Support our activities in Uganda
|
DONATE NOW
|
|
International Board of Advisors
|
Scott Douglas, N.J.
Geri Fitzgerald, NYC
Lizette Gilday, Quebec
Philip and Lorraine Hellen, U.K.
Paul Hogan, NYC
Alan Monk, B.C.
David Mraz, Phila.
Kaitlyn Riordan, Toronto
Steve Wiley Phila.
|
Germantown Monthly
Meeting is sponsoring a Rummage Sale on
May 1st, (50% of profits will go to our project!!) Contact, wendyw@gfsnet.org. or dhcooper_125@yahoo.com for details on contributing to the sale. The Germantown Meeting phone no. is 215-951-2235.
|
|
Greetings!
I am back in Bududa after spending Christmas back home and happy to be
here. Again it feels as if I have hit the ground running. The faculty
have assembled and our recruitment efforts seem to be paying off. Even
though the term has not begun yet, we have had a number of students
come to register for our vocational school. They have made initial tuition payments, always a good sign. The academic
year and the term start, Feb 1st, and we are growing stronger and
bigger and hope to be the best run vocational school in the area, with great teachers,
facilities, tools and library. "
Barbara Wybar |
|
AGLI and Local Partner make long-term agreement for Bududa Projects
Back in 2007, when Barbara Wybar was looking for space for the Bududa Vocational Institute and the Children of Peace to grow, she met Patrick Matsanga, an accountant living in Kampala. Patrick had grown up in Bududa and still had property out there in the country. Patrick shared Barbara's view that education provided an way out of poverty for the children of his beloved community. Patrick agreed to allow the programs to use the property and buildings rent-free on an interim basis, so that the programs would have a chance to grow and become better established.
In November 2009, a long-term agreement was reached with Patrick Matsanga to form a new company to operate the existing programs and hopefully to expand to meet other identified needs. The Bududa Development Company Limited is now the parent organization for the Bududa Vocational Institute and the Children of Peace. As a "company limited by guarantee", this Ugandan entity is the equivilent of a not-for profit corporation or charity. It has "members" not "shareholders" and they are African Great Lakes Initiative, Patrick Matsanga, Cecelia Matsanga (Patrick's daughter, a physician and new mother of Nathaniel, living in Kampala) and Paul Hogan (a U.S. lawyer and volunteer-visitor to Bududa). The Company has a long-term lease for the property that is home to the programs.
With this formalized Ugandan structure, we will be able to obtain desirable credentials for the vocational school and will be able to build upon the progress that has been made in the past few years.
|
How Your Donations are Spent
If you've been wondering how your donations are spent..... see the pie chart below with a summary for 2009. Salaries, paid only to our Ugandan teachers and staff, are our largest expense.
In our second full year of operation, we knew our expenses would be higher as our enrollment at BVI had expanded and we were providing more services through the Children of Peace. We are so grateful to all our supporters who gave generously to enable us to increase our impact in the community. Despite a tough year for non-profits, we had our best year ever in terms of support for the programs with donations of just over $66,000.
|
2009 Great Year for Volunteers to Bududa
The 20 volunteers who came during 2009 did
so many different things. They painted murals inside and out. They taught
English, math, entrepreneurship, photography, and classes on human sexuality as
well as HIV awareness to both the BVI students and the Children of Peace. They
tutored students after school and assisted the administration with secretarial
work, using their computer skills. They helped with the school garden and also
with the garden surrounding the guesthouse. They helped with the building
projects. The young volunteers played with the neighboring children and read to
them. The tailoring class was assisted by volunteers, who worked with the
students and teachers to produce items such as bottle carriers, and children's
dresses and aprons. Besides all these efforts on the part of the volunteers,
they brought many supplies for the orphans and the villagers, like 250 wind up
flashlights, gently used clothing and shoes, medical supplies, tools and fabric
for the tailoring class, books and supplies, toys and much,
much more. A good time was
had by all, and many wish to come again this year. I can't wait.
