On Wednesday morning we headed north of Iganga in the opposite direction to Malongo. After a journey lasting one and a hlf hours we arrived at Namaira village in Kamuli district. The area has a rural peasant population who live by simple cultivation of the land, selling their excess produce to get by.
We were greeted by Pastor William along with other local pastors in the CFE network. William began a church here in 1997, first renting and then building on church land. He found there were many disadvantaged children in poor dysfunctional families and began to encourage proper care, nurturing them via a Sunday School. This led to a child development programme where children could come for pastoral care and life skills each fortnight. The existing school grew out of this and now has 60 children in nursery and primary one and two classes.
We toured the site with Pastor Paul and William and discussed their plans to grow the school in future. They are particularly keen to provide a high quality of education for the many children within a 2km radius.
We were delighted to receive the typical warm welcome from the children themselves, who sang for us in the welcome shade of a tree at the end of their school day. We left were left with much to chew over as we headed south again, pausing at Mawagala to catch up with members of the child-headed families that Rianna's Fund has been supporting for a number of years.
As we got out of the bus a group of the local mothers, mostly widows greeted us in colourful traditional dress, again in song! Pastor Paul spoke of their appreciation for the support from ACET and Rianna's Fund and JK made a sterling answering speech on our behalf. Later we were able to speak with the 'child-heads' who are now 17 and 18. We were delighted to learn that Mukama Afan has achieved his independence and is now a primary school teacher at the Mawagala school. Another of the boys, Bamutaze Saad has just finished his 'o' levels and cares for his siblings by selling milk from 6 cows he has now owns, grown from an initial donation of one!
It was great to hear from the boys first-hand the difference Rianna's Fund support has made in their lives.
Riannas Fund
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