

Sister Theresa has shared the stories of the children and all have had a very difficult start in life. Most loosing both parents and others being ill-treated. The children were brought to the sisters for protection and Sister Theresa and the other sisters have provided a loving home and somewhere safe for them to live. However, the accommodation in which they lived was unsuitable but the best that could be offered at the time.

HUGS and BAO felt these children deserved the very best and the new building has solar panels, to provide light when it is dark. An inside bath and toilet and a lovely rooms for the children to sleep. Sister Theresa says, “The children are so excited and happy about their new home and they keep smiling all the time”.

It is so heartening to know that the children and youngsters without parents and who lived in what can only be described as a shack, now have somewhere nice to live, which not only provides a roof and protection, but raises their self esteem and makes them happy.

 

                     The opening event and the children who will live at Gabriel House

The name of the building is called  ‘St Gabriel’s House’ after St Gabriel’s School, in Bury, Lancs. The school raises funds for the children and exchanges letters.

HUGS and BAO would like to wish the children happiness in their new home and also to thank Sister Theresa for organising the building and thanks to the builder for doing such a brilliant job. Also, thank you to all who donate to both charities because without your support this would not have been possible.

We can all feel a sense of satisfaction, these children are now smiling.

It would not have been possible without the great help we have had from so many people since the project started in October 2015.

We heard today that Hillary Dan, suffering from cerebral malaria seems to be recovering.

Hillary Dan has Cerebral Malaria

Last month we told you that we will be supporting the Hillary Dan, a young disabled student to complete his degree in Journalism in Uganda.

Hillary went home for the funeral of his mother and while there he contracted cerebral malaria which is very serious.

He has been in a coma for 3 weeks and HUGS will be helping with his medical costs but this condition can be both life threatening and leave long term damage.
Lets say a prayer for his recovery.
This tiny mosquito is related to the one bringing zika to Brazil and other places. But there is hope that this long term damage caused by these insects can be stopped and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is doing a great deal to help.

Best ever!

Thanks to all those who got involved and helped with our big fundraiser this year. it was the HUGS Golf Tournament held at Romiley and it links like having raised even more than last year and we think the total will be over £8000. Thanks to Carolyn, Bob and John for their special efforts to make this a great success.

With the start of the Rwanda and Uganda University terms starting in September this will make sure that we have enough for the new bursary grants to our students.

We have been trying to give more support to handicapped young people and have a request to support Hillary Dan who is disabled and has gained a University place to study journalism. He was being supported by his mother but she died this month with throat cancer.

Trustees felt that this could be an excellent choice of course and career for someone who is not able to walk and who has to use a wheelchair.  If anyone would like to sponsor Hillary and perhaps mentor his writing skills that would be great.

It is always good to hear of developments at St Zoe's, our first school. Well over 100 of the children are boarders and the team have been able to create proper play area with some toys and a roundabout.

This short video tells the story.

Just a small push now needed

HUGS Golf Event in just 16 days time is aimed at raising money to complete the new orphanage at Good Shepherd which we started together with the Bury Orphans Charity back in the autumn of 2015.

If any of our readers would like to help achieve this target there is a
Virgin Money Giving link HERE

The picture shows progress at May 18th and it is now in the finishing stages. 20 orphans will live there and they have already chosen their rooms. We have spent about £30,000 to date on this project.

We need just a little extra to get to my GOAL of £3500 which is linked to the Golf Event, the big fundraiser which we have each year.

We want this to be a warm and welcoming place to live, with gardens, toys, books, electricity, good sanitation because we think these little ones deserve them.

Rescue and Lira progress

During a recent visit from St Mary's Hospital Manchester doctors to Fort Portal they met "Mary" a 10 year old girl who was not going to school. No, this was not for the usual lack of money reasons. She is an orphan living with grandmother and had been sexually assaulted by a neighbour in her village. Someone she would meet every day in the street. The doctors offered to fund her at a boarding school if grandmother was happy about this. She was delighted because Mary would be living somewhere safe but not too far away.

We have been able to find her a safe place to live and she is attending school as well. She had a great trauma but is slowly regaining her confidence.

Next month we think the new home for the orphans at Good Shepherd should be completed and thank to Tom and Lydia from Marple who have helped to make this happen.

The Lira Girls Secondary school now has its dormitory and second class room in operation. Starting only a year ago with one class of 27 there are now nearly 65 girls attending. They chose their uniform designs and colours.