Barbara
|
Back to Africa
My first day back
with the Children of Peace in January was a busy one. The welcome was heart warming and
the smiles make it all worthwhile. There was much to do and much need as
usual. The Primary Leaving Exam
results had just been released by the government and so there was much
excitement amongst our students about their results. Of the 13 children who sat for the exam 9 have passed. [That may not see great to you, but the comparable pass rate for our district is 57% and for the country 68.5%. Our rate at 69% is very encouraging, particularly for kids who are among the poorest and have the least stable home situations.] How to reward them! Shoes brought from a friend in London, Sophie
Walker, was just the thing (at least for the girls!) They were delighted.
Thanks Sophie!
Probably the
gift that has made the biggest difference in the lives of the faculty and staff
at BVI and for the older orphans in the C of P are the Lights for Learning.
These are wind up flashlights with LED bulbs, so they give off a really bright
light and require no batteries and no electrical recharging. In this village
where there is almost no electricity, it makes a huge difference particularly
for the students who are studying. Thanks to generous donors, we gave them out last year and maybe
that is why we had more students passing their exams, as they were able to
study at night. This may come as a shock to those of you in the western world,
but in villages like this in East Africa, the cost of paraffin for lanterns or
candles or batteries for flashlights is prohibitive and so when the sun goes
down, it is impossible to study. So thanks again to our generous supporters. Barbara
|
Plans for 2010 and beyond
A good year for you to get involved?
With a new organization structure in 2010, our priorities are clear. While we have many challenges, our top priorities include:
- Form the Board of Governors for Bududa Vocational Institute and get it functioning under Ugandan guidelines
- With a generous grant from the Jephcott Foundation (U.K), construct a second classroom building
- Hire a locally trained social worker for the Children of Peace Program to better support and track the orphans and improve sponsor relations
- Find administrative support for Barbara Wybar in Bududa
- Complete ongoing communication improvements (website, brochures, newsletters, promotional video)
- Prepare Strategic Plan for new company
HELP WANTED!!
While your donations are appreciated tremendously and make our programs possible, we are also looking for some of our friends to get more involved. While we always welcome visitors/volunteers to Bududa, plenty of work for the projects gets accomplished from afar or by a longer term stay in Uganda.
- In Bududa, we are looking for one or two program specialists, to provide much needed support for our programs. A small stipend would be provided to cover transportation and basic living expenses.
- We need a volunteer to work in the United States as the Orphan Sponsor Coordinator. This person keeps track of donations and sponsored children and works with the staff in Bududa to facilitate communication between sponsors and the children
- Our website really needs a facelift and we need a person to help assemble the content for the website and to work with the webmaster (at AGLI) to keep it current. No programming skills are necessary
- A newsletter editor would be great to help Barbara with regular and timely communication to friends and donors
- Most of the donations we receive come from individuals, although some come from family foundations. If you know of anyone with access to a foundation or charity whose mission is in line with ours, please let us know. It's really important that we are able to diversify our funding sources if we are to have a long term impact in this community.
If you want to discuss these opportunities send an email to Barbara (bywbar@yahoo.com) or call Paul Hogan 908-723-3706.
|
Help Develop our Strategic Plan
If you have travelled to volunteer in Bududa or want to share your views, we'd like to get your input. Could you take a few minutes to complete this short survey?
Please click the link below and, under FILE, you can download the survey into a word document which you could fill in (and then send an email attaching the completed document to phillorhellen@hotmail.com). Or print out and mail to Geri Fitzgerald at the address listed below.
Strategic Plan Questionaire
|
|
|
|
Barbara Wybar
Coordinator, AGLI's Bududa Projects, bwybar@yahoo.com
(all comments/suggestions/feedback welcome!)
http://bviuganda.org/index.htm
USA Mailing Address: c/o Geri Fitzgerald, 2 Charlton St. 5C, NY, NY 10014 (checks payable to Friends Peace Teams)
Canada Mailing Address: c/o Sally Bongard, 54 Aberdeen Ave., Toronto, ON M4X-1A2 (checks payable to Canadian Friends Service Committee)
UK Mailing Address: c/o Philip Hellen, 12 Park Road,
Surbiton, Surrey SM2 7EP (checks payable to African Great Lakes Initiative)
|
|
|
