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Coming up to our anniversary

It's almost 20 years since Afrinspire first registered as a UK charity. In that time £4.5 million has been sent directly to people in East Africa at a grass roots level. The experience gained and the lessons learnt along the way are constantly used in our assessments and decisions so that we can maximise the impact of all that we do. Our agenda comes completely from Africa and is African-led. We make decisions as a UK charity by listening to and responding to our African partners who express what they think, want and can do to bring about development.

In 2013 we asked 'What are the issues facing young people in Africa today?' The top concern was about employment. Our Afrinspire Young Entrepreneurs Conferences have allowed a syllabus to evolve based on feedback from delegates. This refined syllabus is now rolled out to new delegates. The ones taking this knowledge forward are our African team of facilitators who are the product of our earlier conferences. Their success inspires others to follow in their footsteps.

During October there were two Afrinspire Young Entrepreneur Conferences while our Treasurer, Peter Last, was visiting Uganda. The first was 'Searching for Success' identifying the reasons for success and failure of the delegates' initiatives, which had mostly been funded by Afrinspire between 2013 and 2020. The second conference introduced 20 new delegates to the fundamentals of 'How to design an enterprise' and made available to them an application form to our AYE Fund. The delegates visited a briquette making enterprise - one of the carbon-saving solutions being shared around our network.

SOUTH SUDANESE SCHOOLS

For ten years between 2006 and 2016 Afrinspire supported the Sani-Tayi Self Help Group to establish seven schools in the New South Sudan. When civil war broke out in 2016 and 1.6 million South Sudanese moved as refugees into Northern Uganda we continued to help Sani Tayi as they created 12 simple schools in the refugee settlements. Since peace gradually returned to the New South Sudan and some refugees started to return home we have supported two schools there to restart. One is in Yei town and one in Terekeka just north of Juba. There are 250 children in each school. Seven schools continue in the refugee settlements. Our support has built simple classrooms, provided school materials and some food.

WATER HARVESTING

Afrinspire prefers to support communities with protected springs and shallow wells, but in Isingero in south east Uganda we are supporting one school per year to have a water harvesting tank. Schools need water for hygiene reasons and a tank will help the children for about eight months or more of the year. This tank at Kiryaburo Primary School was commissioned in May 2022. For the school of the year we provide a water tank, textbooks, Macademia trees and a computer. This is the third school to benefit.

SOLAR POWER FOR THE COMPUTER CENTRES

Afrinspire has been shipping computers to East Africa for 25 years at the rate of approximately 200 per year. We have been deploying computers to places where they have never been before. This year we have so far sent 144 computers, mainly to northern Zambia. In Uganda we have introduced solar power systems to three computer centres at Kamuli, Buyende and Isingero where we have concentrated our efforts. This proved to be very timely as there are increasing power cuts and as we know the cost of electricity has risen everywhere in the world. The Kamuli centre stays open when others close. In Buyende and Isingero, which are more remote, there are no other centres and Afrinspire partners have pioneered in both those places.

KAMULI CENTRE UPDATED AND COMMENDED

As well as the solar installation, a set of new Uganda syllabus textbooks were provided to keep the Kamuli Centre library up to date, along with refurbishment of the furniture and a new computer server. The centre is a focal point for computer users and secondary school learners in Kamuli town.

Joel Zirimenya, a neuro-physiotherapist recently gave an unsolicited personal comment about the Uganda Development Services Kamuli Centre: 'I really want to thank UDS for all the services you provide to the public. May the Almighty God continue to bless your works. I can't forget how UDS helped me excel right from 2012 when I was in Senior 1 to 2017 when I sat UACE exams. Those textbooks got me a B in biology and I was the best in Busoga and one of the best in Uganda in Biology. Thanks so much for your services.' Joel currently works at Mbarara Referral Hospital after graduating from Gulu University.

On another level the National Library of Uganda recognised the Uganda Development Services Library to be the best performing library in facilitation of learning circles in 2021.' They announced in February 2022 that 'During 2021, the UDS library has been the most active library in online learning and has engaged the highest number of individual community members in learning circles. We sincerely thank the library staff for their efforts and the whole organisation for their support and beneficial contributions to the development of a digitally literate community.'

SOMETHING GREEN
Plant one tree on your birthday

One of our partners started a Whatsapp group in her community to encourage everyone to plant one tree on their birthday. Throughout 2022 the number of members have grown and celebrations take place for everyone's birthday with pictures of what they have planted. Sharing of tree knowledge abounds on the group chat. Tangerine, mango and macademia are all popular to plant. The Macademia seedlings were sent from Mbarara across country to Busia. They have been difficult to sustain but when Rebecca visited Mbarara recently to be part of the facilitation team at the Afrinspire Young Entrepreneurs Conference, she was able to consult with the expert, Benson. Afrinspire had supported a tree planting project in Busia before in 2020. Now it is locally motivated.

BIG GIVE 2022

We will be in the BIG GIVE 2022 which starts in the last week of November.

Donations open 12:00 PM, 29 November 2022 to 12:00 PM, 6 December 2022. You can use any of the links below to see our campaign page. A big donate button will show once the BIG GIVE opens. Then all donations will be matched. Our champion this year is the Coles-Medlock Foundation. Read all about it on
BIG GIVE AFRINSPIRE

https://donate.thebiggive.org.uk/campaign/a056900002NhJpXAAV or http://bit.ly/3NXSMdq

THE WATER PROBLEMS WE WANT TO SOLVE

We recently received photos from two locations in Zambia where the community collect water from holes in the ground. We know how to construct around these water sources to create clean water from a hand pump.

In September 2020 we helped a team of young men learn the skills of constructing shallow wells. They call themselves SKILLED WORKERS DILIGENT CLUB. They are proud to put SUPPORTED BY AFRINSPIRE on their T-shirts. During 2002 they have been constructing new shallow wells and repairing many more.

To contruct a new well costs 30,000 Zambia Kwacha (£1,500) and it will serve between 200 and 500 people with clean water. We often top up money raised from a local community of 10,000 Kwacha or even 20,000 Kacha. Most often we share the cost with the local people or the district council where possible. The skilled team is in high demand and they drive this work forward.
If you would like to help with providing clean water at £1.29 per person then please donate on our Total Giving web link or donate through the Big Give. Afrinspire is one of the most cost effective charities for providing clean water.

POSTSCRIPT

We apologise that we have been slow in our general communications during 2022. Afrinspire has kept up its focus on communicating with our Afrinspire partners in Africa and all the direct approaches to us in the UK but due to the health issues of our CEO we have had a reduced capacity for UK communcations and fund-raising. Nevertheless our impact in Africa has been maintained and we thank our supporters for this.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

Afrinspire can be found on Smile Amazon and Give As You Live. If you select Afrinspire as you shop then a small commission will come to the charity. This is infinitesimal as compared to your direct donations but is a way to support our work as you shop with no cost to yourself.

FEEDBACK

We welcome your feedback. You can email our CEO

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AFRINSPIRE

21 Abbey Street

Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB1 2QP

United Kingdom

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