Education Uganda Project #42553

Help vulnerable children go to SAMaritan Schools!

by Stichting Kinderhulp Afrika

Project Report | Mar 2, 2020
SAM's Flying start to 2020!

By J.C van Leeuwen | Project Leader

SAM’s Flying Start to 2020!

Hello and thank you so much for taking the time to read this, our first report of 2020 from ‘SAMaritan Day Care & Kindergarten’ – SAM!

2020 is definitely off to a ‘flying start’ at SAM. We have increased our numbers steadily and now have 32 children and toddlers/babies in total attending regularly. Each receives day care and early years education appropriate to their individual needs and stage of development. Our own on-site kitchen is now operational and provides nutritious and healthy food using local ingredients. We are also hoping to recruit a third care giver in the next few weeks, which will allow our team to offer one to one care to the most disadvantaged youngsters.

Our children come from varying backgrounds, this presents a considerable challenge when we start to introduce the children to the literacy skills they need to develop ready for their primary school education. We teach in English and Luganda and find there is a lot of work to be done to bring every Kindergarten child up to the same level before we can start to teach them all to become fluent readers.

Through our teachers’ contacts we recently learned about a respected resource – ‘Jolly Phonics’ – a fun and child-centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. We managed to buy one of the colourful wall charts from the package of innovative and creative materials available - see the photo below. Teaching with this chart is already showing positive results and our teachers believe that the multi-sensory methods that the programme uses are truly excellent.

We are therefore excited to announce that we have ambitious plans to give our Kindergarten children the Jolly Phonics ‘Flying Start’ by raising funds to purchase the full Jolly Phonics programme package of materials. We are launching a microproject on GlobalGiving specifically to raise the money needed, and we are taking part in the GlobalGiving ‘Little by Little’ Matching Campaign in March. Please look out for more details on our website and facebook pages for the campaign publicity.

You, our donors and volunteers, are so important to us and we really thank you for all the support you give. We and our staff at SAM appreciate the time and energy that visiting volunteers give and are so happy that this appreciation goes both ways. In the words of one such recent visitor:

“Dear Colleagues in Uganda

Thank you very much for the wonderful time I have had with you!

You made me feel warm and welcome. I have had a lot of fun with you and it is very nice to get to know you.

You are wonderful teachers; you have a great heart for the children and you have so much love for them. Very beautiful to see!

And you are very involved with all the children and show in everything that you love them!

The children are lucky with such good and loving teachers at their school!

I wish you all the best and good luck for the future and God’s blessing for the work you do, but also in your personal life!

Lots of love A…..”

Little by Little campaign Please support SAM by donating up to $50 during the period March 23^rd -27^thMarch and your donation will get a 50% match from GlobalGiving.

Please note the campaign is worldwide: It starts at 09.00 hrs ET in US, 13.00 hrs GMT in UK, 14.00 hrs CET in Euro zone and ends at midnight 27^th .

Better still, if you start a recurring donation during the campaign and keep it active for 4 months the initial amount of the donation will also receive a 100% match!

Don’t forget Gift Aid in the UK!

To help even more please tell your friends about our work and this campaign and if possible share it on social media.

For more information look on our website: www.kinderhulp-afrika.nl/en/preschool and Facebook page.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us on info@kinderhulp-afrika.nl

Wall chart

Lego is a great way to play and learn.

Dec 19, 2019
End of SAM's first term!

By J.C van Leeuwen | Project Leader

Merry Christmas from all involved at SAM

End of SAM’s first term!

We are delighted to say that we have had a very encouraging first term at the newly opened Samaritan Day Care and Kindergarten (SAM), which opened its doors on 16^th October 2019.

The Kindergarten started with 29 children in three classes:

5 children in the first or baby class (4 girls and 1 boy),

8 children in the middle class (4 girls and 4 boys),

and 16 children in the top class (5 girls and 11 boys).

We hope you enjoy looking at the photographs at the end of this report for a “Day in the life of a child at SAM”.

We are very pleased to be able to report that the children in the top class have all been promoted to the Samaritan Primary School for the start of the new academic year in Uganda, which will begin on 27^th January 2020 and run through until the end of November.

Our staff are busy recruiting for the new school year, when the Day Care centre will also open for the very little ones and a promotional folder has been circulated to create awareness about this exciting new facility on our campus. As the prices are low in comparison to other facilities in the area (and will be subsidised when appropriate) SAM can provide nursery day care and kindergarten to vulnerable little ones aged 6 months to 6 years and thus support struggling families.

SAM’s aim is two-fold – to give the little ones a healthy and stimulating environment in which to develop early educational and social skills, whilst offering their parents the opportunity to work or to undergo training whilst we care for their children. Our hope is that our support can give vulnerable young mothers and disadvantaged parents or carers the opportunity to build a life for themselves, and a basis to bring up their own healthy and stable family independently.

Need an idea for a (Christmas) present?

