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Key person: Timothy and Janepher Kakooza
We spent a few hours with Timothy at Collines Hotel in Mukono on our way to Kampala as we were unable to go out to Katosi or Mbale school during this trip.
The school has 848 children with around 328 in boarding. There are 32 staff and as the school continues to grow and develop there is an increasing need for good staff.
Of the 848 children around 520 are paying school fees of 20,000 UGX (US$7) per term for the youngest, 40,000 UGX (US$14) for those in middle school and 60,000 UGX (US$21) per term for seniors. The others are orphans or too poor to pay anything.
One significant issue they have relates to the girls. When they have their monthly cycle they are unable to attend school and over the course of a year, lose a considerable amount of class time. We discussed this and there is a possible solution mentioned below.
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Timothy and Janepher have nine children living with them at present, not their own. Their own have grown and they now have one grandchild. The outcomes of the children who have grown up with Timothy and Janepher as their own children are good. Previously we have reported on Fatima, who continues as a teacher at Chosen Generation School in Mbale Village. See the story of Winnie below.
We discussed the school’s need for support. In reality it could be any amount of money and it would not be enough. There are some encouraging trends in Foundations for Farming uptake and some of this is positively contributing to feeding in the school.
They are extending the girl’s dormitory to accommodate more girls. There is a need for 64 new bunk beds and 128 mattresses at approx US$100 per bunk and mattresses (total of $6,400).
We had a lengthy discussion about income generation and the likelihood that BHW support will decrease in years to come but I am not sure that Timothy really gets this. However he is aware of the need to become self-sustaining and Janepher has been putting Foundations for Farming into practice. She has a significant area of land and has planted healthy pineapples which are about to be harvested and sold. She is still doing passionfruit as well and this generates significant income which supports the school feeding program although we are not sure to what degree.
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Attached is a picture of Winnie at her graduation as an Early Childhood Educator. She went through Winners School at Katosi and is an orphan who was raised by Timothy and Janepher in their own home for 13 years. She is a full orphan (i.e. no parents at all) and has been fully supported by them. She is going to work in the Marisara Babies Home and Preschool run by Timothy and Janepher near Mukono. This is another great success story. It is also great to see that some of those raised by Timothy and Janepher are staying in their own communities as this is actually quite rare.
There is really very little else to add to this from previous years. It is more difficult when we haven’t been out there this year to actually see what is happening. We hope to get to visit in 2019.
The reality is that this is becoming a really big school and work. As Timothy was at pains to point out when we were discussing it with him, there is no way that it could have achieved what it has without BHW support and the consistent journey that we have been on over the years. He is very appreciative of this.
Timothy did not identify any specific major challenges at present apart from the fact mentioned above that young women do not attend school when they are having their monthly periods and this results in significant loss of school time for them over the years. We invited him to put a proposal to us, and have reminded him of this, but not heard anything further. We suspect that he will get some support from the U.S. to supply the actual pads for some period of time so we need to leave that to him.
Apart from that it is impressive to see what our partners are achieving.
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When we go and visit we always like to see what is going on. There is always a degree of organic growth and development but it is important to look back and take stock. Sometimes just the reality of seeing a good, well-functioning school with its influence in the community and its growth is important to give thanks for. The year on year growth is not always spectacular and the temptation can be to look at its organic growth and not be aware of how much the mere fact of the school’s existence is a miracle in itself. Winners School is a truly amazing example of what God is doing in Uganda. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty good and for that we need to give thanks.
Getting information and proposals from Timothy is a bit like pulling teeth. From one year to the next we have invited proposals and pointed out to him what BHW might be willing to support but the proposals received have always been too big. And the ones which would appeal, such as helping the young women develop a project for producing sanitary pads themselves, effectively get no response.
We do not see reason for increasing or reducing financial support at present and recommend the budget here remains the same until our visit in 2019.