Welcome to a new school year, welcome to new pen pals and returning pen pals, and welcome to everyone who has ever had a dream that they started to realize. This past week brought thrilling news from our sister school in Uganda: the government built a brand new classroom building at the Buppala Primary School. This two-classroom structure features windows "with glasses!"
For those who have been following our work for a while, you know that the compostable latrine that we built last summer was the first new structure to go up in this village in over a decade. At the commissioning ceremony for the latrine, the local (regional) politician who was in attendance promised to expand development at BPS. Well, he actually delivered on this promise, and now there are two new classrooms at Buppala Primary School!
Since last February, Radnor Middle School has provided lunch for the 600 students of BPS at a cost of $125/week. That sounds unbelievable, but it's true. A little bit goes a long way in Uganda, and as this new school year kicks off, we need to renew our efforts on behalf of our pen pals until they are able to sustain the cost of the lunch program on their own. I am asking for our school community to chip in however you can to help with this effort. Buppala students return to school tomorrow (September 16) for their new term, and our pen pal coffers are depleted. We need to gear up for a new fundraising campaign to ensure that our friends can rely on a meal each day they attend school. According to the Headmaster's report (which I am attaching to this post), enrollment has increased and the health of the students has improved since the installation of the latrine and the initiation of the lunch program. Keeping kids in school is really the impetus behind this endeavor.
In Uganda, public school ends after 7th grade. Statistically, many girls are married off soon after (if their families can afford to send them to school). I worry the most about the oldest girls. They are so bright and beautiful, and I am confident that we can provide them with hope and opportunity that they would not have otherwise. Fortunately, we have a plan. This is yet another one of the dreams that is beginning to be realized for our sister school.
I learned about a local entrepreneur and prior Peace Corps volunteer who has been transforming another village in Uganda with a dried fruit business that is growing and thriving. Phil Hughes started Mavuno Harvest in an effort to help villagers profit year-round from the fruit that normally has to be sold off quickly at a very low price once it ripens. Mavuno Harvest is found in Whole Foods stores and other health food stores throughout our region, and Phil Hughes is the first recipient of our COMPASSION IN ACTION AWARD which will be presented on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21 @ RMS at our first-ever FAMILY CHAT. I hope you will be able to join us. In any case, our goal now is to help our pen pals develop an organically certified garden where they will grow fruit that can be sold to MAVUNO HARVEST. This is a few years down the road, but the potential for the oldest students to become entrepreneurs who take responsibility for feeding the school population and improving life for the village is incredibly hopeful and attainable. Meanwhile,
we will be emphasizing the theme of SUSTAINABILITY and looking closely at ways we can be more conscious consumers, particularly around our own lunchtime behaviors. We are going to look carefully at how much waste we are producing and what we can do to minimize the amount of non-recyclable trash we are generating, as well as examining the nutritional value of the foods we are consuming. Our gardening efforts will expand in partnership with the WATHERSHED classroom, and we will exchange letters about this shared experience over the years with our pen pals in Uganda.
I will be participating in a service-adventure trip to Uganda next summer, and I invite anyone who is interested to consider joining us. We will be living and working in the village and exploring the natural beauty of the Pearl of Africa. Thank you for your interest and your support for this on-going effort. Our small acts are indeed having a huge impact, and every little contribution is significant to the success of this initiative. It's going to be an incredible year. May all our dreams continue to evolve. Thanks.
To read the full text of the report from Buppala School go to: Report
To learn more about Phil Hughes & Mavuno Harvest, read this Inquirer article: Article
For Service-Travel Summer 2014 Information contact: jodi.sabra@rtsd.org
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