Mityana Charity, Uganda Newsletter January 2009

Registered charity no. 1068825

Mityana Charity wishes you all a very happy and healthy new year.
Newsletter matters
We hope that you welcome the short newsletters in addition to the annual newsletter. Help and contributions will be much appreciated.

News from Nabukenya

Primary School
You can see from this photograph that the new block of classrooms is making great headway. Now we need desks, whiteboards, books and another teacher ready to take a new class next year. Could you (or a group of you) sponsor a teacher?

We provide FREE EDUCATION at this school. Could you raise some funds to help with the books and furniture we need? How about starting a coffee chain?
Contact Ann Potts

Christmas quiz winner
Congratulations to Janet Sargeant, the winner of our Christmas Quiz!
She will receive a £20 cheque and a cow named after her will be sent to Lwankuba Farm, Mityana. We hope “Janet” the cow will have a long and happy life there providing milk for the children!
Terrible Roads!

One of the worst drives of Ann’s life was a trip to a village way beyond Masaka last October. It was the home village of Peter, one of her sponsored children, and she had long promised him that she would visit his very elderly grandmother (his only relative). They spent hours skidding about in gullies, carved out by the torrential rain, and Ronald the driver feared they would be stranded. It was all a bit worrying, but thankfully they made it, and then decided to stay the night in a hotel in Masaka town!
Lent
Are you, your school, church or house group thinking about Lent projects? How about raising funds for bicycles, bibles, school text books or medical supplies? Or you could help us to providebadly needed shoes or blankets for prisoners?
Contact Ann Potts
(Ann will be back in Mityana again during January and February 2009)
Contact

http://www.mityanacharity.org
6 Tangley Drive
Wokingham
Berks
RG41 2NY
Please kindly update us of any changes in your email address.
Many thanks to Jon Scanlan for all his hard work updating the NEW website. /

Investigating water & electricity supplies

Hugh Wakeling visited Mityana in October for the first time, and has become interested in helping to research a project to provide a much needed water supply and electricity to the farm and school at Lwankuba.
We are very grateful to Hugh for this, as we need to make the farm viable in order to pay for the running costs of our school and possibly fund a clinic on this site.

We are hoping to get a tractor or more oxen to help get this 500 acre farm into production.
Others in the October Group
It was brilliant to have Christine Asiko, a Consultant on Special Educational Needs, giving her time to visit Mityana. Christine and Cathy Boobbyer spent a lot of time helping teachers in Mityana to understand the needs of the children with Special Educational Needs. Special thanks go to Christine who led an excellent and very successful Forum for teachers and educationalists. We know that the M.P. for Mityana has expressed the hope that Christine will return and follow up this good work.
Luci Heyn helped Ann to lead a Retreat at Banana Village. It looks intriguing doesn’t it?

Monkeys played in the trees at Banana Village

Food Shortage

With the economic climate in Mityana, being even worse than here, many families are now struggling to eat.
Quite a considerable number of elderly people are left caring for their grand children as their own children have died from AIDS.

Usually it is the grandmother who is left caring.She grows food in her garden, and after taking food for the needs of the family, she sells the little excess in the local market. There is no aid from the Government for people in this situation.

If you would like to sponsor a grandparent the cost is £15 a month, or make a donation, which we will use to help provide the essentials, including food, medicines, shelter and clothing, to a needy grandparent.
Please contact Jean Ajin through
Visits
There is a youth group visiting Mityana in February.
There may also be a group, including some young people, visiting in Oct/Nov half term. If you are interested in visiting Mityana anytime then please contact us for information. / Good news –
Alice and Grace, who have been sponsored, will be graduating from Makerere University on the 19th January 2009. Alice will graduate with Development Economics Degree and Grace with Education Degree. One of the sponsored boys, Charles Luwemba, has just started studying Pharmacy at Mbarara University.
Peter Balukaake has just completed his computer and mobile phone repair course and is setting up a business.
Margaret Namagembe is starting up her baby clothes business after completing her business diploma. Both of them have been helped with some capital by generous sponsors and donors.
Namugerwa Joyce has started a counselling degree and Burkwira Prossy has started a nursing course.
Zaituni has finished her tailoring course and been givena job on the strength of having a sewing machine generously donated by her sponsor.
We are very proud to have pupils who have been so successful against all the odds, and very thankful to their sponsors.
Sponsorship renewal
If you haven’t renewed your sponsorship money or updated your amounts to primary £100 and secondary £180 a year we would be grateful if you could do it as soon as possible for the start of their school year in January.
We can’t do all this without your help. Thank you for your continued support.
COULD YOU HOLD A COFFEE MORNING TO RAISE FUNDS FOR THE CHARITY?
Do you have an idea for helping us to fundraise? If so please contact us.
One man’s junk is another man’s jewellery by Helen Chang
On a cold October Saturday, Jean, Peter and I arrived at 07.30 to set up for a day of selling all sorts of things (some new goods, bric-a-brac and the farm-cards mainly) at the charity stall in Bracknell Market. Jo offered to come back later if she was needed, in case we were rushed off our feet with many customers, ha! Sophie Wood braved the cold later on to help.
Business was steady to be fair. Most of what we sold was our bric-a-brac. The left over’s are waiting for the next stall to be held Spring 09.
The profit, we decided, would be split according to who turned up to help and what their area of concern is (Prison Welfare, Youth and Farm on this occasion).
A total of £90 was raised, so it was a good day for all concerned. Peter’s selling tactics were a joy to watch!
Look out for the date of the next stall, all decent offerings gratefully accepted, and some man hours of course!
Thanks to everyone concerned, I look forward to the next one. If it’s as cold we must remember a cardboard box for Jean’s feet!