Ugive2uganda 
Newsletter – Summer
2010
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Ugive2uganda
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Welcome
to our Summer Newsletter for 2010.
Music Program
When
I first started my brass band program in Uganda I already knew about the
benefits that youth music can bring to childrens’ lives. I knew from my own experience that music can
teach a child responsibility, how to be part of a team, and is a way of
building self-confidence, and nurturing many other positive values. In Uganda,
particularly, playing in a musical ensemble gives many children their first
exposure to discipline outside school, teaches them to think and concentrate
and gives them an understanding that if one works hard and is determined you
can achieve success. I also knew that
giving a children something to do in a village where there is no entertainment
or opportunity is a very good way of preventing them from getting into trouble
and misusing their time and wasting their talent.
What
I didn’t realise when I first started making music here is that creating a
brass band is also one of the best ways
of delivering sustainable aid to impoverished communities. Some of you may recall from my last
Newsletter that, like most countries in the world, there are a small minority
of rich individuals and organizations in Uganda. So, as in fundraising in the UK, the
challenge is to persuade people who have more than enough money to donate some
small part of their wealth to others who live in utter poverty.
Namabassa Community Band – in front of our
half-finished bandroom (we’ve run out of money!). The reverse of the tee-shirts
is printed with our slogan ‘Our Village – Our Band’
Organizations
such as local governments, NGOs (non-government organizations), charities and
businesses often hire brass bands in Uganda to march through town and advertise
their events. Wealthy individuals also
hire bands to play at their weddings, engagements, and graduations. It is not uncommon for a band to receive the
equivalent of £100 for playing at one of these functions.
This
money can be divided between the children, their communities and other good
causes. It’s a wonderful way of
providing aid to needy people. When I
first arrived in Uganda I used to think about development projects in villages
purely in terms of buying livestock, donating mosquito nets, drilling
waterholes, and so on. But none of these
activities has the long-term sustainability of a brass band regularly bringing
in money to those who need it the most.
It is simply the most enlightened way of generating money for good
causes without having to constantly beg for handouts from the developed world.
And
so from all the projects and I have completed in Uganda nothing I have done has
been more satisfying and worthwhile than establishing the Namabassa Community
Brass band. Starting with a few battered
instruments in a classroom with no windows and a dirt floor at Watsemba School
in Namabassa our young band has grown in one year to be THE focus for the whole
community. The people in this village
had never known any kind of communal social activity before apart from the
church. In the beginning the parents
were suspicious and watched in puzzlement as their kids tried to play a cornet
and struggled with the whole idea of taking part in a disciplined social team
activity. The thought that here in their
midst was something creative that their children could do safely, and for free,
was a completely new concept to them.
But
slowly, after I spoke in the churches and at parents meetings to explain the
benefits of the program, and as they saw their children slowly make progress,
they became evermore enthusiastic.
I
don’t mind admitting that, eight months after we began, I had a tear in my eye
as our band marched through Namabassa village for the first time cheered on by
hundreds of local people on the way to the Primary School parents’ day. The children were so proud of their
achievement. And I was equally moved as
they toiled away to build our bandroom from bricks with mud filling (we
couldn’t afford cement), poles and tin sheets for the roof. As far as I’m aware, the first purpose built
bandroom in Uganda.
The
band has now completed a dozen engagements and the children in it now earn
money from their playing so that they can buy their own school books, clothes,
and nets. How much better than relying
on others for help! In return the
children go out in groups to dig in the fields, like Boy Scouts, and donate
part of the fees that the band earns to contribute to community projects such
as the building of a new church. The key
to success is that the community supports the band.
John
Wabale (above photo, back row, far right) is my 19-year-old Bandmaster. Having left school after his ‘o’ levels he
had no job and suffered from desperate poverty - enduring many hungry days and
nights. Now his life has been
transformed through music. As well as
acting as my co-ordinator for the community he has also worked tirelessly
alongside me to teach written music to the other schools. We have built him a room adjoining the
bandroom and our instrument store and he sleeps in simple surroundings to guard
our instruments at night. He won’t mind me saying that he has become something
of a hero in the village.
We
now have five brass bands in the music program.
Namabassa Community Band is our second band while Mbale District Schools
Band is our foremost band. Our training
band is based at Joshua School (our only Primary School), and we have established
a Salvation Army style band at Sacred Heart Church in Tororo District as well
as a new beginners band at Mbale Progressive School. I am very happy that, unusually, a number of
Muslim girls have joined this band.
As happened two years ago our main band has been
invited to represent Uganda (musically) at the Commonwealth Conference (CHOGM)
in Australia in 2011. Like our appeal
for the band to visit the UK it’s extremely difficult to obtain grants or
sponsorship for travel and it’s unlikely that we will be able to attend.
