October 2022 Masindi at last!

Karen loving being back at school

Back in Uganda after 3 years!

Summary of our October 2022 trip

We arrived, the 6 of us, Hattie, Katie, Molly, Anne, Katrina and Karen with our 13 bags of luggage to a warm and welcoming Masindi homecoming!

We spent two days working collaboratively on a wall hanging for the school with the children before the trip to the Budongo Forest .

Kamurasi pupils proudly showing their completed collage

Budongu Forest!

The trips to the Budongo Forest were on two consecutive days with two different groups of 65 children.  Each day was filled with great excitement and anticipation from everyone involved.  Both trips were inclusive of children with disabilities. They were educational, thought provoking, engaging and fun.   The guides were all knowledgeable & inspiring. Some comments from the children - ‘The tour will always remain in our minds’.  ‘With the new knowledge we got from the Forest we are ready to stand to conserve and protect our nature’.   ‘We, as a school, would like to partner with the Budongo Field Station in conserving wildlife and the entire environment of Budongo’.  ‘Together we can make the world a better place for all living things’.  

Molly a natural history film maker who came out with us is making a film based on our trip to the Forest.  We are very much looking forward to viewing her film sometime next year.

Excited pupils and teachers arrive at the field station in the budongo forest

Building the boys’ washroom

Funds were used to complete the construction of a 7 cubical washroom for the boys who are disabled and board at the school.The boys had been bathing outside with little privacy. 

washrooms nearly completed

New benches for the Masindi Hospital

We paid for 4 benches to be made and secured at the hospital for visitors to use as well as patients - 2 benches for maternity ward, 1 bench for paediatrics, 1 for post natal ward. They were made by Robert, who is deaf and who was a pupil at the Kamurasi school. He is now a successful carpenter.

The benches arriving at the hospital

The Vocational Unit

The wonderful and dedicated staff  work with disabled children either in the vocational training unit or teaching Braille or sign lessons for deaf children. Some of the profit from the vocational training is now paying the wages of 4 staff. Two staff members were once pupils.

This year we bought this new knitting machine from Kampala for the vocational training unit. Here is Innocent one of the visually impaired trainers, who was a pupil at Kamurasi, He trains visually impaired children to make school jumpers to sell at the school.

Innocent demonstrating the new knitting machine

Fresh Water for the Boarding children.

Previously, the children had to cross a busy road to fetch water from a bore hole, which was often contaminated. This new tap brings fresh, safe water and is for drinking and cooking only.

We reinstated a water tap on the site of the Boarding Hostel that had been repressed and not used for many years due to not being able to pay the monthly water bills.  This water will only be used for drinking and cooking.  The water tanks that collect rain water will be used for bathing and washing only. 

Having the tap water will provide the children with daily drinking/cooking water which will be collected in jerry cans in the morning.  The use of the tap will be monitored and padlocked at certain times during the day to help reduce the monthly cost of the water.  The tap will reduce the many trips the children often have to make crossing the road onto the school site to collect water from the bore hole on the school grounds.

Karen with Joy, the head of Special needs, as the tap is turned on.

A number of other jobs that carried out during the visit.

• Repaired the chimney in kitchen - until the repair there was a lot of excess smoke inside. 

• We gave out new clothes, shoes, bras, glasses, learning resources and toys.

• We bought mattresses and mosquito nets and secured the net frames to the beds in the boarding.

This is just a snippet of some of some of the incredible moments and things we achieved during our trip.  In addition, we had a meeting with the Educational officer in Masindi,  collected work for Horfield School, had a tea party and witnessed some amazing singing and dancing from the Kamurasi school Choir.  We were also invited to the P7 campfire. 

Your support and kind and generous donations do really help to make a difference. 

delighted children enjoying thier new clothes

learning to play skittles!

The school choir and dancers performed during our visit

matron receiving the boarders’ new mattresses

March 2022 Into Our Forest with Keith Scholey

In March 2022 we held our biggest fund-raising event of the year.  At Bristol Grammar School in the Great Hall.  Dr Keith Scholey an award winning, natural history, documentary film maker, gave a presentation to children and parents from Horfield Primary School about the importance of Forests and why they need protecting.  His talk was especially aimed at the young people in the audience. It was very inspiring, engaging and informative.  

The event was also attended by 50 children from Horfield School Choir who performed songs about the earth, oceans, forests and trees.  These songs many of which had been written by the children themselves and music composed by a staff member. 

We raised over £1500 at this event through ticket sales as well as money made through a stall held at this event.  We sold bags and hair accessories which were hand -made by Hattie and her cousin.  (Hattie and her mother, Katie were coming on this trip to the Budongo Forest) We also sold scarves, notebooks and other African items.  