We are looking at the requirements for the next 4 to 5 years and hope to complete the school by about 2021.

Charlotte and Steve Wedding Picture

Last Saturday Charlotte Brinsley our Trustee, married Steve Percy.  We must update our Charity details! Charlotte Percy now.

Here is a lovely picture taken in the day

Charlotte Gets Married on Saturday

HUGS Trustee Charlotte Brinsley gets married to Steve Percy on Saturday 19th March.

Lets all send her our best wishes (add a comment to this blog and we will let her know)

Thank you

A few days ago we told you about the applications we had received for 9 young people to add to our (already full) scholarship programme.

We have had a wonderful response and when all the new promises from our supporters are fulfilled we will be able to say YES to all the children and we can start paying in April.

This is great news and the teachers in the school asked me to say a big thank you.

This will bring our total for Uganda and Rwanda up to 50 with 19 of these at universities or colleges of further education.

You are changing lives!

Can you help?

HUGS now sponsors 42 young people in schools and universities in Uganda and Rwanda and this is one of the key parts of our future plans.

This really commits us completely because we are also building a new orphanage at Fort Portal and the Lira Girls Secondary School.

This week we received applications for scholarships for 9 children who are from very poor families or have lost one or both parents.

We really want to find a way to say YES and to grant the £150 per year bursary which is what we pay for primary level education.

If you could help please let me know. We can provide details if each child and I will ask for photographs too.

On a lighter side you must look at this novel way of getting a goat to market.

South Sudan, another world

HUGS has been working with our partners in north Uganda for some years and the Lira Bables Home and Asili Girls Secondary School are our two projects.

But the Sisters have taken on a huge task in South Sudan and Sr Evangelista has just returned from a visit there.
This is her story.
South Sudan, especially in TOPOSA land, is where we have opened the 4th community of Sisters in Sudan. It is another world. The people are basically pastoralists who fight with other pastoral tribes like the Dink, in the same country and in other neighbouring countries, and this is the order of the day.

The major challenging factors in the area are:

The people of the area are hard to accept change, and are quite immersed in their traditions much more than you have or can imagine in Uganda!

Very high levels of illiteracy.

Women are objects and girl child is part of other property and has no say in anything.

A girl is even given off for marriage at birth and when she reaches the age of 14-15 she is married in return for 50-100 cows (dowry) which the brother has to use for marriage or the father to get the 5th......or 20th wife! These cows are obtained through raiding with a lot of tribal or clan fighting, a reason why civil /tribal/clan wars are persistent in South Sudan with a lot of people dying.

No Christian or other religious values. The issue is a tooth for a tooth. When a clan raids cows and kills 200 people then the other will go to recover the cows and kill 400 or more and that is Heroism in their thinking. Some men have marks/tattoos showing they are great fighters/raiders and successful killers! They also raid their counterparts in Kenya like the Turkana, the Kalimojong in Uganda etc

Hygiene is a story untold in the area, for example the use of toilets is not known hence the bush is everything.

While driving through, it is simple and normal to see a man emerging from the bush with a gun or to see a woman carrying animal meat (a thigh of an animal on her head). Being in a car helps because otherwise one would faint due to fear!

Women are not expected to bathe because their husbands will die!

They have rainfall once a year and that is when they plant little sorghum. Famine/hunger is part of their life and many die of starvation.

The common food eaten is animal meat because they hunt, Sorghum called Dura, milk (unboiled) and cow blood.

Amidst any challenges, we are ready to carry out education in the area.

In most cases when girls are in P4 and aged about 9, the parents organise for their collection for marriage in which case the bridegroom(s) comes to carry the bride from the school, with guns or as children go for holidays you don't see the girl anymore and only to be told later that she/they got married.

Most roads are poor. For example, we covered a 160 km journey in 6 hours instead of the normal 2 hours!

In this Riwoto area, we are in partnership with the St. Patrick fathers from Ireland who are working in some other parish in South Sudan where our Institute has worked in the area for over 22 years.

We hence have 2 communities among the Toposa in Torit and 2 other communities in another area called Rumbek where the Dinka pastoralists are the majority people.

HUGS is fully stretched with our Uganda and Rwanda work and are not being asked to get involved in Sudan.

Happy New Year

Happy new year to all our readers.

