Ssanje Community Resource Center & Library ~ E-Pearls

"Uganda is truly the pearl of Africa." ~ Winston Churchill

Greetings!

This past August, I had the opportunity to spend a number of precious moments in the Ssanje Community Resource Center and Library reading and discovering with the children. I asked two of our primary students to share why they enjoy coming to the library and also what they would tell someone who has never been before. Here's what they had say:

Jovia Kirabo, Sponsored Child: P3

"I love reading books from the library. I love reading weather books because they are so interesting to me. I also love reading English books because I am so interested in speaking English. So I advise you to come in the library and read books. We have all books for questions and answers. I thank all who help us in reading and understanding what we are reading. So be free to come in the library."

Shadia Nakawanda, Community Boarding Student: P7

"First of all, this library is very good. If you reach inside it - it is beautiful. Many things have happened since this library was started. It is very comfortable and there are many books which are helpful. I have learned many things from this library and they have helped me in very many things. I have learned how people behave in their life. It is well designed with dolls, flowers and funny pictures which are drawn well. Do join us in this library to look for a better future."

C.S. Lewis once wrote, "We read to know we are not alone" - and for a child who has endured unimaginable hardship, a story can transport and transcend them to a happier place and time. The Ssanje Library is a safe refuge for these children to share their experiences with others and learn from all the knowledge around them. We are grateful to everyone - especially Christ Episcopal Church in Columbia, MD and St. John United Church of Christ in Freeport, IL - who have continued to support this vital resource for our students and the community.

Warmest regards,

Pamela Brannon

Executive Director

P.S. Continue to e-mail your story ideas, questions and comments to pearls@childrenofuganda.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

A Shared Vision

Ssanje Community Resource Center & Library

By: Sonni Aribiah, COU Board Member

"A library of wisdom, then, is more precious than all wealth, and all things desirable cannot be compared to it."

~Richard de Bury

Months before my wife Teddy and I got married in May 2005, we started toying with the idea of establishing a small library for street children in Uganda. We shared our thoughts with a few people and soon we were receiving boxes of children's books from family and friends.

On our first visit to Uganda in 2007, my wife and I began an earnest search for the library's ideal location. At Sabina, we stumbled across a small room in a corner of the compound labeled "Library." When we looked in to see what types of books they had, we were surprised to find a bed and a few personal belongings...not a single book! Instead of a library, it was being used as a guest room for visitors.

God works in myserious ways, as one of our tour guides that day was a Peace Corps volunteer (now COU Board Member) from Illionis - Ms. Sarah Cowan. When we told Sarah about our intention to transform the space into a functioning library she was very excited. She told us that she had the very same vision for a library at Sabina and was currently working on a plan to raise money to construct a building for it. We struck a "deal" then and there: if she built the library, we would provide the books.

Many thanks to our friends at Christ Episcopal Church for their contribution of books and shelves for the library.

Back in the States, we started collecting more books and generating lots of interest - most notably, through my Church's (Christ Episcopal Church of Columbia) Outreach Commission, which at the time was re-defining and re-shaping its mission and vision. The decision was made to focus the commisson's mission work on three principal geographical areas - Local (Columbia, MD and Howard County), National (The United States) and International. I discussed the library project at one of the Commission's meetings and it was unanimously adopted as their International project.

We held several book drives and were inundated with hundreds upon hundreds of them. Our first shipment of 45 boxes (about 2,500 lbs) of books was sent to Uganda in the spring of 2008. In the meantime, Sarah had raised the required funds with the support of her church back home, St. John United Church of Christ in Freeport, IL, to complete construction of the Ssanje Community Resource Center and Library in the summer of 2008. A second shipment of books arrived in the summer of 2009.

Study session for students.

The Church's Vestry (governing body) made a commitment to support the library and pay the librarian's salary through 2013.

So far, we have helped replace the original warped bookshelves with sturdier ones, provided new tables and chairs and are now providing Internet access to the center. The Commission is also currently looking into providing a couple of desktop computers.

Most recently, Christ Episcopal Church's elementary and middle school classes raised money for the purchase of two cows after learning about the food shortage and rising inflation in Uganda. Hearing that children were barely eating three square meals a day, they resolved to raise the funds to help their friends across the world.

Volunteers and visitors enjoy reading with the children ~ and naturally, the kids are all eyes and ears!

In Their Own Words

Your support of a child in Uganda transforms more than just one life - it gives that child the opportunity to change their community, country and the world.

"I am so glad that I am in school and all this is because of a loving and caring family somewhere in the world. Where would I be if it were not for your support? I would be somewhere in a dark world without any education. Now, happy as a king, I move proudly knowing that my future is secured because education is the key to success. This term I was voted to be president of our school's Literature Fraternity club. I hope to develop it to district level by organizing seminars with other schools in our district in order to boost the love for literature in other students."

~ Melvin

S5, St. Cyprian High

SPONSOR A CHILD

University student Paul Musisi returns to the Ssanje Community Resource Center & Library to inspire a new generation of young readers - and achievers!

A Gathering Place

There is no library anywhere close to Ssanje village - not even in the nearest town - so the Ssanje Community Resource Center on the grounds of Sabina Primary School is truly a haven for our students and the entire community.

In addition to studying, our children use the resouce center to hold student club activities during evenings and weekends.

The resource center has also given several of our graduate students the chance to serve as resource librarians while awaiting opportunities to go to university. During extended holidays, a number of current university students return to tutor the younger children in English, Math, Social Studies and other subjects.

Teacher and staff workshops have also been held in the resouce center, on subjects as diverse as the creative management of children with different learning abilities, to Uganda's first Permaculture Design Course.

It has truly become a gathering place for our students, alum, teachers, staff, child guardians and volunteers. Our hope is to expand family and community involvement in school life through use of the center with more computers and workshops held there.

Did You Know?

School life expectancy (SLE) - the total number of years of schooling from primary to tertiary that a child can expect to recieve - is 11 years in Uganda.