2019 - An exciting year of paint and bricks

We painted some wonderfully designed art work by Victoria on the inside of the boarding hostel walls from the ceiling to the floor.  The improvement to the living environment was absolutely staggering.

We paid for the construction of a brick bathing washroom with 5 cubicles on the site of the boarding hostel.  Up until now bathing was not very easy, done inside makeshift  pieces of building materials.

We also purchased a Finishing Off Sewing machine this is used to ensure that all the garments of school uniform made in the vocational training unit look as professionally made as possible. 

2018 - 10th Anniversary of the charity!

We repeated our visit to the Masindi Centre of the Handicapped, taking 12 members of staff from the Kamurasi School for additional training and sharing of ideas.  This had proved to be such a beneficial exercise last year Lillian had requested that we repeated opportunity for others.  

We paid for a 10,000 litre water tank to be purchased and installed in the grounds of the boarding hostel.  The tank is fed by the gutters around the hostel.  This additional source of water is crucial in limiting the number of journeys the children have to make crossing the road to collect water. 

We also gave funds to improve Lillian the Headteachers office.  Above her desk in the ceiling, birds were nesting and rainwater would often come onto her desk.  We made good the ceiling, plastered the walls and painted them.  We also improved the security and fit of the office door.   Norman, who had come out with us worked on this project with the help of a local builder. 

We also celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Charity which was a very special event.  The school provided us with a cake, music, dancing and speeches.  

2017 A busy year

Trustees, friends, teachers and children of masindi

During our visit we hired a bus and took 12 members of staff who work with the disabled children at the Kamurasi School including some staff working in the Vocational Training Unit to the Masindi Centre of The Handicapped.  This is a Special Needs School only.  The staff from the Kamurasi School were able to observe lessons and look at teaching resources made cheaply or created by the teachers themselves to aid learning. This was a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and learn from each other.  We also paid for a lunch that all the staff enjoyed. 

We paid to have two 1.5 metre mirrors made, one for the boarding hostel and one hung in the resource room.  We soon realised that many of the children had never seen what they looked like from head to toe.  It was quite an incredible experience observing the children’s reactions and responses seeing themselves for the first time. 

We had our annual meeting with the Inspector for Schools and the Local District Director for schools in Masindi.   This meeting was very positive and as currently there are now over 40 children boarding at the school, they agreed to fund for a new signing teacher who would start after Christmas.

2016 School Buildings

Our visit to the Kamurasi School in 2016 was accompanied by Mr Andy Wotton* an architect and his wife Jan. During this visit Andy surveyed the school buildings. He gave suggestions and simple cost effective solutions to the Headteacher for the many infrastructure issues. He provided a plan for the coming years with the priority of safety being the main focus.  

During this same visit in June, Jan and Andy made a very generous donation and offered to fund the outside painting of the old block of 10 classrooms. For this to be done properly a lot of preparation was required by re-pointing, rendering and making good many parts of the existing walls before the painting could take place. 

Andy dealt with a local builders merchants in Masindi and recruited a local builder. Work began before our return and was completed in less than 2 weeks. The transformation to the school is amazing. The Headteacher commented after the work was finished

 "It is so nice all the staff, pupils and parents are saying the Kamurasi School is shining. This has taken more than 50 years. Thank you, thank you for being our friends". 

All the Trustees of the Children of Masindi would also like to thank Jan and Andy for all their incredible support and generous donation. 

* Andy's company is based in Bristol Wotton Donoghue Architects    www.wdarchitects.co.uk

School buildings being prepared for painting

2016 Bicycle Maintenance

Our aim for 2016 is to set up vocational training in bicycle maintenance for the disabled children at the Kamurasi School. 

This training would also be offered to children with other learning difficulties who would benefit from this practical style of teaching.   

For this project to be successful we need:- 

• To pay for a skilled mechanic to work with the children twice a week.  

• Purchase some bicycles for the children to learn on.

• Buy spare bicycle parts.

• Purchase some tools and tool boxes. 

Bicycles are the main form of transport in Masindi.  Almost everything is carried on the back of these bicycles!

2015 Vocational Training

During the past few years we have successfully established vocational training for the disabled children at the Kamurasi Primary School in Masinidi.  This training is also offered to children who have been identified as benefiting from this type of training. The first project we funded was Weaving. We paid for looms and purchased wool. The children have now learnt how to make furniture covers and bags. They have also learnt how to make baskets out of banana reeds. Some of these items are sold in the local craft shop in Masindi. 

Tailoring was our next project. We purchased 3 Singer sewing machines and paid the wages of a Tailor to come and work with the children twice a week. We bought material for the children to learn how to make school dresses. Now the children are making school shirts and shorts as well. The uniforms are sold to parents at the school which then pays for more material.