Did you know that GlobalGiving has “Gift Cards” that you can give to your friends? It’s easy! Just click this link: https://www.globalgiving.org/gifts/ to buy and send the card. The recipient can then choose which project to support, so it’s very important that you kindly ask them to donate their card to SAM! www.globalgiving.org/42553

Social Media

You can also share our cause on social media by sharing our website; www.kinderhulp-afrika.nl/en/preschool Facebook page; www.facebook.com/Kinderhulp.Afrika, and Globalgiving project page; www.globalgiving.org/42553

Thank you so much for supporting our work in Uganda. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me jill@kinderhulp-afrika.nl or our office info@kinderhulp-afrika.nl.

May I take this opportunity, on behalf of all the children supported at SAM and the Kinderhulp Afrika Team, to wish you and your nearest and dearest a Very Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for a Happy and Peaceful 2020!

Click this link: to hear a Christmas Carol sung by students from our Secondary School.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkVw8DZgsSA

Kind regards Jill van Leeuwen

On the path to SAM.

Finally there!

School bags neat and tidy!

Learning is fun!

There is also time for play!

Then back to class..

Before going home.

Promotional flyer.

Links:

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Dec 2, 2019
Enjoying Kindergarten!

By JC van Leeuwen | Project leader

In class

Black Friday or Giving Tuesday …. Which do you prefer?

Thanksgiving Day is behind us and all the media attention has switched to Black Friday and Giving Tuesday.

Which day attracts your attention most? Do you feel a tension between the advertisers wanting you to spend more and the charities asking you for donations?

As regular visitors to Uganda we feel this tension. When we go to the supermarket to buy our provisions, we pass many local markets and ramshackled shops. We drive a car whilst we see people walking along the road carrying their loads on their heads. We are torn between our needs and theirs. But it’s also the reason why we help. We do what we can knowing that we can’t help everyone. Sometimes it feels like a “drop in the ocean”, but we also agree with the words of Mother Teresa, “If you can't feed a hundred people, feed just one.”

Samaritan Day Care and Kindergarten (SAM) wants to keep helping disadvantaged and vulnerable young parents and their children. The kindergarten opened in September and we are planning to open the Day Care centre as soon as possible. As the school year in Uganda starts in February and ends in December, it wasn’t really logical to open the Kindergarten and to wait until the new school year begins, but we wanted to make good use of the buildings straightaway, so that the children could benefit and start their education immediately.

Here is just one example of how SAM is already helping a family:

Zam is 26 years old. She came from a deprived family who were unable to continue paying her school fees, as a result she had to leave secondary school after the second year. She attended a Government aided school, but still needed money for uniform and books. She looked for work but has never had more than menial and temporary jobs. Whenever extra help is needed at our project she is asked to help out and of course earns the going wage.

She is married and has 2 lovely daughters, four-year-old Veranah and two-year-old Victoria. Her husband is a builder. They live in Nsasa, near SAM and attend the church on the campus.

Verenah is one of the first children to receive help from SAM. She joined the “baby class” of the kindergarten, along with 7 other children. Her mother, Zam, has seen a great change in Veranah since she started going to SAM. She is much more talkative and is learning to speak English. (English is the main language spoken in the schools in Uganda.) She is happier and gradually becoming more responsible. She likes doing homework and reading the wall charts her mother has hanging on the walls. Her parents are very grateful of this opportunity to send their daughter to kindergarten and they hope that, in future, Victoria will also be able to attend. In order to be able to help Victoria and other vulnerable children attend the Day Care and Kindergarten we need your help. Will you please consider supporting SAM on Giving Tuesday?

What happens on Globalgiving #Giving Tuesday?

This #GivingTuesday, GlobalGiving is giving away $500,000 in matching funds to its nonprofit projects. This bonus fund will be shared by all the participants proportionally based on the final sums raised on Giving Tuesday. This means that your donation earns us an extra bonus! The more funds we raise the larger our share of the bonusfund!

This year we are asking for support for SAM or for our wall project. You may already know that Sam has very secure compound. It is located at the back entrance of the 18 hectare campus. However, a 400 meter section of the connecting boundary fencing needs replacing by a high security wall. This brick and concrete wall will be 2.5 meters high, topped with razor wire. It costs £65 (€75 or $85) per meter to build the wall.

We’d be very grateful if you could help us on Giving Tuesday and join millions of other global givers on December 3. Please choose one of our projects by donating at www.globalgiving.org/42553 to support SAM or www.globalgiving.org/43969 to help build the Wall.

Please note Giving Tuesday Dec 3, starts in the US at 00:00 hrs till 23:59 hrs ET.

UK at 5am till 4:59 am GMT Dec 4 and in Europe at 6:00 hrs till 5:59 hrs CET Dec 4.

You can also share our cause on social media using the hashtag #GivingTuesday and sharing our website, Facebook page and Globalgiving projects. www.kinderhulp-afrika.nl/en/preschool, www.facebook.com/Kinderhulp.Afrika.

Thank you so much for supporting our work in Uganda. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me jill@kinderhulp-afrika.nl or our office info@kinderhulp-afrika.nl

I will be writing a new report before Christmas.

With her new friend.

With Mum by the main gate.

It's a hard life for some.

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