By Dr David Steiner | HANDS AROUND THE WORLD Trustee
I have been asked to report on the Siriba project in Uganda from which Hands around the World (HATW) has withdrawn and the reasons for this decision.
Siriba Vocational Training Centre (VTC) was built in 2007 with help from HATW volunteers on the recommendation of a British teacher who had spent some months on placement locally and recognised the needs. It shares a site with a large primary school which had grown up rapidly following the local displacement south of many children and their families during the Lords Resistance Army troubles in the North. We worked with the head of the school, himself a displaced person, who later was accused of a number of financial irregularities (never proven as far as I know).
An initiative of the then Anglican church bishop, the VTC project was well supported during this bishop’s tenure, but when he was elevated to Archbishop and moved to Kampala, his replacement was no longer so enthusiastic. He set up a board which was a complete failure, and after our complaints, it was replaced. Sadly too this was poorly motivated and although our project co-ordinators tried hard, it was impossible to set up a plan for maintaining and developing the work. The board collapsed, the manager left and the VTC closed for a time.
It has since apparently been taken under the wing of the church and used for their current needs.
We left the door open, saying that we would respond to a properly costed and evaluated proposal which did not depend entirely on our funding, but we have heard nothing. There has never really been an opportunity to formally discuss closing our link - although we wrote several times to the bishop we never had any acknowledgement.
A sad story.
By Hugo Mason | HANDS AROUND THE WORLD Project Co-ordinator
By Hugo Mason | HANDS AROUND THE WORLD Project Co-ordinator
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