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Trip to Uganda | Newsletter #1


Dear family, friends and supporters,
Yoga! (This is how you greet in Ateso, one of the local languages spoken in East Uganda)

seven Glocal LifeLearn members visited the Lifeline Schools in Uganda in August this year. It was a fantastic trip! In this first of two newsletters, we would like to share with you our impressions.
Enjoy reading!

Lifeline Schools have grown

Secondary school headmaster Simon Gwok and director Julius Adome Ben proudly presented us the latest developments of the schools in the last years. New classrooms for the secondary school were added and the boarding school now includes a boy’s dormitory. The Bukedea primary school successfully resettled into a new building complex next to the secondary school.

The Bukedea Lifeline Primary School (left) and a student during class (right)

New Lifeline Primary School in Kachumbala

Approximately 20 km south of Bukedea town, a new Lifeline primary school opened and has been operating since 2014. Morris Obwalinga, the charismatic headmaster of only 26 years of age, gave the Glocal LifeLearn team a welcome that they will never forget - the entire school picked us up half a kilometer down the road and we became part of a parade going towards the school. Morris gave a tour around the school and introduced us to his young team of teachers. The vice president of the parents and teacher association, was also present and welcomed the opening of the new school because there are still too few schools in this area.

Head teacher Morris giving a tour and introducing us to the teachers and students of the Lifeline Nursery and Primary School Kachumbala
The Lifeline school family in numbers (August 2016)

Meeting the sponsored children

One morning, our group had the chance to meet the 26 children currently supported by the sponsorship programme. We introduced ourselves, explained what the sponsorship programme is and distributed personal letters from some sponsors.
We formed groups of 4-5 students and one Glocal LifeLearn member to better interact with the students. We learnt a lot about the childrens’ career wishes, their favourite animals and about their daily lives. These were interesting but also challenging impressions that reaffirmed our necessity in having established and running this educational sponsorship programme.  
We motivated them to do their best in school and to seize the opportunities that a good education gives. All sponsored children are attending school and are thankful for the support.

Interacting with the students in the sponsorship programme

Family visits

Together with director Julius and Alex Okodan, the primary school’s assistant headmaster, the Glocal LifeLearn team visited the families of 18 of the sponsored children. We engaged with the kids’ guardians and explained the structure of the sponsorship programme. We encouraged them to continue supporting their children to perform well in school and to collaborate closely with the schools. Most households live in poor conditions and are thankful to be released from the financial burden of paying school fees for one of their children. 

Meeting the children's guardians

What about the chickens?

As a sign of gratitude, we received chickens from several families. Normally they would want to slaughter one and prepare it for such guests, but as they knew we had to journey on, they gave us live ones! The question was: what to do with the 6 live chickens? Answering this simple question proved to be very difficult; with our group consisting of one vegetarian, two flexitarians, three meat lovers and one person who eats meat but did not want to be responsible for the chickens’ deaths. Our driver Josef suggested taking the chicken with us to the national park as living provisions and to eat them there. Returning the chickens back to the families was culturally not acceptable. In the end, 2 of the 6 were slaughtered, the remaining 4 will be sold at the market in order to buy a goat that is supposed to multiply. What will then be done with the goats? Who knows?

Eudora (left) and Julia (right), two flexitarians receiving chickens as gifts - is this a good idea?

The directors, headmasters and supported families repeatedly asked us to convey their gratitude to all the sponsors for their support. Your contributions make a difference in the lives of the sponsored children, their families and also help the schools.

Our next newsletter will feature the very colorful open school day celebration, the workshop we had with our partners and future developments of Lifeline Uganda!

Best regards,

Your Glocal LifeLearn team

View more pictures of the schools here!
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