HUGS has two big projects for 2016.

The first is to replace this building below with a really nice home of up to 20 orphans living at Good Shepherd in Fort Portal. We have already sent £20,000 so the work starts this week. We hope to raise the other £10,000 needed over the next few months

The second is to build a three class room primary school at Kabale in the south west of Uganda.

This school has already been started by the local people and they are raising money to help in the next stage which we hope to fund and complete by the end of the year. It will cost about £20,000

And a good news story from Jinja. HUGS is sponsoring a blind teenager to go to a special school where he can learn braille. We got this message from his sponsor yesterday.

Hello Peter,

I bring you warm greetings from OPDC and your sponsored child Amiru Musa!

Musa is right now in school busy being supported by his teachers to
learn how to use the blind machines like the cubeframe and cubes.

On Monday this week i visited him and found him a lesson  with his
other blind friends and these moments were captured as show in the
photo here attached.

I

A short movie for the holiday

Rachel and Adam, two of my Grandchildren, are very passionate about making MOVIES and have written a three part production which is screened on You Tube. Each episode is about 15 minutes long.

It is a thoughtful story about the end of the world arriving soon for a group of people. I dont know how it ends because Part 1 is available and the rest will arrive soon.

If you like it then please make a small donation to help us build a new primary school in a very remote part of Uganda.

You can donate by Clicking here  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/

and enter Helping Uganda Schools in the Virgin Money system

But please just enjoy. And tell us what you think!

Click the blue text below

https://youtu.be/Gd4IdBSHuyk

A nice story for little children

Trustee Denise Ead produced a lovely Christmas Story book for children.

it is called Christmas and Uganda and we have decided to let you download it so that you can read it and show it to your children (or grandchildren)

Please download it here https://www.dropbox.com/s/u4cxzu2i066br4t/HUGS%20book.v2.pdf?dl=0

And it would be great if you could make a donation through Virgin Money Giving and look for the charity Helping Uganda Schools

Which Direction?

In the UK we have long experienced the pressure to steer young people towards academic careers and to take degree courses which so often leave them unemployable and very disillusioned.
In St Zoes we have been very encouraged by a recent survey which looked at the choices being made by students when they had finished secondary education.

It was possible to find 33 of the most recent alumni and the choices they made are very encouraging.

Four are doing diploma in Tropical agriculture animal husbandry including Patrick who really only started primary school at the age of 17. Patrick wants to be a vet and is already providing great help to local farmers at the weekends

Nine are studying electrical engineering, building, and related subjects including Robert who is studying building at University near Kampala.

Seven are studying carpentry, welding and car mechanics, 

Five are studying tailoring, catering and hospitality.

8 are studying Nursing and related subjects including some from Fort Portal like Molly who we met at Good shepherd.

Three are studying business and accounting and Josephine now works for a large bank.

In a world where young people have to create their own jobs and not rely upon someone to create one for them we believe that a focus on vocational skills is important.

Highlights of Uganda Visit October 2015

Over the years I have seen big improvements at the airport at Entebbe. This time a nice air bridge from the plane to the terminal but a surprise to find that they had just increased the visa charge from $50 to $100. Embarrassing when you came with just $50!

We crossed the Nile at Karuma Falls National Park, diligently guarded by two young soldiers. We promised not to steal it.

Our first stop was 240 miles north to Lira to attend the opening of the new Asili Girls Secondary School. This was a huge event and all of Lira attended.

The agenda for the afternoon ran to 25 items including about 10 speeches. Uganda gets a gold medal for speeches. The entertainment was wonderful but shortened by a huge tropical storm at about 6.30 as it was getting dark.

Then to visit the Lira Babies Home which our supporters have been assisting for many years. It really is a wonderful place with fine play areas, a good garden, a cow for milk and 38 orphans. They are all placed or adopted by about 5 years old

We also met a start up women's group which Trustee Denise Ead has been helping to form. 

The drive back towards Kampala reminded us why there are so many accidents on the Ugandan roads. This road was excellent and we were driving comfortably at over 60 mph for a change.

The weekend was spent at St Zoe's schools and it was great to see a proper water supply at long last. Also a nice security fence around the school, meeting halls for the children, a new kitchen block, and all the children using mosquito nets at night. The number of children has fallen and this was a cause for concern.  We bought sport equipment for the boys and girls whose passion for football and netball is considerable.

