New Term ... Challenges

  

Summer Holidays:

Beaches in Tanzania

It was so lovely to see and catch up with many of you over the summer holidays. Before heading home for 6 weeks however I had the privilege of visiting Tanzania. It was so interesting to see the differences in life between the two East African countries. Life seemed a lot quieter and calmer compared to the busyness of Ugandan life. In particular the roads were calm and not so hectic, this may have been because we were quite a way out of the main city, Dar Es Salem. The Tanzanian people are very friendly and would always be found greeting each and every person they pass along the roads. It was a nice change to be greeted as normal rather than shouted and pointed at as the ‘Muzungu’ walking down the street. Tanzania is a very beautiful country and we got to enjoy some of the lovely beaches around about. It was great to see the wonderful work Wellspring are doing in Tanzania, working to help people and bring change in the local community through schooling of the young and adult literacy.

Wellspring Students, TZ

Adapting to life back in Uganda:

Old Taxi Park, Kampala

Having had such a lovely time back at home made, to some extent adapting to life back in Uganda a little difficult. I had forgotten some of the challenges that can sometimes be faced whilst living here; as soon as I arrived back (just over three weeks ago) the national water was off and so after a really long flight the water was not available for 2 days, making washing properly a challenge.  I had also forgotten how driving along the manic roads felt and because of the vast amount of people how long it takes to travel anywhere. I have learnt again to embrace the vibrancy of life and embrace the long travel distances.

Local shop, Bweyogerere

Since being back I’ve also been reminded of the differences in priorities of daily life, how one must greet and ask people how they are doing at all times before getting down to business. Off course this is such a lovely thing to do but when quickly wanting to pick something up from the local shop unfortunately in a Western mind, this can become a ‘big inconvenience’.  This has challenged my thinking again and reminded me of what is important; in England we are so focussed on time rather than building relationships and keeping the peace. We can learn a lot about community from the people here.

Thankfully I’m now back into the swing of things and back to living here seems normal again. It is really good to be back, connect with and see friends here in Wellspring and beyond. The people here are so friendly, lovely, gracious and fun.

 School life:

The start of the new school year has begun and it is exciting to have been able to employ new teaching staff. This means that the teachers can stick to teaching their own specialities, thus giving the students a much broader experience and understanding of the subjects they are studying. The recruitment of new staff also gives me more time to be able to focus on advertising the school. So this term I will be focussing on new ways of advertising, including more leafleting, possibly TV adverts (yes that is how they advertise here!), and updating the website link.

New school year

Sadly we have lost a few students due to financial reasons. As I am sure you know getting a good education with good class sizes and resources is not free for children in Uganda. Even though Wellspring tries to ensure that the school fees are at a lower price people can afford, sometimes it is still difficult for families to be able to pay.

I’ve come to realise that we in the UK take free education for granted. The system of tax; whether we agree with how it is spent or not really does give an opportunity for all children to access a good education. Uganda’s children do not have this opportunity and families are often looking for the finances to fund their children’s schooling.

One of the goals for the Millennium Development focused its attention and funding on primary education and now in Uganda the availability of free primary education has seen enrolment at the primary level reach as much as 93%. However these ‘free’ schools funded by the government have class sizes of 100 – 150 students each. One teacher often teaches the class at any given time and as you can imagine the resources used are very slim.  Then when it comes to secondary age it is an even greater challenge where affordable prices are few and far between.

To make long lasting sustainable change in this local community a good affordable secondary school is necessary. With this in mind we are working hard to develop a secondary school that is affordable and allows all children to access a very good education. Allowing the children to succeed in all aspects of life.  To help to make this happen I would like to extend an invite to be able to help families need.  In order for us to see sustainable development in this beautiful country, education must be a priority; for this to take place we wanted to see if any of you would like to sponsor a child through their secondary education. Just £5 / £10 / £20 month could help a child receive a decent education giving them an opportunity to succeed and the potential to raise out of poverty. If you’re interested in helping please do let me know by emailing me on cerysa@icloud.com.

So back to it; life in Uganda, three weeks have gone by and although I am missing you all it is starting to feel like home again! Remember there is always a place to stay here if you ever fancy visiting this wonderful country!