Knitting - Due to the success of the Tailoring project the Headteacher requested that we purchased some knitting machines especially for the blind children to use. We paid for 3 machines and the school funded for a blind instructor to work with the children. The children are now knitting school jumpers. These again are sold to the parents.  

The children have also learnt how to make door mats out of sisal and they have also been instructed in bead work.  

Our aim in 2016 is to set up a vocational training programme in Bicycle Maintenance.

2013 Trench and Wall

Trench and wall built to protect classrooms from heavy rain and flooding.

In 2013 we gave funds to build a trench and wall to protect 4 classrooms from becoming water logged and muddy during the rainy season. This was a priority for the Head teacher as often when the heavy rains came children would have to leave their classrooms and their learning disrupted. 

The rain could activate 'jiggers' (a small type of worm) which could burrow into the feet of those children not wearing shoes! 

The Head teacher reported that the classrooms are now staying dry and that this project had been a great success. 

2012 Kitchen/Dining Building

During 2012/13 we raised the money needed to build a new kitchen/dining area on the site where the boarding hostel is situated. Before the new kitchen was built the children had to cross the road to access the school site where the kitchen was located. Children also had to eat outside, regardless of the weather sitting under trees on very hot or rainy days. 

In a letter from the Head teacher he thanked the Children of Masindi: 

'The kitchen is a sweet success! It is a nice kitchen that is able to accommodate all the children in the boarding unit. The children can now eat all together at a table under a roof. The cook has enough space for cooking unlike the previous kitchen which was small and smoke would fill it. The cook and the children no longer have to walk across the road for meals'. 

2011 Water Harvesting Tank

In October 2011 the charity gave funds to the Kamurasi School to build a water harvesting tank to hold approximately 15,000 litres of water.

James Mugema the ex Head teacher had stated at the time that this was a priority for the school for the following reasons:-

• To provide the whole school community (730 children and staff ) with water for drinking, cooking and washing

• To reduce the school's water bill as they would not need to rely on the tap in the compound for all of their water.

• To increase the number of disabled children attending the school. This could be achieved by the school saving money by not paying the regular water bill and therefore they would be able to support more children in the boarding dormitory.

The water harvesting tank has been built near the boarding facilities and was ready for use in May 2012. It will be used by all the children and staff on a daily basis.

2011 Miirya Project

The Children of Masindi Charity has donated funds to the Miirya Project, a programme set up and run by a VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) contact who worked with local Ugandan volunteers and health workers. 

The Miirya project's aim was to provide at least one mosquito net per household estimated at around 6,000 households. Miirya Sub County lies to the east of Masindi, it is very rural and most of the people that live there are subsistence farmers who survive on what they can grow themselves. 

Malaria is pandemic in this area. The use of long term insecticide treated mosquito nets gives 90% protection against this debilitating and often fatal disease. 

The Miirya Project has trained local people to become volunteers. They are a crucial part of the challenge. They sell nets at 'net sales' in the villages for which some people walk miles to attend. Volunteers and Health workers educate families in the importance of sleeping under a net. They also encourage families to consider and act upon other family health issues such as immunisation, family planning and HIV screening. The value of the nets is promoted by requiring a modest payment. 

As well as providing nets to the villages the Miirya project provided mosquito nets to two schools in Masindi town where children board. One of these schools was the Kamurasi School. These nets were paid for by the Children of Masindi charity. The children were given a demonstration by the VSO health professional who explained how to use the net to the best effect, the importance of sleeping under a net and how to look after their net. 

2009/10 Dormitory Block

Boarding after

In 2009 funds were used to start the relocation process for the 25 disabled children, who, at this time were living in very poor conditions. Money was used to make improvements to the purpose built but empty dormitory, which now provides a bigger, cleaner, safer and more comfortable living area. This provides the young people and staff with much better facilities including new beds, mattresses, blankets, sheets and cupboards. Due to our involvement in relocating the disabled children the local department for education built new pit latrines for the children close to the dormitory block. 

Boarding Before

Due to our involvement in relocating the disabled children, the local department for education built new pit latrines for the children close to the dormitory block. 

In 2010 funds were used to buy a solar panel which has been installed onto the dormitory roof. Now the children and staff have electric light in the evenings. This means that children can continue with their learning and relaxation after dark. 

Due to the location of the dormitory the charity, at the Head teacher’s request, agreed to employ and pay the wages of the matron. The matron sleeps in the dormitory. Her duties include aiding the children over the road, cooking and cleaning. She also washes clothes and bed linen and provides care for children when they are sick. She remains at the school throughout the term. At the end of term she and the children return home to their families. The charity also pays the wages of three special needs support staff who work with the disabled children. These members of staff can sign and read and write Braille.