Ugive2uganda 
...in
partnership with
East Uganda Youth Music
Foundation
Ugandan registered NGO No. S.5914/8841
Summer
Newsletter 2011 
John
Webale (extreme left), our Community Leader, with members of Namabassa Youth
Band outside our half-built Community Centre
It’s
been an eventful year in Uganda so far.
General elections for parliament and local councils took place in
February and the previous government was returned to power. Despite some disturbances since, the country
remains largely peaceful. As in many
other countries, the major challenge facing the population is an increase in fuel
and food prices and many families are struggling to feed themselves.
We
continue to do the best we can for needy children and parents with the funds we
have available.
Namabassa
village, just a few miles outside our main town of
When
we began our brass band in the village two years ago it became the first
community project that the village had ever seen. Building on the success of the band, we now
have the opportunity to expand the music project into an exciting new concept
to create a 'Community Centre'. This
will mean we will take the band as the basis of the project but expand our
activities into the construction of a Community Centre, library, workshop,
training room for tailoring, and a place where people can meet and we can offer
advice to the villagers on healthcare, agriculture and other important topics. It’s
much better to educate and inform people about issues such as immunization,
family planning and efficient food production than deal with the effects of not
doing these things well. This is why
the Community Centre is such an important facility in a village where there are
no newspapers, TV, or places to sit and listen or read.
Thanks
to the support of well-wishers we’ve managed to get half-way through the
construction of our main building but we need another 800 GBP to complete
it. I would obviously be very grateful
for any donations towards this target.
Child
Sponsorship
Thank
you so much to everyone who continues to support our child sponsorship program
despite some tough economic times in the
Please
be reassured that your contribution to the welfare of your sponsored child is
making a real difference to their life.
I personally visit each child in our program on a regular basis to
ensure that your sponsorship continues to be effective.
A
number of sponsors have been supporting their children for some time now – in
some cases more than four years. A
child’s circumstances change over time and I have to review a child’s needs regularly
to ensure that your contributions are still relevant. Occasionally I cancel a sponsorship where I
deem that either the original needs of the child have been met or that the
child is receiving additional help from other sources.
For
example, in the last few months I have terminated one child’s sponsorship when
I discovered that he was not making the most of the opportunity that we had
given him at school. But for the vast
majority of children I am confident that you have made a lasting difference to
their life and future prospects.
At
the heart of the sponsorship program is the issue of education.
Education
in
Unlike
in the UK, on the first day of a new term, typically, not all of the pupils
attend their school. This is because the
parents are still trying to raise money for school fees. Pupils arrive at school in increasing numbers
over the following two weeks and, of course, some never make it at all. Most schools accept pupils on the grounds
that fees will be paid within the first month of term. But if fees are not paid by then pupils are
sent home. It’s a soul-destroying
experience for the kids.
So
where we can we try and send your sponsored child to a decent school to at
least give them a chance in future. But
even then the choice is not simple. In
many cases a child’s village is nowhere near a good school. It is not uncommon for children to walk huge
distances to get to school as a result. But sometimes it’s even too far for
these tough children. In these cases the
issue is whether the child is able to attend a school as a boarder instead of a
day scholar.
Boarding
is often the only option for thousands of Ugandan children but it’s more
expensive because the school has to provide food (the children have to bring
their own mattresses, sheets, blankets, toilet paper, soap, etc). Even though, in the vast majority of schools,
the food provided is porridge and beans twice a day (end every day!) the cost
of boarding and school fees often exceeds a sponsor’s monthly contribution of
fifteen pounds a month.
Sometimes
parents raise money to ‘top up’ the sponsorship money to send their child to a
good school. Others can’t afford it and
an academically bright child is stuck in a poor-performing school.
I
have listed below a few other relevant points concerning the operation of the
program for the benefit of existing sponsors or those contemplating becoming
one:
1)
There
is a limit to how many items that can be provided to a needy child at
home. Once they have a bed, mattress,
blanket, net, bed sheets, school uniform, books, etc, then we concentrate on
sending them to the best school available.
Where there is no suitable school we sometimes buy the child a cow as a
way of generating income for their future.
