Latest news from Swindon Deanery

First published 20th July 2009
Since our return from Uganda Chris Hawkes and I have been actively developing links between our local schools and schools in Uganda.

School Partnerships

A very successful partnership seems to be developing between Greenmeadow School and Bwasiba school in Uganda. One of their teachers is very keen to go out to work there for a while. Greenmeadow has recently been sent a drawing and a piece of writing from every single child in Bwasiba school.

Mutual learning.

There is much to learn from each other. I was surprised to see how a few visual aids there were in the schools in Uganda that we visited. There was rarely so much as a picture on the wall. No doubt British teachers could contribute a huge amount in that area.

On the other hand, Greenmeadow staff were enormously impressed by the quality of the work coming from Bwasiba, both in terms of neatness, spelling, artwork and imagination. One teacher said, "This is better than ours could do."

A helping hand for a young teacher

We were particularly delighted to receive a gift of 350 from the school in order to continue the educational degree of Esther Nakamya.

Esther, is a dedicated teacher in her 20s. She works at the school at Bwaziba, specifically teaching the blind children, who are based in a home about half a mile down the road.

Esther teaches the children not only to read and write in Braille, but to look after themselves in their daily life. They learn to cook, find their way around, obtain water and grow food, which is an essential skill in Uganda. She has also formed a choir.

Her source of funding was interrupted halfway through her university course. Now we are confident that, with just a bit more help, she will be able to finish that.

Having seen the importance of Esther's work in that community, we are delighted with the way this link between the two schools is developing.

Ugandan shopping bags

We are also delighted to have been part of a small scheme for se

lling handmade multicoloured shopping bags made in Luweero. These are tremendously useful, now that supermarkets are reluctant to hand out plastic bags. I am sure we could sell dozens and dozens of them in the diocese if a way could be found of getting them to us. We would love to receive your suggestions.

Raymond

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