In 2013, Winchester Rotary was involved in a charity called Education Uganda, spearheaded by a then member of our club, a retired educationalist.
At the time I was President and was very pleased to have resurrected a Rotaract Club at Winchester University. The President of that club, Luke Addison, asked if he could go on a trip to Uganda with the team, which was duly organised.
Whilst there he met Kasese Rotaract and twinned the two clubs. The connection continued until the three founder members in Kasese reached the magic age of 30 but didn’t feel that Rotary was suitable for them at that stage, so they formed the Great Lakes Peace Centre (GLPC).
It was created on similar principles to Rotary but on the basis of helping those in need in the local Rwenzori region and with the emphasis on creating peace, as its name suggests.
It is located next to the Congo where there have been many struggles there over the years.
To establish peace, you need the basic essentials of life, food, shelter and education. The three guys who founded it set up a second Rotary club in the area, the Rotary Club of Kasese Snow Peaks, and its founder President was Farouk Kibaba, the Executive Director of GLPC who was stranded here in Winchester, in 2020 at the start of the pandemic.
So there is a further connection, upon which we are building.
Winchester Rotary has been supporting them through these connections for some time through myself, Luke and the International Committee.
We have supported various projects including flood relief, environmental and the raising of funds to purchase a minibus to enable them to reach their various health projects in rural communities.
This was a truly worthwhile and humbling experience. It really shows the power of getting out on the ground to see what is really happening with money and assistance which have been given.”
This was my second trip, having been out in 2019 for their annual conference. Because of the pandemic, subsequent trips have not been possible until now.
What a tremendous amount of progress they have made since then. I will take you for a canter through the projects I inspected during the three weeks I was there:
EDUCATION PROJECT: The club identifies students desperately in need of help with school fees since even Government schools charge fees. They support them not only with payment of fees but also with scholastic materials and food for their families.
Although the scheme was started before our involvement, Winchester Rotarians and a few other supporters pay a regular monthly amount to help them through.
I visited the three schools where they support almost 30 students and spoke to the students and staff. They really value their education over there as they know this will take them out of poverty which is there in abundance.
During my visit, they interviewed four young men who had been on the streets and who, in a mini-project, they got into accommodation and ran a music school to give them a focus.
The Great Lakes Peace Centre Van.
They were unable to sustain this for more than six months before focusing on getting them back with their parents.
Those four boys started school from their homes at the beginning of January, Now, with hope for the future, the fees are being funded by the project.
TOILET PROJECT: I was able to go to inspect the new toilet block at the Muslim Primary School where there are 400 children. They originally had to use a 12-stall block, which has been doubled in size and bears the Winchester Rotary logo. There are currently more plans to replace temporary classrooms at the school.
HEP B MOMS: Â The club launched a campaign at Bwera Hospital with all the local health workers to test pregnant women for Hep B and avoid transmission to the unborn child by treatment immediately after birth. Winchester Rotary made a donation this year through the International Committee to assist with the cost of this campaign and I was able to see how it would be used.
UN WOMEN’S PROJECT: With the assistance of money from the United Nations, they support three women’s groups in remote regions.
They started these groups as a way of enabling women to earn their own living – weaving baskets etc, but gradually, with support from UN Grant, have trained them to become peacebuilders in their very difficult and male-dominated communities.
One of the sponsored students.
The Grant enabled GLPC to provide training in mediation for family and other disputes, something which I was particularly interested in as a retired family mediator. I was asked to talk to them about it from my professional perspective – a really strange experience talking to 30 women in a mud hut halfway up the mountain!
FABRICATION PROJECT: Twenty five or so unemployed teenagers are being taught light manufacturing/fabrication skills making items such as metal school trunks/money boxes and storage items. It is hoped to link this with Tools for Self Reliance (TFSR).
One of the GLPC volunteers coming to take up an internship with TFSR next month, subject to his Visa. He is being helped by the Winchester Rotary, a District Grant and Southampton Magna Rotary.
The Global Lakes Peace Centre is located next to the Congo where there have been many struggles there over the years. “
KINDERGARTEN IN BWERA:Â Engaging children through art and music, offers more general support to the school to catch those who would otherwise not achieve any academic qualifications. We have made a donation of materials.
Donors from Winchester Rotary and beyond enabled me to take two suitcases crammed full of children’s clothes, sorely testing the weight limit on the flight out which were given to the Education Project children.
This included four laptops, a handheld tablet and six old mobile phones which all went to the office. Diana Brooks and I donated 12 copies of her book about Smokey to the schools and other young children.
This was a truly worthwhile and humbling experience. It really shows the power of getting out on the ground to see what is really happening with the money and assistance which have been given.
