Hope Community Highschool

$5,000 Urgently Needed to restore Hope Community School

Please make your Donations at: http://hopebuilders.org.au/donate/

please put reference HCS so we can recognise your donation is for this cause.

Team No.27 visited Hope Community High today to see the amazing work that is being done here to educate children who would not be able to go to secondary school without this school and the generosity of their director Robert. This school was opened in 2008 and charges a fraction of the fees of other schools, charging only $180,000 shillings ($70au) in comparison  with other schools in the area that charge between 1.1million shillings ($480au) to 2.5million shillings ($1,000 au ) per term.  Hope Community school also never turns away a student who cannot pay which is unheard of in Uganda, if you cannot pay fees you cannot go to school.

Unfortunately somebody (It is suspected that someone who is not happy with Hope educating kids for small amounts of fees came in and set the school on fire.) 

Thankfully the children were not in their beds at the time as this was the boarding school buildings. The children who first noticed the fire notified the teachers and with buckets of water attempted to put the fire out on their own, unfortunately by the time the fire brigade arrived the fire had already done its damage and been put out.

The damage caused to the school has been significant and devastating to see 129 senior students sleeping 2 on a mattress in 3 very small buildings because they refuse to stop their education as suggested by the government, these children want to learn no matter the cost. 

With the money raised we will be able  to purchase new beds for the 129 children to sleep on and also replace their silver boxes which carries their life belongings in and have also been lost. 

A Roller Coaster of Emotions

"HOW CAN WE HELP?" So much need is before us each day we leave Suubi house. So much hunger, so much poverty and story after story of women fleeing their villages because they are being violently abused.

This morning we made our way out to Masese slum area.  We went with Ivan HB Village manager and Salima our HB social worker and Jacqui the village HB nurse to greet a government official who had identified five women who were most vulnerable at this moment.  We took with us rice, posha, soap, sugar and oil to give them. We listened to their stories and asked if we could pray for them.  Lucy and Helen were two of the ladies and their stories were devastating and hard to take in. Lucy had 6 children but one recently died from an accident and Helen had 4 children. They had both run away from other villages to fless violent abuse on a daily basis from their husbands, they had come to Masese slum to get away but still find themselves vulnerable, alone and afraid. They go through the garbage to find scraps to sell and food to give to feed there children. Some days they do not eat but go hungry as they could not find enough scraps.

We walk past a couple of ladies who are producing alcohol from millet to earn money to stay alive even though this is fueling ongoing dysfunction throughout the community but this helps them stay alive.

The kids at the slum run up to us calling out "muzungu, muzungu" (which means white person) just wanting us to hold their hands and love on them.  It truly was heartbreaking to see so much need and not be able to do much about it but knowing that we are all commanded to feed the hungry and care for the orphans and the widows. We continue to pray and ask God "show us who we need to be a blessing to today?"  We take in the words on the wall at Suubi House that say:

NO ONE CAN DO EVERYTHING BUT EVERYONE CAN DO SOMETHING

In the afternoon we visited Jinga Christian school were all the primary kids from HB village attend. It was great to see the development of the school and the ongoing plans for future growth.

               

More pics...

It has been such an incredible last few days that we have gotton to experince. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and was welcomed by some rain, this made the car ride to Suubi house an intresting one. With the wet roads came cars zooming around eachother, driving on the oppoiste side if the road and many gasp as we passed pedestrian we thought were going to get hit. It is safe to say they have their own way if driving that definitely works for them.

Later that night we went to the village where we were indroduced to all the kids. This was a beautuful moment for us as they all came to greet us, ask our names and held our hands. We then played together, sung songs and learnt some dances and others played card games.

Monday was a recovery day for us, we started the day going shopping and scoping out the things we woukd want to buy as well as seeing where the best prices were, out bartering skills were being put to the test. After this we went to a super market and picked up some foods we would give to the families we are going to visit in the slums. This consisted of pocha, rice, sugar, oil and soap. Later that afternoon we went back to the village and played lego with the children. 

Tuesday was jamed packed and got all of us working hard. We spent the day at the village rendering the outside of the houses. The render was made out of sand, mud, molasses and cow manure thst had to get mixed together. This is something none of us will forget any time soon. We ended up rendering 11 houses. We were all exhusted after a day out working in the heat, but the feeling of completeing this and knowing it was helping them was definitely rewarding.

A quick update to let everyone know that team 27 has arrived at Suubi house where we had our first wonderful meal by Juliette and our first quick visit to the village. 

Village of hope update

Hallow to every one, we greet you all in the name of our most high GOD. We would like to thank God for protecting and guiding us always. We are glad to inform you that everything is moving on normally at the Village Of Hope.
All our children are in good shape and in good health. They are all in school and they are progressing very well as we have not registered any serious cases of illnesses so we thank god for that.
We are very glad for being part of the celebrations of the "DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD" that was held on the 21st of June 2019 at Jinja. Some of our children represented us through a poem titled "CHILDREN`S RIGHTS IN UGANDA" On that day. We are very happy that our children can move out and represent us in a very good way.
some pics below.

Team UG27

Team 27 will be heading over to visit the Village of Hope this saturday, keep an eye on the blog for updates and please keep us in your prayers.  Damian