Future plans

Third term is finishing its second week. Most of the student population has returned. The electricity is mostly stable, when it is on and the neighbor welder-man isn't welding. There was some riots in Kampala last week that did not bother us much except for the fact that they occured right at the center for transport into and out of Kampala. And all roads out of Kitinda go to Entebbe, dead end, or Kampala. This prevented me from going to visit Gulu University. I'll go some other time.

In the interest of a sustainable school and bearing in mind that finishing Primary school in Uganda is no guarantee of future education we are starting a new program. Next February begins the new school year and we will have Industrial Arts classes for students in P5-P7 (fifth through seventh graders). The younger classes will still be required to pay tuition. Sale of the products made will go towards paying their tuition and sustaining the school. Along with classes in beading, weaving, sewing, carpentry and small-scale foundry they will have classes in entrepreneurship so they can understand what it means to operate a business. This program is inspired by Berea College in Kentucky (http://www.berea.edu/about/), Teach A Man To Fish (http://www.teachamantofish.org.uk/) and the Fundacion Paraguaya’s Escuela agricola (http://www.fundacionparaguaya.org.py/index.php?c=307). This along with the permaculture garden and green technology incorporated in the rehabilitation of the school will make the school more sustainable in the long term.