Later we moved on to the Kiko Tea Estate which was to be home for about four nights. It really is a beautiful spot overlooking the plantations and looking to the west and the Rwenzori Mountains.

Good Shepherd Special school welcomed us on Tuesday 20th and it was great to see really excellent staff accommodation which is now complete.

A busy week but very worthwhile. Donors can rest assured that all the money you give and have been giving for so long is really been spent properly and delivering good education.

So many thank you messages were sent from all our Ugandan friends who really appreciate what you are all doing to help.

More about vocations and what  happens to the children after they leave on my next posting

Going there...

Peter is visiting Uganda from October 13th to 23rd and will be spending time with;

The new Asili Girls School, The Lira babies Home and a new Lira Women's Group which Denise has raised funding to get started.

I have a decently large travel baggage allowance and would like to take clothing for the Lira Babies Home. If you live nearby and can help with nice things please let me know.

Then to St Zoes to see the schools and in particular to see progress on the Vocational School.

Then to Fort Portal where we would like to replace a very poor building which is home to 14 orphans who are living at Good Shepherd School.

Then visit Kabale and other areas in connection with a Womens Health Initiative which one of my Medic friends is leading.

Lots of news when I get back home.

How are we spending your money

Charities quite rightly get challenged by donors and by the public.

How much of my money is going in administration and charity salaries?

Why do you keep on asking me for more?

And what is being achieved?
So a reminder.

We spend no donor money on salaries or administration.

We don't phone or hassle you for more.

And a short reflection on what you help to make happen goes like this;

• The sixth school is being completed on our 4th campus at Lira.
• Over 800 children attend our schools in Uganda and Rwanda
• Vocational skills being taught at 2 of the schools.
• The school results are in the top 5% for school results in Uganda and Rwanda.
• Well over 1000 children have been through since 2001.

And we are sponsoring 30 at primary, secondary and further education levels. The further education split is:

• One doctor qualified last year and two more are in training
• Three nurses are being sponsored.
• Five teachers are being sponsored.
• Three Engineers are being sponsored.
• Two Agricultural specialists are being trained.
• One Accountant is being sponsored 

Peter will be visiting in October to get a first hand update and see the new Lira School for the first time.

Thanks for your support.

Doctor Grace writes

Sr Grace Nanyonndo, one of the University students sponsored by HUGS, completed her Medical Degree course last year and is now coming to the end of her first year as an intern. This gives her a medical licence and the authority to practice.

In Uganda about 800 doctors qualify each year and the total number of doctors in the country is about 2000. That is one for every 16,000 of the population. The UK has one of the lowest ratios in Europe with one doctor to every 360 people.  Greece for example has one for every 161 people.

"Nurse, nurse" I hear them calling and don't know who they mean. And then I remember that they mean me. Everyone who is a woman must be a nurse. But now I am a doctor. Now I find myself writing prescriptions nervously. Can it be me who is doing this?

I grew up in the home of my grandparents since both my parents died before I was 3 years old. Never did I think that one day with all the help they and others have given me, would I become a clinical officer and then in 2014, become a doctor.

Surgery was my first discipline and I would spend every half a day in minor theatre doing minor procedures like incision and drainage, excision lipomas, repair of umbilical hernias and surgical toilet and suture. My head of department was already seeing a surgeon in me. What hurt me most were the children with burns due to negligence of their parents.

Gynaecology and obstetrics was my best, because I performed more than 20 operations and I succeeded in all of them. I enjoyed answering missed calls with reasons like I have been on table. My main aim is to deliver a healthy baby. 

My third last was Paediatrics. There I saw masses of children including neonates in Nursery. Children are interesting creatures who you have to think for, mainly the very small one who cannot express themselves. They impressed me most because they respond very first once you do the right thing for them. Their main problem was pneumonia and acute waterly diarrhea. Neonatal septicemia in the neonates. Malaria has greatly declined to number 4 cause of death in Uganda to pneumonia, Diarrheal diseases.

Currently in my last Discipline, That’s Medicine that caters for all the patients above 12 years. The most active clinics in the medical department are the HIV clinic that runs every day Monday to Friday.  Secondly is the Hypertension and Diabetic clinic that operates on Monday and Friday of every week. It feels good to help.

HUGS is developing its programme of educational sponsorship with more students being supported. We will tell you more about them on the next blog.