Alongside this appeal, all our bands need money to
begin with until they become self-sufficient and I am still desperate for funds
for instruments, uniforms, shoes, music, chairs, and the construction of secure
storerooms. Our highest priority of all
is funds to buy our own vehicle to ferry players from all our bands to their
engagements (transport is extremely difficult and expensive here). It’s a big challenge but perhaps one day…..
Bududa Mudslide Disaster
In
March I issued an appeal for aid following the disaster in Bududa where
approximately 350 adults and children were buried by a mudslide. The area is so remote and difficult to get to
that many of the bodies have still not been recovered and probably never will
be.
I
have to say a big thank you to so many of you who made donations to the cause
and allowed us to set up a fund for helping children who lost one or both or
their parents.
The situation is that about 4,000 people affected by the disaster
are living in tents in a village near the disaster site. The tents have
been supplied by the Ugandan government, the Red Cross, and others and these
organizations are taking care of the ongoing feeding and medical
operations.
At the moment everything is on hold. The government has
declared its intention to move all the villagers out of the area as it is
deemed to dangerous to stay. The problem is that some people don't want
to move and prefer to take their chances. It's not clear whether they
will be forced to go and, if they do, how the Government will stop them moving
back. A large amount of land has been
identified for resettlement but it's not clear how this will be divided up or
whether the people will have houses built for them. To date I have spent about 35% of the
money that was raised during the appeal. This is simply
because I'm waiting to see what will happen.
Jack Khuakha, the doctor I mentioned in my original
email, lost his wife and four children, and his clinic was destroyed.
I have given him £100 for immediate help while
he is in the camp. I have set aside some money from the fund to help him
rebuild a new clinic if it is appropriate. But I can't give him more until I
know whether he will stay in his home area or be resettled elsewhere.
For Sarah, the girl who wanted so much to be a nurse and who lost
her father, we have used some of our appeal money to enrol her at nursing
school and she started her new course in May. The total cost of this two
and a half year course is expensive at around £1,000 but it's an excellent course and I'm sure she will be
successful. Sarah has been staying at our house for the last month so
that she didn't have to endure living in the tents and so that we could feed
her.
Another boy called Clinton lost his whole family – parents and
four siblings. He survived because he was at boarding school a few miles
away. I have seen him personally and he seems traumatized by the whole
thing as you might expect. Fortunately, following our appeal, we have at
least found him a sponsor so that he can continue with his education
(thanks so much to Richard Pashley!).
Annette Bulimwa also lost her father but Kevin and Nicola Doyle stepped
to help her at least keep up with her education and she is doing so well at
school despite her loss.
We also have a trainee doctor, Fred Shibale, who lost his funding
during his last year of study due to the disaster. He has lost so much time because of his
family bereavements that he has not been able to complete his exams and so we
are providing him with financial assistance so that he can take his final year
of tuition again.
The photo below shows the situation as it is today at the site of
the disaster. One can see the trail of
the earth as it moved down the mountain. Unbelievably, the group of men are
standing where a small village once existed.
The mud is 15ft deep.
I am monitoring the situation in Bududa and will obviously keep
everyone up to date with developments in due course. Thanks so much to all of you who have contributed
to the disaster appeal and made so much difference to others less fortunate
than ourselves in their time of need.
At the time of writing this Newsletter (5th
July) I have just returned from the tent camp where so many children have lost
parents and therefore their only hope of an education. While I was there I spoke to an official who
explained that they had unexpectedly recovered 12 bodies from the ground last
week, including one child. The only way
that he could be identified is that he was still clutching his school books to
his chest as the mud engulfed him.
Child sponsorship scheme
If
you are reading this newsletter, and are not an existing child sponsor, please
consider whether you can spare £15 a month to support a child in our ACIO AIDS orphanage,
or in our music program, or one affected by the Bududa mudslides.
For
our medical program I do as much as
I can and the number of children that I can help depends entirely on the funds
donated in the UK. It’s very difficult
to ignore a sick child in distress although I’m constantly aware that I can’t
help everyone. Our main problem is a
lack of mosquito nets and an increasing number of typhoid cases due to the
unavailability of clean water in schools.
My
wholehearted gratitude for all the support that we have received in the first
six months of 2010. We couldn’t do
anything without the help of our donors and child sponsors. A huge thank you to all of you.
Philip
Monk
Founder
- ugive2uganda
8
Woodlands
Huntingdon
PE29
6JQ
Mbale
Tel.
0780 193 0404 (in
Email:
ugive2uganda1@aol.com
Website:
www.ugive2uganda.org
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