2)
About
a third of our sponsored children are in one of our six brass bands. There are no rules about how we select
children to be sponsored as a musical child or not. It’s simply that I come across children who
need help during my music teaching. For
instance, I noticed during our band practices at
3)
Some
of our sponsored children make a contribution to ‘community funds’ and some do
not. Again, it all depends on a child’s
circumstances. If they are day
scholars they can usually afford to help their local community (and thus make a
positive impact on other children who do not have sponsors). If they are boarders usually they cannot help
in this way unless they are in lower Primary classes.
4)
Unlike
in the
5)
I
try and send copies of school reports to sponsors at least once a year for
every child in the program but sometimes this is difficult. Some Primary Schools issue reports in a local
language and the reports themselves would be meaningless.
6)
About
half the children in the program are spending 100% of sponsorship support on
their education and the other half and spending abut 50% on education and 50%
on home needs.
7)
There
is no strict upper age limit for the children in the sponsorship program but we
don’t often sponsor a child past the age of eighteen. The exception to this rule is where a child
has either completed their O levels and wants to continue on to A level or
where a child wants to undertake some vocational training such as tailoring,
car mechanics, bricklaying, etc.
Occasionally we help with further education when a child is clearly
academically suitable but only with the agreement of the sponsor of course.
I
do hope that this summary has helped to explain some of the ways that sponsors’
contributions are spent. There are no
set rules about how we help these desperately needy children because no two
child’s circumstances are the same. In
some cases we help children whose families are so poor that they don’t get
enough to eat. In others we help children who are academically very bright to
go to a good school so that their abilities are not wasted.
Please
let me know if you have any further questions about the scheme. If you want to support these deserving children
the best way that you can do this is by telling your friends about the program
and asking if they would consider sponsoring a child. They can download a leaflet from the website
at www.ugive2uganda.org.
Music
Program
It's
been a difficult year so far. In February my great childhood friend and hero,
James Watson, died at the age of 59. I
was deputy Principle Trumpet to Jimmy in the Leicestershire Schools Symphony
Orchestra in the late 60s and looked up to him like an older brother. He was perhaps the greatest trumpet player of
our generation and went on to great success as a professional trumpet player
and Professor at the Royal Academy of Music. Together with Eric Pinkett, the
founder of the Leicestershire County School of Music, Jimmy was one of the most
powerful influences on me in my earlier life and were perhaps one of the reasons
that I began our music program here in Uganda.
My musical education as a child taught me the great benefits of youth
music for all and I like to think that part of Eric and Jimmy's legacy lives on
through our work here and that I have been fortunate to give hundreds of
Ugandan children the same chance that I had.
Jimmy's
death makes me all the more determined to drive our music program forward here
in
One
day, perhaps, we will nurture a Ugandan player to great ability and he or she
will become a role model for others in this country. Please help me continue this work by making a
donation if you can. We’re changing attitudes
through the program, and equipping children with the positive mental fortitude
to help them become responsible adults.
How much better than seeing them bored out of their mind with nothing to
do and to grow up with no ambition and a character full of resentment. Another
In
our work here in
Healthcare
and Community Projects
Despite
a lack of significant funding for healthcare activities we've still been
helping where we can. So many children
have contracted malaria and turned to us for help with their treatment
costs. We do our best knowing that the
nets to prevent the disease are better than repeated doses of medication. Malaria has strange effects on the body and
symptoms can be differ greatly. The only sure way to know if a patient has the
disease is to carry out a blood test.
For some patients the effects are seen as vomiting, diarrhoea and
general weakness whereas others are affected by painful mouth sores (see photo
below) and other unpleasant side-effects.
Left untreated the disease can be fatal, especially if it's the cerebral
strain – which is similar in nature to meningitis.
Caroline, one of our
sponsored children, still cheerful despite displaying the effects of malaria.
We
still help with minor operations for children where the parents have no money
to afford the treatment and I would welcome any donations to continue the
program.
Can
I offer my wholehearted gratitude to so many for all the support that we have
received so far in 2011. 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 P.O.
Box 47
Huntingdon Mbale
PE26
6JQ
Tel.
0780 193 0404 (in
Email:
ugive2uganda1@aol.com
Website:
www.ugive2uganda.org and www.euymf.org
Bank Details: Barclays Huntingdon, A/c name ugive2uganda, Sort Code 20-43-63, A/c number 50030708