If the last few years have been about the consolidation of the AAH program in Uganda, 2012 has been about outreach and introducing the AAH model in new schools in Uganda. The year began with the completed renovation of Bulobi Primary School. 13 new classrooms were constructed through the AAH-Kamal-Government partnership. This was followed quickly by the teacher training program offered by Marymount University to the 5 schools in our program. The TOMS Shoes distribution program began in earnest in March, and to date, thousands of students across the region have received new shoes.

The greatest and probably more long lasting effort, however, has been in reaching out to Uganda Diaspora communities in Uganda and in the US. In Uganda, people who come from Bududa and Manafwa districts have re-focused their energies on helping schools back in their home communities. These communities have raised more than $10,000 to support education in local schools in Uganda. In addition, they have contributed materials, volunteered time, provided advice and worked with their home communities to support local schools.  In the villages where we are building new schools, Diaspora communities have supported the villagers in raising their portion of the money and providing building expertise.

Today these groups in Uganda meet regularly to plan how to support education in their communities. They fundraise, they support local school children, they mentor new students coming to city schools, and they are helping them make choices about their future. These are the new seeds of an education renaissance, and the new changemakers in Uganda's rural education.

Visit our website to learn more or contribute to this effort.  

So, what have AAH students and faculty been up to this year? There is not enough space in this newsletter to list all their achievements. Here is a partial list:

• In October, the students completed their 6^th Annual Reading Challenge, led by AAH Volunteer Coordinator Caitlan McDaniel, and visiting She's the First Volunteers Carla Blumenthal, Taylor Conklin and Allison Tamer. Altogether, the students read 23,162 books, with their top reader, Godfrey Natseli, reading 670 books. Amazing.
• The students made field trips to Mbale, Jinja and Kampala during October;
• AAH President, Dick Burk, visited Uganda in August. In addition to following up with the new schools under construction, Dick met with parents, teachers, and students of AAH, various government leaders, and potential partners in Uganda.
• The completion of the bio-digester at AAH, funded by AHEAD Energy, has given the school and the community an environmentally friendly option for disposing waste.
• New solar power panels, at a cost of $15,000, have been installed for the school and library. The cost also covers batteries, inverters and stabilizers that will ensure that power is provided long after the sun goes down. The cost was covered in its entirety by the Charitable Foundation for the Energy Bar Foundation.
• Marymount University has sent three teams to train AAH and other teachers this year. The last trainer, Professor Alice Young, just returned in October. The program at AAH is so much better because of the involvement of Marymount University, and we thank them very much.  
• Caitlan McDaniel continues to do an amazing job as a Volunteer Coordinator. In September, she was joined by Molly Daniels, a University of Dayton graduate who is now Outreach Coordinator. She is doing an amazing job. 
• A new class of 50 P1 students was admitted on November 18, 2012. According to Caitlan, "the 2012 P1 intake went smoothly and was an overall success. It is impressive to know that the demand for a spot at the AAH School continues to grow each year. The struggle to get through the stressful P1 intake program is worth all of the inputted time and energy. We feel very confident in the new students' abilities and also think the families these children come from are the most deserving and the most appropriate for the AAH partnership."

As 2012 comes to an end, AAH can take great pride in the fact that it has helped re-build two new schools, with another 3 planned for 2013.

• Bulobi School was completed in January, at a cost of $85,000. It has 9 new classrooms, a staff room, head teacher's office, kitchen and two latrines.
• By mid-December, Bumwalye Primary School in Bududa will also be completed. This is a school that had stalled for more than 10 years. Efforts by the parents to fundraise and complete the school had failed. This year, AAH stepped in, and working with Kamal Foundation, Bududa government and the local community, 114 million shillings ($57,000) was raised to complete a total of 7 new classrooms and a latrine.
• Next year, work will be starting on Bupoto Primary School in Manafwa district, and if circumstances and funding are right, we shall also build Toma Buta Primary School and add a library to Bududa Primary School. Kamal is also considering new initiatives at these schools such as teacher housing and lunch programs.

 AAH's challenge now is to introduce the AAH program in these schools so real learning can take place. We know that good buildings are not enough. You also need well trained and motivated teachers, a lunch program for students, a good academic program, and an engaged community and parents. AAH is doing all it can to raise money to support new academic and feeding programs at these new schools. We are doing so through Diaspora Fundraising, through appeals to other charities and entities like USAID, through commitments from parents, etc. We have also teamed with Marymount University to provide teacher training for these schools. We are convinced that 2013 will be the year when these schools will turn around and begin showing the kind of excellence that AAH has produced.

Please vote for them on Facebook Nov. 27 - Dec. 4 at http://bit.ly/VoteShestheFirst. 

TOMS Shoes Update - The children of Uganda continue to thank TOMS Shoes for their gift of new shoes. To date, thousands of shoes have been distributed (Read a story about John Wanda and the AAH effort here). We are excited to host TOMS staff in Uganda this month to meet with AAH in-country leadership and to learn more about the distributions. We are grateful that we will be able to continue to provide new TOMS to children as they grow. We'll be giving many children their second pair of TOMS in 2013. We are hopeful that all distributions will go smoothly and children will have a brand new pair of shoes soon!